Penguins, Lions, and Science!

A few weekends ago we took a tour of the Peninsula where we went to the Cape of Good Hope which is known as the Southwestern most point of all of Africa. We stopped at Boulder's Beach on the way, which is the home to the African Penguins! They were pretty cute! When we were driving on the cape there seemed to be a bit of a traffic jam and when we stopped to see what everyone was looking at, we noticed the baboon sitting atop of a lady's car, with her in it of course! Her husband was trying to get in but he had to refrain out of the fear that the monkey would hop in as well! It was quite the sight and made me remember that I am in fact in Africa!

This past weekend we went to a game reserve about an hour outside of Cape Town for a "Reflection Weekend" away. It was pretty fun, highlights include hours of talking about the program, feeding cheetahs, getting pecked by a baby ostrich, and petting a lion! The animals were great at least!

I've started implementing my capstone project which consists of creating and teaching hands on science lessons with the fourth grade class I've been working in. I'm following the curriculum as is slated by the Western Cape Province for the fourth term which consists of earth science focusing on soil and weather. My first lesson attempted to teach the class about the four different types of soil (sandy, clayey, silty, and loamy for those interested!). To do so I collected samples of all four types and had the students try and identify which one was which based on their different characteristics. It went as well as it could considering the fact that forty wild children were playing with dirt in the classroom...I think they had fun and hopefully learned something from it!

Today was a crazy day at school, while I was implementing a science lesson where the kids were making soil by rubbing two stones together, a South African Police Officer entered the classroom holding one of the little boys by his arm. Mr. Emmanuel was nowhere to be found of course, and the officer did not even acknowledge me before starting to shout at the students in Afrikaans. I just stood there not really knowing what to do....After a bunch of finger pointing and rapid chatter the officer began going through some of the boys' bags before leaving the classroom without saying a word to me...it was only after he left that one of the girls told me that someone in the class had brought a knife to school yesterday so I can only assume it was reported to the police and he was thus searching for it in their bags.

In the afternoon Mr. Emmanuel returned to the class in a fit of rage. He started yelling at some of the "bad boys" and even though he was speaking Afrikaans, "f-ing" is the same in many languages. For some reason he was absolutely furious at these students and picked up a plastic bin full of papers and threw it onto his desk knocking papers and clutter galore off of it. He then grabbed a tray of crafts that the class had made the day before and threw those onto the table, spilling their hardwork all over the place. As the students began cleaning up his mess, Mr. Emmanuel threatened to take his bag, walk out of the classroom and never come back. Another teacher came in and took the boys out of the class and left me with just the girls until the end of the day. It was a lot to take in and I just worry about the effects this type of behavior will have on the kids!

The strike finally ended and last week I was thankfully able to return to Manenberg Primary to continue with my service. Being back in Mr. Emmanuel’s class has been wonderful and wonderfully challenging. The kids seemed happy to see me back and it really was great to see them too. They are still as crazy as ever, I have spent the past week and a half being jumped on, breaking up fights, losing my voice trying to get forty children to be quiet at one time, getting locked in a classroom, reading aloud, teaching English, getting hugs, and dancing to the sound of the class’s impromptu choir concerts. A wide range of experiences to say the least!

Yesterday one of the seemingly more troubled boys – he has tried to stab a classmate with scissors, constantly has his hands on other boys, and throws chairs out of anger – wrote “27” on my hand. To those unfamiliar with the gangs of Cape Town, the 27s are one of the largest in the colored townships. I asked the little boy if he knew anyone in the gang and he first said that he himself is a member and then told me that his father is in fact involved in the gang. It broke my heart that someone so young would, if not actually a member himself, would have such close and intimate contact with someone who is. Even before the gang reference, I had a feeling that this little boy had a rough home life and thus made an effort to hug him each day and just show him a little extra love and attention. At first he didn’t understand why I would want to hug him and was very resistant to the whole thing. As I was leaving the classroom to go home this afternoon though he came running out after me and simply asked “my hug?” It was a great way to end the day!

Spring Break in September

After much deliberation of what to do, five of my housemates and I decided to spend our week off backpacking up the Garden Route on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. We each had a backpack of clothes and Saturday morning we jumped on the Baz Bus, a backpacker's bus that allows you to hop on and off all on its routes that travel all around the country. Our first stop was at the Wild Spirit hostel in the Crags, a small place in the middle of nowhere. The hostel is exactly how it sounds - the people who live there/run it/just hang out there are the crunchiest/earthiest/hippiest people I have ever met! There was a birthday party being held there that night, complete with drum lessons of course, and since it was spring themed we were asked to come wearing foliage and such...it was definitely a funny night!

Sunday was a big day - four of us jumped off a bridge that is home to the highest bungee jump in the world! I was nervous to say the least but the experience was definitely worth it! It was a rush unlike anything else and at times it felt like flying - definitely a highlight of the trip!!

We spent Monday and Tuesday in Jeffrey's Bay, a little surf town on the coast. It was unfortunately windy and a bit chilly so we didn't get to spend as much time on the beach as we hoped but we did swim in the Indian Ocean which I consider an accomplishment!

Wednesday was wonderful - we spent the morning at Addo Elephant Park where I was legitimately a foot away from many elephants. After a delicious lunch, we went out to Schotia, a private game reserve. We were in an open-air Land Rover and I was shocked at how many animals we were able to see. Within the first five minutes we saw lions, warthogs, and kudu

(which is in the deer family). Throughout the afternoon we were amongst countless giraffe, and zebras and at one point our "landie" came face to face with a charging rhinoceros...it was scary but very neat! Dinner was served on the reserve, kudu stew, butternut squash, potatoes, green beans, delicious fire grilled rolls, and malva pudding for desert. Yum! We took a night drive after dinner where we again were up close and personal with the lion family - they were literally walking a foot away from the open window I was sitting in! Crazy!

Our last days were spent in Knysna, a small town on the water that reminded me a lot of Cape Cod! We did some shopping and walking around and had just a nice relaxing end to our trip! All in all it I had a great break - it was a nice mix of adrenaline rushes, relaxing days, peanut butter sandwiches, kudu stew, and good company!

Protests and Football Games!

The public sector is still on strike here in South Africa. Millions of workers have spent the past two weeks out of work as an attempt to pressure the government to give them an 8.6% pay increase and a higher housing stipend as well. If an agreement is not reached soon it is rumored that the police will go on strike and some private unions are threatening to strike out of support for the public sector. It would be absolutely crazy if that were to happen! Since the primary school has been out of session, I've been spending my days at the Bookery which is part of an NGO called Equal Education. The organization is currently trying to supply more public schools with libraries since only 7% of all South African schools have a functioning library. The Bookery is pretty much a holding place for books that have been donated before sending them to schools. I've been sorting, organizing, labeling, and covering the books - not too exciting but it definitely beats sitting around all day!

The Bookery is right down the street from the parliament building in Cape Town and on

Thursday hundreds of public workers marched outside of parliament as part of the strike. My friend Noah and I were running an errand nearby and walked right through the crowd - it was really neat to see! An African protest is unlike anything you would see in America, without the signs they were holding it may be hard to tell they were even protesting - everyone was singing and dancing! It was a pretty cool sight!

Friday night we got tickets for the Cape Town Ajax football (soccer) match. They're one of the

teams in the Premier Soccer League, South Africa's national league and they played in Green Point Stadium which hosted some of the World Cup games. It is such a beautiful stadium, I had a blast! The vuvuzelas are even more obnoxious in person, but I could only imagine how great the atmosphere would have been in that stadium during a World Cup match - just amazing!

My Weekend in Langa

Last weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a homestay in Langa, one of Cape Town's townships or "informal settlements" as they are sometimes referred. On Friday afternoon we drove fifteen minutes away from our house and the difference that those short fifteen minutes can make is astounding. Langa is a place full of love, family, and community values with very little emphasis on material goods. The houses are small, many are simply shacks, and the families often times struggle to get by. We had a welcome dinner at one lady's house and it was there that we were introduced to our host families. My friend Mariah and I were paired together and our host family consisted of a single mother, her ten year old son Lihle, and her 18 month old daughter Phalo.

After the welcome dinner, we went out with some of the host brothers and sisters who are around our age. They took us to Style's Tavern where the men of the township go to drink, watch soccer, and play dominoes. We quickly discovered that alcohol abuse is a major problem in Langa, and at the bar 40 ounce beers were 10 rand, or a little over one US dollar. To put things into perspective, we normally think that a 12 ounce beer for 10 rand is a steal so these prices make it so much easier for the citizens of Langa to buy, and then abuse, alcohol. After leaving

the tavern we went to one of the host's house and listened to music and talked - one man followed us there from the bar and even though no one knew who he was, they didn't see, to care since it is part of the Xhosa culture to open your house to anyone. After a little while we were all pretty tired so we went back to our houses to sleep. My host mom and the baby slept on a mat on the floor of the bedroom while Mariah and I shared the bed with Lihle (who was quite the little snuggle bug I must add!).

Saturday we spent walking around the streets of Langa truly getting a feel of township life. There were a lot of people out and about and many people set up small food shops right on the road. We stopped at one to try sheep liver, not my favorite snack but it was better than I was expecting! After the tour we went to Ace's Place which is a bar in another township nearby. We sat at Ace's for a few hours, again with only men around as we discovered that the women are not usually supposed to drink with the men, and we then went back to one of the houses. Our hosts began drinking pretty heavily around one in the afternoon and this pattern continued until the end of the night. None of us were really drinking very much so at times it became boring to be sitting around so much, but after thinking and talking about it when we returned we realized that this is just how they live. That in Langa there is not much else to do but to drink, that alcohol sadly is the main form of entertainment for the young people living there.

Sunday morning I went to a Roman Catholic church, and it was nothing like I have ever

experienced! It was awesome, there was so much singing and dancing, it really was a celebration of their faith. Unfortunately a lot of the singing was in Xhosa so I couldn't understand much of that, but the sermon was in English as was the preparation of the Eucharist which was comforting in a way to see the similarities and connections to home. After church we went back to our host house where our mom was preparing a delicious lunch of chicken curry, potatoes, vegetables, and bean salad. Around three o'clock it was time to say goodbye and our time in Langa was over for now. It was a great experience for me to have, to be able to truly see how everyday life works in a township, and I am so grateful for such a chance!

Strikes...

I was back at Manenberg on Monday and Tuesday and life there is chaotic as ever! The students run around the classroom and it honestly seems like they don't do any work, I'm really not sure how and if, they learn anything. When I am there, Mr. Emmanuel often leaves me in charge of the classroom so I have been trying to work with the kids to make rules for them to follow when I am there. We've accomplished determining the important rules but have not quite mastered following them...

Usually when I am in charge of the class, the students continuously speak over me and silence in the classroom is very rare. For the first time on Tuesday I was successfully able to quiet them down all on my own, a small feat but a big success in my book! I've also found that the class really enjoys listening to stories read aloud to them and they are all very attentive when I do so!

The South African public sector is striking again - this time for an indefinite period of time. Because of the danger that the strike creates at the schools - cars being stoned, fires, and riots occurring in the townships, etc, we are not allowed to go at all. Its such a bummer to be here and not be in the school but it is also an important and interesting time to be in the country, I'm really interested to see how this will play out. So many people are effected by the strike - the students especially - and it stretches beyond the field of education as well, twelve patients died in one hospital last night due to a lack of staffing...hopefully an agreement can be arranged soon!

Catching Up...

So our internet has been down for the past week or so, and a lot has happened in that time! Last Monday was Woman's Day, a public holiday remembering a march led by women during the apartheid, so we didn't have classes or service. With our free day my housemates and I took the train to a coastal town called Kalk Bay where we walked around the quaint town, had delicious fish and chips and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Even though it was a little chilly it was so nice to be back near the water!

The South African Public Sector held a strike for increased wages this past week so the teachers at Manenberg did not go to school at all on Tuesday or Wednesday so I wasn't able to go to service those days either. One of my friends Noah is working to develop a library at high school in the township of Khayelitsha so with my free time I've been going with him to various meetings to try and figure out where to start. Right now a full time English teacher has taken over the immense task of getting enough books, a computer, the correct software, a scanner, furniture, etc...so much work for one person to do, especially on top of teaching in a township! Noah's help will be a blessing to this school so I hope to continue to help him with this project as well!

On Friday we took a ferry to Robben Island which houses the former prison that was used during apartheid to hold political prisoners. Most notably Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for almost twenty years. It was crazy to see how small the cells were and to know that so much history could still be created out of such a small space.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, sunny and in the upper sixties, so a group of my housemates and I decided to hike up to Devil's Peak. It was an at times painful three hour hike to the top and three more tough hours down. Although it was an extremely challenging day both physically and mentally, the view from the top was absolutely unbelievable and made it all worth it for sure! When we reached the top we were extremely surprised to see a couch on the peak, who in their right mind would carry that up?! But we were thankful to have a place to sit!