Ndikhokhele Bawo

Yesterday I joined the UCT Choir for Africa!  We had our first rehearsal and it was SO exciting.  We really didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, though, because what we found out was the choir used to be really big and really active, but the membership has really dwindled this year, so they’re trying to revive it this semester.  So it’s different than what we thought, but it’s gonna be exciting to get it back off the ground, because apparently it was huge in the past – they sang at Mandela’s inauguration, for example.  The UCT Choir for Africa was created because the UCT Choir only sang English, Afrikaans, and other “western” type songs, not traditional African songs.  So this choir sings traditional gospel and folk music in the different African languages, mostly Xhosa and Zulu.  So it’s definitely going to be a challenge, but we learned our first song last night and it sounded beautiful!  It was a Xhosa gospel song called Ndikhokhele Bawo, which means Father God, I think.  I’m excited because I’m meeting a lot of new people through it, and it’s gonna be so fun to perform at events and stuff!  And then when I come home I will know some traditional South African songs, which I think is really cool.

Tonight should be fun because CIEE planned a dinner for all the Americans staying in Liesbeeck (the “res”/dorm I’m in) and their African roommates!  So we’ll be meeting a lot of people tonight, which should be fun.

Class yesterday and today was good, no complaints… I had my first tutorial (at Georgetown it’s what we’d call a discussion section) and my tutor obviously realized I was American the second I opened my mouth, so after class he was asking me all these questions about Barack and stuff.  It was cool but I realized I need to really stay up on current U.S. events if people are gonna be asking me all these questions!

Guess what y’all?  I drink tea now!  I feel all sophisticated   In South Africa the traditional tea is called Rooibos and they were hyping it up during orientation and I was like what’s the big deal, it’s just tea, but when we went to church with Quinton (the CIEE director) on Sunday they had some after church so I decided, why not?  They hooked it up with some milk and some South African brown sugar and let me tell you… it is SO delicious!  So needless to say I just bought a huge box of it, and I WILL be bringing tons home.  I am not a tea/coffee person at all so I’m excited I found something I like!

Hmm… for the past few days I have been meaning to tell y’all some random things about my life here:

-They have these things called taxis/minibuses, and they are big 15-seater vans that run up and down main roads picking up passengers.  They go a lot of different places and they’re really cheap (R5, like $0.75) but it’s crazy because there is a driver and then what the SOLmates jokingly (I think) called a Sliding Door Operator (SDO).  So the “SDO” yells out the window where the taxi is going and then basically harasses you to try to get you to come on, LOL.  And then you get on and you end up all scrunched up against a million other people because they do not care how many seats there are, they will pile you in!  So we take those a lot of places and they’re convenient, but just funny because you will not find them in the U.S.!

-Security here is crazy.  Every single house is gated, every store, everything has gates and some even have barbed wire and stuff above the gates!  They say crime is a big deal here and I haven’t personally witnessed that yet, thank goodness, but you can definitely tell it’s a problem because there is SO much security just on regular houses.  But I guess it’s just a fact of life here.

-We all speak the same language, but there are so many different things about their English!  Like, the main greeting is “howzit” (like “How is it” but it’s all one word lol) and instead of saying I’ll be there soon/later/in a little bit, everyone says “just now”, which could mean in 15 minutes or like 5 hours.  A more immediate response is “now” or “now now” but it’s really hard to tell what people mean!  So you just have to chill and not be on a schedule, pretty much, lol

That’s all my cultural updates for today… but when I think of more I will let you know!

BEE = Black Economic Empowerment

Today we went to a braai in a township called Guguletu, about 20 minutes from campus.  A couple of the SOLmates planned the trip, and apparently it’s a really popular spot for lunch on Sundays because for R30 (about $4) it’s all you can eat meat at this place called Mzoli’s.  So we get there and we’re waiting for this food FOREVER and I’m getting so frustrated and then all of a sudden, after almost 2 hours, they bring out these HUGE platters of just meat stacked on meat stacked on meat!!  It also came with some sadze (in Shona), which I described before as really thick grits, but today I realized what it’s really like is like dumplings.  So it’s very ironic to me that sadze, which you eat with chicken and other meat, is the most “authentic” African food I have eaten so far, but it is actually very similar to chicken and dumplings, which is a favorite meal on my mom’s side of the family!  So here I am thinking I’m being all cultural and really it’s so similar to what we eat at home!  But it’s cool to see the connections across the continents.  Also, big difference: today we are with our hands!!  Definitely no forks of any kind in sight, let alone napkins.  So they sit this huge platter of meat down and everyone was just kind of looking, so of course I dove in!  And the best part was, since we had the least amount of people at our table, we had more food to go around, and I CANNOT waste food, so when people were done I was like well, may as well keep going!  So I had about 5 huge pieces of the most delicious lamb I have ever tasted in my life, and 2 or 3 of these really good sausages.  Not to mention a ton of sadze.  Seriously y’all, I pigged out.  But please believe I am GOING BACK every weekend… so when I come back with the “junior 30″ or whatever it might be, don’t look at me crazy!  Just know I’ve been eating good!!

Oh, let me explain the title of this entry.  So while we were at the braai, one of the girls noticed that there were a billion cars all pulled up into this township, which didn’t seem right because townships are known for their immense poverty.  So she asked Moses, and he told us that all the people eating with us at the braai actually didn’t live in the township; they were participating in what they call BEE, Black Economic Empowerment.  They were people who had “moved up” in the world financially, but they come back to get back to their roots in a sense, and also contribute to the economy of their old ‘hood, basically.  Which is AMAZING and WONDERFUL, if you ask me.  I mean, you have this socially mobile group who, instead of “selling out” and distancing themselves as far as possible from their more humble beginnings, consciously choose to remain tied socially as well as economically to their former community.

Which led me to think… WOW.  Why can’t we do this in the U.S.?  From my own personal observations of people in Southfield and at Georgetown, it seems to me that many people who were able to make it “out of the hood” or whatever want to distance themselves as much as possible from that past, except for on certain occasions when it gives you some type of authenticity/street cred.  I get that sense from the condescending attitudes of many people in Southfield (which for those of you not from home is primarily Black middle-class) about Detroit, as well as the comments that some Black Georgetown students make about lower-income Black people in general.  This is just my opinion, and I’m no type of authority, but that’s just what I see.  I wish we could develop more of a consciousness of our interconnectedness as a people, as it seems like these Black South Africans have done.  Though they belong to different socioeconomic classes, they realize they have come from the same struggle and are still in this together.  I think Black America has largely forgotten about that.  I’m curious to know, what do you think?

Solidarity

I am in disbelief that my first week of classes is over already. It was absolutely amazing. In my history class we are learning about how the forced migrant labour system in South Africa in the early 1900s basically messed it up for life and truly set the stage for apartheid. Basically they only allocated 8% of the land to Black people and if you didn’t live on that land you had to move there (so it became VERY overcrowded, dirty, impoverished, etc.) or you were forced to go work on White farms for really low wages. So they couldn’t subsistence farm or sharecrop anymore – they were completely dependent on Whites for these wages, and the farms monopolized the business so they couldn’t even go from company to company to compare wages becaus there was no competition. Then they had “passes” reminiscent of slavery in the U.S. where they couldn’t go anywhere without permission of Whites, so they didn’t even have the ability to look for jobs or try to find a better life for their family. It was so heartbreaking to hear about, and this was before apartheid was even officially instated… I think when we get to that part of the class I am pretty much just going to be mad for the rest of the semester, because I left class yesterday really upset.

Classes are great, though, even though learning about this stuff tends to make me really mad. I’m so glad to be hear and to be gaining a new, more global perspective. I look at the Ellie from two weeks ago and then I look at myself now and I can see that already I’ve changed in a big way. If you had tried to talk to me about international issues before I came here, I would really not be interested. At all. I was very much one of those people arguing, “How can you ignore a homeless man down the street in DC/Detroit, but send your money overseas to help such-and-such people?” And I still feel that giving internationally but not locally can be somewhat of a cop-out for some people who don’t want to face the reality of poverty in the U.S. However, I no longer group everyone into that category, because I have now seen first-hand how the issues we are facing in the U.S. – poverty, unemployment, unequal education, and the racism that lies just beneath the surface of each of these problems – are exactly the same here in South Africa and in countless other countries, but even MORE magnified because apartheid was so recent. How can I look at these kids who are living in a shack with who knows how many family members, just trying to survive, let alone get an education, and say that they are less important than the kids I mentor back in DC? Now that I have met them and seen their struggles, I feel so ignorant for trying to brush off their issues simply because they weren’t happening in my country. I am no longer able to pick-and-choose my issues. The people here are already a part of me.

This sense of connectedness sunk in even more the other day, because the news was on at Tawanda’s flat and they were talking about the Zimbabwe. (In a sentence for those who don’t know, people are fleeing Zimbabwe because of the political turmoil and many refugees are coming to South Africa, but many South Africans don’t like this and have recently committed xenophobic attacks against them.) The people calling in to the news station were saying the most ignorant things, saying things like “The Zimbabweans should just go back home and fix their country,” and I could see how upset Tawanda was getting (he is from Zim). And I realized then that the situation – not its specific circumstances, but the emotions behind it – is so similar to debates over immigration here in the U.S. There is so much ignorance and underlying racism in the arguments of many people, and no matter what side of the debate you’re on, you have to understand that these are human beings who are just trying to do what is best for their family, and we have to treat them as such. Obviously the situation is more dire in Zimbabwe, so I don’t mean to put the two issues on the same level, but I am only saying that the comparison has truly made me realize that we are all grappling with the same problems, even at an international level.

Two weeks ago, I never gave much of this a second thought. Being here is giving me a global mind, and I am so thankful for that. It is overwhelming to realize how much needs to change, because just dealing with problems in the U.S. is crazy enough! But I have to remind myself that it’s the little things that count, and add up, so I just have to keep doing what I can to make these situations better.

PICTURES!

This week has been SO busy because it’s the first week of classes, but I promise I will update y’all tomorrow! But real quick, for my Georgetown people, guess what? Me and Terrance just got back from seeing Yamiche and her mom! She came from Botswana to check out Cape Town. It was so nice!! Also, here is my first photo album from South Africa. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2126503&l=433f9&id=1415651

First Day(s) of Class!!

I just came from a really amazing class. It’s a Sociology class called Workers, Trade Unions and Rights, and I’m so glad I registered for it. See, most of the people at UCT come from privileged backgrounds – access to education is even more stratified here than in the US. But this professor is really going to challenge people’s preconceptions and prejudices, I think. He did these exercises with us where he asked us to mentally put ourselves in the position of a single South African mother with HIV trying to make ends meet, and comparing her priorities and her issues with ours as students. Then he read this list of demands of this group of workers that was from the “old South Africa” (meaning pre-apartheid.) The demands were basically for human dignity: they refused to be cursed at and disrespected, they demanded that they be paid every month, and they demanded equality between white, colored, and black workers. There were more, but all of the things he listed were things that anybody should be guaranteed. Then he revealed that this list was not from the “old South Africa” – it was from last year, 2007, and the demands were made by the employees of the University of Cape Town. It was a huge reality check for me and probably most of the other students. I know how much the group Solidarity does on Georgetown’s campus to secure rights for our workers, and to place that fight into global perspective was really eye-opening for me. I think that’s the main thing I am learning here, so far: all of the problems we have in America are actually global problems of social justice. I usually tend to focus on domestic issues because I have the mentality that I need to help out my next-door neighbor who’s struggling before I help someone thousands of mile away. But now I’m starting to see that our struggles are very much interconnected. This trip has been such a blessing already – I can’t even imagine all the amazing things I’m going to learn for these next four months!

My other classes today were great, too. The social work course I’m taking, Community Connections, is going to be great because we go on field trips to different community organizations that serve the people of Cape Town and learn about the people they serve and how they operate. I’m starting to consider going to graduate school for social work, so I think this class will give me a chance to see if that’s what I really want to do. I also had my Sociology class, Individual and Society, today, and it seems like it will be really interesting. It focuses on how the issue of class affects the health and education systems in South Africa, which is of great concern to me, so I’m excited to get started in that class. My 4th class, the one that met yesterday, was History of Southern Africa in the 20th century, and it seems like I’ll be learning SO much in that class, which is great because as of right now my knowledge is very limited about this country’s history. So basically, my schedule is AMAZING!! And it even allows me time to volunteer on Mondays from about 1-5 pm at the LEAP school I was talking about earlier, so I’m really excited for that!

Oh, so a couple of people have been asking me, what is the difference between colored and black. Sorry if I didn’t clarify that before. Black people are what you would traditionally think of, African people from the various tribes: Zulu, Xhosa, etc. You can usually tell colored people just by looking at them because they’re significantly more light-skinned, but not always, so it can be confusing. Colored people are of mixed race, so they might be part African and part Dutch or European – there was a lot of mixing when South Africa was colonized. But Colored includes some indigenous people as well. I’m not really the best source of information on this, I’m really still coming to grips with it myself, but a good analogy someone used is that Coloreds are kind of like Creoles in Louisiana – they may have many different complexions, but they share a common heritage and culture and are very much set aside from other communities. The communities are still very segregated today because of apartheid, so most Whites live and go to school with other Whites, Coloreds with other Coloreds, and Blacks with other Blacks. As I learn more, I will definitely pass it on.

I love and miss each and every one of you!

p.s. Terrance’s birthday is tomorrow… PARTY TIME!!!!! =D

Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela!

I feel so bad for not writing the past couple of days, because they have truly been eye-opening. In such a short time, I have learned so much about South Africa and all of its intricacies.

On Thursday we heard a talk from SHAWCO, the main volunteer organization on campus, and they took us to a Black township called Khayelitsha, which means “our new home,” referring to the relocation of Blacks during apartheid. We got to see the school rooms where SHAWCO does its work, but most importantly we got to meet the kids. They were SO incredibly cute and sweet! At one point we were standing in a classroom and all the kids were huddled around right outside the door staring at us, and since I was near the doorway I reached out to wave to them, and one little boy grabbed my hand and wouldn’t let go! It was so cute. They were very loving and gave us hugs and everything, and they spoke Xhosa so it was somewhat of a barrier, but they also speak English.

On the way back though, I was crying the whole time. I had this heavy, sinking feeling in my heart because of the conditions these kids are living in. The township is populated by over a million people, and it is just a bunch of little shacks all heaped together… it’s hard to describe, but I have a couple pictures you’ll see soon. Anyway, in many of their homes there is no electricity, no running water, and in their schools they don’t have access to many of the basic things we do. We were learning about how the apartheid system messed up the South African school system so horribly, and it just really sunk in at that moment. During apartheid (which is impossible to believe it was only 14 years ago!) schools were funded as follows: $600 per pupil at a White school, $300 per pupil at a Colored school, and $100 per pupil at a Black school. Just to learn that they would assign these values to people, to children who need to learn in order to succeed, is just so disturbing to me, and it’s so obvious that even though legal apartheid has ended, there is still an incredibly unequal distribution of resources. I guess one of the main reasons it disturbed me so much was because I am so concerned with these problems of educational inequality back at home in the U.S., but I understand that it’s a hard problem to overcome because we live in a majority-white society where it’s harder to get the majority to see that there are incredible racial disparities. But we are in AFRICA and it is still impossible for me to wrap my brain around the fact that Black people are still disenfranchised here, despite the fact that they are the overwhelming majority. It just gave me a terrible, hopeless feeling inside, like we’re never going to solve these problems. But I have to have hope and faith because I know in my heart that I can do something, even if it’s small, and hopefully I can try to convince others to do something about it, too.

On Friday we registered for classes, and my schedule is wonderful:

10 am: History of Southern Africa in the 21st Century
11 am: Sociology- Individual & Society (about modern problems in South Africa)
12-2 pm: LUNCH
2 pm: Social Work- Community Connections (we have field trips- should be amazing!)
3 pm: Sociology- Workers, Trade Unions and Rights

My schedule is FLY, I love it! After we got registered we went on a tour of three other community service sites: a homeless shelter, a TB hospital, and a charter school. The TB hospital was sad, but a great experience, because we got to play with the kids and see all these little babies – they were SO cute! It was good to see they were getting the help they need. The charter school was the best, though – I’m DEFINITELY volunteering there. It’s called the LEAP School of Science & Mathematics and it’s mostly Black, and the guy who runs it is amazing. He’s very young and very conscious and wants to ensure that these kids not only learn, but become empowered and proud of their Black heritage. Apartheid has had such negative impacts on sense of self-worth in this country, and Blacks have definitely had it the worst, so I love that he focuses on that kind of empowerment. I have to find a way to fit it in my schedule, but I definitely will do what it takes. After the tour (at the end of which the bus broke down – luckily we were just a couple blocks away from my dorm!) we went to a club for this party that one of the SOLmates was throwing. It was SO much fun because all the SOLmates and tons of CIEE kids were there. We definitely had a good time!

Today we went to a soccer game! Just so you guys know, soccer is a HUGE deal here. Seriously. And the game was a big one: Manchester United vs. Kaizer Chiefs (that’s South Africa’s team). It was so weird, though: half of the fans were rooting for Manchester! Quinton, our program director, said most Whites and Coloreds root for Manchester and the other British teams, while Blacks root for the home team. That kind of disturbed me… a lot. How are you not gonna root for the home team because you’re a different color? I was kind of upset by that. I guess it’s just another learning experience, though. As for me, I was wearing the Kaizer Chief’s yellow and black! It ended in a tie, 1-1, which was pretty whack, but it was still a really fun game. Oh yeah, and yesterday was Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, so we sang happy birthday at the game! It was so cool.

Everything here revolves around race, and it’s so interesting to me. It was so weird filling out a form the other day and seeing check-mark boxes that read: BLACK, COLORED, WHITE, OTHER. This is just what I wanted, though – being in a completely new place where I can get a new perspective on these issues. I can’t wait to start class on Monday, because I think I’ll be learning a LOT.

Funny sidebar: so me and Terrance were out to dinner with Lowena, one of the SOLmates, and she walked us to the shuttle bus stop, but we waited like 45 minutes and the shuttle never came. Our dorm is kind of in the hood, so they suggest we don’t walk there at night. But there were these four girls at the stop with us and they were calling their friend for a ride to this other place, and they asked her if she would mind taking us to our dorm, too! It was such a nice thing to do! So six of them crammed into the back seat and me and Terrance crammed into the front seat of this car and we didn’t even know the girl who was driving! And she was NOT a good driver! But the girls we were with were SO funny and it was just a really funny adventure… you had to be there. But it definitely spiced up my day! Now I guess we’re going out to another club… people party HARD here, I’m telling you! I got to sleep in today, though, so I’ll be ok. I can’t wait for church tomorrow… I love that church we go to so much. And then there’s a braai tomorrow, yay! I love it here.

Drum lessons, a Marimba band, and AIDS talks…

Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t written in three days! We’ve been so busy though, you don’t even know!

Monday was such a perfect day. We went for a hike at the Cape of Good Hope, which is an absolutely beautiful place. It’s the southwestern-most point of Africa, so you can see out into the ocean and everything… it’s just amazing. I can’t wait for you guys to see pictures… soon, I promise! But on the way down to Cape Point we stopped at a lot of landmarks: Clifton Beach, a really beautiful beach with some really cool houses around it; Simon’s Town, a nice little community that used to be Black before apartheid, but now it’s very White and upscale apparently. It’s so heartbreaking how strong apartheid’s legacy is, but I’m still glad to be learning about it, and hearing about the many ways the country is trying to overcome. We also stopped at a beach to see the South African penguins, which was so cool! And Cape Point itself was indescribably gorgeous. The hike up to the lighthouse was strenuous but worth it because of the view, and then we hiked for 45 minutes to the main part with the “Cape of Good Hope” sign and everything, and it was a struggle but we took TONS of pictures and had lots of fun doing it. During that hike, I was able to see some of the most beautiful views I’ve seen in my entire life, and I just could not stop thanking God for all this beauty He created and for allowing me to enjoy it. It was a great experience! After that, we went to Ocean View, a Colored community where Lowena is from. We saw the school kids perform – dance, sing, and even juggle fire sticks – and they were AMAZING! It was so cool, and meeting them afterwards was so much fun. After that we just chilled because that was a pretty long and tiring day!

On Tuesday, real orientation began for all the study abroad students, not just CIEE (my program). We had to take a 2-hour English test, which was easy obviously (it was just making sure we knew our own language, so I felt bad for the students from other countries besides the U.S. who actually had to try on it…) But to make up for that horrible boring-ness, we got to go to an African drum workshop!! We each got our own drum, and sat there for an hour learning how to play from this band. It was SO cool! Then a Marimba band came to play for us, and after we ate a huge group of us got up there and started dancing, so we had a LOT of fun!! They even played that song they play at Georgetown games, the one that goes “Hey baby, I wanna know, would you be my girl…” and it was just the funniest combination of Georgetown and South Africa. But then they played this one song, and me and Terrance started the Hustle/Electric slide and got a ton of people to do it! It was so fun, and the band was loving it! So I’m glad that day ended on a good note because that test was a mess!

Today, the notable event was our HIV/AIDS session. Of course they have been warning us over and over again about the risk, but today just took it to a whole new level. Long story short, I ended up in front of like 500 people doing a condom demonstration. That is the LAST time I raise my hand when they ask for volunteers!! So guess what I kept hearing the rest of the day: “Great job with that condom!” People I didn’t even know! And I’m like, um, is that really a compliment? But oh well, me and Terrance already stand out anyway because we’re so “animated” I guess you could say, so it’s all good. Then we had to pre-register for classes, which took a couple hours but it wasn’t too bad because we were all together. Then we just chilled after that… I guess it was kind of a boring day! That’s OK though because before today we have been really busy. I’m excited for what’s in store this weekend though… a play, a soccer game, and a braai!

“Terrance, you’re the reason George Bush doesn’t like Black people!”

-Quote from Chenai to Terrance because he was acting crazy… I’m telling y’all, that girl is a trip! LOL

 

Today was WONDERFUL!  Terrance and I woke up early to go to His People for church, which is a 15 minute walk away, near campus.  (Did I mention our dorms are basically off-campus?  It’s ok though, there are shuttles all the time and it’s walking distance.)  So anyway, we walked to church and saw a bunch of the SOLmates, because most of them go there, and Tawanda plays the drums in the band!  The service touched my heart in such a special way because I just kept thanking God for the opportunity to be here experiencing all of the beauty of Cape Town.  The sermon was on Philippians 4, about having faith in the midst of adversity because God will lead you through and give you a peace in your heart that transcends all human understanding.  That peace is exactly what I am looking for here in South Africa, so that sermon really spoke to me.  Plus it was great because they sang a lot of the same songs that the Georgetown gospel choir sings.  As a matter of fact, when we walked in they were singing that song “Lord you are good and your mercy endureth forever…” and when they got to the part “people of every nation and tongue, from generation to generation,” I really realized I was in South Africa, just because of the “every nation” part.  Just to hear a South African choir singing those same words that we do in DC, I realized that we have so much in common all across the world, because we are all overcoming challenges and trusting God through it all.  Terrance loved the service too, so we will definitely be members for these next four months.  After church, Tawanda introduced us to a bunch of his friends and then told us about a good chicken place down the street, so we went there and met up with Chenai.  It was so funny because when she walked in I was like “Hey boo!” just like I would at any other time, but she said she felt so awkward like everyone was looking at her like, who are these people you’re hanging out with??  So now she’s always like “hey boo!” to me cuz it’s so funny to her.  Guess they don’t say that in South Africa!  LOL J  Then we met Chenai’s flatmates (roommates in South Africanese, lol) and they were really cool.  So it was a great day!  I’m already excited for next week’s service.

South Africanese 101: Braai = BBQ

Today was move-in day!  We had to say goodbye to our hotel rooms and hello to our dorms, but it ended up being a definite upgrade!  (The hotel we were staying in used to be a prison… yeah.)  At first I was very disappointed with my dorm because it has no view, and the 3 other rooms do!!  (They are more like apartments – four separate bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen.)  So the other 3 roommates get this amazing view of Cape Town, and I get to view the doors to the other dorms.  (The building is like an O-shape, and I’m on the inside of the O, if that makes any sense.)  Plus I have the smallest room.  Somehow I think they knew I wasn’t paying for this trip and gave me the crappiest room!  But it’s ok because it’s a space of my own and it’s bigger than the singles at Georgetown so how can I complain?  Oh yeah, and I’m in South Africa, which is definitely nothing to complain about.

 

One of my roommates is in CIEE with me and she’s from South Carolina, and another one is a guy named Neo from Lisotho, a small country surrounded by South Africa, for those of you non-geography people.  He’s really nice and cool and he’s good friends with Tawanda so it’s nice having all those guys over.  After I settled in we took a group trip to the grocery store, and it was great to be walking around a regular South African neighborhood and seeing non-American faces!  I tried to disguise my accent in the store but it definitely didn’t work… oh well!  I’ll work on it I guess.  But you wanna know something interesting?  They don’t take showers here!  Only baths.  (Yes we are clean over here!  I just realized how that last sentence could have been misinterpreted lol!)  And I was grossed out at first but then I actually took a bath on the first day and I was like WOW, I could get used to this!  It was very relaxing!!!

 

After that, we had a brie, which is a barbeque.  It was so fun, because me and Lowena were dancing for a lot of it trying to get the crowd hype, and plus the food was SO good!  Moses is throwing a braai this Sunday, so that should be fun too.  Apparently they love BBQ’s here even more than we do in America, believe it or not!

My campus is FLY!!

Today was a really exciting day!  First of all, we got to see our campus and it is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!  Seriously, I can’t describe in words or even in pictures how incredibly beautiful it is.  I just don’t know what to say.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  The view is so beautiful from the main stairs (where people congregate between classes apparently) and Table Mountain is right in the background.  I had seen that picture so many times on the UCT website so when we walked up and saw it, it was just astonishing.  I couldn’t believe it.

 

When we got on campus, we started orientation by learning this South African dance similar to the Macarena.  Thapz, one of the SOLmates, taught us, and it was really fun!  Then we watched this incredibly moving video called Amandla (which is Xhosa or Zulu – I forget – for “power”) abot the anti-apartheid movement and how songs mobilized people.  It made me cry a few times, but the part that hit me the hardest was when this man was describing voting for the first time, when apartheid was finally defeated after decades.  He said, “I voted not for me, but for my mother, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother, who never had the chance to.”  It was so powerful to see how people were able to see a vision of a brighter future even in the midst of such darkness, and it truly made me feel empowered to effect change in society.

 

The attitudes of some other Americans really bothered me, though.  Quinton (CIEE director) said after the video that the reason he showed it to us was so that we could see how apartheid’s segregation of Blacks and Coloreds into townships had had a lasting impact on the country today, because these marginalized groups, although the majority, still have unequal access to resources and are living in poverty when compared to the average White South African.  Many of these people, because of the affects of apartheid, feel no hope for the future because they have seen such horrible things, so there is less of a sense of wanting to strive and achieve, which contributes further to poverty and crime.  But right after he says all this, these two guys behind me started talking about how a friend of theirs had gotten robbed by a street kid last year, and the guy goes, “yeah, I’d be pretty pissed if some kid robbed me at knifepoint.”  I was thinking, are you serious?  Did you not just see the video and hear what Quinton said?  Hopefully this experience will change their perceptions and make them realize that there are societal factors and deeper causes behind everything, if they just open their eyes.

 

After that we had presentations about different volunteer opportunities, and two caught my attention: a baseball team for kids in the townships, and a charter school focused on Black empowerment.  The guy who runs it is so passionate and deep, so I’m really looking forward to working with him.  And if I have time, I’d also like to work at this homeless shelter called ARK, which has so many services and is Christian-based.  After the presentations, Tawanda showed Terrance & I some real African food on campus (before that we were just eating generic stuff, outside of the ostrich burger lol!)  We had sadze (in Shona), which is kind of like really thick grits that you eat with chicken.  It was funny because the night before, Tawanda had JUST described the whole dish to me, and then I got to try it the very next day!  It was really good, but apparently you’re supposed to eat it with your hands.  Maybe next time!  Then we sat on the steps for the first time (maybe the equivalent of sitting out on Healy lawn with a blanket?  A really college-y thing to do) with Tawanda and Lowena (SOLmates) and it was really cool.  After that, I went CD shopping and got some South African music with a couple of the SOLmates, Chenai and Nyoko.

 

But the best part of the day was going to Marco’s African Place.  It’s this traditional restaurant with really good food and performers and everything.  So Chenai (who really reminds me and Terrance of Buky, for all you Georgetown people – she’s SO funny!) was teaching me all these African dances to the songs they were singing, and it was so fun!  She ended up being the star of the night and got invited on stage to dance and everything so it was really cool!  Then we hit the clubs on Long Street again, and since we stayed longer there were a lot more people out and it was a whole lot of fun!  Interesting thing to note about one of the clubs: on the walls there were posters of Tupac and Bob Marley.  And guess whose picture was right in the middle of them?  Nelson Mandela.  It just really hit me when I saw that what a symbol of pride he is for this country, and how much he embodies the spirit of South Africans.  They have so much reverence for him from what I have seen, and it’s really moving.