By Julia Cosgrove  September 17th, 2009 10:12 am  |  Comments (1)

I have a soft spot for people who think outside the box. Emily Pilloton is one such person. She wants designers to make practical tools that help the world. As the founder and executive director of Project H Design, a humanitarian non-profit with nine chapters around the world, Emily was recently awarded a $15,000 Adobe Foundation grant to support work on her new book Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People. Project H tackles such social and environmental issues as access to water, global health, and education—all on a manageable, local scale. One of Emily’s first projects involved redesigning the hippo roller, an innovative water transport system, which she then delivered to a community in Kgautswane, South Africa. For another initiative, she and her colleagues installed a “math playground” at the Kutamba School for AIDS Orphans in Uganda (shown here). Check out Emily and her many projects in this inspiring, short video from Adobe.

Photo courtesy of Project H Design.

By Julia Cosgrove  August 27th, 2009 8:31 am  |  Comments (11)

Don’t worry—no rabbits are harmed (or used) in the making of bunny chow. For the full story on South Africa’s favorite street food, check out page 44 of the premier issue of Afar. If your interest is piqued, follow this recipe for homemade bunny chow, then upload your pictures of the finished dish to Afar’s Facebook page!*

BUNNY CHOW
(Serves 4)
Adapted from Cook Sister!, Jeanne Horak-Druiff’s food blog. A native South African, Horak-Druiff favors lamb bunny chow.

INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 medium onion, sliced thinly into rings
2–3 curry leaves
4 tsp Durban masala (if unavailable, use red curry powder)
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
2 large tomatoes, chopped, or a 14-oz can chopped tomatoes
2 1/4 pounds lamb, cubed
3–4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tsp garam masala
Salt, to taste
1 or 2 crusty, square loaves of bread (small farmhouse loaves are best)
Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

MAKE IT
1. Heat the oil and add the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, onion, and curry leaves. Fry until the onion is golden brown in color.

2. Add the Durban masala (or curry powder), turmeric, ginger, garlic, and tomato. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mix resembles a puree.

3. Add the meat and cook for about 10 minutes. Then add the potatoes and about 1/4 cup of water. Lower the heat and simmer on low. Keep an eye on it to make sure the bottom of the pot does not burn.

4. When the meat is cooked through and the potatoes are tender (about 30 minutes), add the garam masala. Test for seasoning and add salt if necessary. Simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.

5. Halve the loaves and scoop out the centers (known in South Africa as the “virgins”), leaving the crusts to form bowls.

6. Spoon the curry into the half loaves and serve, garnished with coriander leaves. The virgin can be dipped into the curry and eaten as well.

*To upload your photos to our Facebook page, you must first become a fan of Afar. Also, please note that by posting your photos on our Facebook page, we reserve the right to repost the photos on our blog.

Photo by Maren Caruso.

By Nicole Solis  August 26th, 2009 9:57 am  |  Comments (0)

In Lenyene, a rural township in South Africa, driving tests have become group entertainment. On Media Club South Africa, Bridget Hilton-Barber describes the shared thrill of victory, as well as the public agony of defeat, as the drivers took their tests:

As the nervous drivers were put through their paces, the crowd either booed or whooped according to their performance. Those who stalled or knocked over the orange road markers were met with guffaws and insults, while those who didn’t got clapping and ululating. The successful emerged to high fives and backslapping; the unsuccessful slunk off with their tails between their legs.

In this part of the country, driving has become a symbol of upward mobility, spurring the development of a small industry of driving schools and even encouraging some sangomas, or traditional healers, to add a new service to their menu: help passing a driving test.

Read Hilton-Barber’s fascinating post at Media Club South Africa.

By Julia Cosgrove  July 29th, 2009 6:09 pm  |  Comments (0)

The crowd at OppiKoppi.

For the premier issue of Afar, I wrote about bunny chow, a South African take-out dish. During the course of my research, Afar’s cofounder Joe Diaz tipped me off to a film titled Bunny Chow, about a road trip to OppiKoppi music festival.

Held in the bush of the northern Limpopo province, the left-of-center music festival marks its 15th anniversary this month, with performances by such South African rock acts as Kidofdoom, Steadyrock, and Fokofpolisiekar. If you’re in South Africa, grab some bunny chow in Durban and hightail it to the bushveld.

OppiKoppi photo by ftbester. CC 2.0