Only a few more weeks…
I’m so sorry that it has been so long since my last post! There has been a lot going on lately, including my finishing of my UWC courses! I have successfully finished taking exams at UWC, but do still have some work to do for my Marquette courses – not too shabby though if you ask me. I have continued working at Thembani Primary School and at loveLife, which has been absolutely amazing. I have met some of the greatest people in my entire life at my service sites, and I will be terribly sad to say goodbye to the majority of them next week. Exactly a week from today, I will conclude my bi-weekly visits to Thembani and my weekly meetings with Ilizwi. However, Ilizwi has planned a field trip for later this month, so I will be able to see the girls once again before I leave!
Since my last post there has been few events had and activities done since school and service learning have been very time consuming (and very rewarding)! However, one of the highlights of the past few weeks was lunch with Judy Mayotte. If you do not recognize her name, I highly suggest that you Google her, she has a very impressive Wikipedia page! Among Judy’s long list of accomplishments, she also created Marquette’s service learning program here in South Africa! Judy graciously invited us into her home (a beautiful apartment overlooking the V&A Waterfront) and served a delicious meal. Judy is a fantastic individual with such a great spirit about her and we were able to have great conversations with her. It was truly a blessing to be able to spend time with her.
Other than spending time with Judy and finishing school, I have been preparing a lot for the weeks to come. On the 10th November, Thuli and I will be holding a benefit dinner to raise money for Ilizwi’s field trip on the 21st. We have invited the Kimberley House and a few friends to try to raise a significant portion of the funds that we will need in order to be able to take a small group of girls to the beach, provide them with their meals, and climb Lion’s Head with them. Later next week I also have a large presentation for one of my Marquette classes, as we will be presenting to our teachers, their fellow colleagues, and other important individuals projects that we will be advocating for in South Africa. Once we have finished our advocacy projects, I hope to be able to travel for a few days and see the Congo Caves.
This Friday we will be traveling to our Theology teacher, Chris Ahrend’s, home for our last class and a chance to enjoy the beautiful area in which he lives! I will be sure to post another blog about that soon!
I cannot believe that going home is so quickly approaching me! It feels like I still should have so much time left in Cape Town. My leaving will certainly be bittersweet, but I am so excited to see you all back at home! Only a few more weeks! (Who ever thought that I would be able to say that again?!) I love you all!
Oops!!
Forgive me as I have forgotten one of the adventures that Mom, Dad and I went on (as Dad was so kind to point out to me in my last post 🙂
Monday morning before we left for Stellenbosch, we went into Langa to visit my service sites! We first went to loveLife, which was pretty uneventful as it was during school hours so no children were there and all of the groundBreakers were at their schools implementing Make your Move (a life orientation class). So I basically just showed them around loveLife and they were able to meet KC, my site coordinator.
Next, we went over to Thembani where we were able to observe my Grade 1 class for a while. 2 students, Nceba and Luyando, gave themselves a good laugh when they told Ms. Jekwa that dad was their dad too! However, as Forest Gump would say, “we are not relation-some…”
We just sat in the Grade 1 class for a while before visiting my Grade 7 class and taking a tour of the school. We only spent a short amount of time at Thembani, but it was nice to show Mom and Dad where I have been working and what I have been spending so much of my time on here in South Africa!
Mom and Dad in Cape Town! Best week ever (:
This past week was by far one of the most eventful and must fun weeks that I have had in Cape Town! As you all probably already know, my parents were here this week!!!! And what an eventful week it was…
Friday 2 October 2009
As hard as it was to fall asleep Thursday night, my body work me up 2 hours earlier than was necessary as I was so excited. I laid in my bed staring at my ceiling and shaking my feet for a while before deciding that I could get up and start getting ready. The moment others came into the kitchen, the first thing that they said to me was asking if I was excited. Truth be told, I was more excited than a kid in a candy store! I felt as if it had been years since I had last seen my parents, and I had missed them terribly. The time finally came for everyone to leave for class and as soon as we dropped everyone off, Pearnel and I were off to the airport! Just as we were coming through the airport, I received a phone call and as I anxiously looked down at my caller ID, I recognized my dad’s phone number! My dad informed me that they had just collected their bags and were going through claims. I rushed into the airport and sticking out over all of the other heads, I saw my dad! I ran over to them in a full sprint and hugged my parents for the first time in 3 months. Needless to say, my mom and I were both crying as we walked out of the airport, arm in arm. I introduced my parents to Pearnel and we were on our way to the Kimberley house so they could freshen up.
Afterwards, we headed downtown where we were able to catch the closing statement of our speaker that week, the author of Mother to Mother and about 40 other books. We took a lunch break and then explored the city of Cape Town a little. I took my parents through St. George’s Cathedral, the Slave Lodge Museum, and Company Gardens- all of which Melikaya took us to our first week here. We went back to Obs with the group at 3 and my parents checked into their B&B. We decided to not go out to dinner that night and instead we ordered pizza for the whole house! Mom was very tired and went to bed early and my dad and I decided to go out with a few people from the house and some locals, and we went undefeated in pool! It was definitely an entertaining night!
Saturday 3 October 2009
Saturday we began our day with a tasty breakfast at Cocoa! We then headed down to the Waterfront and visited the Two Oceans Aquarium- which was obviously so fun (as all aquariums are!). They had so many different species of animals that you cannot see in any aquariums at home. There was a very cool African Penguin exhibit along with a shark tank and tunnel.
Afterwards we hopped on the Red Bus (much like the touristy London double decker). We went by everything I had shown them the day before and the first attraction we stopped at was the Castle. We bought a R5 map and gave ourselves a tour before hopping back on the bus. We went by many more attractions, getting to listen to the bus commentary the whole time.
Our next stop was Table Mountain where we took the Cable Way up the mountain. We walked around the top, exploring and searching for the best view – with many pictures taken in between. We spent a little over an hour at the top before taking the Cable Way back down. We got back on the Red Bus and continued on our city tour, taking it to our last stop of Camps Bay. Now I’ve been to Camps Bay numerous times, and I think all of the people I have seen there previously added together make up maybe half of the amount of people that were there on Saturday! We spent only a short amount of time at Camps Bay before we took the last bus back to the Waterfront for dinner (which happened to be perhaps my favorite dinner here yet – only to be tied later with the dinner we were to have on Monday night).
Sunday 4 October 2009
Sunday was all about one thing: Mzoli’s! I am not sure whether or not I have blogged about Mzoli’s yet, so if I haven’t ranted and raved about it yet, Mzoli’s is only about the best braai (barbeque) restaurant known to man! My parents, myself, and a group from the house all headed to Gugulethu, the township in which Mzoli’s is located, around noon. We went into the butchery and picked out R190 ($25) worth of meat for 6 people (enough meat to feed atleast 8-10 people though). We went across the street to a shebeen where we got Black Labels and then sat and waited for our food to be read. I do not know which is better, the food at Mzoli’s or the atmosphere. Dad was awestruck at the hundreds of people, many of them singing and dancing to the DJ. Many hawkers walk around trying to sell products made out of recycled materials. Once we had gotten our food about an hour later, I could only assume Mom and Dad’s surprise as we all dug into the single bowl of meat with our hands.
Mzoli’s is an all-afternoon event, as we didn’t return home until after 4. We spent some time resting and cleaning up before we went down to the Waterfront in search of the perfect t-shirt for Grandpa K. We walked around the Waterfront for a while before getting dinner at Quay Four, where I ordered off of the children’s menu because I was still so full from lunch! We called it an early night after dinner to rest up for Monday! (And so I could finish a paper due the next day!)
Monday 5 October 2009
First thing Monday, Mom, Dad and I walked over to Car Mania to rent a car. We got a semi late start to our afternoon, but by 12 we were headed to Stellenbosch for wine tastings! However, we somehow missed Stellenbosch, which we later found out that we had only missed it by a single turn. We continued onto Franschhoek where we got lunch at a café and studied a map of the area. We had no idea the difference between any of the wineries so Dad had based his decision off of the fact that he liked the name “Rickety Bridge” – so we decided to ask the waitress for two good wineries. To our surprise she told us to visit Rickety Bridge and Moreson’s. We started at Rickety Bridge, where we were only able to do a wine tasting. We moved onto Moreson’s where we began our wine tastings. Dad asked a question about the carbonation in the wine and it sparked a one hour personal tour of the winery. It was amazing as we were able to see everything from the grapes starting to grow on the vines, to the machines in which they crush the grapes, the machines they blend the wines and the wooden barrels to the bottling and labeling system and much more! It was so interesting!
We decided to go find Stellenbosch, which we were successful in, bought a map and gave ourselves a walking tour of the town. We didn’t want to be driving in the dark (as it was interesting enough having dad drive a small car, on the other side of the car and the other side of the road). Not to mention the turn signal stick was on the other side as well so we saw a lot of the windshield wipers on Monday and Tuesday!
When we got home, we decided to go to Camps Bay for dinner to the Cod Father- we may or may have not have gotten a little bit lost, but I will say that we chose to take a longer route to show Mom and Dad more of Cape Town (: The Cod Father was delicious and is the restaurant that is tied for my favorite meal in Cape town with Saturday’s meal.
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Tuesday was a very big day! We woke up early with plenty of time to get to Robben Island (thank goodness for reasons not to mention, otherwise my dad might disown me!) but we did in fact make it to the Waterfront in time to catch the ferry to Robben Island! We took a tour with a former prisoner on R.I. and he even showed us the D and F blocks, which I was not shown on my first tour there. We did not get back until around 12:30 so we headed straight to Simon’s Town to see the penguins!
We went to lunch at a restaurant on the waterfront of a harbor, which was beautiful! Afterwards we hit Boulder’s Beach and were able to see the penguins!! The penguins were molting so there were feathers everywhere and there were a lot of ignorant people poking at the penguins and dangling scarves in front of them. Not very smart! Unfortunately we only spent a little bit of time at Simon’s Town because we had to get going to Cape Point!
Some roommates informed me that on the drive to Cape Point there are a lot of baboons, so I wanted this to be a surprise for mom and dad. However, dad saw a “Warning: baboons are wild and dangerous, do not feed them” sign before we actually saw baboons. But I think dad was the most surprised when we first passed baboons on the road! There were baboons sitting on the guardrails and running down the road- dad was thoroughly amused!! He was also very paranoid and made sure there was not a single gap in our windows open (: After stopping to take some pictures of all of the baboons, we were back on our journey to Cape Point!
Not knowing that Cape Point was a part of the Table Mountain National Park, we were surprised when we reached the park gates. We had to drive through the park for quite a while before reaching anything- our first stop was the Diaz Monument. We were a little short on time so next we went to the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern point of the continent of Africa! After taking a little look around there, we went to Cape Point and took the cable car up to the lighthouse and looked out over the park. It was absolutely beautiful (: Unfortunately, that is about all of the time we were able to spend in the park as closing time was nearing, and we certainly did not want to spend the R500 fee for exiting the park late!
We drove back to Cape Town and went to dinner in Camps Bay again (not to a very good restaurant unfortunately!). I was sad that my last day with my parents had to come to an end, but they needed to pack and had to be up early for their flight the next day ):
Wednesday 7 October 2009
I’m not going to even write about Wednesday because I was so sad to have to say goodbye to my parents again. At least I know that I will see them again in less time than I just had to wait. I just have to get through writing my exams first!!
I love you all very much, and cannot wait to see you all again!!! I cannot believe that so much of my time has already passed since I’ve been in Cape Town! I’ll be home in 47 days, unbelievable!
Spring has hit Cape Town!
Even though spring was supposed to start almost a month ago, today officially feels like spring has hit Cape Town! I woke up this morning and went for a run with Rose and Theresa (yes, you read correctly – I, Kelly Obrochta, exercised!). After our morning run, I sat outside in the backyard to relax. Most people in the house were not awake yet so there was no talking or yelling, and I just sat and listened to the sounds of Observatory. I propped up my feet, closed my eyes, and listened to the faint sounds of dogs barking (it seems that almost everyone in Obz owns at least 2 dogs), trains going by, and cars driving past. I was so relaxed that I actually fell asleep for almost an hour! Unfortunately, I realized that I couldn’t sit there all day so I got up and was productive (in some senses of the word) and showered and went grocery shopping. Best buy of the day: more lettuce to accompany the Olive Garden salad dressing that the best mom in the world sent me!
I’m now at school, waiting for my class to start in a few hours so I thought I should write the well past due blog I owe everyone at home! Not a whole lot has happened since my last blog, as it seems the only exciting things to write about are a few of the speakers we have heard from and our weekend in Hermanus.
Speakers
For our Theology of Reconciliation and Forgiveness class we have been hearing from numerous influential speakers. In the past few weeks, we have heard from Frank van de Velde, former mayor of Cape Town, Mary Burton, former council member of the TRC and member of the Black Sash, and Molly Blank, producer of the documentary “Testing Hope”.
We heard from Frank van de Velde almost a month ago, and he mainly discussed issues of local government. Which I am sorry to disappoint all of you, but politics are just way too boring for me to remember all the details! However, I do remember a good story he told us about the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison! Frank van de Velde was vice mayor (or something of the sort) and because the current mayor was out of town on the day of Mandela’s release, van de Velde was in charge of the whole operation. He talked of the difficulty of actually getting Mandela to the old City Hall building where he was to give his speech because of the mobs of people that had been waiting in the Grande Parade for hours. It took several hours to contact Mandela and devise a way to get him there safely, which actually resulted in Mandela being driven up a one way street, the wrong way, and snuck through a back door. Quite sneaky if you ask me!
Mary Burton’s speech was very interesting to me. She was on the council of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and heard the stories of events that happened during apartheid. She was on the board that heard stories of killings, disappearances, torture and severe injuries. Overall, of the 7000 that were tried, only about 2000 were granted amnesty. In reading John de Gruchy’s book and having gone on retreat with him already (which I will write about soon!) I had only thought about the TRC in what effect it had on South Africa. However, hearing from Burton gave me an entirely new perspective on the TRC. She talked of how the stories affected not only the council members, but the translators as well. As some of you may know, South Africa has 11 official languages and many translators were needed for the commission. When the oppressors would tell their stories, the translators would have relay their stories and describe the horrendous events in first person. I have read and learned a lot about the TRC recently, but never did I imagine the effect it had on people like Burton.
Lastly, we heard from Molly Blank this past Friday! Blank produced the South African documentary “Testing Hope”. The film is about 4 students who are going through Matric, which is equivalent to senior year of high school and having taking the ACT’s. All Grade 12 students across the country take the same standardized test, in English – imagine all the problems in this aspect alone! The four students that Molly documented were all from Nyanga, a township outside of Cape Town, and they all attended the same high school. I half expected the film to contain many stereotypes about the schools here, however, I found myself saying things like “I’ve seen that” and “that actually does happen” throughout the entire film. In the end, the four students were part of 60% of their class that did pass Matric. When we asked Blank where the students were today, we discovered that only one of the four was doing well. The one who continued on in her education now attends UWC (the same school I go to!) and the other three have not continued on in their education for numerous reason: one girl’s family could not afford to send her to school (but is hopefully receiving a scholarship from a local bank), one boy quit school and is currently unemployed, and unfortunately the other boy died in a gang related shooting shortly after finishing Matric. Sadly enough, these are the realities that so many students face in South Africa. I was very happy to be able to speak with Blank after seeing the documentary and hear more about her experience in the schools here.
So those are the few speakers we have heard from recently, and while my mom and dad are here (ON FRIDAY!) we will hear from Sindiwe Magona, writer of the novel and play “Mother to Mother.”
Hermanus & Volmoed
On an entirely different note-
A little over two weeks ago now, we all took a weekend trip down to Hermanus for a retreat. We stayed at a place called Volmoed, where we met with author John de Gruchy. Thanks to Grandpa’s help a few months ago, I was inspired in the days before the trip to actually finish his book, which definitely worked in my favor throughout the weekend! We met with de Gruchy 5 times throughout the weekend for an hour and a half each, to discuss any questions we had relating to religion, reconciliation or the TRC. In the meantime, we were able to explore Volmoed and we went into the city of Hermanus a couple times as well!
In Hermanus we were able to walk around the downtown area where there were many shops and restaurants. We were able to explore the waterfront market from which we were able to see whales in the harbour! Yes, whales! From where we were we could see water shooting from the blowholes and tails in the air, but we mostly saw many large black blobs. (Like the one below!)
However, my favorite part of the entire weekend was that Saturday night many of us were up late and huddled around a fire. We were far away from any big city so we were able to see a countless number of stars (even exceeding what we see at the cabin!), which was obviously just absolutely beautiful. It was pretty chilly outside so we were all wrapped up in as many blankets as we could find and we began playing “truth or dare” without the “dare” aspect. The game somehow evolved into an affirmation circle (which took me back to my Snowball days and made me miss it greatly). Nevertheless, it was wonderful to hear such nice things being said from our roommates to each other as there is a lot amount of mean joking that goes around in our house (which is all in good fun of course!). After nearly four hours of affirmations, a few of us decided to sleep outside and we slept underneath a blanket of stars (and about 20 actual blankets). It was definitely the highlight of the weekend.
A Day in Philippi
Lastly—
I was invited over to my Grade 1 teacher’s home from Thembani Primary School and spent the day with her and her family in Philippi. Phillipi is a township, however, my teacher lives in a very nice, practically brand-new house. The name of her neighborhood means “Stand up and do something [for yourself]” which definitely explains why the homes in her neighborhood are so nice. Her family owns a 4-bedroom home, complete with a kitchen, 1 bathroom, and a family room. Unfortunately, a 4-bedroom home still is a little tight of spacing for all of the people living in her house; her 20 year old son occupies his own bedroom, her 13 year old daughter and niece share a queen bed in one bedroom, her and her husband occupy another, and lastly, her twin 9-year old boys share a twin bed in the last remaining bedroom.
Her family was nice enough to take me in for the day and we discussed many different topics. Her daughter knows so much about American culture, and even knew some things about celebrities that I didn’t know! Mandi (my teacher) prepared an African meal for me: chicken with samp and beans. I should clarify however that the chicken we ate was one that she had killed the day prior, along with 35 others that she killed and plucked to sell to friends and neighbors. Her daughter even persuaded me to try part of the chicken head, which surprisingly tasted good. However, my stomach was not happy with me the rest of that day or the next! Yoh, did I not feel good at all! However, she found it very funny as the first thing she said to me that next Wednesday was that she thought of me all Sunday and how badly my stomach was probably hurting me- thank you Mandi!
I had a great day with Mandi and her family, and I expect to see so much more of them while I’m here. Her son has actually came and visited me in Obz already, and we are currently planning a date in which her daughter can come spend the day with me!
That’s about all I have for now, as I should have been writing a paper this entire time, but instead I thought I would update all of you back home (: I will have to write again very soon as I will have SO much to tell from when my parents are here!!!!! According to what is on our agenda for the week (or fun-genda as I like to call it), there will be lots to write about! I hope all is well at home and I miss you all dearly!
Lauren: feel better!!! Remember, you are totally allowed to be babied right now! Use it to your advantage! (:
I love and miss you all so much!
Phila Ngokupheleleyo
Mid-Semester Trip
On 28 August eleven of my housemates and I began our mid-semester trip! We left Cape Town Friday morning where we traveled to Nature’s Valley where we were booked at Wild Spirit Backpacker Lodge. The backpacker was more or less in the middle of nowhere, which of course meant it was absolutely beautiful there. The lodge is placed between serene hills and mountains, complete with a waterfall within walking distance. There were also free tours to a gorge where we were able to watch the sunset tours and then we would come back to the backpacker afterwards for fireside talks.
It was a wonderful beginning to our trip and got many of us extremely excited to continue on our adventure. However, before we were to leave Wild Spirit, we were to bungy jump on Saturday!
When we woke up on Saturday, the group was oddly quiet as we were all full of nerves. Luckily our transport to the bungy site had the Grease soundtrack so we were able to sing along and forget about the fact we were to bungy jump off of the world’s highest commercial bungy jump bridge in a matter of minutes! When we got to the bungy site on Bloukran’s River Bridge, we were taken through all of the safety measures, put on our harnesses, and went over to the bridge. A few of us, including myself, decided to zip line over to the bridge (A. I thought it would be a good warm up for what was to come, and B. because I didn’t want to walk the catwalk- the walk to the bridge required walking the entire way to the middle over a grate. No thank you!) The zip line was a lot of fun, yet scarier than I thought it would be! By the time I had ziplined to the bridge, one person had already jumped, and another was standing with his toes over the edge. Everyone was so nervous, yet so excited, and there was energy flowing through everyone. I watched person after person jump until it was finally my turn, 4th from last. The Face Adrenaline staff member was talking to me as he tied up my feet, explaining to me that the cord I was attached to could hold up to 3 tons (which was surprisingly only a little comforting). Before I knew it there were two men helping me hop my way to the edge of the bridge and I took a big breath before they yelled “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 BUNGY!” and I just jumped straight off of the bridge without hesitation.
My first thought as I was free falling I kept thinking that I can’t believe I actually just bungy jumped. My second thought was that of “isn’t this rope supposed to be catching sometime soon?!” The free fall off of the bridge lasted a very long 5 seconds, and then there were 2 more large recoils, and many little ones, before a staff member repelled down to retrieve us brought me back up. Bungy jumping was the most exhilarating feeling in the entire world and I still cannot believe I did it! No worries Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and Chris – I am alive and not hurt!
After bungying we continued our Baz Bus tour onto Port Elizabeth, where we unfortunately only spent the night. We didn’t do much there and left again early in the morning for our next drive to Cinsta. In Cinsta we stayed at the most amazing backpacker, Buccaneers Backpackers, right off of the ocean. The weather was perfect so we put on our suits and headed down to the beach where we soaked up the sun for a few hours. We all showered up, and sat on the beach with a few drinks before dinner.
Everyone but one other housemate and I enjoyed the bar at the backpacker after dinner, but it had been a long day so I opted out! Before leaving for Durban that afternoon a few of us played a few friendly games of sand volleyball- its been a long while, but just as fun as it used to be!
We got to Nomad’s Backpackers right after dinnertime, and unfortunately at the height of the terrible cold I had just come down with! I was so miserable, and without any medicine to make me feel better so Monday night was a very early one for me. On Tuesday we had the pleasure of driving to a Zulu village in the remote area of Emaphepheteni where we learned all about the traditional customs of the Zulu people. When we first arrived at our host’s home, Thami and Nokulunga showed us around the different buildings that made up the home – 2 round rooms (one used for cooking and the other a master bedroom/family room), and numerous other small rooms that function as bedrooms (most of them without the beds). We then walked down to the river where we learned about the old marriage customs. In the olden days, boys would follow the girls down to the river where they would propose to them. If the woman accepts, she would make the boy a bracelet from reeds (which we did!) and then the boy would begin preparing for the 4 gifts he has to provide the girl with. The first gift is money, usually around R1000 (~$800), the second gift being 2 goats, the third anything that the family of the bride asks for, and the fourth 10-11 cows. If the girl is a virgin, then the father receives 10 cows and the mother receives 1 cow, but if she is not a virgin that means the mother has failed to do her duties and the father receives 10 cows and the mother none.
After the river, we walked to a traditional healers home where we learned about how one becomes a Sangoma (healer) and what/how they practice today. Their ancestors call Sangomas to be a healer and if they are called, they have no choice but to accept. Today, Sangomas usually deal more with emotional issues than colds and flus and things of the sort, as modern medicine is used throughout the village for those illnesses. We only spent a little time with the Sangoma as we were to be back at our host family’s house for a traditional Zulu meal (delicious!!) along with Zulu dancing. Spending time in the Zulu village was phenomenal and very eye opening. It was definitely one of my favorite memories from being here so far!
The next day many of us spent at the Indian Market (where pretty much everyone’s Christmas gifts are from this year!) before flying to Johannesburg that afternoon. We were booked at a hotel in Jo’burg, which made us all feel extremely pampered! However, Jo’burg after dark is not recommended so we had yet another night in (we had TVs with more than 4 channels though so we were excited!). The next day was an extremely busy one though- We left the hotel early the next morning on a journey to Soweto (short for South Western Townships) where we toured the city for a few hours. We visited the Regina Mundi Church, a place where blacks would meet during apartheid to discuss political matters. During apartheid, it was illegal for more than 2 blacks to meet in a public place, so all political meetings were held in a church where they where it was legal for them to be – except it was not safe at all. During our visit to the church, we were showed the bullet holes that remained in the ceiling and the old plexi glass windows that had bullet holes in them. The corner of the marble alter was also still broken because a police officer was hitting it with the butt of his gun over and over. I was very happy that they had kept some of the brokenness of the church because we saw so much that told the story of the church and how life was during apartheid a short 15 years ago.
Also in Soweto we saw the current homes of Winnie Mandela and Desmond Tutu and the former home of Nelson Mandela. We toured Nelson Mandela’s old home on 8115 Vilakazi St. Orlando West, Soweto – the home he talks so highly of in his autobiography. Again, it is truly amazing the amount of activities and places we have seen on this trip. After Soweto, we travelled to the Apartheid Museum where we were given a few short hours (definitely not enough time though) to walk through. Going through the museum was very emotionally draining as we read story after story, saw picture after picture, watched movie after movie, of how inhumanely blacks were treated in this country. It disgusted me to think that some of the things that I saw in that museum happened throughout my life time- how did people not know better?! As if the Apartheid Museum was not draining enough, we then went to Constitution Hill where we toured the former Old Fort prison that held many political prisoners including Nelson Mandela and Ghandi. Prisoners were packed into rooms that often held three times the amount of prisoners than it was supposed to. They also were forced to eat watching other prisoners use the “toilet” (hole in the ground) and shower in groups of hundreds with only a few showerheads and cold water. There was a quote going into the old prison that tells a lot about the history-
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones – and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals.” – Nelson Mandela
After touring the rest of the old prison we were given a tour of the new Constitutional Court building. We went to Buli’s (Melikaya’s girlfriend) apartment for a fabulous dinner that night and I called it an early night because we would be driving to Kruger National Park the next day!!
Kruger was definitely one of the most fun activities I have ever done! We drove through parts of the park Friday night, all Saturday, and Sunday morning in our open safari vehicles. Our guide, Marcus, was phenomenal!
We had 6 people per car and we were always competing to see who could see more animals and Marcus and Werner were always joking around. We saw so many animals, including 4 of the Big 5! (The other car saw all 5, so they won on that challenge!) We saw impalas, giraffes, white rhinos, elephants, cape buffalos, kudus, zebras, crocodiles, warthogs, fish eagles, vultures, lilac breasted rollers (my favorite bird ever!), monkeys (which I do not like anymore), a lion, and wild African hunting dogs! I strongly encourage all of you at home to convince my parents that it is imperative that I go back with them when they go to Kruger!!!! It is certainly one of my absolute favorite things that I have done on this entire trip! We were also well catered to as the owners of the Solitare Safari company we were with put on a braai each night!! I cannot wait to go back to Kruger (hopefully sometime rather than later in my lifetime!) again. Sadly enough, our vacation ended at 13:00 on Sunday as that was when our plane took off from the airport back to Cape Town. Although, it was so good to be “home” again after being gone for 10 days!
There are more pictures up on Facebook from my entire trip in albums titled “You deliberately disobeyed me!” (from the Lion King, which we quoted and sang songs from all throughout our safari) and “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Bungy!”.
I miss you all so much at home!!!! Mom and dad- only 25 days until you come to South Africa!!!! I’m so incredibly excited (: Ndiya kuthanda!
Service Sites!
[The text below is a journal entry that I wrote this past Thursday while at Thembani Primary School.]
Last week I began working at my new service site, Thembani Primary School. I was placed in a Grade 1 class and was very excited, as this would be a strong contrast to my Grade 9 students at Langa High School. As I walked behind the Grade 1 teacher to class, I felt like there were eyes on me with every step I took. Sure enough, as I looked around I saw many 6, 7 and 8 year olds eyes watching me with awe as a new, not to mention white, person walked through their black township school. Many children smiled, waved and came up to me to hug my side. Others whispered to their friends with faint giggles after a comment that I was sure not to understand because of the language barrier. I walked into the Grade 1 class with all of the students already seated in their small chairs as they recited “hello teacher” in unison. After the teacher said hello to her students, she explained to them in Xhosa who I was. I was given a desk in the back of the classroom (luckily mine was larger than the rest of the class’s), and I took out my notebook to write down my observations. I wrote down mostly information about the class setting and interactions between the teacher and students. However, I felt as if I was in Grade 1 all over again because at this age, the students know very few words in English. As it came time for maths, I was surprised to hear that the students counted in English – they were reciting their numbers in English up to 100, even counting by 10’s, 5’s, and 2’s. What I was even more surprised to hear was that when they recited their numbers in Xhosa, they seemed to have more difficulty and only counted to 30. My time in the classroom that day provided me with the opportunity to learn how to count to 5 in Xhosa (inye, zimbini, zintathu, zine, zintlanu), but I’m scared to learn how to count to 10 because the number 7 is pronounced with 2 clicks! The teacher put simple math problems on the board like 8 – 6 = __ and the students took out their numeracy work books and copied down the problems written on the board. When they finished, I was surprised to find that the students were coming up to me to check their work! With something as simple as subtraction, one would think that it would be easy to explain where they went wrong in their work – but try explaining why 8 – 6 does not equal 4 to a six year old who does not speak English! Even though it was tough at first, I was pleasantly surprised to discover how much this will eventually help me as a future teacher – even when I may be speaking English to an English speaking student, they may have no idea what I am saying to them. Therefore, I will have to find a different way to explain the topic at hand in another way. I found their way of counting on their fingers, by touching each finger to their mouth to rote count, to be very helpful. The students would hold up 8 fingers and susa (subtract) 6, put those 6 fingers down, then touch their 2 remaining fingers to their mouth to discover that 8 susa 6 equals 2. I used this method to describe subtraction to the majority of the students, and when some still did not understand, we would use soda bottle caps to count. The rest of the day was spent on Xhosa, and when the students would come to me to check their work just as I had for maths, all I could find myself doing was point to their teacher because saying “go show your teacher” was pointless. I left Thembani at half past 12 in order to to get to loveLife in time for my class at Langa High School.
After such a good morning at Thembani, my spirits were high as I walked the very short 30-meter walk to loveLife. I was excited to get going to my class as I hadn’t been there in a week. As usual, getting the materials and everyone ready to go to school took a little bit of work. We ended up leaving loveLife at 13:15, getting there at 13:30, and finding the class 20 minutes later. When I began the class, students were not only not listening, but laughing and singing throughout my instructions. KC, the loveLife director, stepped in and began to lecture the students on their lack of respect. The students continued their behavior even through KC’s talk and he became very angry. He began a speech that consisted of statements like, “I am going to be frank with you guys, this is why you are f***ing up,” “you don’t appreciate something when it is given to you for free,” and “this is why the white still rule over us and the Indian are still smarter than us.” At that moment my spirits dropped so low that there might as well have been a huge crater right below me in the cement floor of the scarcely supplied library. Here was KC, who was very generously trying to help me, yet he was lecturing the class on being below the whites – even though the point of his lecture was to tell the class to listen to me, one of the only white faces for kilometers around! It’s very difficult to work in a black township and forget that you are white – however, I had begun to feel that sense of ubuntu that is so constantly talked about until that moment. When KC sat down and gave the class back over to me, they began acting the exact same as they had before. I gave the students directions for their homework assignment and dismissed them. Even though I assigned the students homework, that was my last time in that classroom. For weeks, people at loveLife have all seemed very surprised when I told them I was working in the notorious 9C class at Langa High, and it was never a good surprise. Boyce, KC and I all agreed that day that I should not be working in that class, where I clearly was not reaching through to the students.
This Saturday I discussed my work at loveLife in length with Thuli, the woman I coordinate Ilizwi Young Women Empowerment Programme with, and we both decided that I would make more of a difference working around loveLife than I would at Langa High School. I discussed my plans with Melikaya and he to supported my decision – if I was to be able to offer any administrative assistance to loveLife to get the centre up and running to the lively and populated place it was a few short years ago, that would be a much greater contribution. I relayed the conversations that I had with Thuli and Melikaya to KC and he also agreed. We decided that I would be spending the whole school day at Thembani, with my Grade 1 and new Grade 7 classes.
I have now been in my Grade 7 class for a few hours today, and it has been quite the experience. When I entered the class during reading this morning, Mr. Geca told me I would be teaching Life Orientation in his class, which would start in 15 minutes. Having just walked into the classroom 10 minutes prior, I broke out into a small panic – I had no idea whether or not they worked out of a book or what they had even been discussing lately! I quickly explained to Mr. Geca that I would like to observe today and begin teaching next week, which he thought was a good idea. After reading, another teacher came in for Life Orientation and they discussed ubuntu. The next class on the timetable was English, however the English teacher did not show up until half way through the class. She taught through the class time and into the next, leaving sporadically for 10 minutes at a time which meant the students were not doing their work and would just talk until she came back. I was told this morning at the staff meeting that many teachers were absent, however I was still surprised when the maths teacher did not show, and no one showed in his place. I am even more surprised because the students are still sitting here because their art teacher has also not showed. The lunch lady just came in and said it was time for their hot lunch, so the students spent most of their art class eating their rice and meat anyways. Meanwhile, I decided to snack on a bag of raisins I had brought, one I was sure that was going to last me a few days. Then a young lady from the class offered that I try some of her lunch. Knowing that it is rude in the Xhosa culture to decline food that one is offered, I tried her rice. Although not bad at first, the taste that was left in my mouth from whatever meat, of who knows what part of the animal I ate, left a smell resonating in my mouth. I waited a few minutes to eat a few more raisins so I would not offend the students (as they had all watched me try their food), and as soon as I ate a few, one of the girls asked if she could have some. Sharing is also a large part of Xhosa culture – the raisins I had paid for and brought were just as much mine as they were the rest of the class. Soon enough, after taking my bag of raisins, which I had only had a few handfuls from, around the entire classroom, they were all gone! Even though only 1 girl had shared her lunch with me, ubuntu means that I share with everyone.
Meanings of ubuntu:
- I am because we are
- We exist because of other people
- There is room for every culture, race, language and point of view
- All people should be treated with respect and dignity
- We must all care for each other and respect each other
- The human race is a family, and there is room for everyone
- The good of the community is more important that the good of the individual
All of the reasons above, especially the latter, are why I must buy more raisins when I go to the store next (also why I will be waiting until I get to loveLife to eat my PB&J!)
Luckily, the Natural Sciences teacher has showed and the class is working silently on board work and I have just finished a book “Khayelitsa: uMlungu in a Township.” Although it is not the best written or an award winning novel, it is one of the most true stories I have every read. uMlungu, meaning white boy, talks about his life living in a township in the Western Cape. The book was very interesting, and I am going to have to find a new SA novel soon, that or work on a term paper due next week, but the former sounds more enjoyable!
Update: the Natural Science teacher put problems on the board, left, and never came back to discuss them with the students. Also, no teachers ever showed for Maths, Social Science, Arts, or Afrikaans classes today – which is sad because the Mr. Geca, the teacher that belongs in that classroom, was supposed to teach their Social Science and Afrikaans class and he never even came back to his own class!
Soccer!
We thought that going to the Springbok rugby game was cheap (R125 ~ $15.50) but this weekend we got Cape Town versus Durban soccer tickets for R20 ($2.50)!! So, Saturday we headed back to Newlands to the same stadium as the week prior and we watched the Cape Town Ajax take on the Durban Kaizer Chiefs. From the moment we hopped off of the combi we could tell that this game was going to be different than the rugby game – fans were running into the stadium decked out in their respective team’s gear (seemingly more Chiefs than Ajax) who were blowing on plastic horns and cheering. As we entered the premises of the stadium we too began break into a slow run as that is what the momentum of the crowd forced us to do. When we entered the stadium we could tell automatically how different the demographics of the soccer game were going to be compared to the rugby game. At the rugby game we were surrounded by very excited, yet very well behaved individuals who would clap and cheer when their team scored. Here, the game had not even begun and you think that each person was acting as if his or her team had just won the championship game. Not to mention the smell of marijuana that consumed the air everywhere we went. As a group of 11 white students, we stuck out considerably from the rest of the black crowd. However, besides the few comments of “where are you guys from?” people kept their minds strictly on the game to come. As the players stepped out onto the field the crowds erupted! The fans waved flags while cheering and those that had plastic horns began to play a song – one person as the leader and the rest seemed to follow by adding a few hoots in their respective places. Everyone in the crowd was cheering and dancing throughout the entire first half. As half time came and the score was still 0-0, I thought that the crowds would use this opportunity to rest and settle down some (or so I had hoped, I was getting very tired!) but they continued cheering and playing music on their horns straight on through half time. We had jumped on the Kaizer Chiefs bandwagon because there seemed to be more of their fans that the others (and because we were surrounded by Kaizer Chiefs fans) so we were very upset when the Ajax scored on a penalty shot early in the second half. Many fans were very upset about the goal (and numerous other happenings on the field that they deemed were not okay) and began throwing Coke bottles onto the field. I was waiting for the line of security guards dressed in their lime green vests that were stationed along the sidelines to enter the stands and kick someone out of the game (as would happen at any game in the States) but they just stood there – they didn’t even remove the Coke bottles from the field! When the ball was kicked in the direction of the coke bottles the players would simply run around them! As the last few minutes of the game came to an end, with the score still in favor of the Ajax, the crowd got even more rowdy. They began ripping the seats that were screwed down onto a block of cement off and throwing them onto the field! Needless to say the fans were not happy about the outcome of the game, and we decided this was about the time in which we should leave. However, as quickly as the fans anger seemed to have come, it passed in that same short period of time. By the time the fans exited the stadium they were back to cheering, yelling, and blowing their horns as if it was the Chiefs who had won- what can I say, they love their soccer! Perhaps next time we should do our research on the teams before just jumping on a bandwagon!
Women’s Day Weekend!
Linda Biehl and Ntobeko Peni
On Friday we were given the opportunity to speak with Linda Biehl and Ntobeko Peni. Linda Biehl was the mother of Amy Biehl, a Fulbright Scholar from the United States who came to South Africa in 1993 and studied at the studied University of the Western Cape (the university I now attend). On 25 August 1993, Amy was driving a friend home in the township of Gugulethu when she was pulled from her car and stoned and stabbed to death by four men. Ntobeko Peni was one of the four who participated in her murder. Ntobeko and the other men were all tried and convicted of her murder but were later granted amnesty under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1998. Ntobeko now is an employee of the Amy Biehl Foundation here in Cape Town and he has a wonderful relationship with Amy’s mother.
When I first heard Amy’s story, I could not understand how Linda could reconcile with Ntobeko. However after hearing Ntobeko’s life story, I left feeling like there must have been no choice but for Linda to reconcile with him.
Ntobeko grew up in Gugulethu and had an extremely rough childhood. Growing up in apartheid meant he experienced events that many of us cannot even imagine. He told us that it was always crucial as a young student to carry a tin of vasaline with you at all times because police officers would storm the schools with gas bombs, and it was necessary to have vasaline to apply to your face otherwise the bombs could severely burn your skin. He said that the children who came to school without a lunchbox would often trade food for a tin of vasaline just incase the police came that day. The events of his childhood led him to join the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and he described his childhood as “student by day, militant by night.” He said that as a member of the PAC, his goal was to try to take away the benefits that whites enjoyed and that blacks could not. He lived by the PACs 3 S’s: serve, suffer and sacrifice. He fulfilled the concept of serve, suffer and sacrifice during Operation Great Storm- the operation in which Amy’s death occurred. He thought he had served his political party, and suffered and sacrificed when he was convicted of her murder. However, it was during the TRC trials when Ntobeko listened to Amy’s parents discuss her activities and involvement in fighting for black rights that made him realize exactly what he had done. He even said, “forgiveness is one thing, but reconciliation takes work” but it was Linda who said, “People ask how can you [reconcile with him]? But I look at it as how could I not?” Ntobeko says that he now lives by new S’s: silence, surprise and survive.
Through Linda and Ntobeko’s story, I have found myself questioning all of the mindless arguments I have had with people over my lifetime. Amy’s murder is of a much higher caliber than any petty situation I have experienced and if Linda and Ntobeko can reconcile, why cannot the rest of us? We should all learn from their situation and see that great things can come of forgiveness and reconciliation, just as Ntobeko’s life turned around after being granted amnesty.
Once again, Marquette has offered us with another amazing opportunity to meet even more influential people and I think many of us are changing with each and every person we meet!
Lion’s Head
After meeting with Linda and Ntobeko we all hustled home and changed our clothes for an evening hike! Lion’s Head is among the easier and shorter hikes and we were told that it is very popular to do at sunset- so that’s what we did! The hike was much easier than Table Mountain, however it did involve some ladders and chains at some points! I wish there was a better way to describe the site we saw when we reached the top than saying that it was beautiful because I feel like I use that word so much, but I think that it is just because Cape Town has too many beautiful places! We reached the top right as the sun was setting and we all sat on the rocks as the sun disappeared behind the ocean’s horizon. After watching the sun set, we went and sat on the other side of Lion’s Head and watched as all of the city lights turned on- one of my absolute favorite memories of Cape Town thus far! It was so incredibly beautiful!!! We sat on the top of the mountain for a while before realizing that the sky was pretty cloudy and the moon had not yet come out. With a little anxiety we decided to head down the mountain just incase the moon hid behind the clouds for too long. Luckily the moon did make its appearance and lit the night sky and allowed us to hike down Lion’s Head safely. The hike will certainly need to be repeated in the near future!
Go Springboks!
On Saturday the majority of us went to the South Africa versus Australia rugby game! A couple people in the house had invited friends to come over before the game so we spent some time at our house before walking to Mowbray to another friend’s house. We then took a combi to Newlands where the game was. We had purchased standing room tickets for very cheap (R125 or $15.60) and ended up getting very good spots by the second half! We were front row (of what would be a football field’s end zone) and were able to cheer on the Springboks with the rest of the sold out crowd! The atmosphere was crazy and very fun, which made up for the fact that I do not understand rugby rules at all! In the end, South Africa beat Australia 29-17!!!
Happy Women’s Day! [Muizenberg]
After an eventful Saturday, we decided to have a relaxing rest of our long weekend! On Sunday morning we all hopped on the metrorail and headed to Muizenberg for the day/night. When we got to Muizenberg we checked in at Amberley Traveller’s Lodge – a very cozy home right inbetween the mountains and the ocean! We quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed to the beach. The majority of the group, all but Cate and I, rented surfboards for the day and proceeded to attempt surfing for a few hours (an activity I plan to save for warmer weather and certainly warmer water!). Instead, Cate and I decided to check out a very large market in Muizenberg that they hold every Sunday. The market was only a short walk from the beach and I think I could have gotten more lost in the market than finding my way there! There were vendors with electronics, beadwork, clothing, and other miscellaneous items that seemed to go on and on! I bought a few presents for some of you back home (: and a beautiful handmade bracelet from a Brazilian woman for myself. After the market we met the rest of the group back on the beach where everyone was just finishing up surfing (some of them were successful and standing up by the end!). We went back to Amberely so everyone could shower before we went to dinner. We decided to go to Kalk Bay where Ryan and I had previously seen restaurants on the waterfront when we went to Simon’s Town two weeks ago. We split into two groups and went to different restaurants- the group I was with went to the Brass Bell and we had a delicious fish and chips dinner! We were sitting at the table after dinner and Ryan suggested that we try and catch the last train at 7:10, and so Mary pulled out her phone and told us the time was 7:11. So naturally we sprinted out of the restaurant (don’t worry, we had already paid) and we actually made it upstairs in time to get on the train! We went back to Amberely and played Rummikub (Grandma we apparently need to read the rules because there are some that we do not adhere to!) but I still won a game! We then discovered that there was a room upstairs that had a TV with almost 50 channels! Which is a big step up from our 4 in the house! We watched some David Letterman (it made me miss you even more mom!) and Gilmore Girls (which made me miss mom and Chris for always making fun of it!). All in all we had a very fun night (: Unfortunately, when we woke up Monday morning it was cold and rainy so we decided that we would go to breakfast then head back to Obs early.
Unfortunately, there are more strikes occurring in the area and therefore those of us that work in the townships will not be able to go to our sites tomorrow. It is supposed to rain, so we may go to the aquarium, but if it doesn’t we will be hiking!
I’ve been looking at pictures from home and missing you all dearly! I love you all very much!!!
I’m never washing my hand again!!
Today I was very blessed as to have been able to attend a service at St. George’s Cathedral where I met Anglican Archbishop Emeritus and Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu! Desmond Tutu performed the service and unfortunately there is very little I can recal about the actual readings. Apparently standing a few feet away from Desmond Tutu strays your attention else where!
The highlights of the service:
- Desmond Tutu wanted to know where all of the visitors were from, and even asked us what our names were (but someone called out that we would be there all day if we did that)
- When giving peace, Desmond Tutu came around to everyone and shook their hands. Unfortunately, he was not able to reach down the line to shake Kimmy and Liz’s hands. He pondered what to do for a moment then threw up his hands and said “oopsies!”. It was very funny and very, very cute. However, I believe my hygiene may be at risk as I am never washing my hand again!
- At the end of the service, he took the time to sign postcards, journals, books and things of the sort. He even took pictures with us!!
- After signing everything, we went to breakfast with him!!! We were also accompanied by his close friends, one of which was the mayor of Cape Town from 1991-1993, and the other who actually was the first doctor to see Nelson Mandela after being emancipated.
- At lunch we discovered by an article in today’s paper that Desmond Tutu can now add to his title that he has been awarded the Medal of Freedom! The article states that on August 12, President Obama will be awarding Desmond Tutu with the highest US civilian honour.
I cannot believe how blessed I am and how lucky I am to have all of these amazing opportunities. Thank you to everyone back at home who has supported me and has made all of these once-in-a-lifetime experiences happen!!!!
Adventures!
Sorry it has been so long since the last blog but I have been busy on many adventures in the past few days! Not to mention all of the classwork and such in between. However, I will continue to keep you all updated on the really fun activities (: such as river rafting, Simon’s Town and Table Mountain!
Palmiet River, Kogelberg Natural Reserve (26 July)
The Palmiet River is located in Kogelberg Natural Reserve which is about an hour from Cape Town. We were lucky enough to have our landlord, David, his wife and his friend drive us out to the Reserve for the day. When we arrived at the Reserve, it was very cold outside and we were all a little skeptical about going in the water. However, we all geared up and put on our full body wetsuits, booties, and helmets (a sight to be seen!). We were all paired into 2 man inflatable rafts and we were given a briefing about our adventure. By the time the briefing was over we were all extremely hot and could not wait to get into the water. Unfortunately we were not able to start rafting right away as we had to walk along a very narrow path through the trees for about 20 minutes (carrying rafts and all) before we were able to get into the water. When we finally made it to the river we were all very anxious to get in – that is until I was told we were going to have to practice flipping our rafts! Our guides told us that there was a very likely chance that our rafts would flip as we went down the rapids so he wanted us to know how to get back on if that was the case. Let me tell you – the water was the most cold, frigid water I have ever been in! It was not pleasant at all, especially because my wet suit was too large and let all of the freezing cold water in!
Luckily, after we practiced flipping we began our journey down the river! Our guide stopped us before each rapid and told us the name of it and where (and where not) to go as we went through it. Having this knowledge was extremely beneficial – except for when they told us the names of some of the rapids were ‘Waterfall’, ‘Judgement day’, and ‘Gates of hell’! I can successfully say that my partner and I made it through each rapid without flipping! However, my partner also thought it would be funny to flip us while we were waiting in a pool so I was oh so lucky to experience the cold water again. Fortunately, I was able to forget about how cold the water was each time we got moving again because the sites were incredibly beautiful! The Palmiet River runs through hills and mountains and there was not a single building to be seen the entire time trip! It was very serene and absolutely mind blowing with each turn we took. Some groups even used the beautiful scenery as an excuse when they accidently turned their boat backwards in saying that they “just wanted to take in the beautiful view from all angles!”.
The scenery only lasted as long as we were floating down the river, as we forgot about it as soon as we approached each rapid. Our last rapid (Judgement day) was a Class III rapid and was extremely tough! We actually had to get out of our rafts and climb up higher so we could see the whole rapid and so our guides could tell us what to do. It was by far the most fun rapid of all but meant our river rafting adventure was over. However, we had been on the river for a couple of hours and many of us were exhausted by the time we were finished anyways! We were all extremely happy to be able to take off our wetsuits and change into dry clothes also. We all stopped at a cafe to have lunch before heading on our journey home – in which nearly everyone slept the whole ride!
Simon’s Town, South Africa (28 July)
On Tuesdays I do not have class until 16:20, which (in my book) means that leaves plenty of time for adventure during the day! However, that also means that day adventures need to start very early in the morning – which was not very appealing for many of my housemates! So, only one of my housemates, Ryan, and I decided to head down to Simon’s Town to see the penguins (yes, penguins!) for the day. We caught an early train at 8:30 and it took us about an hour to get to Simon’s Town. We had no idea where we were going, but being frugal, we decided we were probably within walking distance from the beach and decided to walk instead of taking a cab. It only took us about 20 minutes to walk (through a very cute town) before we arrived at Boulders Beach! Boulders Beach is actually a National Park so we would have had to pay to actually go down on the beach. We decided to try and walk the boardwalk first to see how many penguins we would be able to see. We ended up seeing a lot from the boardwalk, but it also convinced us that we had to go down on the beach to try and see a few more! Turns out, when you go down on the beach, you are able to see hundreds more! There were penguins everywhere and I was so incredibly excited! The first part of the beach we walked on we were only able to stay on the boardwalk so we ended up walking back off the beach, walking down the boardwalk we walked in the first place, then entered the beach from a different area so we were actually able to walk on the sand. We were climbing over and under huge boulders (hence boulder beach) and I actually came within arms reach of some penguins! I had to be very secretive though as they were frightened as they saw people so I was hiding behind boulders so they would not see me!
After spending a couple hours on the beach we decided to start heading back so we had time to eat lunch before getting on the train. We ate at a small café that overlooked a marina, and they even had live traditional music! We ate as fast as we could, but we knew we were running late so we hustled over to the train station and the train was arriving right as we were within eye’s sight from it. Luckily Simon’s Town is the last stop so it stood for a few minutes and we were able to get back on before heading back to Obs.
Table Mountain –Kirstenbosch Gardens to Obs (29 July- Happy Birthday Matt!)
Unfortunately, there have been many strikes occurring through out South Africa in the past few days. Locally many service workers (such as garbage and water workers) have been demanding higher pay from the government, an increase from the offered 11.5% to 15%. As a result of a lack of response from the government, there was unruly behavior within numerous townships, such as Khayelitsha and Nyanga. The majority of the group are supposed to spend Wednesdays working at our individual service sites, but Melikaya felt it necessary to say that no one was to enter townships on Wednesday as a precaution so many of us were given the day off. Now for all of the people I may have just worried in saying that – I work in Langa, a township in which there has been no disturbance. Also, the worst of the disturbances have been people that were stoning cars, but it was mostly intoxicated people that have displayed poor behavior. Also, the worst of the strikes (some strikes occurred from reasons different than Cape Town) occurred in Jo’berg (on the other side of the country- far, far away from me!) so there is no need to worry.
All in all, this only meant one thing: another day for an adventure! The weather was not the greatest yesterday, but a few of us, Meghan, James, Ryan and myself, decided to hike a different route of Table Mountain yesterday. We took a Rikki (our driver grew up in St. Louis) to the Kirstenbosch Gardens, as we wanted to start our hike from there. The Kirstenbosch Gardens are a National Botanical Garden, meaning we had to pay (of course) to enter. We paid our entry fee and entered the beautiful Gardens, where we will have to come back to during summer when the flowers are in full bloom. The Gardens were seemingly never ending but we had gotten a late start to our day so we decided to head straight for the trails instead of walking around. We began our hike up to Skeleton Gorge, but part way up the mountain we realized that the hike may be too long and there were signs warning us saying not to climb further if there were lots of clouds at the top of the mountain, as there were. So, we decided instead to hike along the mountain, instead of up, all the way to the Rhode’s Memorial.
It was a very enjoyable hike, much more enjoyable than the first part of our hike up! We hiked for almost 4 hours before reaching Rhode’s Memorial where we were able to sit and relax while looking over Cape Town. We also took that time to enjoy our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples, and bottle of wine that we had packed – a very classy lunch! Ryan and Brian and run to Rhode’s Memorial from home a couple of days prior to our hike so we decided that we might as well finish off our day by walking home instead of taking a cab. All in all our hike from start to finish lasted about 5 hours, and left me very tired but it was of course very well worth it!
loveLife – Make your Move
Today we were given the clear to go back into the townships so I was able to go to loveLife! The first part of my day was a little rough as KC, my site manager, was not there when I arrived so I sat in the lobby for about an hour. Then I was invited into a room where I was literally sitting in a corner and everyone was speaking Xhosa so I had no idea what was going on. When KC arrived we went to Langa High to meet up with Boyce, the groundBreaker I am working with to implement the Make your Move programme. When we eventually found him he was using the same icebreakers in the classroom that I had already observed him doing on previous days in other classes. Once he was finished, he told me that he was ready to watch me implement Make your Move – and I was very taken aback! Luckily KC jumped in and informed him that I have not yet been trained and therefore could not implement today. Needless to say, my day had been pretty rough from the start!
However, my day turned right back around when we came back to the loveLife Y-Centre. KC had a talk with the groundBreakers informing them that I need to be trained in the programme, watch someone successfully implement, then I would be able to implement in my own class. I was then informed of the handbook we will be using and we were able to go back to Langa High School and I watched as a groundBreaker implemented. I now know exactly what it is that I am supposed to be doing and how to do it! I will have 2 classes at Langa High School where I implement the programme and I will be with the students until they successfully graduate from it.
I am becoming more and more optimistic about my work at loveLife and I even mentioned to KC that I would like to somehow work with younger children or in a primary school so hopefully I will be able to do something along those lines as well!
If you have made it this far reading my blog, I applaud you! Hopefully I haven’t bored you too much, but there will be another blog coming soon as we are (get ready…) meeting Desmond Tutu tomorrow!!! We will be going to his service tomorrow morning and then hopefully attend a lunch with him afterwards!!
I love you all, and miss you very much!! I hope all of you cabin-goers are having a fabulous time there! I wish I was with you! However, I will just have to enjoy my adventures half way across the world for the time being (;
P.S. Plane tickets are much cheaper right now! Any takers? (;
Kellycapetown's Blog 