Hi! My name is Heidi Kat Price, and I can't wait to tell you all about my recent trip to South Africa! South Africa is a beautiful country; full of history, and culture, and I can't wait to share with you all that I learned along the way!

BEFORE I LEFT, I LEARNED ABOUT THE GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTH AFRICA, THE MAIN CITIES, AND WHERE I WOULD STAY.

South Africa South Africa has a population of over 43 million people and it is 3 times the size of California. More than half of South Africa's population live in cities and towns like Capetown, Johannesburg, and Durban but my story begins in a village district called Nkandla...

Many families in Nkandla depend on the land to grow their food. They use everything they grow, and raise as well. One example of this is when I learned about a native South African dish called Isijingi. Isijingi is a traditional South Afrian stew made with pumpkin, and cornmeal.

Speaking of storage, did you know that most families in Nkandla do not have refrigerators? This means that when a meal is made it must be eaten that day, because it will spoil.

I love vegetables of any kind, and I couldn't wait to dive into this delicious meal! But I was even more impressed with what it takes for families to make Isijingi and it all starts with growing pumpkins...

The whole family helps with this process; seeds are planted, someone has to dig up weeds, someone has to make sure that livestock do not trample the plants, and of course someone has to make the long trek to get water, and water the stalks.

This whole process starts at the beginning of summer. You might be thinking that summer starts in the middle of June like it does here in the States, but South African summers start in November, and the pumpkins will not be collected until February.

When February arrives, it is time to harvest the pumpkins. Every part of the pumpkin is used, and when Isijing has been prepared, the seeds are then dried, and saved for next November for when the process will be started again. I couldn't wait until the stew was finished so I begged for some fresh yellow pumpkin, and it was delicious!

Recipe for Isijingi

Ingredients:

Pumpkin also known as Ibhece in IsiZulu

Maize-meal

Sugar – 5 tablespoons [depends on your tolerance]

Water

Cooking Steps:

Firstly you need to prepare your pumpkin .Peal it off, slice &/or dice ,place in a pot and pour enough water so the pumpking is generously covered.

Add sugar and boil until its well cooked, then add maize-meal bit by bit stirring continuously but take care not to make a thick mixture. In other words stop pouring maize-meal when the mixture is about right.

You can cook for about 45 min ,stirring occasionally.

South Africa has a long, and complicated history of Civil war, violence, and racism. One term that you will hear often here is the word apartheid....

So, you might be wondering what the word Apartheid

means... Apartheid means ‘apart-hood’

or ‘the state of being apart’ and was the

system of racial inequality,

segregation and discrimination in South Africa

that was started after World War II.