DAY -8 Chintsa in context

Chintsa or Cintsa is in the Eastern Cape province, about 50 km from East London, the major city in the region. It's a Xhosa name and the C or Ch is pronounced with a soft sound like a clicking tongue, so Chintsa is pronounced {click}intsa.

Both Nelson Mandela and current President Thabo Mbeki are Xhosa and were born in the Eastern Cape. The province is therefore not surprisingly an ANC stronghold. Steve Biko, an anti-apartheid activist who was 'banned' and subsequently died in police custody in 1977 and Donald Woods the editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper at the time, were also from in and around East London. The 1987 movie Cry Freedom is the Hollywood version of what happened.

Chintsa East, where my mother lived with my father, is a small coastal resort town, mostly of holiday homes. It lies on the Wild Coast and is popular for its wide sandy beaches, surfing, good fishing and generally laid back lifestyle. It's equally popular with international backpackers as local holidaymakers.

Economically, the Eastern Cape and in particular the area that makes up Buffalo City, which includes East London, is one of the most deprived in the country. Over 400,000 of the 780,000 residents have no official income.