Can I have two desserts?

So today was our first day sans our fearless leaders. There are now 9 of us left because a couple people left today. Out adventure for the day was a train trip to Kalk Bay! The trains in Cape Town are slightly sketchy and our hotel guy, Gary (who is super helpful and awesome!), told us to get the '1st' class seats because we wouldn't have to deal with the "riffraff"- and that's a quote. So we trekked to the train station from our hotel and aimlessly walked around until we found the ticket desk. The trains were in fact a tad sketchy, but unlike most things in Cape Town, they ran on time and we didn't have any problems so I'd say it was a successful trip. 

awkward smiles

almost every seat had a graffiti label or 'ripped art' 

look at that view! (well, when we opened the window we could see out)

So this post is going to have a fair amount of pictures because 1) the ocean is stunning and 2) I don't have much to write about, but I wanted to update the day to keep all my avid readers in the know and because someone is waiting, so eagerly, to hear about my day :-) 

We arrived at the bay, and our first view of the ocean was from the train window:

It was so blue. and beautiful! Gosh, you really notice how great the coast is when you live in the middle of the country and never see oceans. I can't imagine what it would be like to see this everyday out your window. Speaking of, the houses here where quite large. I also can't imagine living is this beautiful neighborhood with the townships we saw just 15 minutes from you. It doesn't seem right. But it was quite gorgeous today. 

We just walked around and went into shops for a couple hours (I got a couple souvenirs, but these things are hard to buy). The main street we were on was right along the waterfront and the air smelled like salt water and felt crisp and brisk- so refreshing! We all re-convened and met up for lunch in the Brass Bell, or best restaurant in the area, according to Gary. 

Elaina's new headbands, on Elaina...and Colbey.

Duet of creme brulee?

Pear Sorbet and panna cotta?

Don't fret, I didn't actually get two desserts, we did a little sharing. But both were quite scrumptious! We left for the return train trip after lunch and we made it back to the hotel around 17:30. The evening was filled with some lazy laying around and planning for the rest of the week! We ordered pizza for dinner, because our favorite Greek restaurant closed early on Sunday night. 

PS: These are pictures of the Apartment that some of my fellow students stayed in, but they had to move out today so I snapped a few pictures last night. It was really nice:

Hope you have a fantastic day! 

Farewell to my program

Our last day was supposed to be a free day for us, but Marjorie found a site that we could go to, so I went with 11 of the other to the Nonceba Family Counselling Centre. This is a counseling center in Khayletisha for women and children who are abused (sexually, emotionally or physically). 1 in 3 young girls will be raped before turning 21 in Khayletisha, so a place like this is very much needed. The story behind the center is sad and uplifting: a young woman, Ashley, was working to raise money and awareness for this organization in the 1990s and she was killed by a drunk driver. A memorial fund was set up by the Rotary club of hout bay in Cape Town and shortly after the center was constructed and opened (2008). Don Peters showed us around and spoke to us about the center for awhile. He is amazing, and puts a lot of time and effort into this program. The building is new and beautiful, and the organization sounds like its working really well. Don said that one day he hopes they will have to close shop because there won’t be a need anymore, and that’s a real statement. Like, all this work and money went into this great organization that is doing wonderful work, but on the other hand, it wouldn’t need to be there if rape and abuse weren’t so prevalent in the community. I was glad I got to go on this adventure today, and I hope to bring back the information I learned to share with friends and family and maybe help make a difference here.

This is Ashley

This is Don, with a doll

The building is sustainable!!

Don with the wall of dolls, each child get to pick their own doll when they arrive, during their counselling session. They also get a comfort box: with hygiene products and other nice things

These dolls are all made locally

Karen and the cutest child ever. He spoke Xhosa, which is the most adorable thing for a kid to speak

Playing Catch

The counselling center

Then some of us met up with the coordinators of the UWC peer education group at Mzoli’s, a South African Braai in one of the local townships. This place is huge, and quite popular, among locals and tourists. We drove in on a large van, and I felt a tad out of place driving down the tight streets with a van full of tourists looking out the windows. And then I felt even more out of place as a white person amongst all the locals walking into the place. But after we got a seat it was better, and I realized that people really didn’t care what was happening around them. So this is how braai’s work: you go up to a counter full of freshly butchered meat, pick out how much you want and they braai it for you (or bbq it). Then they bring it to you table on a HUGE platter. It’s crazy. We didn’t go pick out the meat, the UWC people did, and I didn’t partake in the eating of the meat; it was kind of gross actually. But everyone enjoyed it, so I’m happy for them. It was a fun time, and I am glad we got to meet up with the UWCers again. While we were inside hanging out, there were some men outside setting up for a festival tomorrow. They were setting up a stage and tents above it (reminded me of MSA/GPC tech at MU J). So we are watching them for awhile and all of a sudden, the cinderblock wall that was beautifully graffiti-ed  and was serving as a support for the tents, fell over! It was insane. No one was hurt. We left shortly after this extravaganza.

The wall

More wall

the meat platter....

No more wall

We had our farewell dinner tonight as well. It was bittersweet because I am sad our program is ending, but its been a jam packed few weeks so I am kind of ready to take it easy and spend some time reflecting on my experience. Sometimes it’s difficult to reflect while the events are taking place, and while I am in the settings. So I think going home, and really realizing my privilege, will be a humbling experience for me. I do have one more week here, and hopefully we will be able to venture out to UWC again and work with the peer educators, or go to Mitchells Plain to help out again!

After dinner we all went out to go dancing, South African style! We found a dance club walking distance from our hotel and 10 of us ventured off. It was really fun and the dj played a mixture of American dance music and some local music. All the South Africans there had dances for the local songs and they taught us some and included us in the dance circles. It was really cool and I had a great time! I am updating yesterday’s blog now because we didn’t get home til late! 

Huuummus

Today’s theme is “How do you heal a society?” This question was asked by Christina Zarowsky, the director of the HIV/AIDS research center in the department of public health at UWC. We spoke to her today about public health, specifically sexual health, in South Africa and what UWC’s school of public health is doing to combat such issues in the community.
To go in chronological order, today consisted of a visit to UWC and the two tracks of my program (sexual health and social work) split up to attend different seminars, meetings and classes. The sexual health track went to a meeting during which women’s and gender studies master’s students defended their proposals for research. It was really cool to hear their ideas and everyone in the room was able to comment, critique, and ask questions, so some of us got involved in the discussion too. We only were able to hear two students before moving on to our next event of the day, but they were both extremely intriguing and I would be interested in hearing the actual research later! The first man spoke about an organization created by national soccer players to teach young learners about the importance of personal health, including sexual health and healthy relationships. They use soccer as a metaphor for healthy lifestyle choices. He is questioning young females’ role in the organization because of the sporty nature. The next woman spoke about women’s active role in the illegal drug trade. Most people assume that if women are involved that they are being used for trafficking and exploitation, but she is interviewing women who are ex-drug dealers who actually had power and made money. Anyway, both sound stellar and it was a new experience to be a part of their discussion!

 Moving on, next we sat in on a Women’s and Gender Studies class. She spoke about intersex and bodies, about our culture’s need to police the gender binary and the intersectionality of black women’s bodies. She pointed out that current beauty standards are hugely constructed by our culture and our need to objectify women’s bodies. I learned a lot, but much of what she discussed we had already done with Heather in her class and during out orientation for this trip.
Next we went and visited Christina at the office of HIV/AIDS research in the school of public health. Basically, she was intimidating because she is so tight. She was really inspirational too because this woman has done a whole lot; like 4 degrees post-graduate, doctorate from Harvard, worked for McGill and is now helping save the world in South Africa. Needless to say, she had a lot to bring to the table and she understands the challenges of a job like this. I wouldn’t want her job because I am sure it’s crazy overwhelming, but someone needs to do it. Also, it was really exciting because even though they don’t have conclusive data, things like HIV transmission, have decreased in the past years, and since many of the programs have been implemented just in the last 10-15 years this is great news! Apartheid really messed up this county, and it’s rather discouraging that so much of this progress would be even more if 50 or so years weren’t driven in the wrong direction. Because, like I have mentioned before, not only does this country suffer from years of ill informed public health knowledge, each race has been ‘trained’ to think separately than other races. This trip has been truly eye opening and so so so informative. I don’t even know how else to say it. It’s all coming to an end tomorrow, (except for the next week, when some of us are still here. We plan on trying to figure out if we can visit UWC again) I’m sad it’s ending, but very grateful for the opportunity to come here and experience this.
Also, we met up the the UWC HIV/AIDS peer educators again! Gah they are so fun! We are going to a braai with them tomorrow, the most famous braai in town! And we interviewed them for a video we have to make for credit for our class.  Really, all day has been just super and I am really happy we were able to bounce around and experience all these facets of UWC.

A couple days ago, a bunch of us went to this greek restaurant right in the shopping center next to our hotel, which happens to have the BEST hummus ever. In the world. Also, perfect mojitos, and our waiter Evans, was pretty super too. So we also went back tonight to partake in that again tonight.

Cheers!

Wednesday, Day 11

Today we went back to Mitchells Plain to work with the UWC nursing students on a service learning project. My group (the sexual health team + three social work students) went with four UWC nursing students to St. Luke’s Hospice facility to work with a group of about 10 young-middle aged adults, some (if not all) of which we knew were HIV positive, but the status of each individual was not known to us. The nursing students work with this organization every Wednesday for each term (7weeks) to educate the clients about opportunistic infections, ARVs, complications of ARVs, CD4 count and other terms, differences between western medicine and traditional healers, and other topics surrounding HIV/AIDS infection. St. Luke’s is a really great organization that houses patients for two-ish weeks at a time. As a way to give the patients a break, especially if they are suffering with an opportunistic infection, from their life at home and to give their families a break for awhile too. While they are at St. Luke’s, they are educated in order to send them back and educate their community as well as help themselves as much as possible.

We met with the nursing students before heading over to discuss what we were going to talk about during the session. We were made to feel comfortable, but we also didn’t want to impede, or interfere so we said we would step back, and observe. It was a truly once in a lifetime experience. I felt privileged to be able to experience this with my fellow peers, especially nursing students (since I am one) here in Cape Town. Although the information the nursing students taught was not new to me (we discussed opportunistic infections), I have never taught to people living with HIV about their disease, knowingly. We really sat back and just observed the interactions and lessons. I thought the students did a great job and really got their messages across. There was a language barrier, some patients only speak Xhosa, some speak English and some speak Afrikaans. So they taught in English and Xhosa, because they are the major languages of this population.

After leaving the group, I realized that these students are doing a really great thing and their teacher, Mamalita, was an amazing woman who was able to communicate with the patients really well. They spoke a little about the importance of continuing to take their western medicine while still going to their traditional healers- if they choose to see the healers. I thought that the patients would benefit from a more in depth discussion about the difference between western medicine and traditional healers. I spoke to the students about this and they were already planning on talking more about it next week. I do realize that it’s easy for us to critique because we are coming from the outside, and we have different interactions and programs, but it’s definitely important to realize what the situation is here and what kind of resources they have. They have different challenges to overcome and I am blown away at the programs they have built as well as the eagerness to share them with us.  The students were so happy to share their program with us, which made me happy, too! No photos today because we were asked not to take pictures at St. Luke's, and I feel a tad awkward snapping pics all in the townships, like I am trying to exploit the people and their lives. It doesn't feel right. The students like it, cause its fun, but I just stopped bringing my camera this week.

Side note: I only brought enough clothes to get me through yesterday, so Kelsey and I took all our clothes to a laundromat down the street from our hotel. This place is the bee's knees. For real, they take your clothes, wash and dry them, fold them all cute and vaccum seal them in a bag to present to you the next day. awesome awesome.  Also, how much? Only $10usd. WHAT? Best day ever. 

And I took a few pictures to document this, since it will probably never happen again.

please note: I don't even fold my underwear and sports bras. A tad strange

Cheers!

Veggies, Beading and Rewarding Experiences

So today was a really great day! We went to Mitchell’s Plain (a colored township outside of Cape Town) to do a variety of volunteering and learning. When we arrived, we met up with the coordinators of service-learning projects from the UWC, they work at the Community Rehabilitation Project in Mitchell’s Plain. It has been around for 20 years and is funded by the Department of Health. This organization does a whole lot, but some of the major projects are home visits (to being resources to people in their homes), community rehabilitation (workers who live in the community to provide hands-on aid) and 5 or so sites throughout the community for UWC students and really anyone to work in. These sites encompass: Early Childhood Development, Vegetable garden projects, Heaven’s Shelter (for battered women and children), a skills development center for seniors with disabilities, and St. Lukes hospice care for young-middle aged adults living with HIV/AIDS.

The theme of today was “Look, Listen, and Learn”, but the sexual health track got to do a little teaching too. We started off the day in a grade-10 classroom and we taught about health relationships, assertive/passive/aggressive behaviors and a little condom/consent/HIV info too. Although our time was short in the classroom, and we honestly did not know we were going to present, so we just pulled something out of the air, the experience was amazing. I know, I know, everything is amazing- but teaching, learning from and working with young people is truly humbling and rewarding! We jumped right in and by the end of the presentation and small discussion groups, I really felt that the learners respected us and hopefully learned something. I am always worried when we go into teach that it will seem like we are preaching and forcing foreign ideas onto the learners, but I really don’t think we did that today. In my small group we had some really great questions and they definitely understood the messages we were getting across. We role played giving and not giving consent, assertive behaviors to empower each person and just chatted about HIV, telling partners one’s status and getting tested. I felt like the learners were comfortable with us and asked good questions. I think they saw that we, a group of total strangers, cared about them and wanted to pass along healthy messages that anyone could benefit from. And that is so cool, sometimes at home when we present I don’t really feel like I am respected, or that my message gets across, but today I didn’t feel that way. American students could learn a thing or two from these kids.

After the school, we were rushed into the van and drove off to our next site; yes we visited three sites all before lunch! We stopped in the community to meet some women who have started a vegetable garden program where they purchase, help build and maintain vegetable gardens in their backyards to get healthy food without having to buy it at the market, etc. This was also really neat. The women we very proud of their gardens, and walked us around to 4 or 5 houses to see what other women had created. This taught me something about the value of self sufficiency, these women started from nothing and now have beautiful veggie gardens to provide healthy food for themselves and their families, they are extremely proud of what they have created and thoroughly enjoyed sharing it all with us, and we took it in- this was about them and we were privileged to see the outcome of their program. This program also leads to bonding in the neighborhoods, which is crucial to safety and security.

Next we boogied on down to the community center where we helped the same women with gardens make beaded jewelry for them to sell to get money to buy for seeds to plant in their gardens. I was grateful to spend time with these women, joking and sharing creative times, and it taught me that, for real, everyone is the same. We all want to provide for ourselves, we all want to have a little fun, and we all want to show off our awesome gardens. In the end, the service-learning coordinators told us that they are always surprised to see how well we mesh with the community. I was surprised too, in a good way. Today was a really good day. Tomorrow we are going back. I cannot even describe how excited I am for our site tomorrow- but I won’t ruin it now. You have to wait until tomorrow. J

Vino!

Since I arrived in Cape Town this morning around 6am, I was happy our day didn’t start until 10am, so I was able to catch a few zzz’s before waking up again. First thing on the agenda was to view a documentary by Molly Blank, called “Testing Hope”. It was really good, but also rather frustratingly disheartening. This film followed a couple grade 12 learners; they were the first part of the generation born post apartheid. So they are representative of what apartheid has done to the education system for black Africans and coloreds. Every student in South Africa has to take the ‘Matric’ or kind of final examination after high school (like ACT, I think) and must pass it in order to move out of high school. So this video followed a few students as they prepared for the test and after the scores were posted. The students lived in a township and explained the high importance of passing matric so they can attend college, get out of the township and provide for their families. Throughout the film it seems very uplifting; one woman wanted to be a doctor, one man a civil engineer, and then you find out that even though most of the learners passed they didn’t all get into university, many can’t afford it, and one died from violence in the township. It makes you want to go help every single student in this country because I have never and probably will never experience anything like they have and me as one person can’t fix this, I can’t help them. I am sharing this with you because the world needs to understand that this is going on.

Groot Constansia Winery:

National Flower of South Africa

After the heavy morning, we proceeded to load into the bus and drove to the oldest winery in the Cape area. Wineries here have a tricky background, aka they were staffed by slaves and the slaves were paid in wine, so they were unhealthily drinking too much wine and there was a large instance of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome among these populations. But, the vineyards are B-E-A-U-tiful and the wine was pretty tasty too. We spent a long lunch/afternoon there hanging out and relaxing, then came back and I napped and relaxed some more, recuperating from my weekend. 

I jumped off a bridge!

Day 8 started at 5pm on Saturday and ended 6am on Monday morning. This consists of getting on a bus in Cape Town traveling for 8 hours, arriving in Plettenburg Bay at 2am, sleeping for a while, waking up, bungy jumping off a bridge 216m from the ground-in the rain-, driving to Monkeyland, viewing monkeys in a man-made jungle sanctuary- in the pouring, freezing rain-, returning to hostel and hanging out in the warmth, going to a super dinner, getting on the bus again at 9:30pm and then traveling back to Cape Town arriving at 5:30am, taxiing around the town finally ending up at home around 6:30am.

Although this seems like a crazy idea and, frankly something I normally wouldn’t be into, but as I have said before, When in South Africa… and I had THE BEST time. I did this extravaganza with Catherine, a friend from high school who is also studying in Cape Town for this whole semester.  

This 24hr period was super awesome, tiring and insane. I cannot even believe I jumped off a bridge. I really surprised myself with this adventure but I am soo happy we did it! We were suspended about 180m in the air when we were fully extended hanging upside down. It is the tallest bungy in the world. Like world record style. I have a DVD of my adventure and I will be happy to share it with people when I return home!

the bridge the morning we jumped

they send a man down to attach to you and take you up

They pulled me up

He was just awesome

We did it!

We met these girls from Ohio!

Monkey land was very cold and wet but also very cool. It serves as a sanctuary for monkeys that used to be in captivity, such as people’s pets, zoos, or circus’s, and because once monkeys reach maturity, they get a little mean and start biting and peeing everywhere, people often send them to sanctuaries where they can be real wild monkeys and live in an awesome jungle with other members of their species. So I saw quite a few squirrel monkeys, lemurs of different varieties and some others…and I walked across Africa’s longest suspension bridge. So I like to think I accomplished two world records that day.

I didn’t get to see much of the city, because it was gloomy and raining all day, but what I saw looked beautiful. Dave, from Aakaya (the hostel we stayed in) drove us around, and he said that a lot of people had holiday homes and only stayed there during the summer. So it was a different feel that Cape Town, it was smaller and kind of empty from what I noticed. We ate at a Mozambican restaurant before boarding the bus last night and it was real good! 

We signed the wall at Amakaya

shoe's drying by the lovely fire