Lotus Park

On Friday, as part of our Leaders in Grassroots Development class we headed to Cape Flats to visit an informal settlement in the Township of Guguletu. Lotus Park used to be a bush area before it was cleared out for informal settlements, in some ways a shanty town. All of the houses in the settlement are made from scrap material and have tin or boarded roofs, there is no running water except for spigots that are unreliable and shared by many houses (all of which are one room and house up to 10 people), electricity is a complex web of exposed wires, toilets are outhouses, it is a maze to get from row to row of unmarked dirt paths, there is glass, litter, and standing polluted water everywhere, and the entire settlement is squeezed up against the edge of the train tracks, half of which has no fence to keep the children from running onto the tracks. The main part of our morning was exploring the community with the help of a local guide and take notes, which we will later collect and help with development planning to assist their community organization, SNAC/ SUN development. SUN development is actually Claire S (my roommate) and Corinne's service site. They each spend one day a week working on constitutions for groups needing funding (Claire's is a rap group!) and one day in a seriously overcrowded and underfunded creche.

In contrast to some of the other groups who were lead around by members of the community development organization, my group's guide was just assisting and described Lotus in far less than favorable or optimistic terms. When I asked her what her favorite part of living in Lotus was, she responded that there was nothing, from the sanitation and toilets to the water and electricity, to the unemployment (she said most women were unemployed, and some men. She herself was unemployed), she hated living in Lotus. The tour was an amazing opportunity to see everything and really hear her side of the story. Like most of the Lotus residents, our tour guide came from Eastern Cape looking for jobs but hasn't found work. All the jobs within the community are stores set up inside people's homes like fruit and vegetable stands or private creches to avoid rashes and sickness that could come from the overcrowded main creche. On our tour she pointed out where she was once mugged at knife point, where the trash is picked up weekly in a large canister, and other details. She explained that the doctor was a taxi ride away, at 12 rand round trip. There are free clinics but no places to get free food and although the community has church services inside some homes, the nearest churches are also far away. Students, called learners, who can afford to pay for transportation get to attend better schools but most can walk to the local schools and do not attend college.

There is even more information I could share, as it was a few hours worth of asking questions and hearing stories. Although many in the community were eager for us to help, it was also sad to hear that they were asking our tour guide, "Are the white people here to build houses?" "Are they here to fix the toilets?" It certainly was an eyeopening day. It was especially interesting to see the communities and informal settlements, where women now at Saartijie Bartman came from. While I have been dealing a lot with the after affects of violence and poverty, seeing Lotus Park gave me an insight to the roots of the problems.

Rugby and Valentine's Day

Valentine's Week: Prior to the madness of shark diving, last week was filled to the brim. On Monday, I spent all day at school so I could attend the rugby game at night. Rugby is the biggest sport at UWC and draws huge crowds to home games like a college football team might. We arrived early and caught the end of the JV game, before the Varsity Shield match (which I bought the "vest" for,  with the slogan "support you boytjies", South African slang for jocks). Apparently, not only is UWC's rugby team a big deal, they are also really good. We creamed a team from Durban 53-5, and managed to figure out some of the rules, pick favorite players (#11), do the wave, and go along with some cheers. Valentine's day was busy because of service and a meeting, so we all went out to celebrate on Friday night at the Bungalow, a fancy beach-side restaurant in Camps Bay. After our Friday classes we rushed home to get all dressed up and cram into shared taxis with other passengers heading downtown. We all got cocktails and pretty delicious dinner for under $15.  

Valentines for our doors!

Clar.Char.Mar

At the Bungalow

Cramming into a shared taxi we had to ourselves

The Bungalow

The Claires

The V-Day dinner group

The winning team!

The cheerleaders were a little too risque, as was the Ms. Varsity Shield competition. Definitely a contrast to my Gender and Development class

Bushy, UWC's mascot

Rugby!

The real deal

In addition to all the wild adventures (read: shark diving was the coolest thing I have ever done), a huge part of this study abroad program is service learning and school. My weekly schedule includes 2 classes on Monday and Wednesday: Gender and Development, and Theories of Social Transformation, and 2 classes on Fridays with the other students in my program: Leaders in Grassroots Education and Theology of Forgiveness. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I spend all day at my service site, The Saartjie Bartman Centre for Women and Children, which is a domestic violence shelter. (See website and history of Saartjie Bartman) Bridget, another Marquette student, is also assigned to the site with me. In the mornings, we usually work in the Creche, which is like a child development center, with children 1-6. None of the younger children speak English (most speak Xhosa, which means some have clicks in their name, which makes them particularly tricky to learn, and one speaks Afrikaans), and the older, school age children have a limited English vocabulary. We read stories (that no one can understand except for the pictures), do art projects and play and sing. I am working to help put some structure into their days including theme weeks. Tomorrow marks the beginning of ocean week! After lunch, we usually head to the office for our quick lunch break (I have to pack lunches nearly every day of the week. Luckily, peanut butter sandwiches haven't gotten too old yet) before spending time working on workshops. Bridget and I will be running 4 monthly workshops on diversity including religion and xenophobia, and art and expression workshops, details to be determined. We also sometimes attend other workshops, fold donated clothes or stock other donations, watch babies that are too young for the creche, conduct CV or computer skills lessons, and have office hours as after-school tutors. At the end of the day, we can return to the creche where some of the school aged children have joined us for end of day fun. By the time we leave, Bridget and I are usually tired, dirty and a little sticky. I am eager to learn more about the program and start working on all the things that I am passionate about or that need to be done.

SHARK DIVING

On Saturday morning 18 of us got picked up at 4:15am to go cage shark diving! We got to the ocean around 6, had a quick breakfast and headed out. The crew began throwing fish oil into the water as we went and warned us numerous times that this was offseason, we may not see sharks. Despite the warning, about 5 minutes after we got into our wet suits the first shark showed up! 7 of us climbed into the cage and witnessed 4 different great white sharks, including a tail flicking into the cage and a different great white lunged out of the water less than 5 feet away! Once we got out of the cage, 2 more sharks joined the madness before we ended headed back to shore for a hot lunch. The largest shark we saw was 10+ feet long!

At our finest

In the cage!

Fish everywhere!

Check out that face!

Fisherman's Hike

This weekend, 13 of the Marquette program students and I went on a hiking trip with UWC. We joined the hiking club hoping it would be a good club to make friends, however, the rest of our companions were either grad students or university administrators. We left campus around 5 after grabbing dinner at the campus bar/restaurant, the Barn. We arrived at Arniston, the small fishing village where we would be staying, after dark. Shortly after our arrival, we all rushed to bed, much to the amusement of the group leaders. Saturday we were up at 7 after a less than restful sleep to spend 6 hours hiking on the beach. On our return, we went swimming in the Indian Ocean, then had a braai (grill out) which included delicious fresh fish that Buda John, the fisherman who's house we were staying at, cooked for us. Sunday we got up early again to leave for a short hike to the the southern most point in Africa where the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean meet. We also walked to a ship wreck before departing back home to Kimberly House, which was surely missed. We were greeted by the 6 other students who didn't join us for the hike who had baked us brownies and cupcakes as well as decorated our doors with glittery valentines.

View of the beach we went swimming

Shipwrecked

Buda John's house

Fisherman's boats

Fishing rods

Our seal friend, who couldn't resist Charlie

Part of the hike

View of the village

The group plus Jenine, the hiking club leader

Buda John

Devin and I at the southern most point in Africa

Saturday night braai

Groot Constantia

On Tuesday, when some of us didn't have school, we headed out to Groot Constantia, the oldest wine estate in the southern hemisphere. The winery was established in the 1600s and was exporting globally by the 1700s, with famous consumers including Napoleon! In fact, Constantia wine was mentioned in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. The estate offered a completely new view of South Africa! For under $5, we were able to tour the cellar and walk through the property, as well as sample 5 different wines! Luckily, our tour guide offered instruction on what one does for a wine tasting (including viewing the color, the scent, the taste and weight). I opted to purchase 3 bottles of the first white wine which was on sale, 3 bottles for the price of 2, and I came out under $20!

The girls!

The boys doing the grapevine!

The wine tasting!