One last visit to Cape Town

SURPRISE! and.... SURPRISE!

I surprised Victor on his birthday on August 2nd by driving with Kate Lindsay and Rach to Cape Town. We essentially crashed his birthday party dinner. It was so much fun to be the one surprising him for once! The pictures on the left are from his birthday dinner.

However, I didn't get to gloat long, because this week, Victor ONCE AGAIN surprised me by coming to Grahamstown! He arrived in the middle of the night, but I didn't hear my phone, so I didn't see him until Sunday morning (the poor guy had to sleep in the car!) --- it was such a wonderful, relaxing week with him! Since he drove, we also got be tourists and see some of the sites that I haven't ever seen around Grahamstown, like the local monastery and the Observatory museum, where you can see the entire city of Grahamstown projected on to a plate. It was actually really, really cool. We also volunteered together at the preschool I work at each week.

Pictures: Top row - Victor playing his guitar in my room, Victor figuring out a way to get a bird out of my house (it flew in the window), Volunteering at the preschool. Middle row - Victor and I at the Monastery, monastery view, and Vic and I overlooking Grahamstown. Bottom Row - Vic climbing down from the observatory, the monastery sign, and Vic and I again at the monastery.

Reunion!!

One of the hardest things about leaving Cape Town in January was to leave behind the project that Wezi (pictured) was working on. Her dream was to open a program for kids in grade 1 who are not ready to be there - working with the kids who would otherwise get left behind. Wezi was Jeannie and my Xhosa teacher, and we spent hours talking over her plans and dreams with her, and figured out how to make them into a reality. I was so, so excited to be involved, and going to Grahamstown was so hard for the fact that I knew I wouldn't be able to be as involved. A few weeks ago I was in Cape Town, and I got the chance to meet up with Wezi and catch up - and - her news was amazing. With Jeannie's help, Wezi has got her program up and going in two schools, with plans to move into a third. She is working with the kids with the most needs. Even more amazingly, because the schools she is working in have seen the progress she has made with the kids, they have agreed to start up an entire school-based program for remediation, to better set up kids for success. Beautiful. Go get 'em, Wezi!!!

Cape Town views

Several weeks ago, I went to Cape Town with Kate, Pears and Rachael, who had visited from the US. After saying goodbye, I was super sad, so Victor took me on a little drive to see beautiful Cape Town views.

Made it to Cape Town!

Ok, so to follow up on the last post.
I did receive a text message that told me that the bus was going to be 2 hours late.... and then two hours later, I received another one that said it was further delayed. Before I received the second text, I decided to go and find the bus stop. Now, when I say go and find the bus stop, it is not exactly like it is elusive.... There are only about 3 streets anyway in Grahamstown, and I've been to the stop many times. BUT, if you have ever had experience with my directional skills, you will know that just because I have been to a place dozens of times does NOT mean that I have any idea how to get there. At all. So I left early, just in case. And sure enough, after walking slightly off campus, the old familiar feeling set in, just as it was starting to rain. I was lost. After 3 minutes of slight panic (thinking, this is exactly what I am NOT supposed to be doing, I am going to die, I am lost in Africa, my mom is going to be so sad... etc.) - I realized that I was actually only about half a block from the stop. And by half a block, I mean that I was standing almost directly across the street from it. So I strutted on over like I knew what I was doing, walking into Kentucky Fried Chicken (yes, they have KFC in Africa), bought myself some dinner, and waited for the bus.

KFC, however, did not represent well. They closed 10 minutes before nine (their closing time said 9:30). And that was when I received the second text that the bus was 'further delayed.' So I walked outside, and along with dozens of women with babies strapped to their back, waited in the rain. And waited, and waited. Then, after standing outside for nearly 3 hours, the bus finally showed, and the mommas and the babies and I all boarded.

And 14 hours after that........ I am in Cape Town!!!! I had forgotten how much I LOVE this city. My whole heart filled up when we got our first glimpse of the city-scape over the top of the mountain.

Victor (yay!!!) picked me up from the station and I am currently in his office, finishing my paper...

Life is good, only 2 days until my parents are here!!

Love you all.

The next great adventure... will begin as soon as I finish this ridiculous paper.

I am writing furiously for the next 12 or so hours, and then tonight at 7pm, I am boarding a bus for Cape Town. My schedule for the next 6 weeks looks something like this:

July 19-21: I get to see my fiance! I am spending a quick (but much needed/anticipated) couple of days in Cape Town with Victor.
June 21: My parents arrive in Cape Town!!
June 23-24: Victoria Falls, Zambia
June 25: Chobe National Park, Botswana
June 26-29: Kruger National Park, South Africa and road trip down the Wild Coast
June 30-July 2: National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa

July 3-July 16: Backpacking in Uganda and Rwanda with Rosa

July 16-August 4th: Pears, Rach and Kate are in South Africa!!! Road tripping through the country, with a few 'school' breaks.... I have a seminar at which I am presenting on the 26th.

I am so incredibly excited to get the adventure of the next 6 weeks started!!! I am so blessed to have these travel opportunities ahead, and the chance to spend some quality time with my parents, Victor and Kate/Pears/Rachael!

Life. is. good.

My paper on the other hand.... needs some help. :)

not good news from cape town...

My heart sank two days ago when I got a call from Victor telling me that the xenophobic attacks had spread to Cape Town. From as far as I'm aware, it is mainly playing itself out with the burning of Somali and ZImbawean businesses in and around the townships. Thousands of people are being evacuated from the areas.

Vic has been working with his church to find accommodation for those being evacuated from their homes. I'm ridiculously proud of him for rolling up his sleeves and doing what needs to be done.

read more about it here.

The babboon got the last laugh...

On our way to Namibia we stopped through Cape Town and had the chance to hang out with Victor and Jeannie..... Victor and Jeannie AND the craziest babboon ever. This guy was just chilling with his family until some unsuspecting tourists (not us for once) got out of their car to take pictures. He then promptly jumped through the open window of their car, rummaged around for a bit, and jumped out holding their back pack. He then UNZIPPED (?!?!) it, looked through for something good to eat, found some toothpaste, and went to town. We all sat there in utter amazement watching the whole ordeal, and vowed to never leave our windows down when observing creatures that are pretty much as intelligent as we are.

Belated pics from Rotary Orientation in Cape Town

Update Email #2

Hello at long last!
I am now a week in to being settled in to my new home for the year: Grahamstown, South Africa.
I am still reeling a bit after a heartbreaking departure from Cape Town. The city kind of took me by surprise, and captured my heart in all sorts of ways. For the first week and a half or so I played hard-core tourist, reveling in penguins, baboons, etc. etc. Then I started to really listen to people. This nation is phenomenal.

The story of this country is just unbelievable - there is the story of their struggle to overcome an oppressive and unfair regime, but even more phenomenal, there is the story of their reconciliation and forgiveness. Apartheid was in place in this nation for over 50 years - that's fifty years of complete segregation, forced removals of millions of people from urban areas, inhumane social policies, and on and on... and then in 1994, when the tides were turned, and the majority had their voice again, instead of revolution and violence, there was forgiveness. I don't understand it even a little bit, but I know that there is something very very amazing to learn in this country.

My 2nd weekend in Cape Town, Wezi, (my Xhosa teacher) took Jeannie, Victor and me to Khayletshia, the largest township in Cape Town (a township is an area where the black population was forced to live during apartheid - incredibly run down, the areas we are "not supposed to go") The occasion was an umgidi - a coming of age ceremony for a Xhosa boy. The cultural experience was amazing in itself (for pictures and such see www.whereishaley.blogspot.com) but even more amazing was how we were treated. Jeannie and I were the ONLY white people we saw all day long. Cape Town is still essentially segregated, and the township is definitely, definitely segregated. People stopped dead in their tracks as we drove towards the party, heads turning, etc. etc. I was admittedly nervous (they like to pump you full of stories about Amy Biel, an American woman who was murdered there in 1993) But it was a calculated risk, and one that I wasn't willing not to take. I was tired of the stories. I mean, let's put this in perspective - that was 15 years ago, JUST after apartheid ended. The fear factor here is ridiculous about that one story - but I digress.

So I was a nervous. For about 5 seconds. The second we stepped out of the car, women surrounded us, clapping, cheering and yelling, pulled us inside, pushed a few other women off of chairs so that we could sit, and stuck some food on our laps. Soon they were singing and dancing at the top of their lungs, and I was right in there with them, dancing like a fool and pretending like I was singing. It was lovely.

After I had eaten my fill, I started trying to talk to people a bit. After a while an older lady dressed in dark blue (traditional color) and with an apron tied around her waist (signaling that she is married) plopped herself at my feet. People here aren't too shy about sitting on your feet, or your lap, really. She ate and drank and danced and sang and kept coming back to where we were sitting to rest and such. After a while of this, she looked right up at Jeannie and I, and in Xhosa (Wezi translated for us) she said something to this effect. "Things were really, really hard during apartheid, but that was the past. Now we all have to be together. My heart is in your chest and your heart is in my chest, and we understand each other. The past is behind us and now we have love."

I was floored. There was no way that this woman didn't know that Jeannie and I were not South African - the same people who had oppressed her people for decades. Jeannie, Wezi and I were of course all tearing up, as was the woman. We held hands for a bit and then she went on with her drinking and dancing and eating. Less than an hour later, an old man snuck into the women's room (where we were), walked right up to us and said something to the effect of: "In the past things were really hard, but now we are together. The past is gone and so now we have to go forward together and forgive one another." Then he was yanked out of the room. Wezi turned to us and said - "this is very special, see, this is our country."

That changed my experience in South Africa, honestly. It seemed like I didn't go a day after that in Cape Town without someone sitting next to me and talking to me about apartheid, the struggle for freedom, and forgiveness.

The last week of Xhosa lessons Jeannie and I essentially stopped learning Xhosa. Instead, we spent the hours talking with Wezi about her life in a township, her experiences pre and post-apartheid, her hopes and dreams for the future. She truly became a dear, dear friend. During the course of our studies, she shared with us a project that she is working on. Children in the townships in general enter school completely unprepared - not school-ready. The literacy and numeracy rates are shocking. They are set up - for failure. Wezi has been a primary school teacher for over ten years (which makes a GREAT language teacher by the way - I highly recommend learning a new language from someone who is used to dealing with 5 year olds) so she has seen this problem play out first hand. And she's tired of it. Her goal now is to create a program designed to ready kids for school, so that by the time that they enter grade 1, they are set up for success rather than failure. You would think that kindergarden would be the answer to this, but kindergarden in South Africa is not sanctioned by the state as part of the school system, and therefore has little or no funding at all. Wezi took Jeannie and I to look at a couple of schools in one of the townships so that we could see first hand the problem with the kindergardens - it is shocking. No desks, no carpet, no real classroom (more like closets or halls), no school supplies, 50-60 kids in a classroom, etc. Sometimes the kindergarden teachers don't even get paid. Anyway, her project proposal is amazing. Jeannie and I spent a lot of time with her talking over the logistics and encouraging her to write up a formal proposal. Hopefully within this year we will see her implement her project and that many more kids will be school ready. It is our first potential "Rotary" project.

It broke my heart to leave it behind in Cape Town, and to leave the experience there, in general. But leave it I did--- on February 4th I headed to my new home in Grahamstown.

This is getting ridiculously lengthly, so I'll save Grahamstown news for later, but just for update sake:

• I am settled in to a house - I live with 5 South African post-graduate students who are really, really wonderful, I'll update more about them soon.
• I am enrolled in classes and just started today, actually.
• I met with the Center on AIDS development and I am formulating my thesis proposal, which I am very excited about
• I walked over to a school that is run for street children here in Grahamstown this afternoon. I am planning on volunteering there 1 day a week and hopefully teaching a class.
• My Rotary community here is wonderful - they are very, very active in the community and welcomed me with open arms. I look forward to working with them this year.
• The other Rotary scholars in my town are fabulous! They have helped make the transition here so smooth. It is nice to go through this with someone else. They are also AMAZING people with amazing stories and passions.
  
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This country is the most inspirational place I've ever been. I have never met people like this before - the nation is still undergoing the transition that will make or break its future. I am so incredibly blessed to be here.

Xhosa lessons and school readiness

My Xhosa teacher, Wezi, is amazing. Her normal occupation is a primary grade teacher, but she teaches English and Xhosa (she is a native Xhosa speaker) on the side. <> Jeannie and I have been in classes now for two weeks, and have gotten to know her very well. Yesterday, she was telling us that she is leaving formal teaching because she has discovered that her life's passion is to create a "school readiness" program for children in the township where she lives. She says the main problem with township schools is that the children are not adequately prepared for school (they don't speak English at home) which results in shockingly low literacy and numeracy rates. She is planning on creating the equivalent of a "head start" program that would be free of cost to the children, and would allow them to learn the basic skills they would need to be successful in school. This of course is a project near and dear to my heart, and Jeannie and I about jumped out of our chairs when we heard her talk about it. I love it for so many reasons:

1. She thought of it, not us, and it is a program that will be addressing a specific issue that is greatly affecting South African schools
2. It is realistic - she just needs a space and some donated school supplies

Jeannie and I are going to get started looking for grants and whatnot to provide the basic of what she'll need. Next Friday, she is taking us to the township schools so that we can have a look for ourselves. Wezi is spending this weekend writing a business plan, which we will hopefully be able to go over with her next week.

I am very, very excited.

Sunset on Table Mountain

On Tuesday Victor, Jeannie and I took the cable car up Table Mountain - one of the "to-dos" of Cape Town. It was an utterly perfect night - very little wind (an anomily in Cape Town), great company and the best views imaginable. To make it even better, the night we went up was a full moon! Cape Town is truly an outdoor lover's paradise.

Overlooking Cape Town just before sunset.

View of sunset overlooking the ocean

The one on the right is ME! I say this to prove how amazingly well my leg is doing lately - I can even jump (though it looks higher than it actually was)! Jeannie is on the left and Victor is in the middle. A group of Germans gave us the idea for the picture. Cool, no?

Cape Town at night

Table Mountain

Robben Island

Limestone quarry where Mandela and other prisoners worked during their incarceration. Our guide called this ground a "university of peacemaking" because it was here that Mandela would preach forgiveness and unity to the other prisoners.

Looking into Nelson Mandela's prison cell.

A former prisoner of Robben Island gave us our tour. He spent 6 years incarcerated at Robben Island for "treason." He was wonderful.

* * *

When Jeannie and I arrived in South Africa, Victor surprised us with tickets to Robben Island. He wanted to make sure that we went there and saw it as soon as possible. I am so, so glad he did. We went on Saturday for the better part of the day, and it was so far my favorite experience in South Africa. I have so much to learn from this country and its leaders.

Robben Island is a small island that is roughly a 45 minute ferry ride from Cape Town. It has been used for many, many purposes over the years (such as an isolation center for lepers curing the 19th century) but has been made infamous for being the detention center for political prisoners (most famously Nelson Mandela) during apartheid. Political prisoners were held in a maximum security prison on Robben island beginning in 1961. The last prisoners were released in 1991.

Our guide talked a bit about Nelson Mandela's experience at Robben Island. I am not usually one to idealize public figures, but the more I have learned of Nelson Mandela, the more I realize that he is a true hero, and a true peacemaker. Our guide told us that in the limestone quarry, where the prisoners were forced to work for years on end (many of the prioners of Robben Island are now snowblind because they had to work in the limestone with no protective eye-wear) <> Nelson Mandela would teach the other prisoners about reconciliation and forgiveness. He would tell them not to fight the white guards, because those guards were simply victims of a sick society.

Jeannie asked a South African man the other day what happened to all of the perpetrators of apartheid who were not incarcerated. The man told her that they were able to go home and live in their communities. We wondered, how could that be? How would they be able to live free of fear in a society in which they were the overthrown oppressors? I think much of this can be contributed to Mandela and others like him who promote forgiveness over retaliation.

Our guide told us that Mandela borrowed the idea of reconciliation from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man who is being celebrated in the United States this weekend. I am celebrating here with a renewed sense of the meaning of reconciliation, peacemaking, and forgiveness.

* * *

Some selected quotes by Nelson Mandela:

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people, I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if it needs be it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself... Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.

The animal life of Robben Island

On Saturday we took a ferry to Robben Island. I was shocked to find that the island was chalk-full of animals! We saw an ostrich (pictured), several botenbok, and the bok that looked like miniature reindeer (I haven't learned their name yet). We also saw hundreds of birds and rabbits. It was most surprising because the island is nearly entirely bare - we were told that there is no accessible fresh water because imported eucalyptis trees have drained any reserves that there were. However, they cannot cut down the eucalyptis trees because it would alter the bird life. All water for people living on the island has to be shipped from Cape Town. While there were prisoners on the island, they had sharply rationed drinking water.

Cape of Good Hope

Here is a picture of my partners in crime and me at the Cape of Good Hope.

Cape Point

Cape Point was a powerful experience, more powerful than I expected. We bought tickets to ride to the top of the hill facing Cape Point, where the lighthouse is located that looks over the Cape of Good Hope. From the top, you can see forever in every direction. They have a post at the top that points to Antarctica, New York, Jerusalem, etc. This is the point where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet, and the rocky turbulent waters created by two oceans of different temperatures and different depths are the waters that were so dreaded by sailors traveling from Europe to India. I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if it had not been possible to navigate those waters and the spice trade had not begun - is it naive to wonder if maybe then the slave trade would not have begun, or colonialism as we know it? How much of our history was determined by being able to pass ships by the Cape of Good Hope? I don't know. But it is a historic point, and strikingly beautiful.

Baboons!!!

On our way to the Cape of Good Hope, we ran into this family of baboons. Supposedly, you can really separate the tourists from the locals if you watch how they react to baboons. Here, they are seen a a huge nuisance (they really like to jump on your car and steal purses) and the locals avoid them at all cost. For tourists (aka, ME) baboons are the coolest thing we've seen since, well, the penguins down the road. So I took about a 120 pictures of them. Fortunately, the baboons were much less interested in the pink VW bug than they were the bus load of Chinese tourists who decided to get OUT of their cars and walk right up to them. We made it through without incident.

I. LOVE. PENGUINS.

On the map, Cape Town is situated near the most southwestern tip of Africa, only about a 30 minute drive from the Cape of Good Hope. On Thursday, Victor, Jeannie and took off after our Xhosa lessons and drove (again in the pink Bug) to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. On the way, we took a stop at St. James beach (where the colorful beach houses line the beach) and Boulder Beach (where the penguins live!). At the first beach we attempted to swim, hearing that it was one of the warmest beaches around (my legs went numb), but quickly gave up and headed for the penguins. I cannot describe to you how excited I was to see real, live, in the wild penguins. I talked about it so much that everyone I was with was rather sick of me. It was worth every bit of the excitement. (this is my opinion, others I was with disagreed) They have to be one of the strangest animals ever. I'll spare you paragraphs of detail about the penguins, but do look at the pictures - they are fascinating.

Here at last!!!

I am - at long last - officially in South Africa.

My first impression of Cape Town is something like this:
1. Imagine the most beautiful mountain scenery you have ever imagined.
2. Multiply it by 100.
3. Now, add the most beautiful, turquoise green ocean right below the mountains.
4. Imagine utterly perfect weather, and then add a lot of wind.
5. Add more wind.
6. Sprinkle in people of every color, with fabulous accents.
7. Imagine the most charming colonial city you have ever seen, and then surround it by squatter settlements.
8. Give it a good dash of bad techno music and great jazz.
9. And there you have my first impression of Cape Town.