Our
place
The province of KwaZulu-Natal is situated
on the east coast of South Africa, bordering Mozambique, Swaziland and
Lesotho. It has a wide variety of nature and wildlife, mountains, beaches
and towns. It is one of the smallest provinces in South Africa, but with 9
million people it is the most populated one.
The province was "discovered" on Christmas day 1497 by the
Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama. Thus the name "Natal", which
means Christmas in Portuguese. "KwaZulu" means "place of
the Zulu" and this part was added to the official name in 1996.
Nowadays the province is responsible for a large part of the economic
growth in South Africa and attracts a lot of foreign investment. Despite
this, the gap between rich and poor is still large and the unemployment
rate is high. The AIDS statistics are the highest in the country with a
shocking 32% of the adult population being HIV+.
Durban is the biggest city in KwaZulu-Natal province with approximately
5 million inhabitants. It is in this town that Gandhi first set foot in
South Africa.
KwaZulu-Natal Experimental College is situated in Pinetown, a suburb on
the west-side of Durban.
Pinetown itself has around 70.000 inhabitants and has a mixture of
industry, shops, residential areas, highways and nature. The college
itself is build on 6.2 ha of sloping land, just on the edge of an
industrial area and the entry road to the town centre. The premises
consist of various buildings used for accommodation and classrooms. Part
of the premises are rented out to small companies who run workshops and
other training activities. The College will have its own sports hall.
In the neighbourhood of the school there are plenty of possibilities for
sports, such as running tracks, swimming pool, gym and fitness clubs and
tennis courts.
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