Where in the World is Brittney Lemke?

Home Sweet Home

2009-06-16T14:01:00.001-07:00

I am back in Minneapolis! I started summer classes yesterday and truth be told, it is a very strange experience. Nothing had changed – not really unexpected, but just odd. And it was the little things that got me. I walked down University and was surprised that people weren’t hanging out of white vans were yelling, “WYNBERG! WYNBERG! WYNBERGWYNBERGWYNBERG!” trying to get you to catch a ride. I did my laundry and was surprised when my clothes actually felt dry. I drank a Dr. Pepper. I was able to use my wireless internet in every room of my house instead of one corner of my bed. I slept alone in my room and when I woke up, no one was sitting in the living room blogging or watching the Office. I wasn’t confused as I drove down the road. I drove down the road.

And I picked up right where I left off – I ate at Panera with my family, bought my textbooks at the bookstore, hung out with some friends, and went to classes. It made me realize how easy it might be to just forget that the last few weeks never happened, but I want to make an effort to not forget. I have already talked to a few people about my trip. When my boss at work and my new roommate asked about it, I said it was interesting, great, intense, etc. When my good friends asked about it, I tried to tell them about it in a way that would capture what I had experienced. But I didn’t even know how to articulate that. I still don’t know how to articulate it because I haven’t really understood what exactly I did experience. I can mention anecdotes (I tell most people about my camera), I can show pictures of where I stayed, but if I don’t even know exactly the impact it had on me, how can I tell others?

This may or may not be my last blog – maybe I will figure out exactly what I want to say about this trip soon and post it, but maybe it will months from now. But right now, I feel kind of unfilled, like I missed something. I have had a lot of thoughts over the past three weeks that I never really figured out exactly how I felt about, and I think this is just being added to the list. But I don’t want to forget about it. I think I might do what Mel said and put a reminder somewhere – a picture or a note or something – that will help me think of the trip and help me figure out what I do what to say, what is important to tell others. And maybe when I do that, I will let everyone know.

I'm leaving on a jet plane - last few days in Cape Town!

2009-06-16T13:35:00.001-07:00

Thursday, Friday, Saturday...home! It is crazy to think that I am leaving South Africa. The time just flew by! I think I am definitely ready to go home now, though. I had so much fun, I learned a lot, I met some great people, but I miss my family, friends, Panera, Noodles, Dr. Pepper. ☺ Packing is definitely bittersweet.

On Thursday, we went to Muizenburg beach for a few hours. It was pretty cold, but beautiful to see. The tide was out really far and we got to see plenty of aquatic life – snails, jellyfish (dead), snails eating jellyfish, etc. There was this huge blob thing we saw and were really freaked out to touch because it was rubbery and things bounced of it and it was just so huge! We went and got a big stick to flip it over and it was definitely an extremely big jellyfish. I screamed a little. ☺ Afterwards, some of us went to the mall and a few went back to Guguletu to check on the progress of Priscilla’s house. I went to the mall because I wanted to see what it was like and I also didn’t feel ready to go back to Guguletu. I don’t know why that is, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to honestly admit it to myself, but I just didn’t want to go back. Maybe it’s because I felt guilty that I spent the last week doing fun, expensive things when the people we had lived with were still doing the same things, trying to get by. Maybe it’s because I didn’t want to acknowledge that fact that nothing has changed. I lived there for a week, but what have I really learned from this experience? What are my take-aways? Why didn’t I want to go back?! We walked back from Cavendish Mall (a four mile trek) and then hung out at the house until our farewell braai (barbeque).

On Friday and Saturday, I pretty much did nothing all day. I packed a little, blogged a little, and watched the OFFICE (one of our favorite pastimes here at 14 Osborne). Matt, Erika, and Ben went shark diving on Friday, which sounds insane! They were basically in a cage next to a boat and then sharks swam up the cage when bait was dragged by it. I am definitely not brave enough to do that. After they got back, we ate a nice dinner right on Long Street. It was a funny story because we called a number from this guide to Cape Town book and made reservations for a restaurant called Veranda. We went to the address and there was no restaurant called Veranda there. Apparently, a new restaurant was located at the same address with the same phone number and we had actually made reservations there. Haha, but it all worked out okay. They had the best chocolate cake and the cutest little desserts! It was a good end to the trip. Amanda and Emily T. also left for London today. I was actually really sad to see them go. We had hung out for three weeks, some people were sick of other people, but everyone still liked each other and it was weird to see them walk out the door with their suitcases. I’m just glad that Amanda is in my Genetics class this summer because I know we will keep hanging out!

On Saturday, we were all pretty antsy to leave the house. Our flight didn’t leave until 11:00 pm and we didn’t leave the house until 8:00 pm. It was really crappy weather outside, we didn’t have any plans, and no one really wanted to do anything except go home. But finally, 8:00 rolled around and we packed up out suitcases, drove to the airport, and said peace out to Cape Town! I feel bad that I was so excited to go home, but I was just ready.

Robben Island, Table Mountain, & Warm Fuzzies

2009-06-16T12:59:00.001-07:00

Tuesday and Wednesday were our last days of class. On Tuesday, we talked about personal leadership and anything that we personally wanted to do. Like I mentioned before in some earlier blogs, I just want to volunteer or work abroad at some point, hopefully in Latin America. After class, we went to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner for 27 (I think) years. It was cool to see, but definitely longer than it needed to be. The boat ride out there was kind of fun and the view of Table Mountain was amazing – if my camera had been working, I would have taken a picture and posted it on my blog so everyone could see. ☺ It was gorgeous! I personally felt that the tour seemed kind of disconnected from what had happened on the island. I kept forgetting the reason why everyone was being held there; I kept forgetting about apartheid and the ANC and how unfair the situation was. There was also this annoying guy that was taking pictures of everything, but he would only take a picture of something if NO ONE else was it in so he would stand awkwardly behind you until you moved out of his way. Silly person. Interesting tidbit – to help out with job creation and the economy, they have tour guides on the island that you HAVE to go with. After the 4-hour island trip, we hung out at the Waterfront again, bought some more souvenirs, and ate some dinner.

On Wednesday, we did a wrap-up of the class and wrote some thank you notes to people we had helped us the past three weeks. We also wrote “warm fuzzies” about everyone, which was really great. After hanging out with the same people for three straight weeks, it’s easy to find things about each other that bug you. But writing nice messages to people helped you remember why you liked them in the first place. It’s also fun to read nice things about yourself. ☺ I plan on keeping mine for a very long time and reading it when I feel blue! After class, we climbed TABLE MOUNTAIN!!! This was probably one of the things I was most excited for on the trip. And it was totally worth it. We took the path that is supposed to take between one and two hours to climb (it took me 1.5), and it is basically just a path up the mountain made of stones. It kind of looks like a cobblestone path, but a lot stepper and a lot messier because some of the rocks are mini-boulders you have to climb up (yes, my short legs struggled a little bit). I was sweating pretty hardcore and had to rest a few times, but it was so much fun. Matt had his iPod with and so we occasionally listened to “Eye of the Tiger” and “Living on a Prayer (Halfway There).” I was also jamming out to Fergie’s “London Bridges” earlier on the hike when I still had a lot of energy. Once you got to the top, it was amazing. All of a sudden, it is just flat. And the view was breathtaking. We got up there in time for sunset and it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. It was kind of funny at first because as we got up there, it looked like the sun was setting already and I was kind of disappointed I had missed it – but it was taking a really long time to set and it wasn’t getting dark. Apparently, what I had thought was the sunset was actually the reflection of the sun on the water. ☺ Silly blonde moment of the trip. We took a bunch of pictures with the sunset in the background that I hope get posted on Facebook! We got to take the cable car down the mountain, which not going to lie, was a little bit frightening. I’m not the biggest fan of heights, we were going fairly fast, and the car spins so you can see on all sides (an effect I probably would have been okay with not having). Then some of us we went to dinner at Cubana’s – a Mexican restaurant. Looking at the menu that had some Spanish words, I was so happy!! It has been quite a while since I’ve spoken any Spanish and it was so nice to see it again – too bad the waiter didn’t speak it.

Back to School

2009-06-16T12:29:00.001-07:00

We met again for class on Monday. It is very strange to be back in Mowbray and on campus when we had just spent a week in the impoverished area of Guguletu (the wine tours were also something to get used to – how some people can afford this and others can barely afford food to eat is just sickening. And the fact that we were participating in it, after what we had just experienced, was really difficult. On one hand, it is not our fault, by any means, that we were born in the United States and the people we met were born in South Africa. But on the other hand, it just makes you feel so guilty).

In class, I can’t remember why, but we started talking about the idea of being a “loud” American and how it made us feel. It was interesting because some of the people in Guguletu laughed when we apologized for being loud and said that we weren’t that loud at all. Other times, I definitely felt like we were being loud and obnoxious. Some of it can probably be attributed to the fact that we were a fairly large group of people and that made us seem loud. A few students said it didn’t bother them; that this is how they are and they’re not going to change. Others, myself included, said that it’s a respect issue. I find it really embarrassing when we are so loud and people are staring. I think because we are a large group of people, we need to be more aware of how loud we get.

The rest of the class period was all about what we can do to help. For an exercise, we chose one area we wanted to focus on (education). We then did a power map and wrote down what issues are associated with it and what are possible ideas to help work on the issues. It was a good exercise, but like I mentioned before, I don’t feel like I came to Guguletu to change anything. I would help out anything we tried to do, but I’m not going to initiate anything. Sorry if that makes me sound bad ☹

After class, we went back to Long Street and Greenmarket Square, which was fun. I got a lot more souvenirs! We ate dinner at a clearly Afrikaner style restaurant, lots of meat and game. I eat this sweet thing on a skewer that had kudu and eland on it – I felt kind of bad because I had seen these animals on the safari, but it was yummy. It was also an interesting contrast to be at that restaurant when we had just lived in Guguletu. I feel like the rest of this week and also the return to Minneapolis will be full of “interesting contrasts.”

The Weekend!

2009-06-16T11:15:00.001-07:00

It is the weekend, baby! I think that many of us have been looking forward to this part of the trip. Not only does it include a wine tour on Saturday, but also our first free day on Sunday!!!!! There is a lot of programming for this trip, but since we are only here for three weeks, we have to see what we can when we can! The free day will be nice though.

On Saturday, we woke up and drove about an hour and a half to a vineyard in “wine country.” We got a tour of the vineyard and learned about how wine is made. I definitely have a new respect for wine makers as I had no idea about even one-eighth of the factors that goes into winemaking – the amount of rain, the soil, the time it spends in each machine, and the TYPE of WOOD that it is STORED in (that one really got me). About the only thing I had known is that the amount of time it is stored matters. We also got to do a wine tasting. Since I really, really don’t like wine, I just tried each kind to verify this. It is still true. But I was very surprised at how much our tour guide knew. She could tell all kinds of things from the “bouquet” (smell of the wine), the “legs” (how fast red wine drips down the side of the class), and all kind of other stuff. When I tasted a wine, I just thought, gross, but she could tell there was a hint of apple, green pepper, and some other vegetables.

I also realized why I don’t really like wine, especially red wine. It’s acidic, and I like sweet things. The only wine I didn’t mind trying (I didn’t like it, mind you, but I didn’t mind trying it) was a white wine that Christen said tasted like dessert. Thanks to the upbringing on my mom’s pudding cookies and puppy chow, I really, really like sweet things. ☺

We also had lunch in another vineyard. I tried the ostrich bobotie, which is kind of like a shepherd’s pie, but I was not too fond of it. We then went to one more vineyard for a second wine tasting. The second vineyard was much more touristy, but it had a lot of cute little shops. Once again, I didn’t really like any of the wines, but I let Erika and Matt drink mine. This vineyard also had an “exhibit”, you could maybe call it, that had cheetahs. We went and looked at those for a little while and it was pretty cool. A guy in front of us got peed on by a cheetah, haha. We looked around at some more stores and then headed home.

On Sunday, our free day (yay!!), I ended up doing homework all day, but that was alright. I slept in pretty late, which felt great, and then worked on a paper that was due on Monday, 155 pages of reading that was due for Monday, and tried to catch up on my blog. A few people went to a mall, a few people went to the beach, but I just felt like relaxing all day and getting some stuff done. We go back to classes on Monday and start our last week in South Africa. I can’t believe that in a week from today, we will be going home. Time flies, right?

Guguletu - LAST DAY

2009-06-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Friday was our last day in Guguletu. It was raining all day and most of us were ready to go. I’m not really sure why we were all so eager to leave because we loved the people we had met, but it was definitely time. It had been a great experience, but I think we had seen enough (the rain didn’t help either).

We said good-bye to our host families after breakfast and then went to do a service project at a local school for students with physical and/or mental disabilities. The service project was frustrating because they didn’t really have anything that we considered “worthwhile” for us to do. Some of us painted, but it was pretty pointless because the pillars to be painted were outside and it was raining. The rest of us helped the students do paper mache projects, but there was almost as many helpers as there were students so there wasn’t much to do. We talked about it a little bit afterwards and many of us felt that it was frustrating because there was so much more we could be doing to help. I think we all wanted to do something that would really help out the school and make a sustainable change, but that really didn’t happen at all. I was also a little frustrated, but I think it’s important to keep in mind that we didn’t go to the school to implement some kind of systemic change. We wanted to help, we asked what they needed, and we did what they told us. Maybe that’s exactly what they wanted us to do. Maybe anything that would be of lasting change is something that couldn’t be done in the span of four hours. I came on this trip with the mentality that we would be observing what was being done in South Africa and what leadership lessons we could learn from what they were doing, but I never thought that we would be creating any lasting change at all.

After our frustrating service project, we went to a restaurant in Guguletu – Mzoli’s. They served a lot of meat, which was good, but I think a few of us were considered about the sanitary conditions of the food. Lydia and her son also came with us, which was nice. While we were at Mzoli’s, Kate brought my camera back. They could have fixed it, but it would have cost a lot of money. I am still touched by her generosity – she had to take buses or taxis all the way into the area of Cape Town that I was staying in, bring it to a camera repair shop, and then bring it all the way back to me in Guguletu. The situation kind of speaks for itself.

Before the van came back to take us “home”, we FINALLY had some much-needed reflection time. We talked a lot about what we wanted to do now that our time in Guguletu was over. We talked about raising money to contribute to a lot of different things – buying Johanna a van so she could drive around talking to people like she wants to, scholarships (or bursaries as they call them), and some other stuff. I think that a lot of people on the trip feel like we need to do something, but I don’t know how I feel about that. Obviously, it would be great to help out. I would love to be able to raise money that JL Zwane could use where they need it. But I think about the fact that JL Zwane is one church in one township in one city in one country in one continent – and I wonder, how much can a couple hundred or thousand dollars really do. I like to believe in the idea of one group of people doing something to make a difference in their area, but sometimes it is just so overwhelming. Not to mention that neighborhoods in Minneapolis, in Minnesota, in the United States need help, too. I would obviously like to help out with any fundraising our group would do, but I don’t necessarily feel personally motivated to help out, which I have heard time and time again, is completely fine. It still makes me feel like a bad person to say it, though. Maybe it’s because we talked a lot about education this past week and I don’t have the biggest passion for education. Most of you probably know that my passion is health care, so I think I would rather focus on an area that involves providing care to others, or helping to educate others about HIV/AIDS or diabetes or other public health issues. And like I mentioned before, while the clinic in Guguletu sounds like a great opportunity, I think I would rather be somewhere speaking Spanish. The way I try to look at it, I could be making a difference in either place. If I am somewhere that the people speak Spanish, I might have a better chance of connecting with them, which could make me more effective. If I had to work through a translator, that might be more difficult.

Around 4:00, the van came to take us back. I feel bad saying this, but I think we were all relieved to go. We went back to the house in Mowbray and could finally distance ourselves from what we had seen and process things a little more.

Guguletu - Thursday

2009-06-12T08:06:00.001-07:00

On Thursday, we talked with Reverend Spiwo Xapile about leadership. He started by drawing a bunch of stars on a white board, which he said represented different life experiences. He then connected certain stars and said that different people take different experiences seriously. In the case of South Africa, many blacks focus on experiences where they were oppressed and forget positive ones, which leads them to lose hope and be angry. The task of a leader is to make sure that people remain hopeful, even if they have reasons not to. The people need to believe in themselves so that they can make the necessary change. Here are random tidbits from the discussion:
• Spiwo mentioned a challenge Mandela faced as a leader in post-apartheid South Africa. He had to go from politics of opposition to politics of proposition.
• Why is there is so much lawlessness in South Africa? Prior to 1994, the ANC was trying to make the country ungovernable and created intended lawlessness. After Mandela was elected, however, little was done to undo that. And now, in order to undo it, they need good leaders.
• We see much more women in the community than we do men. At our dinners at night, it is usually only the host moms and never a husband anywhere in sight. I know that Kate is divorced, but where is everyone else? When Christen asked Spiwo about the leadership of men and women in the community, he said it’s because men are at work during the week.
• A lot of people look to churches, but Spiwo doesn’t like that because many people have been destroyed by churches. He told us the story of an HIV-positive woman who thought that she was now HIV-negative because her church had prayed for her. After a second test, she was, of course, still positive. She came back again, this time convinced she was HIV-negative because she had made an offering of 21,000 rand (around $3,000) to the church. Once again, she was still positive. I was so angry when I heard this story - how terrible of the people in that church to take advantage of this woman!
• Like Dr. Snyman, Spiwo also talked about how it is easier to cross boundaries in another country than in your own. When he visits the US, he spends time in white communities, not black communities. This was interesting to me because I definitely think that it’s true, but I have no idea why it is this way.
• When JL Zwane first started dealing with issues of HIV/AIDS, a church in Cape Town told them to stop. Many people left the church at this time, but I thought this was a great example of getting the wrong people off the bus.
• At the end of the conversation, Spiwo told us that we if we want to help, we have to take advocacy. We need to be the voice of the voiceless because we speak the language of the haves. (I swear everything he says could be a Xhosa proverb or something).

We then talked to Reverend Mel Baars, who is from Florida. She works with the orphan program that helps provide food and education to orphans in the community (in South Africa, the term orphan can mean they lost one or both parents). She talked a little about the program, but the one thing that really stuck with me from our conversation is a suggestion for what to do when we go home. Something that she does is to revisit what an impact that an experience had on her in some way. One example was to put a picture on a fridge or a mirror so you see it every day. It helps her to honor the people she met and the experiences she had. I really liked that idea and think I might try it.

After lunch, we brought the soccer ball to the children at the school. I didn’t get to go with because I went back to the mall to get another soccer ball for Xolani’s son, but the pictures speak for themselves. The kids look so happy – just another experience that really helps you put things in perspective. Then we went to Priscilla’s to tell her that the group before us had raised money to help her fix up her house. If any of you from last year are reading this blog, know that you did something so amazing! I wish you could have been there, but David did a good job delivering the news. ☺

We went back to JL Zwane for the Rainbow After School program. It was much better for me this time because most of the students I was with spoke English and I was able to help them with some fraction math and homophones (? – whatever it’s called when you have two words pronounced the same way but spelt differently). They also taught me a little Xhosa (nkosi = thank you), but I’m pretty bad at the clicking. One thing I couldn’t believe is that 3 different children asked me how many kids I had. I would say, “kids?! How old do you think I am?” And they would respond – 21. The fact that it’s so normal for a 21-year old to have kids is just beyond me. I didn’t even know what to say.

We went to dinner at Emily T. and Erika’s house tonight for our last dinner together. A lot of people were dancing and it was a pretty fun time. Before we left, everyone went around and said something to their host mom/student. It was pretty sweet that such strong relationships had grown in a few days. Kate even sang for us. As we were leaving, my sturdy ol’ camera finally had enough. It got bumped out of my hand (for probably the millionth time), but this did it. The lens got stuck in not the right place and it is broken. Once I realized it, I started crying…a lot. It really wasn’t that big of a deal and I didn’t lose any of my pictures, but I was just so bummed out that I wouldn’t be able to take any pictures for the rest of the trip. I knew that people would be taking a ton and I can easily get them off Facebook, but there is just something different about your own picture. Anyway, as we rode home in the car, I was crying in the backseat and trying to put the lens back in its place. I kept crying the entire way home. And then I felt awful because Kate heard me and was soooooo concerned. There is so much other stuff that could go wrong in my own life and there is so much other stuff that they are dealing with that I will never have to deal with, and I am a stupid American who can’t stop crying about her stupid *^?#!@ camera! When we were inside talking, Kate told me she was going to take it to a shop tomorrow to see if they could fix it. I said no, you don’t have to do that. It’s really not a big deal, I’m sorry I’m crying, but she insisted. I was so touched by her above and beyond kindness (she called in to work and told them she would be late), all so I could have a chance to get my camera fixed. Then I just felt worse because she cared so much about something that shouldn’t have even mattered that much at all.

Guguletu - Wednesday

2009-06-12T00:16:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we went to a community clinic that is affiliated with JL Zwane and is actually run by the reverend’s wife. It was originally held in shipping containers, like the big metal boxes that get carried on trains, but a new facility was recently built thanks to donations. I would say that it’s a pretty nice clinic now. At the clinic, we watched Siyaya do a skit in the waiting room about HIV/AIDS awareness. A lot of it was in Xhosa, but they would randomly break out into English sometimes and so I understand the gist of it (when I asked Edwin about this, he said it was just kind of like slang that people do it). The story line was about three women who were all sleeping with one guy, obviously spreading the virus. They kept it pretty light and people laughed a lot, but it was also full of good information. I thought it was a pretty good way of spreading information since the information wasn’t in an informational pamphlet - it didn’t require anyone to read anything they might not have been able to understand.

We also got a tour of the clinic, which is very different from any hospital in the United States. First of all, there were definite differences in privacy. We were able to just walk right into any examination rooms, which would definitely not be okay in the United States. We also saw examination tools, just hanging out on tables, not sterilized. When we asked the reverend’s wife if the waiting room was always this packed, the reverend’s wife kind of laughed and said, oh no, this is not packed. The rain keeps them from coming. It definitely did look packed to us, though.

The rain is an interesting thing all by itself. When it rains, people that live in the tin shacks pretty much can’t do anything except sit at home. They can’t go to church, they can’t go to support group, they can’t go to the doctor. Instead, they have to stay home and move things around in case the shack floods. It is strange how much the weather can influence certain things I take for granted. While I was in Mexico, I noticed that the environment greatly affected the health of people living in rural areas. The dust, wind, and sun increased their risks for infections. The extreme weather in the mountains, where it would be freezing in the morning and hot in the afternoon, exacerbated arthritis. Additionally, they ate many tortillas, which is really bad when a person is trying to control their diabetes.

When we asked the reverend’s wife what type of items they needed the most, she said it was personnel. This was exciting to me because I hope to work/volunteer abroad in a healthcare setting sometime in the next few years and I didn’t really have any ideas of where I wanted to go. It would be super convenient to come back to Guguletu because I would somewhat know the area and would be more comfortable than just going in somewhere I knew little about. But there’s also a part of me that would rather work in a Spanish-speaking country. I feel kind of bad saying that, but I’m not sure if I want to come back and work in Guguletu. I know I have a lot of time to sort out my feelings on this, and maybe I don’t want to go back because I am still recovering from the week I just spent in Guguletu, but I think I would rather go to Central or South America. I think part of it is that I love knowing the language of the people. When I was volunteering in Mexico, I loved being able to communicate with patients in their language. If I came back to Guguletu without knowing Xhosa, I feel like I would be missing out on something that is important to me. I don’t know though, it’s a long ways away.

After we went to the clinic, we went back to the church and listened to two speakers talk about the development of the young people in the township (at least that’s what my syllabus said). I just have a few random thoughts about our discussion.
• The speakers said that when they teach HIV/AIDS awareness to children during the School AIDS week, they don’t say to NOT have sex. As they put it, “we can’t say that they can’t have sex because we are not God. All we can see is to use condoms.” My thoughts: the US should take a page out of their book and instead of teaching abstinence, teach safe sex.
• There is no law in South Africa that requires a pregnant mother to get tested for HIV/AIDS. My thoughts: WTF South Africa? That needs to be amended.
• There is a term for a “child-headed household.” My thoughts: that does not sound right.
• The speakers talked about not wanting to be the center of an organization. If you personally become the center of the organization, the organization is crippled when you leave. My thoughts: this is in agreement with topics discussed in my leadership class this past semester. To have successful leadership, there needs to be more than just one person – you need to have the “right people on the bus.”
• Johanna said there is no ubuntu anymore. My thoughts: obviously, Johanna (as a member of the community) is more qualified to make this assessment than I am, but to me, it definitely seemed that there was something different about this community. Maybe it’s not ubuntu, but they talked constantly about building partnerships, relationships, alliances, etc. They took care of each other. Compared to towns in Minnesota, I felt that there was a much stronger sense of community in Guguletu. Maybe Johanna feels that way because she has been there so long, hasn’t seen enough improvement, and is discouraged? We obviously have two different perspectives, but I honestly couldn’t say which is more accurate. Johanna knows much more about the township, but it’s sometimes hard to evaluate a group that you belong to. I want to believe that ubuntu still exists.
• One of the speakers told us how she dealt with feeling ineffective against such huge issues. When she went into Khayelitsha for the first time, she thought to herself I want to create positive change. After seeing the extent of the poverty, she thought okay, I can’t change the world, but what can I do in this area. It might seem cliché, but if you can impact one life, it is worth it. My thoughts: this is the attitude we all need to have if we do want to create positive change.

After talking with our speakers and eating lunch, we went to an elementary school in Guguletu. Something about the school that I thought was really interesting is that it was built by the community (another reason I still believe in ubuntu). The classes were held in shipping containers, three or four children sat in one desk, and the rooms were overcrowded. While we were there, we helped sweep out the classrooms because there was garbage everywhere. It is really strange because there are some times when I feel like we could easily still be in the United States and other times when something is just so foreign to me and I know I am in a different country. Walking around the University of Cape Town feels just like the University of Minnesota campus, but while I was standing in those classrooms coated in garbage, it felt so unfamiliar. Where are the custodians? Why are there cardboard boxes as garbage cans instead of actual garbage cans? The kids were playing a game in the courtyard, using a soccer ball that was a condom stuffed with plastic bags. I was literally speechless. Ben decided to buy them a real soccer ball and Johanna made the kids sign a sheet saying that they would all share it and no one person would “own” it.

We also stopped by Nancy’s place, which is a home for disabled children. It was started when Nancy’s daughter, who has a disability, was in a home that was supposed to take care of her. The other home was doing an awful job and Nancy found her daughter in a really horrible condition so it inspired her to take care of her own daughter and then other children as well. I liked visiting the home, but it was kind of weird because we just walked in, said hi to the kids, took a few pictures, and left within ten minutes. I know we had a lot going on in our schedule, and I’m not sure what we would have done if we had stayed later, but it just seemed so….so….cheap? Maybe that’s not the right word, but I just felt wrong going in and then leaving so fast.

We also delivered two more food parcels. One was to an elderly couple and the second one was to another lady with quite a few kids. It was so sad when we delivered the second parcel because as Johanna gave it to her, the lady started to cry. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be so overjoyed when someone gave me something as basic as food. I think I do a decent job at realizing how lucky I am and appreciating what I have, but god, I cannot even imagine what it would be like. When she started to cry, I just turned around and stared at her cupboards (which had a huge bug crawling on them), trying not to cry.

Once we got back to the church, I crashed on the floor and slept for a good hour (I think Ben was getting his haircut at this point). When I woke up, my heroes (the boys) had brought everyone Coke and chocolate. It was delicious. Then we FINALLY had time to reflect, which I think I really needed. Reflection is one of the things we have been quick to cut out when our schedule gets full, but I think it’s one thing I have wanted the most. There is so much information being thrown at us all the time and we are seeing the most heart wrenching things that we need time to process everything and it really helps when there are a lot of people sharing their thoughts. (More to come later about my reflections).

For dinner, we went to Emily Smith’s and Jessica’s house. I swear they get nicer and nicer each night – I wonder what they would think about my living accommodations. There is still a separation between the host moms and our group, but I think there was better interaction tonight. It was really fun because we put on some music and Ben danced with my host mom! I have some great pictures from that moment I promised I would send to Kate. ☺ After dinner, we went home, wrote in our journals, and went right to bed. I think this is one of the first times in the last two years where I have slept for more than 8 hours more than two days in a row – it’s kind of refreshing.

I only have two more days left in Guguletu! If I had been here last year, I would be living tomorrow (they only stayed three nights) so I am definitely glad that they decided to extend the homestay. I feel like I’m not done here yet. Still a few more blogs to come – I am way behind! Thanks for reading my blog! Love you and miss you all and see you in a few days!!!!!!!!!

Guguletu - Tuesday

2009-06-08T13:21:00.001-07:00

This morning Mykala and I took another township shower (in the water bucket). We ate another good breakfast – Penny makes really good eggs and then we talked to Penny a little while we were waiting for our ride. When Penny is not on maternity leave, she works at a postal office sorting mail. She works 5 days a week for 5 hours a day and makes 13 rand an hour, which is a little under $2 in the US. To get to work, she takes a train and a bus and has to pay 40 rand a week for transportation. She sometimes works on the weekends, which is nice because she can make in one day what she makes in one week.

Once at the church, we met with Dr. Deon Snyman, an Afrikaner from the Foundation for Church Led Restitution. His work deals with rebuilding the relationships between blacks and whites since the times of apartheid. To him, asking for forgiveness is only half of the story. For the country to heal, whites also need to give back and help rebuild economic dignity. He mentioned that this is difficult for many whites because they were very privileged during times of apartheid and their way of living was shaken when it ended. The conversation really made me think about how I would react to having my privileges taken away. It’s hard to put myself in the situation, but I imagine that it would be hard for me, as well, even though I do know that apartheid is wrong. If the privilege was something I was always used to, I think it would be hard to lose it, no matter the circumstances. It definitely made me think of a perspective I hadn’t considered.

It also helped me to understand why South Africa has been slow to change from its days of apartheid. As Dr. Snyman said, white South Africans were shell-shocked and in a “mourning period” for many years. But now they are ready to face the facts. On the other hand, “slow” is definitely a relative term. In the United States, slavery ended in the 1860’s and we are still dealing with issues of racism, almost 150 years after the fact. Apartheid in South Africa ended in 1994, only 15 years ago. While their progress may seem slow since most of the world has officially ended racist practices, South Africa is actually moving surprisingly fast.

Some of what the church-led restitution focuses on is housing, education, and employment. They need to take the guilt that they feel and do something positive about it, something that we have talked about on multiple occasions. To do this, they raised funds to build houses for people who had never had one, funds to support students at the university, and funds to support a group of businesswomen who owned their own business. Their goal was to create personal stories that would help to mobilize others. It kind of reminded me of what we are doing – visiting families living in extreme conditions of poverty so that we can go back to the US and tell their stories. They also make sure to differentiate between restitution and charity since charity habituates old wrongs. Through charity, whites decided what needed to be done for blacks. Restitution tries to change the power relationship so that groups can work together, instead of one dictating what the other one needs. To me, it’s similar to the idea that people wanting to help others should listen to the people needing the help!

Earlier in the week, Reverend Xapile said that it is not white South Africans that are helping out, but rather it is white people from other countries. When I asked Dr. Snyman about his opinion on this statement since I saw his work as an example of how white South Africans are helping out the country, he said that it is partly because white South Africans don’t have the tools of non-racism that others do. It is easier for people from abroad to come into townships because they don’t have the baggage white South Africans have. I definitely connected with that, because white South Africans had told us earlier in the week that we were crazy for wanting to go into the township. They said that the most they could ever stay in the township was thirty minutes. One guy even said, I hope you guys come back alive.

We also heard from Kenneth Kwenkwe from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation who focuses on community healing. This was a different perspective from Dr. Snyman because Kenneth is a black man working with black communities. His organization runs a training course for community leaders so that they can go back to their communities and make positive change. He also passed around the Community Healing training manual that they use, which was interesting to see because it had very similar ideas to what we have talked about in our leadership classes.

It was also interesting because both speakers today talked about the importance of relationships, alliances, and partnerships. To me, that represented the concept of ubuntu – we exist because of our relationships with other people.

Sometimes I feel like South Africa is doing so much more for apartheid/human rights/HIV/AIDS than the United States is doing for poverty, but in all reality, I have no real basis for this assumption. I do have two possible ideas about why I think this. Either, ubuntu (or maybe something else) makes such an impact that it does allow for a more productive environment or it is just that we are constantly being exposed to people who are working on these issues here. Christen made the point that if we had constantly listened to speakers who were working against poverty in our leadership class, maybe we would think the US was doing more too.

Another interesting conversation we had was about the youth in South Africa. Johanna, who is maybe 50 years old, said that there is definitely a conflict between generations. She feels that the younger generation is not interested in learning what happened and they don’t realize how lucky they are. Black youth think how could our parents have allowed this to happen them and white youth think how could they do this to others. I don’t really have any reflections on this, but I just thought it was an interesting dynamic.

After we talked to Kenneth, we ate lunch and then ended up meeting some other students from Appalachian State or University or something like that who were also visiting the JL Zwane. There was this really awful lady who completely pissed off our entire group by assuming things about us and going off on a rant about white privilege and taking things for granted. She obviously knew nothing about the mission of our trip.

After lunch, we delivered some food parcels and also stopped by Lydia and Priscilla’s house. Lydia is the sweetest lady and has a six-year old son Neyo, both of who have a very sad story. Lydia is HIV-positive because her husband slept around and gave her the virus. After she found out she was infected, her mother wouldn’t let them live in the house and so Lydia had to live in a really crappy shack behind the house. In the last few years or so, Edwin from JL Zwane helped raised funds to build Lydia a new house, which we visited. Her son Neyo is also HIV-positive. In addition, he only has one lung, has a tumor in his brain, and is in and out of the hospital almost every day – a very sick boy. Most physicians say that he shouldn’t even be alive. As Lydia told us her story, many of us couldn’t help but cry, or at least tear up. Priscilla is another amazing woman in the community, who takes care of 12 other children just because she wants to. The house is pretty small and everyone fits into two bedrooms, but the group from last year raised over $8,000 for the community, some of which is going to fix up her house. It is very exciting because we get to be there as representatives of last year’s group when Edwin tells her about the plans!

Then we went back to the church and some of us went to an HIV support group and some of us went to watch Siyaya perform. Siyaya is a singing group that performs in clinics and other venues to raise awareness and education about HIV/AIDS. Since we are going to watch them perform in a clinic tomorrow, I decided to go to the HIV support group. It was very interesting to observe. Most of the time, they spoke in Xhosa, but someone sat by me and translated so I could understand. First, we did some exercises like running in place and squat thrusts, haha. Then two people shared the stories of how they were infected by HIV. Others just vented about the ignorance of some people when it comes to understanding the virus and how it is spread. At the end, we all gave each other hugs. Even though we could not relate to what they were saying and were complete outsiders, they were so open with us and I was hugged by many people. It was very touching.

For dinner tonight, we went to Christen’s homestay. I was again surprised at how nice the house was, but like I mentioned in a previous blog, my ideas of a “nice” house have changed quite a bit in the last few days. During dinner, a few of us also bought COPE t-shirts from Christen’s host mom. COPE stands for COngress of the PEople, a recently formed political party that is an offshoot of the African National Congress (the party of Nelson Mandela). Later, the host moms were making jokes that there was going to be a new COPE branch in Minnesota. Watch for that on campus! ☺ After dinner, we went home, ate some delicious custard and pears – yes mom, pears! – wrote in my journal, and went to bed.

I still have much more to say about my time in Guguletu, but I might start shortening it up a bit. ☺ Keep checking back for updates and thanks for reading my blog! Love you and miss you all!

Guguletu - Monday

2009-06-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we went to Khayeletisha and met with Mandla Majola at the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) office. The township of Khayeletisha is much more impoverished than Guguletu, which is quite obvious from the conditions of so many of the homes. Rows and rows of shacks went on as far the as the eye could see. It is strange to think that the range of poverty here is so wide that someone living in a shack here in Guguletu might actually be more fortunate than someone in a much smaller shack in Khayeletisha.

TAC is an amazing grassroots organization, with over 20,000 volunteers. To me, that is so inspiring because it shows how people can be motivated with the right kind of leadership. They seemed to focus a lot on education, which is so important when dealing with adaptive change and giving the work back. It is very promising, all the work they have done, and for such a good cause, too. It really is inspiring for people who want to make a difference. Obviously, most people will not do something of that magnitude, but it is still exciting. I felt very bad this morning because I had a very hard time staying awake and it was even worse because I am very interested in TAC. I don’t want to make excuses for why I was so tired, but I will just leave it at that. I was tired. I felt bad. Tonight I will sleep more. We also found out that OBAMA (!!!) had been in the same office we had been in asking Mandla for advice – crazy!

Oh, I forgot to mention that Mykala and I washed our hair in the bucket this morning. It was quite interesting because we really didn’t know what to do or how exactly to wash, but we did alright. Dipping your head in a bucket pouring water over it with a cup is all part of the experience. Oh, and I never though I would take a mirror for granted. We then had eggs, cereal, and bread for breakfast. Penny and Kate are very thoughtful and always want to make sure we are content. They are very sweet.

After our time at TAC, we drove back to Guguletu. On the way, I saw a line of people waiting for electricity outside and also a building that had SURGERY written on it (I later found out that it wasn’t actually a place for surgery – good thing too). We also stopped at our bus driver Xolani’s house. He dresses very sharp and so I judged from his appearance that he lived in a nice home, but I was surprised to find out that he lives in a shack. I know that was bad on my part, but for whatever reason - maybe it was that handsome smile – I thought he would have had a nicer home. I think that I struggled a lot with the concept of a “nice” home and I feel guilty sometimes, well, actually all the time because I catch myself thinking something, “oh it’s not that bad” – which is a horrible thought. I feel so conflicted and torn because there were people living in worse conditions in rural Mexico with no electricity and dirt floors. So when I see tiled floors and electricity, even in shacks, I catch myself thinking it’s not that bad and then I want to punch myself in the face for ever thinking it. I still don’t know how to handle this feeling. I think it will be something I continue to struggle with. As we were walking out of Xolani’s, a neighbor came up to us and gave us some chili peppers. He said he was an agriculturist and wanted to give us something. Random, but interesting.

At the church, we talked to Mel (a reverend from Florida) a little and she talked us through some appropriate questions to ask presenters, which I thought was very helpful. I know so little about what happened and what is happening in South Africa that I don’t want to show my ignorance to speakers. I also take a little time to process things and it’s sometimes hard for me to even come up with questions, but talking to Mel helped a little.

Earlier this morning, Matt shared a story with us about how his host family took him to a prayer service for a cousin who had died the night before and Matt broke down. It was very touching to see a guy always so full of life cry. And yet, we couldn’t relate because we hadn’t seen hardly any of the township yet. Amanda made the comment about how that might be what it’s like when we go back to the US. People will sympathize, but they won’t really understand. Amanda is really insightful – I have enjoyed getting to know her on this trip and I am hoping we will continue our friendship when we return home.

Mel also talked about the guilt we feel and how we can live day-to-day with the guilt. Guilt is definitely something I have experienced on this trip. It is kind of an emotion that is omnipresent, in fact. And it is a hard emotion to deal with because some of it just comes from being white, and I had no control over that. So it is another thing I have been struggling with on this trip. And I know that guilt should/can be used to motivate a person and guilt isn’t bad as long as you turn it into something good, but what if I can’t? Right now, I am listening to people’s stories and experiencing their lifestyle, but on June 12th, I am going home. And I will tell people what I saw and heard, but then what? Maybe life will take me a certain way and I can use my guilt to help motivate me, but how bad does that make me if I am motivated out of guilt? I should be motivated because I care, which I do, I honestly do care. But is caring enough? Will I be able to take what I learned and do something about it? I still have a lot of feelings to sort out on this subject, as well.

After lunch, we went around on a tour of Guguletu. We drove by the Guguletu Seven monument, the Amy Biehl monument, and then we drove to the hostels. The hostels were originally built for migrant workers when men would move from rural areas to work in the city. They were originally built for one man to live in, but now entire families live there. It was so heartbreaking to see because we talked to a seventeen year-old orphan who looked after her brother (10 years old). She lived in a hostel and said many times she had wanted to kill herself, but couldn’t because of her brother. She also told the story of how her brother had asked why they didn’t have winter clothes. It’s just so sad to hear these stories, especially coming from someone younger than me. She also said she wanted to be a social worker so she could help others and I couldn’t help but think there was something so sad about that statement. How is that some people in the US have so much but don’t care about helping others but this young woman living in a shack wants desperately to do so? We also walked to where she had lived before, a place where a bunch of children stay, and it is a dilapidated old co-op type building. How anyone lives there, I don’t even know. We drove to the meat market next and saw people making smiley’s (sheep heads). Not gonna lie – kind of gross. There was also this cute little boy that Ben gave a sucker to and then he followed us to the meat market. He was so cute! It’s strange because one minute you are crying and the next minute you are laughing with a little child who someone gave a sucker to.

After our tour of Guguletu, we went to JL Zwane for the Rainbow After-School program for kids. It was pretty fun to see the kids, so full of energy. It’s also hard because most of them are living in really tough conditions, but they are still so positive and happy. I was in a room of second graders with Emily S. Only two of the children knew English, so we sat kind of awkwardly while they practiced writing out the numbers from 41 to 60. After they were finished though, we took out our cameras and took videos of them singing and dancing – that was really great and fun. Props to Christen, because I don’t think I could ever be a teacher; kids take a lot out of you. And we have such am packed days, because there is so much we want to see but it would be nice to have more time to just pause and think a little. I feel like I am not even processing what I’ve seen because just when you start to feel sad, you move on to the next thing and feel something else.

After the Rainbow program, we went to dinner at Amanda’s house. It was delicious, of course. There was also a super cute 2-year-old, Lizo. So cute! And Amanda’s house was super nice, at least in comparison to ours (my standards have definitely changed). I already said that I don’t need my creature comforts, so I’m okay with that. I am jealous of the relationship that some of the other girls/boys have with their host moms, but hopefully ours will develop soon. At dinner tonight, we were also asked a few times – how was it today? And I think we were in a situation we are going to find ourselves in often when people ask us how was our trip. In the end, I just settled on interesting because what do you even say to that? Heartbreaking? Sad? It made me feel guilty? It was fun? There’s no simple answer to that, which made it really hard to answer. I also talked to Christen and Emily T. after dinner tonight about a lot of different things, which was fun. I heard all about Emily’s boy and Christen’s girls and I told them all about “the boyfriend.” Then before we left, we all joined hands, prayed, and they sang “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah.” It was so beautiful, so full of raw emotion, that I couldn’t help but cry. They are so thankful for what they have, even though by US standards, it might not be considered that much. At least they have each other, their friendships, and their support.

After dinner, we went home and actually talked to Kate and Penny for a while. Kate first showed us where her mother lived, just down the block. We found out that Kate was one of 16 siblings, 5 of which died – some from cancer and one in car accident. Her mom had FOUR sets of twins! We went back inside, Kate showed us some pictures, and fed us some noodles (Mykala’s favorite). Then we just got to talking and had a good conversation. Kate told us that she works in Rodenbosch (!), a neighborhood very close to where we stay in Cape Town, and she has to take two taxis to get there. She has worked as a cleaner in a government building (the Department of Public Works) for 14 years. One thing that was interesting to me was that Kate told us how important it is to be on time, which I thought was funny because we have heard so much about “African time.” This was the complete opposite of that. She also talked about her son, Paul, who now lives with his dad, but at one time had been in jail and done heroin. She then talked about how important it is to be in a good crowd.

Penny came out after a little while – very tired of taking care of At all day – and talked to us about schools a little. She said that schools are “free,” but they are not really. There are a lot of fees that have to be paid. Even though they aren’t supposed to be segregated, they still kind of care because it costs x00 rand for black schools and x000 rand for white schools. Penny also asked us if American schools are like what she sees on TV, but it was hard to answer that because we didn’t really know what she meant. Kate and Penny both talked about how important education is and kept telling us we are here to learn, which made me feel better about asking questions. I feel much more comfortable than I did before and am not quite so jealous of others anymore.

Oh yes, and Kate and Penny also sang for us. They both have beautiful voices (Penny was in the choir), but the lyrics were so appropriate and hopeful. I want to write them down – let there be love amongst us…let there be joy amongst us…let there be peace amongst us. Then we just went to bed – no journaling tonight. After falling asleep so much today, I wanted to be well rested.

Another thing that has been very frustrating is that I have these expectations from the last year’s group. I know they weren’t supposed to give anything away, but by saying, “it’s so amazing, I can’t describe it, and it changed my life,” it creates an expectation. And I keep waiting to feel what they felt, and then I feel guilty for not feeling it, but then I don’t feel guilty because I don’t want someone else dictating how I feel. And I don’t even know exactly how they felt. It’s just a confusing set of feelings I have. And like I mentioned before, this is hard for me too because it’s not my first time seeing conditions like this. I don’t want to say that I’m used to it by any means, because I have cried and it still affects me, but I feel that if I don’t cry like Kate K. from last year, I am not getting the most of the trip, which I know is NOT true at all, but I feel that that is an expectation. When you feel “it,” you cry, and by the way it was described to us, I thought I would be crying a lot more. I don’t know, though – some run-on sentences there, not very coherent thinking on my part. Still sorting a lot of feelings out. I definitely need more time to process things than I have had so far. 20 hours of flight time back to the US anyone?

If you can believe it, there is still much more to come! Thanks for reading my blog! Love you and miss you all!!!

Guguletu

2009-06-06T10:03:00.001-07:00

(This blog was written before my week was up in Guguletu)

Last Sunday was my first day in the township of Guguletu! Before I went, I was a little apprehensive about it and slightly nervous, but trying to stay positive and put on a good face. I knew that it would be a good experience for me, but I still had reservations about my safety. I honestly didn’t really think much about the “creature comforts” I would be missing out on, but safety was a big concern for me. I even get slightly paranoid walking around on campus, so coming to a township in South Africa was kind of a big step for me. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the history of South Africa, a township is pretty much an area where blacks were relocated out of major cities during apartheid. Guguletu is only about a 15-minute drive from where I am staying in Cape Town, but it is vastly different.

You might notice that I didn’t blog about how I felt before I left, but that’s just because I didn’t want my mom to be nervous! ☺

I think that one reason I wasn’t as concerned with creature comforts is because this trip to Guguletu is a temporary condition. I might not have a super warm bed every night (which I actually did have), but in five nights, I’ll be back in Cape Town and in 2 weeks I’ll be back in Minnesota. While that definitely makes it easier to temporarily stay here, it also makes me feel like a fraud. Just how Kevin Wigne described how he would spend time in the townships and then drive back to his safe home, I am only spending a week here and then going back to Cape Town and then right back to my house on Como. What does that say about me if I wouldn’t even want to live under the same conditions as the people I want to understand and learn from? I hope that the lessons I learn from this week will stay with me and guide me as I pursue a career in the healthcare field.

As nervous as I was for the homestay in Guguletu, I was also the most excited about it. I knew that it would challenge me and place me far outside of my comfort zone, but I also knew it was where I would learn the most. Guguletu was the reason I had come on this trip. Cape Town is great and I love doing touristy things but that’s not what this trip is really about. For the past week, I feel like I haven’t even been taking a leadership class. We learned about the history of South Africa and I was able to apply some of what we had talked about to leadership, but more often than not, I was just acting like a tourist. My blog has mostly been about day-to-day occurrences with a few reflections thrown in, but the reflections usually aren’t about leadership. Mostly they have been about differences in cultures or things that struck me as interesting. I am excited to start learning and talking more about leadership in South Africa. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a huge, global issue that seems extremely daunting to confront. But just like poverty in the US is such a huge issue, it can be broken down so that one group of people work on one small part of it and then that aspect can get better and than another group of people work on another aspect and more and more people are working on it and then the issue doesn’t really seem as daunting anymore. It really does require the use of many resources and the participation of the entire community. One person cannot do everything alone, which is why I personally think that ubuntu is such a powerful concept. With everyone working together, it is much easier to create positive change. I am excited to see and interested to find out exactly what kind of steps South Africans are taking to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. How does ubuntu play into it?

My first impression of the township as we drove up was – wow, paved roads. Then it was wow, stucco homes and fences? I am not sure what I was expecting, but for some reason, I was very surprised at the quality of the homes. I think I also lost the idea of town in a township. I forgot there would be a sports complex, a hair salon, schools, etc. I was almost expecting dirt roads and tin shacks, without a real sense of order in how the buildings were laid out, but that was not the case. I think that initially helped to calm my nerves. Obviously, the living conditions in the stucco homes are nothing compared to ritzy villas or even average homes in the United States and I do not want to belittle their struggle, but I just wanted to point out my observations (initially). As we kept driving, we saw some “nice” homes and not so nice houses. I began to see the conditions of extreme poverty I had imagined the town would have. As we were driving around, I saw a row of nice stucco homes with lawns and fences, but a few yards behind them were rows and rows of tin shacks. We were driving down a street of very poorly built houses and shacks when all of a sudden, the houses were nice again. Very odd. I would also like to point out that “nice” is a relative term. Compared to my house in Litchfield or Minneapolis, the nicest house here (based on my assumptions) is probably not quite as good. But compared to a tin shack, the nicest house here is like a palace.

My first impressions of the church were wow, this is nice and also brrrrr. It was definitely not the right day for a dress, no matter how cute it was. To be completely honest, I was not looking forward to the church service. To the homestay and time in Guguletu, yes. To the church service, absolutely not (just ask my parents how I feel about church). I consider myself agnostic and do not really think that church is a valuable use of time when I could be studying or relaxing for one second. I had to go almost every week for 17 years of my life, but since senior year, I’ve only went a few times with my family or Jimmy’s family. To put it bluntly, I hate church.

The service, however, was AMAZING. There are not even words to describe how beautiful and moving the music was. It literally brought tears to my eyes. Even though I couldn’t understand a word they were saying, it was one of the most powerful things I have ever witnessed. They were just so passionate and the sound was SO beautiful. I absolutely LOVED the service, which is very odd for me to say, but it’s true. Now does that mean I am going to church in the US and listen to a bunch of tone-deaf Lutherans? No, but I will say that there is something very powerful/uplifting/inspiring about what I saw today. It didn’t change my religious views, but it did make me realize the power and strength a church can help to provide its people. Maybe it’s not such a waste of time.

As the bus drove us to our homestays after the church service, I began to get a little nervous. We dropped people off at fairly nice homes, but then we turned down a street with a ton of shoddy houses. Like I mentioned before, all of a sudden, the houses just got nicer again and I felt a little better. I am staying with Mykala at Kate’s house. We met Kate, my host mom, her daughter Penny (32 years old), and Penny’s 1-month-old baby At (short for Atinkos) at the door. They took us right to our room. I was confused at first because she took us through the kitchen, but there was no other room or hall by it and then she walked outside. Question mark? Our room was actually in a separate building not attached to the house. I am not sure if that’s normal here or not, I guess I will find out tomorrow, but it just took me by surprise. The room itself is nice – two beds, a TV that gets a few channels, a heater (yeah!!), and some tables and chairs. They brought us extra blankets and a pitcher of water. And I had written in my biography that I love to read, so they put a stack of books on the nightstand. One of the many ways they showed me how thoughtful they are throughout the week. They also made mashed potatoes tonight because I said they were my favorite. ☺ After we arrived at their house, we hung out in our room for a while. Later, we ate dinner in the house with Kate and Penny, which was delicious. Kate told us that they tried to get Dr. Pepper for me, but they didn’t know what it was. That made me laugh. Mykala asked what they were doing after dinner, but the said they were going to bed because they get up early. So we went back to our room, a little bummed that we didn’t get to talk more to them, but at least we finally got to rest. As we were getting ready for bed, the lights randomly turned off for 25 seconds. We just looked at each other and laughed. The heater is also on the fritz and likes to turn off and on all the time, but I am just thankful we even have one.

One more thing – this is all very surreal. I cannot believe I am living in a homestay in Guguletu, South Africa. I am continually amazed at the path that life takes me on and I am always excited about what is coming next. Tomorrow we go to Khayeletisha, which is much more impoverished than Guguletu. It will be interesting to compare the townships and see the disparity that exists. We also get to tour Guguletu and finally start, what I feel, is the most important and valuable week of the class!

I still have so much more to say, but we are going out to dinner for Christen’s birthday right now. Check back soon for more updates!! Love you and miss you all!

I'm back!!!

2009-06-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I am back safely in Cape Town. I had an amazing week and have a LOT to blog about! My camera did break, so no more pictures from me but it was about 4 years old, so it was time. :) Tonight, I am going to relax and hopefully I will catch up on my blog in the next few days! Check back soon! XOXO!

Day 5 - Safari

2009-05-30T23:48:00.003-07:00

Today we went on a Safari!!!!! We drove about 3 hours inland to the Inverdoorm Game Reserve where we boarded a Land Rover. It was about 40 degrees outside and pretty chilly but totally worth it! We saw giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, lions, wildebeests, rhinos, springboks (like tiny antelope), ostriches, elan (like a big deer), and kudu (a really cute animal like a deer with big ears), and some other sweet animals! It was really cool when we saw the giraffes because we got to get out of the Land Rover and walk towards the giraffes!! We also got to eat a yummy meal and meet the owner of the Game Reserve who had moved here from France. He said he came with the intent to stay 2 years and ended up staying 17 years - a really nice guy.

Tomorrow I go to the township of Guguletu, a little ways away from Cape Town, and stay with a host family. I will be gone until Friday evening so no more blogs from me for the next week or so. But as soon as I get back I will let you all know about my week! Thanks for reading my blog! Miss you and love you all!

PS I wanted to upload some pictures but the internet wasn't cooperating - I'll try to later!

Day 3 - Cape Peninsula Tour

2009-05-29T22:36:00.001-07:00

Today was a very beautiful and relaxing day. Many of us were very tired as most of us slept 3 hours or less last night due to an intense conversation, so it was nice to just take a tour of the Cape. We boarded a bus with a jolly ol' tour guide. We drove down to Hout Bay harbor, got on a glass-bottomed boat, and rode it out to "seal island." Seal island was essentially a huge rock with a bunch of seals laying on it about a 20 minute ride from shore. At first, it was raining really hard and so most of us were crowded into the inside of the boat where there was not that much room to stand. Once we got out to the island, we went out to the deck and took a bunch of pictures. After that, it wasn't really raining that hard anymore so we got to take a lot of cute pictures. :)

After the boat ride, we drove along the coast (called Chapman's Peak Drive) to Boulder's Beach. Boulder's Beach is where a huge colony of penguins live. It was kind of fun to see them waddle around haha. We also had a nice lunch by Boulder's Beach and then kept driving to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. The views were spectacular and I took a lot of pictures. The Cape of Good Hope is the most southwestern point of the African continent. It isn't actually the place where the two oceans meet (Atlantic and Indian), but there is a certain spot a little ways off the coast where the water breaks over some rocks that some people say is where the two oceans are colliding. We climbed up to the lighthouse and got another fantastic view of the coast. It was quite the trek up there, but totally worth it.

We then drove back to Cape Town and stopped at the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens, which were quite impressive. It was on the verge of raining and we only had a hour or so before it closed, but we did get to see a good portion of the gardens. Jen and Mike - I saw the bird of paradise flower! After the tour, we ate yummy chicken at Nando's, heard the story of how Christen and Marc met (ahhhh), and then came back to the townhouse for a night of blogging and catching up on sleep.

One quick comment about the landscape we encountered today - It was definitely not what I had imagined Africa to look like. I am over and over again struck by the beauty of this nation, but it is such a contrast to the people living in conditions of extreme poverty. I am not sure exactly which emotion this contrast evokes, but it definitely seems ironic. It doesn't seem right either. I hope everyone knows that even though my pictures might show the beautiful side of South Africa, there is still another side, a much more serious side that I will get to see next week in the township of Guguletu.

Thanks for reading my blog! More to come later! Love you and miss you all!

Day 2 - Modern History of South Africa Lecture and District Six Museum

2009-05-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

After sleeping very well again last night, we woke up to another BEAUTIFUL day in South Africa. It is supposed to rain starting tomorrow so I will enjoy this nice weather while I can. Due to some miscommunication between the girls and the boys this morning, the girls got on the Jammie to campus but the boys did not (sorry again guys). They did walk to campus very quickly and were only a few minutes behind us - very impressive.

For my lovely friends and family who are maybe more interested in what I did than a discussion about the history of South Africa, feel free to skip to paragraph 7. If you are reading this for academic purposes, please continue. This morning, we listened to Zwelethu Jolobe discuss the modern history of South Africa. I thought he did an excellent job condensing what seems to be an incredibly complex history into a few short hours. He was also very articulate and well-spoken, but maybe the English accent had something to do with that. :) No, but really - a very intelligent guy. For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the lecture was when he discussed the beginning of apartheid in South Africa. I originally assumed that it had begun for strictly racial reasons, however, it was interesting to find out that it was for economic reasons as well. I mean, that makes perfect sense, as the economy is a huge factor in many of the nation's decisions, but I just hadn't thought that apartheid - a separation of blacks and whites - would have had an economic beginning. Obviously, there was a large racial component but as we heard today, segregation laws were relaxed during WWII when many whites left to go fight and they needed blacks to fill take their jobs. They were also relaxed when the manufacturing industry was boomed and the capitalists needed cheap labor in order to be competitive. Apparently, the racial factor wasn't enough to overcome the monetary benefit of their work. The fact that these laws and ideologies were relaxed when it was economically advantageous to the nation further show just how illegitimate a separation based on race is.

I can't remember how we got on this topic, but I really liked this quote that Zwelethu said - "Democracy will not solve social problems." This definitely caught my attention, as I think it challenges our traditional ideas of democracy. In the United States, democracy is typically viewed in a very positive way, but this quote reveals the disparity of wealth that democracy inevitably creates. It creates "haves and have nots." And while this is a necessary component of democracy and the basis for capitalism, it makes me wonder how effective and beneficial is a democracy. Is there a better way to do things? What type of ideology could that include? Maybe one that better embraces the ideas of adaptive social change? While I know very little about politics and am still not really sure what I think about the quote, it definitely made me think.

He also compared Cuba to the United States and mentioned that even though the US is thought of as more powerful, Cuba has an excellent healthcare system while there is poverty in the US that you will never see in Cuba. Particularly since I spent the last semester learning about poverty in the United States, I was happy that Zwelethu discussed this point. There is a lot of poverty in the United States and some people fail to recognize it. Yes, it is not as severe as in other underdeveloped countries, but many of these underdeveloped countries do not have the resources to help these people while the United States does.

We also discussed the idea of "quick-fix" solutions, as Zwelethu called them. After apartheid ended, people just wanted results as fast as possible. And by not taking the time to create adaptive change, the problems weren't really solved. This reminded me of a familiar discussion of technical vs. adaptive problems. When the people just ask the government for results instead of finding ways to create the change themselves, a huge issue gets treated as a technical problem and nothing is resolved. He also brought in an interesting political aspect I had not thought of before by mentioning how the government is hindered in their ability to create long-term goals by the elections that take place every few years. In order to get reelected, the people want to see results. This leads to the government treating issues as technical problems and creating short-term goals that produce quick results so they can get reelected. If a government is focused on goals that won't show results for 10-15 years down the road, they would most likely not be able to make them a reality as it would be hard for them to get reelected. I am not saying that governments should be allowed to stay in power for such long periods of time, but I do think our society needs to move away from evaulating governments on a basis of what are they doing for us right now and focus on what the end result of what they are doing could be. For many, I feel that this would be a very difficult task. However, if it were possible, I think it would make it much easier for governments to focus on long-term goals. The impetus for social change still belongs in the hands of the people, but the government still has some responsibility to help. If both the people and the government could work together, I think it would help to better facilitate adaptive change.

One final note I want to make about our presenter is that while I definitely appreciated the condensed history of the nation, there were definite biases apparent in his presentation. These biases are not unexpected nor do I have a huge problem with them, they are just something to be aware of. For one, when we discussed current South African President Jacob Zuma, it was evident that he was in support of him, which makes sense because he might go WORK for him! I am no expert in South African politics, but from what I have heard from people who do know a little, Zuma is not the greatest guy. Zwelethu defended him and kind of compared him to Clinton by saying that his personal life is an issue, but in office, he has been doing things right. From what I understand from the situation, it is not just his personal life (rape and money fraud charges of some kind (?)) that is the issue. Rather, it is because of such things like the damaging comment about HIV/AIDS (it was okay that he didn't wear a condom during sex because he took a shower afterwards) that has seriously hindered the effort of educators promoting the use of condoms and made many people upset. Regardless of whether or not he raped a woman or embezzled money at some point (which if you ask me are serious character flaws), he has not been a good advocate for proper HIV/AIDS education, a huge issue in South African society. Initially, I was suprised that Zwelethu just kind of brushed the criticisms off about Zuma, but realizing the possible biases he might have helped. I also should point out that my other sources about Zuma are very interested in the issue of HIV/AIDS, which in itself, is another bias. If I want to formulate a more accurate opinion, I definitely need to do some more of my own research (hopefully bias free).

Overall, I found Zwelethu's presentation helpful. It provided me with a little background information about South Africa that would have taken me hours of reading to come up with and it also gave me some things to think about. After the presentation, we walked down to Rodenbosch (sp?), a neighborhood nearby the campus, and ate at Cafe Sofia, a tapas bar. I had french toast with grilled bananas - YUM! Then we went to the District Six museum. District Six was a neighborhood in Cape Town that previously had black residents. On multiple occasions, but primarily in the 1960's, blacks were forced out of this neighborhood and homes were demolished. The museum is a way to honor and remember those who had once lived in District Six. All around the museum, there were old street signs and other remaining artifacts. There were also recreated homes, rooms, and businesses as well as artistic tributes (i.e. poems and paintings) to the members of District Six.

I thought that it was a very interesting museum. One thing that was hard for me is that it seemed to be very disorganized. I didn't know the right way to walk around in order to get a comprehensive idea of what happened. Going in, I already knew the basics but it was difficult to pull specifics out from the seemingly haphazard arrangement of newspaper clippings, timelines, and texts on the walls. I did like the museum, but as someone who knows very little about South African history, it would have been nice to be able to understand more clearly everything that happened. I think it was good that Zwelethu talked to us this morning, as his presentation definitely helped to lend context to what I saw in the museum. The justification for the removals was that this district of black residents was full of prostitutes, drinkers, and gamblers. However, as Zwelethu discussed, I think that the motivations of the government were mostly economic. Next to Table Mountain, the harbor, and the bustling city, District Six is "prime real estate location." Moving blacks out of the district for "moral" reasons would allow the government to shape this piece of real estate into something that directly benefits the state.

After spending time at the museum, we walked to Greenmarket Square, which had a market in the center. It actually reminded me a lot of the market I visited in Argentina. Lots of jewelry, crafts, paintings, and vendors trying to entice you into buying things by offering a "special price" just for you. I spent a little more money than I meant to, but I got to try my hand at bargaining! (not very good by the way) When we go back, I think I will have a better idea of what would be reasonable to offer and maybe I'll make some sweet deals. It's just hard for me because I don't really know the value of what they are selling to me and so I don't know if I am jipping them off or if they are jipping me off or what. I feel bad because I think that they could probably use the extra 15 rand (about $2) more than I could, but at the same time, I don't want to get ripped off just because I am a tourist. After the market, we sat for a few minutes outside a cafe and witnessed David's pterodactyl screech performed by David himself and then by Ben - very, very funny. We also attracted a few looks from passerbys. Oops. Then we went back to the townhouse and facebooked, blogged, etc.

Our phones also stopped working tonight, which was kind of a pain. We had been planning on going to a nice restaurant together, but we couldn't call for a ride, we couldn't call the restaurant to see what time they were open to, and no stores were open to sell more cell phone minutes. What ended up happening was that the boys ran to a pay phone to call Ouma (the director of the interstudy program). Ouma then called us a driver who stopped by the house and took us to dinner. In the end, it all worked out well. The restaurant we went to was beautiful! It was high up in the hills and had glass windows instead of walls so you could look outside the whole time. The menu was mostly typical South African dishes, which were fun to try. I didn't particularly like my dish, but it was still a fun time and the owner was super nice to us and explained all the dishes to us.

One final comment - high up in the hills at a fancy restaurant looking down at a gorgeous view, it was hard for me to think about how some people can have so much and some people can have so little.

Thanks for reading this really long blog!! It is great that I can share my experience with so many people! More to come later! Love you and miss you all!

Day 1 - Orientation, Campus Tour, & the Waterfront

2009-05-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Last night, we arrived in Cape Town around 10:30 p.m. After successfully getting our passports stamped and collecting all of our bags, we went through customs. Customs consisted of telling a guy we were students traveling from the United States and we had nothing to declare and then we walked right on through. Haha. Very different from the United States customs area. We met up with Interstudy and went to the townhouse. It is lavender and has a white fence surrounding it, just like my house on Como!!! I didn't really know what to expect as far as housing, but it seems pretty nice. There are four rooms downstairs, two bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen and then there are two bedrooms and one bathroom upstairs for the boys. I feel very safe here, although the security is pretty intense. A locked gate, a locked door, a padlock, a high fence, and two panic buttons located in the house. Definitely not something I am used to. I have mixed feelings about the security because I know everything is here to make me safe and I am happy that such measures are taken, but it is also scary that those are even necessary. NJ talked to us for a little, gave us our phones and internet vouchers, and then that was that. We were here! I took a very much needed shower :), talked to my roommate Emily for quite a while, and then I slept.

This morning, I woke up in Cape Town right around the same time I would be going to be in Minnesota - funny how time changes. :) I slept very well, as I only slept a few hours on the plane. Still very tired though. After making some toast, we walked up the street and caught the bus to the University of Cape Town (UCT). We took the "Jammie" bus, which is pretty much like a campus connector. It is super convenient, took us right to campus, free, and easy to get to. I am still not used to people driving on the opposite side of the road. When I see cars without a passenger in the front seat, I wonder why there is no driver. When we make a right turn, I wonder where the heck we are going. When Mark got in the passenger seat of the van, I wondered why he was driving. It's also really easy to forget that the cars are coming at you from a different direction so you have to look the other way when you cross a street.

The UCT campus was BEAUTIFUL!!! It actually reminded me of the U of M campus in the fall. There were maroon and gold leaves lining the sidewalks, brick buildings, and students milling around. There was even a building named Jameson Hall (?) that had big steps leading up to it and students hanging outside on the steps. There were big pillars on the outside and it totally reminded me of Northrop or Coffman. College students are college students anywhere, I guess. I don't know what I was expecting at all, but the University is very modern. We walked by Chemistry labs and a Molecular Biology Building (MCB anyone?) and it totally could have been the U of M campus. NJ, the Assistant Director of Interstudy, told another girl in my group that there we are experiencing the first-world aspects of a third-world country. It will be interesting, and most likely heartbreaking, to see the disparity between Cape Town and Guguletu (a township outside of Cape Town we are going to next week).

It's strange because as I walk around campus, I feel so out of place as an American, but at the same time, my appearance is not that different from half of the people we saw today. The only difference is when we open our mouths and don't have that sweet almost-British English accent. It's also interesting for me to compare this to my other experiences abroad. My blonde hair and pale skin stood out in Mexico and Argentina and so I understood why I was standing out. But here, I am one of many. I could easily look like anyone else in South Africa. So I am still trying to figure out why I feel that I stand out so much.

After our orientation and campus tour, we drove down to the Waterfront. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant in the mall right by the water, Prima Piatti. I had a pasta dish, of course (go carbs!) and it was pretty good. NJ got a burger 3x the size of his head. The mall itself was really high class - Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. I went out and bought like 4 purses. HAHAHAHAHA NOT! I did buy an adapter though. :) And a Bueno candy bar because Amanda hadn't tried one. They are the best! Then we walked outside and took a million pictures of the shore. The new stadium that is being built for the World Cup next year looked really cool. It's not done quite yet, but it seems like it will be awesome (not as good at the new Gopher stadium though right haha). After walking along the shore, we went on a boat ride, yes, we were on a boat. Don't worry, we sang the song a few times. :) It was really funny because it was like the cheesiest thing you could ever imagine, a pirate ship with people dressed like pirates. Haha! And then they put on this weird skit about the Spanish War and Blackbeard? It was hilarious! They had like a tape playing and then they would mouth the words. Omg and then one of the pirates came over and took a picture with Emily T. and kissed her hand hahaha! It was a pretty good time. We took a lot of pictures on the boat, saw some seals sunbathing on a buoy, reenacted Titanic, and then headed back to the Waterfront. We saw a BEAUTIFUL sunset (check my profile picture) and then came back to the townhouse where I am now!

It doesn't really feel like I am in South Africa. I don't think it has really sunken in yet. Walking on the Waterfront today felt like it could be the Boardwalk in Maryland, especially with the high class stores in the mall. I honestly can't comprehend why or how people can spend so much money on one purse or wallet or shirt when there are people starving a few miles away. And it's not just South Africa. There is obviously poverty in the US too, but people still feel the need to buy a ridiculously expensive article of clothing. The worldwide disparity of wealth is very frustrating!!!!

So I am loving my time in Cape Town. A little tired and a little homesick, but it is a gorgeous city and so much better than studying for the MCAT!!!!! (which went okay if I haven't already talked to you yet). I felt a little guilty, though, because today felt like a mini-vacation, which is definitely not the point of this trip! I think once the actual class starts - the lecture components and the homestay in Guguletu - it will begin to feel more like how I imagined this class is supposed to feel. When I think about the experience the last trip had and how much it affected them, I wonder why I don't feel that way yet, if I am callous or something. But since I know that is NOT the case, I am going to console myself by saying that the first week is about seeing Cape Town and then next week is when the trip will really hit home.

Sorry my first blog is so long! Thanks for taking the time to read it! More to come later! Miss you and love you all!

I made it!

2009-05-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

As I type this, I am sitting on my bed in a townhouse in Cape Town, South Africa!!! The flight was long, but we all made it safely! Now, time to unpack and go to bed! Much, much more to come later. :)