Hello hello hello!!!
First arriving in Grahamstown was an emotional let-down after the dynamicism of living in Cape Town. In Cape Town I was under a constant barrage of social justice issues. Grahamstown was painfully silent upon first arrival. Or rather - maybe deafening would be a better word. It was "O-week" - Freshman orientation, and the campus was under attack by a giant herd of drunken 18 year olds playing very loud 2 year old bad American hip-hop. So I spent the better part of my 1st week here avoiding every orientation activity that I could (I know, not very ambassadorial-like of me) and searching for the passion I had felt from South Africans in Cape Town (and I don't mean the passion of a 19 year old boy who just got out of all-boys boarding school, because we certainly had enough of that to go around). It has taken a while - but I now realize that Grahamstonians live in a constant battle with social justice... that becomes increasingly apparent the longer I am here.
I live in a house, a great house actually. I live with 5 other South African post-grad (aka graduate) students. We are quite the diverse group - 2 Afrikaners, a Coloured** girl, a black Xhosa-speaking girl, and English girl, and myself. We have our own little Rainbow house...
**During Apartheid, all people were demarcated by race. I think there were something like 7 categories, but the main ones were White (Afrikaner or English), Native (black Africans - all of the different tribes were lumped into one category), Indian, and Coloured. Coloured was taken to mean anyone of mixed descent or of Asian descent. Today, the terms are still in use, though instead of using "Native", people in general refer to black Africans as African (which gets confusing and is disputed by some people). People still refer to people of mixed racial background as Coloured. It does not have the negative connotation here that it does in the states.
Anyway, the 6 of us live in a house on the top of THE HILL. The hill and I have an extreme love-hate relationship. It definitely is helping my leg muscles, and for that I am grateful. For every other reason, I hate it with a passion that burns deep and wide. Especially at night. Especially when it is raining. And especially, especially especially when it is hot. Today it is hot, which is why I am in the computer lab, because there is a fan in the computer lab (I don't have one in my room). AND it does not require walking up a hill.
We don't have a kitchen in our house - correction: we do have a kitchen in our house, it just doesn't have kitchen things like an oven. Or a stove. We do have a microwave, but we are told we can't cook in it unless it is popcorn.... which is a rule I definitely break. Shhh. We also have rules like we have to sign boys in and out, no guests after midnight, no candles, have to check out if we are leaving overnight, etc. etc. Their end of the deal is that they will provide electricity, water, and internet. So far, I have water and electricity. Until they get the internet going, I am going my soup in the microwave. :)
Our dining hall puts on events frequently where we have to get super dressed up (as in formal ball gowns - did I BRING a ball gown? No. Someone failed to tell me that when I moved to Africa I was going to need a ball gown) and we drink white wine and talk about intellectual things. Our dining hall has high ceilings, colonial architecture - it is kind of surreal - sometimes I feel like I am in a strange Harry Potter movie.
But then I walk into town past dozens and dozens of beggers who walk in from the townships that surround the city, and I remember that I am in Africa.
Grahamstown is a funny little place. It is this quaint little town nestled between hills with an amazingly reputed university with beautiful buildings and an Arts festival every summer that is known throughout the world. HOWEVER, as I mention below, it is in the poorest province in South Africa. The lovely hills that surround the city are covered with informal settlements - townships, or as they call it here - the Location. From the manicured lawns of the university, you can look up and see the horizon saturated with poverty.
I have a really hard time just not thinking about that. Perhaps I will become more inoculated as the months go on, but so far, I can't do it. Fortunately, the community here is mobilizing around the issues, and I am able to join the the wave. Here are some of the projects I am involving myself in:
- SHARC - a student group dedicated to issues surrounding HIV/AIDS - and connected to the nation-wide TAC (treatment action campaign)
- Rotaract - in conjunction with the Rotary clubs, working on all sorts of community issues
- Amasango - a school specifically for street children
- the Raphael Centre - a treatment center for people who are HIV+, specifically women and children
- Rotary - my Rotary club involves itself in the community in a variety of ways. Right now I am going to work with them on a literacy project aimed at township schools.
Speaking of Rotary, I am treated like a queen here. The Rotarians have been BEYOND amazing to me. I rarely have 2 nights go by without an invitation for dinner at a Rotarian's home. A couple of nights ago Geoff Antrobus, the Rotarian who is in charge of the incoming scholars to Grahamstown, took all of us on a game drive to the game reserves right around Grahamstown. We saw zebra, wildebeast, wart hogs (pumba!), all sorts of bok (deer/elk type animals), a giraffe!! and maybe... an elephant (it was really far away). Pictures will follow shortly. I am also going camping with the Rotary club in a few weeks to Addo elephant park.
We had our Rotary orientation last weekend in Cape Town - which was INCREDIBLE. I will update more about it on my blog, but suffice it to say, it was the most thoughtfully planned, incredible weekend I could have ever hoped for. The Rotarians here truly are some of the most gracious and welcoming people I have ever met. I feel so fortunate to have a Rotary district at home that supports me as much as they do AND a Rotary club here that supports me as much as they do - I am truly sandwiched in the best way possible!!
And not to be forgotten, I'm in school! I am taking 3 courses (which is a lot for here, most Masters students only take 1 or 2 - which I still do not understand --- maybe I will at exam time)
- Post-colonial Identities - An anthropology class, which is AMAZING - the first half has been focused on construction of identity since colonialism, and the second half of the class is how that plays out in Africa - namely in incidences of genocide, war, and conflict. Next week we start the Rwandan genocide.
- IR Theory - a true Political theory class, but it is so interesting to look at it from an African context. The theories play out very differently if you are talking from the perspective of one of the "periphery" states.
- Cold War Studies - Again, interesting mainly because we focus on the non-US/USSR relations, but on how the Cold War played itself out in the developing world. This class is exciting because at the end of the semester we are presenting our research at a seminar, with the option of publishing.
In addition to those three lovely classes, I am starting my Master's thesis, on the Politicization of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. I'll update more about that as it gets going better, but it is such a relevant topic here, as I live in the poorest and most-AIDS infected province in the most AIDS-infected country in the ENTIRE WORLD.
Needless to say - I am very busy.
Preview for next update: ---- Road trip.... TO NAMIBIA! :)
Much love.
Haley
PS - I LOVE hearing from you, it makes me feel so much more grounded and makes living abroad seem easy. Please keep the emails coming and update me on your life!!
Pictured below is me exchanging club banners with Harry Rama, this year's club President. The club banner exchange is a tradition in Rotary, and I will bring my sponsor club (in Houston) this banner as a sign of friendship from the Grahamstown club.
The picture below is of Sandy, a wonderful and supportive Rotarian who I am so thankful I got the chance to meet this year. The picture is of her thanking me for my speech on behalf of the club.
And this picture is of Rotarian Robin - who graciously invited all of the scholars into his home earlier this year for dinner. While we were there I noticed he had a love of American sports tee-shirts, so I kept this one from Houston to give to him at the end of the year. :)
Thank you Grahamstown Rotary - this year literally was the gift of a lifetime.
GOLD MINE. We went over 2 kilometers down. It takes extracting over 2 tons of ore to get even 5 grams of gold, so we didn't exactly see a lot of it --- the picture with us pointing is supposedly at something that might be gold. We weren't really convinced. It was incredibly interesting and I am so glad that we had the experience of going down. Much of South Africa's wealth has come from the mining industry, and going down to see how people work was ridiculously eye opening. It was over 104 degrees down there and so deep that we had to pop our ears (like you do when you scuba dive) because of the pressure. It was DARK and WET - there were rats and the the toilets were disgusting. Over 2000 men were working underground the day we went down - just unbelievable.
