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!

Craziness in a Classroom...

Today my friend Mariah and I were placed in Mr. Emmanuel’s fourth grade classroom, the class he described as the worst behaved in all of Manenberg Primary School. I believe him. The students were absolutely wild, they did not listen to the teacher and would literally run in and out of the classroom whenever they pleased. Students were crawling under the tables, up the walls, talking, yelling, screaming, just being absolutely crazy. I honestly have no idea how any learning can be accomplished at all, there is constant noise and movement. Mr. Emmanuel would be talking to us about how stressful and about the trouble he gets in for his lack of discipline and he would start whacking a wooden stick on the table or scream at the top of his lungs to get the kids to settle down. Even though corporeal punishment is illegal in South Africa, Mr. Emmanuel, other teachers, and even administrators would spank the children when they got too out of line. This type of thing is extremely difficult to watch but it really isn't my place to judge the teachers and attempt to show them the "right" way. I understand how very frustrating to have no control over the classroom, especially with such behavioral and emotional issues in so many students and can only hope to assuage the problem by caring for and loving the students.

After almost quitting his job right then and there because of a fear of a nervous breakdown, Mr. Emmanuel left for the day to attend a workshop on autism. He decided to dismiss the most rowdy and misbehaving students early and then Mariah and I were on our own with the rest of the class. It was a challenge to say the least and unlike anything I ever experienced in any classroom before. No matter what we tried the students would not listen, there was constantly a loud chatter amongst them. We tried turning off the lights, raising our hands, clapping, and yelling, nothing would work. We were attempting to help the students read their English books but there was no way we could work with the entire group, they all just ran all over the place and would not focus. I wish I could have time to work one-on-one with the students because one little boy said he really wanted to learn to read English and that he wanted me to help him do so. I feel like many of the students would respond in the same way if they had the chance to do so in a supportive and encouraging environment

In the end many of the students left early but we were able to get some of them to write their names and draw pictures before going home. It may have been a simple task but many of the students seemed to enjoy it and I think it helped give them some sense of pride when I praised them on their work. When it came time for dismissal, I received hugs from the remaining students and requests for my return tomorrow. They may be a tough bunch but I love this class already, and I hope that with a few (major) tweaks these students can be turned into the greatest fourth grade class Cape Town has ever seen.

The First Week of School!

Classes started on Monday here and so far they've been pretty good! I'm taking Xhosa which is an African language (yes it uses clicks!) commonly spoken in and around Cape Town. It is the language spoken by the Xhosa people, the tribe in which Nelson Mandela is from. So far I've only learned very basic greetings and such but we go over how to say the different clicks next week so I'm excited for that! I also have to take a social research methods class which isn't too exciting but should hopefully help me in other areas. We have a class called Poverty and Development which is kind of like a sociology class focused on the causes of poverty and how to lower its prevalence and how development affects those living in poverty, using Cape Town as a case study of course! We also have a service-learning course where we discuss the uses and benefits of combining hands on service experience with traditional classroom learning. All in all I think that the classes will be manageable and fun, especially in combination with the service we will be doing!

Speaking of service, we've spent the week touring the sites where we will be devoting our time! On Monday I went to Mannenburg Primary School which is in the township of Mannenburg. It is a very impoverished area and the children were just absolutely adorable! They were cheering for us and had the biggest smiles - a few even blew us kisses! The teachers were so welcoming to us and were so excited at the prospect of having our help, they surely need a lot of it.

On Friday I went to a children's home in a different township where over thirty kids from newborn to six years old live. We weren't told the specifics about any of the children but they were brought to the home by social workers or the government. Right when we walked in the kids "chose" one of us to hang onto and they wouldn't let go! They were calling us mommy and mama, it was really cute but really sad at the same time. I would like to go and spend some time just loving the children there but I don't think its the place for me to do all of my work - I am pretty sure that I want to spend most of my time at the primary school so I cannot wait to get to know the students and teachers I will be working with and get started as soon as possible!!

A Morning to Remember

Word on the street was that Archbishop Desmond Tutu - the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, a friend of Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize winner and a major figure in the fight against apartheid - gives the early morning sermons at St. George's Cathedral on Fridays when he is in Cape Town. Yesterday we happened to pass by the church and could see him giving a press conference through the window. Knowing that he is in Cape Town, a group of my friends and I braved the early morning and headed downtown to hope to catch his sermon. And that we did! The Archbishop was super friendly and asked all of the visitors to share their stories about how and why they are in Cape Town. After receiving communion, the mass ended and the Archbishop shook everyone's hand as they walked out. Since he knew we were visiting, Archbishop Tutu offered to take pictures with us so we could remember this morning! My Aunt Janice is related to the former Catholic Archbishop Dennis Hurley of Cape Town who was a friend of both Tutu and Mandela and I even had the chance to speak with Archbishop Tutu about this "wonderful, wonderful, and very funny man!" All in all it was a memorable and beautiful start to my weekend!