!!SOUTH AFRICA!!

SOUTH AFRICA

 

February 17^th, 2011

 

Today we were supposed to arrive at 8 AM in Cape Town, South Africa. The keyword was supposed to. For over 24 hours, the MV Explorer circled the shores of South Africa waiting for clearance to port due to extremely high winds. The day was spent in suspense just waiting for “the voice” to tell us we were cleared to go ashore and begin exploring South Africa. We passed time doing everything BUT homework.. played cards, took naps, watched movies and ate. The staff and faculty were great to us by trying to keep us entertained with a talent show, screened movies in the Union and even gave us French fries at supper (this is a pretty big deal to get fries!) Around 10:00pm we got wind (literally haha) of us being able to port between 11pm-1am that night. We were all so excited and started making plans to get off right away and go have some drinks before the bars closed. Well, 1:00am came and went.. and so did 2,3 and 4 am. When I woke up the next morning around 8 am I was lying in bed and could still feel the boat rocking. I was so frustrated knowing we STILL weren’t on shore and more valuable time in South Africa was being wasted. Around 1pm the ship was FINALLY ported and cleared by immigration which was done individually face to face with customs, unlike every other port. WOOHOO – SOUTH AFRICA FINALLY!

 

Anna and I got off the ship right away to find an ATM and walk around until she had to leave for her FDP. I ended up meeting with some other friends, got a bite to eat until we decided what to do for the day. We were kind of unsure but compromised on going to the top Table Mountain. To be honest I don’t know any fun facts about Table Mountain like the height or age but we knew we wanted to go to the top! Tickets to ride the cable car to the top of the mountain are half price after 6pm plus you can watch the sunset (of course you knew which one we chose). In the meantime, we decided to just walk the streets of Cape Town, see what we can come across then get a taxi from wherever we were at 5:30pm. It was a nice walk around the city – the streets were crowded because of the U2 concert in town (the concert itself brought over 75,000 visitors to South Africa). The town was a lot different than I expected. It resembled an average USA city; filled with white people, pretty clean – the only difference was they all had European accents and they drove on the left side of the road. I knew because of the Apartheid, blacks and coloreds had been pushed out of the city onto the outskirts so poverty was just around the corner. Anyways, we got to Table Mountain right at 6pm and took the cable car to the top. Again, it was one of those breathtaking moments in which pictures won’t do any justice. From the top, a 360 view of South Africa was visible. On one side was the port and wealthier parts of town – we could see the ship, the restaurant we had eaten at earlier and every little detail of the town. On the other side, the shore was lined with beautiful beaches with the sun setting on them. On the opposite horizon of the sun setting was the bright orange full moon setting. We had picked the perfect evening to see the moon at its most brilliant, vivid stage. The change in air temperature was dramatically cooler than at the base of the mountain and the air was a lot heavier – we were truly in the clouds! I’m not sure why but the nearby clouds just spilled over other parts of the mountain. It was beautiful to see! Around 8:00 pm we grabbed the cable car back down to the base and headed for the ship to get ready for the night! We all decided to meet back up and hang around the port area for the night. We got a few bottles of South African wine and danced with the crew members that had the night off – very fun!

 

 

 

 

The next morning, February 19^th, 2011, I waited around with our friend Kayla for Anna to get back from her home stay. Around noon she got back, we got off for a little bit, walked around and got something to eat. We couldn’t go far because I had to meet up for my home stay on the ship at 2pm (which I was SO excited for knowing how successful my last home stays have been). There were about 20 of us that were going to stay in a township by the name of Tambo.

Here’s a quick history on the townships from my understanding. There are three distinct racial groups in South Africa: Blacks, Whites and Coloreds - which is everything else other than black or white. During the Apartheid, the whites first forced the blacks outside of the ‘white parts’ of town. So the blacks were forced to create ‘informal settlements’ in the eastern and western parts of Cape Town. Next, the coloreds were forced out of town in the same situation. Each racial group had their own settlements which were never crossed racially at the borders. Whites stayed with the whites, blacks stayed with the blacks, etc. When the whites forced this separation, blacks and coloreds lost their jobs, lost their homes so poverty instantly became an issue. From then on, the poor levels of education, healthcare, unemployment have been EXTREMELY unequal compared to whites. Even after the abolishment of the Apartheid in 1994, the racial segregation is extremely evident. Clearly the blacks aren’t going to pick up and move into white settlements because they have no money (even though it is legal). And obviously the whites aren’t going to pick up and move to the townships because of the poverty, aids and unemployment levels. So the racially segregated townships are staying pretty much the same as the whites continue to occupy the inner parts of Cape Town. The only racial interaction I witnessed was blacks working in Cape Town. The government was in the process of building affordable housing for the township residents but many argued their true intentions. Since the World Cup in 2010, building has ceased and people are still living in extreme poverty with an unemployment rate nearly over 40%. MANY argue that the government housing was just for show so they can say they are giving an effort!! But who knows with the government anyways…

Now back to Tambo…

The actual drive to the township was interesting itself. The tour guide said that it was only a 15 minute drive on the highway and I thought to myself “How the hell are we going to go from high rise buildings, BMWs, filthy rich white Europeans to AIDS infested, extreme poverty filled with all blacks in a matter of 15 minutes???” But we did. I felt like I could actually draw a physical line between the end of white communities to the start of black/colored townships. It was pretty sad but thinking back on it, evidence of this in US cities is just as prevalent. The only difference is here I am going to experience the townships and immerse myself in their lifestyles and back home I don’t exactly go hang out in the ghetto. I haven’t quite understood how I got the courage to do it here, in a foreign country where some don’t even speak English, but I wouldn’t even imagine doing it Compton, Chicago or NYC. The same type of drug trade, gang violence, rape and criminal activity is going on in Tambo as it would in US cities – probably worse! I feel kind of embarrassed I know more about an African township than I do about Inner City Baltimore which is just down the street from where I live. But it was too late to be thinking about this now, I needed to learn about where I was living for the night in order to come home in one piece!!! (Im just kidding – everything was certified through SAS and was as safe as it can be for a township outing- have to remember anything can happen!)

We arrived around 3pm, interacted with some local neighborhood kids and talked with the adults until it was time to meet our families. We were paired with one other fellow SASer to stay in the home of a family for the night. The mother’s of the families were the ones to greet us and basically be in charge. In African communities, any woman older than you is referred to as your “Mama”. Wei, a Chinese student aboard SAS and I were placed with Mama Notemba. She was a short little lady around the age of Mama Kout. She and her husband have four children, all boys and three grandchildren, one seven year old boy and two 6 month old girls. In my opinion, her English was very well spoken but she claimed she was constantly listening to us for new words and phrases – I was impressed. The children all spoke English, I figured since they were younger and it is used more in schools. The family built their house by hand – it was made of cinderblocks and metal roof. It had a living room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. The bathroom had a flushable toilet but no shower – it was in the process of being installed; in the meantime they used a plastic tub. From what I understood, the house has been in the process of building for 10 years but is still not completely finished. The reason it takes so long is because they buy material as they have the funding; visitors like us have given them the funding to maintain progress towards their home. This is actually how the program started; tourists wanted to stay in townships so families said if you pay us to stay here then we can build our homes better and attract more people. In the meantime, the family lived in a makeshift home which is located in the back. It’s basically made out of anything they could find. So when the new home was able to be lived in, she kicked the older boys to the back house so she and her husband could have a home to themselves. Well sort of. Her youngest son is only 17 and is still in school so he stays in the house. I’m not exactly sure but it seems as though the 7 year old grandson stays under the grandparents’ care, which I found is common. The older two boys that have the newborn babies are the two boys that live out back. The girlfriends and babies of the boys also live in the back because the girls are being ‘punished’ by their own families for having babies at such young ages (19yrs) out of wedlock. Mama Notemba said that when the baby girls are old enough to be separated from the moms, she will care for the granddaughters while the moms return to school. So I’m figuring this is what happened with the older Grandson – but just my assumption!

But we spent the day with Mama Notemba cooking, learning these little tid bits about the family and meeting her sons, daughter-in-laws, etc. Her husband arrived soon after and was thrilled to have us staying in his home. He asked many questions about America, Semester at Sea and getting to know us. We all ate supper as a family and the meal was FANTASTIC. There was chicken, potatoes, cooked carrots (sorry mom, I even got seconds on these cooked carrots – I don’t know what her magic was!!), spinach mixed with cabbage and corn meal. We had orange pop for dessert followed by a cup of tea.

After supper, Mama Notemba walked us around the township for a little bit, took us to see relatives’ homes but I could tell she was kind of nervous but I wasn’t sure why. Oh yeah – we were in a BLACK township and we were WHITE. I got her to open up a little bit and she was saying how she could tell people were eyeing us and she was afraid they were going to try and rob us, mug us or something and she mentioned how bad the drug crimes have gotten in the area. I didn’t sense any of this at all. Of course we got heads turning but I expected this; I think her mom instincts were just in super overdrive and she was paranoid for her ‘daughters’. People were all so friendly saying hi, the kids wanted us to play with them – but this is her territory not mine, she knew best so we didn’t stay out for long.

When we got home the dad (I didn’t catch his name) was watching soccer so we sat down and had another cup of tea with him. I really wanted to interact with the 7 year old grandson but he was just SO shy. I tried thinking of any way to play with him then I remembered I had a deck of cards in my bag. I think he was more fascinated by how I shuffled the cards then the actual game!! Haha just kidding. But I knew I had to play a game that would make him talk to me so he could break out of his shell. What better game than Go Fish!!! We played a few games of Go Fish then I taught him other games. He got REALLY good at Kings Corner and wanted to play game after game after game. Mama kept thanking me for teaching him a game that was educational; it made him strategize and use numbers. Eventually Mama went to bed, the soccer game ended, and we were still playing cards. We called it quits and went to bed when the dad was falling asleep watching us. I slept great, the beds were very comfortable but I think there was a little issue with the next door neighbors. I woke up in the middle of the night and honestly thought I was dreaming until I sat up for a little bit and realized I wasn’t. I could hear the mom and dad next door screaming at the top of their lungs at each other. All the babies were crying – I just knew it was just all bad from the tones of voices. Now taking a domestic violence course on the ship has made my ability to identify signs of abuse occurring within families escalate- and this was a real case of domestic violence at my fingertips.. and I could do nothing to intervene. It was one of the hardest things to do, just lay there in bed and listen to this couple fight as their children were screaming.  As unfortunate as these events are, I am sort of thankful I could witness this. Being able to have real life experiences in general confirm what you have been working so hard at researching the past month is a great feeling across all areas of studies.

On a lighter note, Wei and I woke around 7:30am to the smell of breakfast. I couldn’t wait knowing how delicious supper was! The grandson wanted one more quick round of Kings Corner so we hurried before Mama was finished cooking. We were given toast, fried eggs, tomatoes, porage and coffee. It was all delicious but before we knew it, 9:00am came around and it was time for us to head back to the bus. I REALLY wish they would have given us until the afternoon to stay with our families because the time we were given just wasn’t enough. But we all exchanged phone number and addresses so we can keep in touch. Like every other home stay, it was tough leaving but I still had much of Cape Town to see!

 

I got back to the ship around 10:30am, met up with Anna and our friend Tatiana. We all decided on doing the Robben Island Tour that afternoon so we walked around the harbor to kill some time. At 3pm we took a ferry over to the island where we all got on busses to tour the maximum security prison. Here is where Nelson Mandela along with numerous other political figures were held during the Apartheid. The tour guides were actually former inmates that had been imprisoned on Robben Island. There is SOOO much history about Robben Island that I could never even begin to touch the surface in this blog. (I highly recommend googling the history for a better understanding!!!) I was just… I can’t even find the right word… but amazed at the fact that some of these former inmates can conduct these tours on a daily basis at the place that many refuse to talk about. But for most, they have no other form of income and its one area of expertise that no one else can explain better but themselves. I just find it ironic how the white guards were treating the inmates so inhumanely yet the blacks and coloreds rely on mainly white populations that visit the island for tours as a source of income. I see these former inmates as some of the most forgiving and accepting people on Earth. Within the prison, the inmates knew they had to keep their sanity one way or another. The guards had them doing meaningless work like moving piles of rocks from one corner to the next, morally dehumanizing them, starving them. The guards would even create fake letters from the wife stating she has found a new lover and moved on; they broke up numerous marriages and families. So to pass time and keep their witts, they formed a university. Even the white guards were attending classes held by the blacks/coloreds because it was collegiate level material that they had never obtained. Basically they were killing with kindness. Now remember they are not being imprisoned for criminal activity – they were political leaders during the Apartheid who the whites felt threatened by since they were so HIGHLY intelligent people and extremely respected among the blacks/coloreds. To see the actual prison and stand at the cell in which Nelson Mandela stayed for years was a neat experience; but talking with actual former inmates, hearing true stories from the source truly topped the experience. I have some of the stories from the guides on video which I will post later.

 

After Robben Island we headed back to the ship and got ready to go out for the evening. Five of us girls got all dolled up and out for supper. We had an awesome night, talking about all of our experiences so far, laughing and what we all had coming up in the next few days!

 

The next morning, February, 21, 2011, came WAY too fast. It was my day for shopping, running errands and making sure I had done everything for classes. I stayed in the waterfront and didn’t do anything else too exciting. For our last night in town, us girls went out for maybe an hour. We were all just so exhausted from the past few days we called it a night around midnight and headed home.

 

Like always, the next morning, February 22, 2011, came WAY too fast. My bed was feeling extra comfy today and 8:00am was just not agreeing with me. With a little push and nudging from mom, aka my roommate Jessica (we always make each other do stuff when we don’t feel like going – so glad I have one of these kinds of roommates because I never regret going!!), I got out of bed, showered and ready for my visit back to a nearby township with Operation Hunger.

 

Operation Hunger is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that works with communities in poverty mainly focusing on severely malnourished children. Our first stop was to a soup kitchen that was started by a man named Daniel. He is 72 years old, retired and his whole life revolves on his soup kitchen and feeding the hungry children. He is DEFINITELY an angel in disguise – I have no doubts. Well Operation Hunger discovered Daniels soup kitchen a few years ago and agreed to work with him as an NGO. Operation Hunger provides extra funding, professional help for the community such as healthcare, and medical advice. Once a month, the children are weighed by Operation Hunger staff members and numbers are recorded to determine if progress is being made. As volunteers for the day, we got to actually weigh the children, analyze the results and talk about them with the parents. The way levels of malnourishment is determined is comparing age and weight to what it should be as to where it actually is. With -3 being the most malnourished, 0 as average and +3 overweight, 11 out of 13 of the children fell on the negative side. Two were at 0 and no children were on the positive side. These results were AWEFUL and the children were extremely malnourished in this community. If a child fell at -3, medical attention is recommended immediately every two weeks until further notice. Unfortunately we were told that a majority of the mothers will not take their children to the clinic although it is free and easily accessible by walking. Again, my domestic violence radar kicked in and screamed CHILD NEGLECT. There is no reason for these mothers to not receive medical attention for their children. There were 2 year old little girls weighing 15 pounds. Unacceptable – my puppy weighs more than them. Daniel also told us of the growing problem of alcoholism in the community. Some parents will come and get food for their children at home then turn around and sell it for drugs or alcohol. So no wonder these children are so underweight. One mother even showed up to the kitchen drunk. Now don’t get me wrong – this isn’t how EVERYONE in the community is. One mother regularly takes her daughter to be examined to make sure progress is being made every two weeks at the clinic like clockwork. Most of the people really do appreciate the efforts of the soup kitchen, the children loved us as ‘the visitors with cool cameras’.. but theres always those few people that ruin it for everyone else….       

But in general, the day at the kitchen went very well. Some helped the Mamas cook, some played with the kids. Daniel couldn’t stress how much he appreciates us coming and its groups like us that encourage him to keep up his work. Made me feel pretty good at least…

Around noon we ate lunch at the beach and then headed to a little library that Operation Hunger works with. It was started by a man named Jonathan Nicholoson who saw the need for improving literacy rates among the children of the community. Many of the children come to the library after school, learn to read and write and receive help on homework if needed. Most often the parents of the children can’t read or write themselves so obviously somebody needs to help them. The kids are assigned books each night to read ‘for homework’, they have competitions to see who improves the most in a month, etc. The kids win prizes here and there, get stickers and are even taken on field trips. One time the kids were taken to the beach which is only a short 10 minute drive – but most of them had never seen the ocean. I was blown away when I heard this!!! Next month they are going on a field trip to the zoo; the kids are so excited to see an animal (other than cat, dog or rat) in REAL life!! So sad how sheltered some of the children are… Half of the kids that go to the library just go so that they have an adult figure to talk to and look up to, be loved by and have a safe haven to go to away from crime. While spending not even a half hour at this little library, I saw some of the most passion for teaching children that I have ever seen in my life. I was sad to end the day with Operation Hunger but the ship was getting ready to leave in a few hours.

 

Now it’s back to school, school and more school. I really enjoyed Africa as a whole but like always not enough time. Guess this means I just have to come back to stay with Mama Notemba!! But for now, Its time for ASIA!!