so much southafrikeal

Hello all!

 

So it’s been another week of placement and many cultural activities here in Cape Town. I can’t believe how fast time is flying. I will be home in about a week and a half!

Luthando has been going well. Sophie and I have really bonded with the kids (they are all adorable, but I have a few favorites…shhh, don’t tell) and we’ve gotten the schedule down, so we’ve been able to do a lot of our own preparation for crafts and activities to do with the kids.  I also read aloud a book in Xhosa! How well I read it, well, that’s another story.  It’s still really difficult when the teacher is absent. She was absent on Wednesday and that day was a struggle. Sophie and I are left for the most part to fend for ourselves with the kids. We use our limited Xhosa- For instance, “Hala phansi” (sit down!) and “Tulani” (Quiet) to establish some order, but it doesn’t often work. Once we call another teacher in to explain activities or rotations, and the kids are in the midst of something, it’s better until one or two very active ones get the others riled up and then a bit of chaos ensues. I’m really happy I got placed here, though, because I like the challenge. I’ve sustained a few injuries during the chaos including a head butting to the crotch, but I’ll surviveJ Unfortunately, I developed a cold on Sunday that’s been progressively getting worse, so I had to stay home from placement today and probably tomorrow tooL.. Missing my babies and can’t believe it is the last week with them next week!

On Monday, we travelled to Scalabrini, a refugee center in Cape Town. For many people particularly in other areas of Africa looking to escape their own country due to things like war and discrimination, South Africa is the place to go because of the easy travel and more stable government and economic system in place. There are about 60,000 refugees currently. However, there are about 350,000 asylum seekers, which means people who are looking to begin the process of becoming a refugee in the country. The workers at the centre spoke to the very difficult, long, and backlogged process of becoming an asylum seeker and refugee. The centre helps people with this process, provides English lesson, and helps people to look for jobs and child care, among other things.

On Tuesday we had our second Xhosa lesson. There are 11 official languages in South Africa and Xhosa is one of those languages. Approximately 18 percent of South Africa’s population speaks the language, mostly within the townships.  One of the most distinctive features of this language is the consonant clicks, which are used for X, C, and Q. We learned how to make the three different clicks and practice them with words.  Because our mouths aren’t really used to these movements, it is difficult to practice this language, but it definitely makes for an entertaining hour session!

Today we went into the town of Bo-Kaap, a township in Cape Town situated high up near Signal Hill. This town was originally settled by freed slaves brought over by the Dutch in the 17th and 18th Century. They originated from different parts of Southeast Asia, but were collectively referred to as "Cape Malay". The town is filled with cobblestone streets and brightly colored houses. It is here that the Afrikaans language first began as a way for slaves and slave masters speaking different languages to communicate. Afterwards, we traveled into the downtown area to visit the old slave lodge where many slaves were kept. It is now a museum filled with artifacts, information, and memorials regarding slavery. The museum was about remembering the history of slavery, rather than pretending it did not exist, and embracing all of the cultures that came together during this time and continue to exist today. One quote that was featured in an exhibit stood out to me….In the light of memory and remembering. Through the streams of our senses. Reconnecting. Recollecting. We find our way home. -from Slave Dream, by Malika Ndlovu

I meant to do this in an earlier post, but haven’t had the time to get my thoughts together until now. Last week, we had an HIV/Aids in South Africa information session. It was very thought-provoking. We learned a little bit about the devastation of the virus in South Africa. In South Africa, 6 million people are diagnosed with HIV. This is the highest number in any country. There is a huge impact on the young-mid adult population, so in many cases older South Africans are called on to raise young children. This loss of a middle age population has impacts socially and economically.

They went into some information about why this is so prevalent in South Africa. Some things that were discussed were the crime and violence in the area (there is one rape every three minutes), lack of prevention methods due to cost and access, and cultural/religious beliefs in regards to birth control. In the past few years, there has been a widespread HIV testing and counselling campaign, with many centers that cater directly to support for the infected.

I found it particularly sad and interesting that in South Africa, often the people most at risk for HIV are married women. This is due to a dynamic that developed over the years. In the past, many men travelled throughout the county for migrant labor. They could be away from wives and families for 2-3 years at a time. It became culturally permissible for men to have multiple partners outside the marriage and in some areas this continues today. When a married woman finds out she is infected, often she is not able to confront her husband or say anything about it all for fear of being kicked out or beaten.

One other important thing to remember is the reality of the lives of many in the townships here. Many people are focused on the simple act of surviving day to day due to lack of food, unemployment, violence, etc. A virus that may or may not develop into something that can make them sick 10 years from now is not of the same concern that it is to someone living a different lifestyle. Because of this, the current HIV campaign is not always as effective as expected.

Despite all of this, the fact that there is so much more knowledge, access to help, and access to the anti retro viral drugs does make a huge difference in the lives of many. There are so many people working hard to ensure people have protection from this disease or health care to deal with it as much as possible.

Phew….that was quite a lot about the history and culture of SA! We are learning so much during this program, which is so cool because it adds much more the sightseeing and work in the township that we do. We are traveling on the Garden Route this week, which includes some awesome activites I am more than excited about! (ELEPHANTS) Again, lots of love from me. Thanks for reading!

Penguins, Sharks, and Ostriches, Oh my!

Another action packed few days here in Cape Town. I’ve been here a week, and at times I feel that it has flown by and other times I feel like I’ve been here forever.

On Friday night as I mentioned, we went to the New Zealand vs. South Africa junior world championship rugby game. What an exciting and electric atmosphere! I didn’t realize what a big game this was, but the stadium was packed and the South Africans LOVE their springboks (a south African gazelle), or Baby Boks as the junior team is called. The Baby Boks beat the New Zealand All-Blacks (or baby blacks)! Most of us didn’t follow the rules of the game very well, but it was easy to get swept up in the excitement of the crowd.

The next day, we went on an all day Cape Point and Wine tour. The day started at 10 am with a wine tasting at a gorgeous winery founded in 1685. Off to a pretty great start. The views at Groot Costantia were amazing. Our guide, Gru, lead us around the winery explaining the process, and ended with a tasting of 5 different wines. YUM. My favorite was the Shiraz.

A little giddier and sleepier, we headed back to the bus to our next stop, Chapman’s Peak Drive. This was voted the most scenic drive in the world. And I’m gonna go with heck yes, it is. We stopped for a few minutes to take lots of pictures and enjoy more gorgeous views. (We are seriously spoiled with the scenery here.) We went to a beautiful ostrich farm next. Let’s be clear- the views were the beautiful thing, ostriches were as weird/ugly/cool/dirty as ostriches anywhere. Most of the brave ones fed the ostriches, almost losing a finger or two along the way.

Next we headed to Table Mountain National Park, which is a huge national park with many different species of animals and flowers. One of the coolest things we saw was a ton of baboons hanging out right on the side of the road that we were driving along. Within the park, the cape of Good hope is popularly known as the spot where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet (although geographically, it is not) It is the most south western point in Africa. From there, we went to Simon’s Town, a beautiful little resort town along the coast. This is where Boulders Beach and the African penguins are. These penguins were originally called Jackass penguins because of the braying sound they make! The penguins were so cute and funny to watch. Before we left, we went to a restaurant on the water, where I got a delicious plate of fish and chips. Phew…quite the day! Napping on the bus on the way home was lovely.

The next day, Mike, Kate and I work up at 4:45 am (ew) for cage diving with great white sharks! The only nice thing about that time of day was the beautiful sunrise we were treated to on the 2 hour drive to Gansbaii, one of areas in the world most densely populated with great white sharks. When we got there we learned a bit more about the great white shark. One of the guides explained how much he hates the Jaws series because of how it demonizes these animals. Great white sharks are normally not man-eaters, and it is believed that most attacks happen when a human is mistaken for a seal. There is very little known about the great white shark. Great white sharks will die when kept in captivity so the only place to see them is in their natural habitat.

We headed out onto the boat and drove about 20 minutes out. We stopped pretty close to Seal Rock. They threw out the bait (chum) and waited for the sharks to bite. About half an hour in (and lots of rocking back and forth on the boat, hello nausea!) we saw the first shark! He came right up to the surface. As soon as that happened, they lowered the first 6 divers into the water. We wore wetsuits, but ahhhhh still so cold. The cage is attached to the boat, and a little bit of it is above the water so that you can come up if you need to. You are also given a breathing apparatus that lets you breathe underwater. They give you a weight to wear around your chest that makes it easier to stay down. Once you are down there they continue to throw the bait close to the cage so that the sharks come within a few feet, and sometimes inches of you! Pretty amazing stuff. We saw two different sharks while we were there, that keep coming back and forth to the cage to the bait. We were able to rent an underwater camera and take some great pics of our new buddies.

That’s all for now! Love!

jumping, climbing, wining, and dining

Molweni!

Things are going along swimmingly in South Africa. On our second and third days of placement, things ran fairly smoothly. The kids are so much fun and continue to shower with us affection (and head butts…and arm twisting. The affection is sometimes painful) every second :) They know many English songs like "If you're happy and you know it" and "Heads, shoulders, knees, and toes." It is so cute to watch them sing. Some of the words and sounds blend together for them, as is very apparent when they sing the alphabet. It goes.... " A B C D E F G H I J K olololo (instead of LMNO) P Q R S T U V W X Y AND Z, Now I know my AB 6....H I JK olololo P"......then it continues in a cycle much like the song that never ends....so adorable. We are working with them on letters each morning, pointing out the letter and having them repeat, so we will see if we make any progress with that. They know some English words like colors, animals, and shapes. I am also learning Isi Xhosa, especially the important words when working with kids, like "listen" "sit" and "stop."

On the fourth day of placement (today) the teacher was out sick….so yes things got interesting. One of the women there, Mama Cynthia, helped out a bit, but she was in and out of the room. The kids definitely see Sophie and me as friends rather than authority figures and our limited Xhosa compounds that. When she leaves they love to jump on us, jump on each other, and jump on chairs and tables... really just a lot of jumping. At times, we just look across the room at each other in utter helplessness. Needless to say, we are hoping she is back on Monday!!

Going back a few days… On Wednesday, we hiked Table Mountain. An amazing, and difficult journey to say the least. It is much steeper then I expected and at times on the way up we were literally on our hands and knees pulling ourselves because it was easier than stepping up again. We took multiple, very necessary breaks. But when we stopped to take the time to look at the view…these were by far the prettiest views I have seen in my life. It took us an hour and half to get to the top (apparently very good time!) Once we got up there, we took some time to look all around at more amazing views. Normally we would take a cable car back down, but it was not running due to high winds. So back down the mountain on our feet we went. Slightly easier, but by far more terrifying. At this point your legs feel like jelly, but again it was so steep that you have to step so carefully to be sure you don’t trip…not to mention if you happen to step or fall off the side, there’s some barbed wire protecting you, but that’s about it. There were multiple sighs of relief when we finally reached the bottom. It was quite the experience and I felt very accomplished and proud when I finished!

On Thursday, a few girls and I headed into Cape Town for a sushi dinner. We also had some lovely South Africa wine with our dinner. I tried one called “African Java” which had a slight taste of bananas. So yummy! We also went to a documentary called “A Common Purpose” about an incident during Apartheid where 25 people were charged for the murder of 1 person. Very well done, interesting documentary.

Which brings us to today! We headed into town to go to Green Market- an area where they have small stands set up with jewelry, figurines, bags, etc. One of the girls in our group is an amazing haggler, so I stuck with her and got some pretty good deals! Tonight we are going to a rugby game to see the South Africa Junior Springboks vs. New Zealand in the junior Rugby world championships! Pretty cool- all I know about rugby I learned from Ross, so hopefully I learn a little more tonight.

Hope all is well back home! Love you all!

more orientation and first day of placement

Collect moments, not things.

Molweni!

We have had many full days in Cape Town the past couple days! On Monday, we learned more about our placements during orientation. Then Mama Ivy, a woman from a nearby township who works with CCS came to take us on a tour of parts of downtown Cape Town, as well as a few townships. In the downtown, we saw District 6. During apartheid, the government declared District 6 a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, with removals starting in 1968. More than 60,000 people were removed from the area and relocated to the cape flats about 12 miles away.We also saw City Hall where Nelson Mandela gave his first speech after being freed from his 27 year imprisonment.

Next, we went into the Langa and Gugelethu townships (respectively the oldest and second oldest townships in Cape Town.) This is where you really begin to see the great disparity that exists in this city and country. The towns are filled with crowded in shacks. While I understood that we needed to see the township and understand the history before we began our placements within them, it felt very strange to essentially be a group of tourists in a big white van travelling through these towns. We also visited two of the ‘crèches’ or daycares within the towns, one of which is the one I am placed in.

The next day I began my placement in Luthando Educare in Gugelethu Township. What a day! We arrived at our placement at about 8:30. I was placed with another volunteer in my program named Sophie. We are both teachers, which really will help so much with this placement. When we arrived, we met Zim, one of the women who work in Luthando. The amount of children in Luthando is insane. There are over 100 kids who come each day. There are three rooms- a room for the older kids (3 ½ -4 1/2 ) a room for the little ones (<3 ½ ) and a central room where they have lunch. We helped out Zim with the older children. There are 60 kids in this room with normally only one teacher. I will never complain about my class size at home again. The kids steal your heart immediately, with constant hugs, giant smiles, high fives, and blowing kisses. I even got a few kisses on the cheek. They are so full of love and eager to spend time with us.

 Zim’s classroom is very well run and structured, although that immediately breaks down if she leaves the room for one minute. The students listen to her, but when she leaves, they begin to jump up, run around, hug mine and Sophie’s legs, and turn us into a human playground. Since there is clearly a language barrier, it is very difficult to establish any kind of authority so far, but we will keep trying!

During the time we were there, we helped run centers, snack time, outside play, and lunch time. The outside area is very small (about the square feet of a medium sized bedroom in a house), especially when you consider there are 60 kids out there at one time. The area is completely fenced in, with barbed wire at the top of the fencing, which in certain places hangs dangerously close to where the children play. They do have a slide, swings, a see saw, and some other small playground equipment in the area. There is a great deal of trash in and around the playground as well. The kids were pretty consistently pushing, hitting, knocking into each other (sometimes on purpose, sometimes just inevitable because of the sheer number of students in a small area), and it would be tears for a few seconds, then up and running around again.

Overall, I was amazed at how well behaved the students are when they know they need to be and I sincerely hope I can pick up on the routines and language enough that I can interact with the kids in a more authoritative manner. I am just so excited to go back tomorrow and work more with the kids! Back at the homebase, we had our first lesson in Xhosa, the language people in the townships speak, so I will be much better equipped to interact.

Hamba Kakuhle! (Go well!)

hanging in africa

WOWee, has it been a long four days. First of all- my three plane rides. The first one to Canada was a breeze.  From there, then 6 hours to London. In London, I had a 12 hour layover, so I was able to head into the city, which was nice! When I stepped out of the underground, it was raining, actually pouring! That worried me, but the rain eventually stopped, so I enjoyed my day. I stayed near the Westminster area, so I got to see Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, the London eye, Buckingham palace, and Big Ben. I also met a new friend named Donny while hanging out on a bench. He is a sweet 75 year old Italian man and he shared his life story and many nuggets of wisdom about life in general. Thank you, Donny. I also saw quite a few odd birds to later be tagged as Sara Tye.

 So, eventually I hopped back to the airport (no taxi, just hopping) then hopped onto my plane, and settled into my huge seat with SO much leg room ;) for the 12 hour flight ahead of me. I sat next to a South African man who now lives in London who was sadly headed home to bury his father. He told me lots of things about South Africa, and told me over and over again what an amazing and beautiful place it is. I also watched 21 jump street and dolphintale. Both really good movies and Mary- dolphintale made me cry and now I really want to meet Winter! I tried to sleep, but it was tough.

We finally landed, and I headed to baggage claim….round and round the luggage goes….no suitcase to be found. I know Lauren Anne feels my pain. I was worried, but they were extremely helpful at the airport so that made me feel better. I worried about it all that night while waiting for a phone call from the airport, but then I realized finding my baggage was like finding true love. Once you stopped looking for it or thinking about it, it will come. And happily it arrived the next day, wrapped in plastic wrap and so happy to see me.

Back to leaving the airport. The program’s driver, James, came to get me. Nicest, funniest, sweetest guy. We headed to the homebase. As you drive through Cape Town, you see huge and beautiful Table Mountain and it is just an amazing sight. You should probably google it. It is really just what makes this city so beautiful. We will be hiking it on Wednesday. When we got home, I met a few people in the program who had already arrived. Everyone is the program is great, excited to be here and ready to see and do as much as possible over the next few weeks. The ages range from 20-65 so it is a cool mix. People arrived all throughout the day, and we just settled into the house, looked around and talked about how amazing it was to be here.

 Later, we walked to the nearby little village, called Rondebash. Late that night some people went out and though I was exhausted, I decided to go. We went to bar on Long Street ( a very long street). Some of the people who started the program previously picked a bar they had already been to so we ended up at an Irish bar that had a band singing America cover songs. As I stood there, raising my glass because Pink told me to, I laughed with some of the other people about how this was not at all what we thought our first night in Africa would be like. A lot of fun, though. The next day, we had our orientation (safety precautions, going over the schedule, etc.) Then we took a trip to some sites in Cape Town, including Signal Hill, where you get a really beautiful view of the city. I can’t wait to explore more of this city. Tomorrow we will go into a township and see a very different side of south Africa.

Miss and love you all!!!!

TOMORROW

I leave tomorrow!! I can't believe it is here! I received my placement a few days ago - I will  be working in Luthando Educare - a "creche" (daycare) in Guguletu township. The kids are between 6 months and 6 years old. I have been reading some blogs from past volunteers who worked in this setting and they had nothing but wonderful things to say about it. Our first day volunteering is Tuesday and I can't wait!... As excited as I am, I am already sad about leaving behind my 3 boys (dan+cats) I will miss them so much!

Half day of school tomorrow-> home to get suitcase-> off to the airport!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY

thoughts

Well, I am now one week away from departure! So much to do, but so very excited. Shockingly enough, I am all packed and organized for the trip. I am switching classrooms at school so that is the main thing on my mind now. Everything needs to packed up and ready to be moved by the last day since that is when I leave. switching classrooms=about the worst. I am also a terrible organizer as people who have lived with me or breathed near me can attest to, so that makes it a little more difficult. It will all get done, it just takes a lot of work.

I am still waiting on my placement for South Africa to find out where I will be volunteering. I am hoping to be placed in a school, so fingers crossed! We got our volunteer schedules this week. We volunteer each day from about 7:30-1, then come back to the home base, eat lunch, and then they have some type of activity for us most days. Things like language lessons, guest speakers, and tours of the area. It really sounds like an amazing program. We have weekends free for personal travel and day trips.

Thank you  to my sweet friends and family for the going away presents and loans for my trip! love you all! and HI MARY! of course my sweet baby sister wanted a shout-out.

countin' down to capetown

Welcome to my first blog ever! Pepperandpoppy I am not, but I hope to keep you semi entertained and most of all informed of my adventures while I am away. Okay- I'll admit it. The main reason I started this blog is because a stroke of genius hit when I thought of the name South Afrikeal. I mean c'mon, we can't let that creativity go to waste!

ANYWAY- the countdown is on. I leave for South Africa on June 14th. WHAT. I actually leave the last day of school, which as all teachers know is crazy enough on its own...well I'll have plenty of flight time to rest up and relax, right? right. I go from Newark-> Nova Scotia-> London->Capetown. See? plenty of flight time! We'll see how relaxed I will actually be during those flights.I am lucky enough to have a long layover in London, so I will actually get to leave the airport and spend the day in the city before coming back for the last leg of the trip.

 I hope to post at least a few times a week in South Africa. Hope you will come back and visit and read all about my adventures!