Spring Break: Orange River Canoe Trip

So after extensive travelling in the North we stopped back at the house for day before we headed out on our various spring breaks. Some of us went to Victoria Falls, others stayed up north and 12 of us ( 2 groups of 6) went to the Southern border of Namibia to canoe down the Orange river for a few days. Our group got there 2 days before we left and chilled at the base camp. It was beautiful and grassy there and we spent our days relaxing and grilling veggies at night. It was really good to just chill out after running around for 2 weeks. The other group arrived the day before we were supposed to leave. The other members of our entire canoe group consisted of 4 older South Africans in their 60's, a girl named Leo (19), from Denmark who lived has lived in Namibia sin she was 2, and a British couple now living in Cape Town with their two boys James(11) and John(9).

The trip was great. And the food was out of this world. The guides were very accomodating for anything that was needed. The first day was mainly canoeing with some stops for bathrooms and lunch. The first night we found a sandy bank on the river to rest. We didnt need tents and we were able to sleep under the stars which was absolutely incredible. Some people were a bit unsettled the first night because before going to bed we found 3 scorpions near the camp. Our guide caught one and put it in a bucket. He also caught this crazy huge spider and put in the bucket to fight the scorpion. Needless to say the scorpion won without too much of a fight.

The next day was more canoeing with a midday hike up mountain to collect a certain type of rock that makes "bushmen fireworks". At camp that night we put the rocks on the coals of the fire and let them heat up. They then pop showering the fire area with beautiful blue rock pieces that does literally look like a mini firework. It was really cool.

The third day was more of the same. We rafted the boats together and took a long dip in the river which was a lot of fun. On the last and biggest rapid that we faced Ky and I capsized our boat for the first and only time. It was totally worth it. The rapid was huge and we had a blast taking a dunk. Then we camped for our last night. The next morning we canoed to our pick up spot and headed back to base camp where we had lunch one last time as group before we headed our different ways. After that it was an 8 hour kombi (van) ride back to Windhoek where we got home and collapsed. It was a fantastic spring break and im sorry I dont have an pictures but im sure some will show up on facebook soon.

Thats about all for now. The blog is officially updated. We are heard back down to the South this Thursday and after that we start gearing up for finishing the semester. Its amazing how fast things have been going. Thanks for reading and there's more to come soon. Peace.

More Pictures from Etosha

From Top to Bottom

1: An Oryx
2: An Elephant
3: A lion from very far away
4: A Dik-Dik (the smallest hooved animal)
5: Giraffe with rainbow

These are some of the last pictures from Etosha. Sad to report that from here on out the number of pictures isgoing to be a lot more slim. Unfortunately while in Etosha my beloved camera which has been on its last leg for a while kicked the bucket. I believe that one of thebattery connectors has been wornout/blown. As a solution for the blog posts from now on, I am going to download facebook pictures and post them on the blog when appropriate. Sorry folks.

Etosha! and more of the North

From Top to Bottom:

1: Zebra with rainbow in the background.
2: More Zebies
3: Giraffes
4: Wildebeasts
5: Springbok

After our homestay we headed to Etosha, Namibia's national game park and largest tourist attraction. We did several game drives and saw lots and lots of animals of which I will post pictures. We saw Giraffes, a Lion, Zebras, Elephants, Oryx, Springbok, Impala, Jackals, Wildebeasts and Mongoose. Etosaha is a huge place and it was really fun to be there. Although it was great it was just the perfect amount of time. If i had spent any more time in a car on a game drive I may have lost my mind.

The rest of the time in the north was spent going around to different development operations and activites. We saw another school, some bricklaying iniatives and other stuff. The most notable things were the following...

The Ruacana Dam and Waterfalls. This was awesome. This dam provides most of the power for the entire country of Namibia. It was like James Bond Set. We saw where the water comes in and the huge generators that make the power. It was very hard to hear the man speak so I didnt completely get to understand the workings of the dam but it was cool. The dam was only second to the falls which were amazing. They were the biggest waterfalls ive ever seen. Apparently we were lucky that its been raining so much because the falls can often be dry. I say the word lucky very carefully because although the rain provided us with a picturesque seen it has also caused massive flooding in the north creating all sorts of issues for the local people.

The Edufano Women's Coopeartive a was another cool visit. Here the work with women to harvest oil from Marula trees on their property. The work is voluntary and the women earn a proportion equal to the amount of seeds they provide. It seems like a good system where people are treated fairly. The problem I see with it is that i wonder if economically is it really worth the money for the women to spend their time and effort harvesting the fruit for the money they make? The money helps but its not a great deal. Would they be better off doing something else where they could be possibly making more? And if so what? 33% of the country is not employed.

The last interesting visit we had was to the Ongwediva Rural Development Center. The lady showed around to the different projects they provide training for so people can sustain themselves. Things like hydroponic tables which are quite cool. From these tables the people who are trained can make a number of different things with the plants etc they grow. They can make jams, dyes, soups, and on and on. They can then use what they make and sell. These things all looked and sounded really great but I had soem issues here as well. Is it efficient for farmers and people who live in rural areas to use these tables. Is it efficient for the time and effort they put in? Is it worth the start up cost (which can be a lot) for the people to start these tables? Will they be able to cover the start-up costs? Is there a demandfor the products they will produce? How willl they get the products to the market? These were all things I was wondering. I often think that my western capitalist influenced mindset leads me to find ways to make everything efficient (economically and timewise). But the real question is does everything need to be efficient? We does the western way of doing thing need to be implemented in a non-western world?

So that about finishes up the north. Spring break is coming soon.

More Pictures from the North

Here are some more pictures. As a warning if you are schemish there is a picture of a goat being dressed after slaughtering at the end.


Top to Bottom

1: My room at the homsestay.
2: My family's house.
3. Me and one of the local kids messing around.
4. Goat being dressed for the farewell party.

The North! - Rural Homestay

Pictures from top to bottom ( I think? The formatting is very strange)

1 and 2: Images from atop the hill that we climbed at sunset. The black and white one has the rainbow (yes i know that doesnt make sense but its a good picture).

3: Anatomically correct horse toy made by my host father.

4: Yedidya and Maggie with my families puppies.

5. My host father playing with the horses with Bredlley and Queen.

After Swakop we had about a week to chill out at the house before we headed to the North for our rural homestay. We were all excited if not a bit nervous. It was going to be quite the experience living with a rural family on a farm for a week.

We arrived on monday after a six hour drive from Windhoek. I was in the last group to be dropped off. Although I was by myself with my own family there were three other families that were hosting CGE kids on the same plot of land. We were onthe Doro Nawas nature reserve. Thats where our families farms were. I was with Yedidya, Eli and Maggie. The Land was beautiful. We were in the base of valley surround by these amazing rolling hills.

I did a number of new things while on the farm and I did a number of things that I hadnt done in years. I milked a cow, which is quite and experience. I milked a goat as well (bastard almost pooped on me). I rode a horse a couple of times which was really cool since I hadnt done that in about ten years. I drove a donkey cart. I shot a rifle at a target with Yedidya and I did pretty well. I went swimming in the local river. We also climbed this huge hill near the farm at around around sundown. On our way we a got a bit of rain which resulted in a double rainbow and a beautiful sunset. It was fantastic. We played a lot of dominoes and frisbee and had generally a great time with the families. The kids at my homestay were great. There was Breddley (7), Omene (4), and Queen (1) and the other three were at school in town most of the time so i didnt see too much of them.

The food was very interesting. I had a lot of fat cakes (basically fried bread) with peanut butter. They were delicious. I also had some very interesting milky kind of noodles. They were very very rich. I also drank the cows milk. It was the first time i had unpasteurized milk and i was fine. It too is very rich.

My host father was also a very interesting man. He fought in the war for independence but he fought for SA (South Africa) and against Namibia. The reason this is so is because there was a kind of draft back then. So despite the side he fought for he really like Nujoma ( Namib's first president and the man he was fighting against). He doesnt like the current president, Pohumba, because he feels that "there is apartheid within him". My host dad was kind of like the god father in certain respects. He was the one who owned the cows on the farm and he took care of everyone else. All the other families he made sure were ok. He also took in kids of friends and made sure that they were going to school if their own families couldnt provide for them. He was cool.

During the week we made visits to local institutions of the town of Khorixas which is the town that all of the farms were situated around. We visited a school where we talked to the students and heard their choir sing (unbelievable). We met with the mayor and heard a group that raising aids awareness in the region. We also got a tour of the informal settlements as well. After this week we said by to our families and headed for Etosha.

Pictues of Swakopmund

Here are some pictures of my time in Swakopmund.

From Top Left to Bottom Right

1. Dunes in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay
2. The group after sandboarding. A dusty bunch.
3. A water point in the informal settlements of Swakop.
4. A Uranium mine. 3 km long, 1 km wide, 900 meters deep. BIG.

The following are the links to the sandboarding video...

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEZGSgNsgwA

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLnapBdz6LA

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQsppyrWc54

Sorry Its Been Awhile - Swakopmund

Hey Folks...

I know its been awhile since my last post but things have been quite busy. The rest of February was pretty regular. Classes, internships, etc. The past few weeks have been the really interesting ones. Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are a good place to start.

One of our trips was to Swakopmund with a day trip to Walvis Bay. Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are both coast towns in Namibia. They are very different from the rest of the country. There is a lot of wealth in these places. Coinsiding with this fact is the easy observation that most these towns are very, very German. These towns are like wealthy European outpost in the middle of a LDC (Less Developed Country which is the politically correct way of saying Third World woohoo). Its very interesting.

Anyway we did a number of really cool things. We got a tour of the informal settlements which was very informative. The government is giving loans for people to build there own houses. The person in need or want of a house must first apply. Once the proper criteria has been met they governemtn gives them the first part of the loan to start the house. Once the government has made sure that the house has been started they give the rest of the loan to the applicant. The loan is then paid off over a very long term. It seems to be an efficient, local system completely dealt with by Namibia. As such it seems to be working. Houses are being built and plans for more are on the way. The streets are already laid. The informal settlements are similar to many others. Shacks and shanytowns. The interesting thing about Swakop's settlements are the water points where people must put money on a card in order to get water every day. It makes one realize how easily we forget how important a water is.

We also met an elder woman who was the Chief of the Damara tribe for Swakop. She was very cool. Some other things that we visited were a school for displaced communities and Mandeza Youth Opportunities. The school for the displaced person was interesting but I was wondering about its effectiveness because a lot of the kids didnt speak English which is fine but its also the only the communicable language that the volunteer spoke. This made me wonder about the effectiveness of the program. Mandeza Youth Opportunities (MYO) was another school like organization. They take the best kids from schools in the surrounding areas and provide them with supplementary education with the aim to make them go further and hopefully go to University. The organization was clearly doing a lot of good but the the problem that I had with this place was its stance that it would only take kids that were are at the top of the class. To me this is a problem because shouldnt everyone have an equal chance to succeed as idealistic as that sounds? At the same time this can be counter argued by saying that if they best and brightest are the most the most likely to give back to the community then they should be the ones who get picked. It is hoped that their contributions which they will make later to the community will be a benefit.

For our free day we went sandboarding which was fantastic. It was hot as hell but pretty sweet none less. Climbing a dune about 6 times is quite an exercise. We also did the lying down sandboarding and i got up to 68 kilometers an hour. It was whicked fast. We also spent the last night with pizza on the beach. It couldnt have ended better.

Before we left we climbed Dune 7 which is one of the tallest in Namibia. 100 meters. I was the first to the top but i regretted it soon after. I felt like absolute crap and both of my feet cramped really badly. Owe Owe Owe. And thats about it for Swakop. We're headed to dinner now so I will post some Swakop pictures when I get back. See ya.

Wednesday 4 February

I went to the CAA (Catholic Aids Action - my internship) this morning. Chilled out for an hour. Talked to the director and was a little tired. I played with Denzel for a long time which was cool. He’s really a great kid. I think he might have vision issues which leads to problems with his counting but maybe he will be able to get better with time. I also played with kids in a matching game and dominoes. I must at admit that at first I am very turned off by their behavior but I think that it is a condition of their circumstance. Therefore there circumstance must be changed in order to alter their behavior. Respect and other admirable qualities need to be fostered with time and effort, the latter of which I have a lot of the, former of which I am lacking for the moment. Maybe when I make this a profession it won’t be so bad.
I came home and we did a homestay prep which I was very tired for. I am beginning to realize that about 2-3 in the afternoon I go through this intense wave of tiredness and then im pretty peppy afterwards. I cant really explain it; maybe jet lag, maybe heat and water?

Tuesday 3 Feb

Today we went to Out of Nature outdoor center to do some team building activities. It was nice we did the web of support thing which didn’t work particularly well but we got the message. We did egg races which were a lot of fun. And other stuff like safety scenarios. We also all shared our roadmaps with one another. I really liked that part of it. I think it was nice to hear everyone’s stories. I felt a lot closer with everyone afterward and grateful that that they shared with us. I had a lot of fun playing Frisbee as well although Yedidya almost killed Carolyn. The mountain scenes on the way back were beautiful.

Monday 2 Feb – My Birthday

It was the first day of the intership today. I got there only a few minutes before Mary Beth and stood awkwardly in the office before she arrived. She gave me and Barbara a proper orientation and showed us all around the compound. There are tons of things that can be done. And I am definitely the type of person who thrives off there being stuff to do especially when it is physical, productive labor in warm climates. So I cant wait to get to work. She also gave us a tour of the local neighborhood. Then she took us to a school where she used her magic to get a boy who had been out of school for a year back in. She also payed for it. It was pretty amazing to see. We then went to pick up Denzel and Dapne both of whom are disabled so we give them some morning education. Daphne is eighteen, deaf and has been abused. She is afraid of men so I have to be careful but she was in a good mood that day and laughed and smiled and got along with me really well. Denzel is awesome and I have a lot of fun with him. He is in a wheelchair and has braces on his legs. That morning they taught me some really interesting games like lucky 6 and some card game which was kind of like "rat screw" but for kids. It was awesome. It was first experience learning with disabled kids and is hard to get used to but you pick it up quickly. You need to slow everything down and realize you’re trying to get them to learn.
After working with them for a few hours I had my lunch and then the kids started to come in. Before you knew it there was a swarm of them. 200-300 everywhere. I read to some at first and then Cathy asked if I wanted to try out the kitchen to see what it was like. There were miles of bowls of soup. They kids come to a door with a ticket for soup and get a little bowl with a little piece of bread in it. After everyone has been served they can come back for seconds or as they call it “second chance”. Its absolute pandemonium at that point. It’s a little bit sad because you can tell they are very hungry. They are all screaming and yelling for more soup and bread. Some fight over the chance to finish off they pots of soup with the bread. I can see why the organization wants to work on manners and respect so much. They are good kids they just lack a lot important socialization at home because of the poverty. I believe they cant be blamed for it but at the same time they need to learn proper manners. I don’t know if I have the right to say that? For the rest of the afternoon basically I worked with a girl on her factors. It was difficult for me to remember the easier maths because adults get so far removed from it, that it is difficult to keep up with it. But I tried and I hope it helped. Who knows? I think Mary Beth was happy with the work I did. Hopefully I can keep it up and make some lasting/sustainable improvements there. I am pumped about the stuff I have to do.

Sunday 1 Feb

I got up early and took a cab to the pool to meet my internship supervisor a day early. The first day of the internship was scheduled for Monday but Evan, the internship coordinator, told me I could meet Mary Beth, my supervisor with the kids at the pool on Sunday. So I went. The cabby, joking around, tried to charge me 50 N$ for the ride which would only be 5$ in America, probably an appropriate amount for the distance. However the price is only supposed to be N$ 7.50 or $.75 American. I promptly and sternly told him “no”. He laughed and said "haha ok ok" and gave me the correct change.
I walked up to the entrance of the pool where about 200 kids were sitting. I asked them if they were from Catholic AIDS Action to which they said yes. I told them I was Clarke and I would be working with them this semester. They all promptly jumped up and surrounded me. They instantly want to touch you, look at your watch, feel your arm hair because its so different, feel your hair hair which they say is very soft and be all over you. We played some hand games while waiting for Mary Beth. She took her bike around the back end of the pool and when the kids saw her they all started chanting her name. They know what to do as well because they line up by girls and boys. She gives them a prep talk before going in and tells them to behave. I meet her and the other volunteer from Germany, about my age, Barbara. Barbara says if I like having kids all over me I might as well jump in. So I got to the locker room to change. The boys room has recently burned down so after climbing over the door lying on its side to get in imagine a room where the burnt ash and effluvia of the ceiling are all over the floor. There are holes above you letting the sky in and burnt and blackened pipes lying crippled from the ceiling every which way. I changed in a little cubby with no curtiain, I wasn’t worried, no one else was coming in. It smelt like fecesand urin. I went to the bathroom on one of those large metal wall urinals where it is literally a wall that several men can pee on at once. It was warped from the heat of the fire.
I then got in the pool with the kids. Ten of them jumped on me at once. It was so much fun. You just throw them around and have a ball with them. Take some to the deep end etc. I then actually go to teach 10-12 boys for a while. They loved it and were pretty attentive for a bunch of really enthusiastic little kids. It was awesome. I had a nosebleed so I had to get out for a while. I talked to Mary Beth and found out about her travels to south America and the middle east and now here. I met Cathy from New Zealand and Lynn from England. Both of these women help Mary Beth out and are referred to as Grandma. It was a really good time.
I then took a cab ot the parliament gardens to meet the rest of the crew for our community meeting which was really nice. Kristen laid out he basics and told us she was a bit homesick. We played an awesome game of ultimate and I sucked a little bit. Then we went home and chilled out and got ready for the internship.

Saturday 31 Jan - Mom's Birthday!

We finally got some rest in the morning today. This was quickly trumped by a lengthy student forum that went on for hours in the afternoon. We met with local Namibian students to discuss everything under the sun (literally) which was nice but they stayed for a very long time. Most of the US students went into the house after a couple of hours because of the sun and heat but some of us had to stay out so the Namibians were not by themselves.
Since they stayed so long we had about an hour to get ready to go out for My, Justines, and Abbie’s birthdays. We went to Joe’s Bar which was huge and had a great time. I got he Bushmen Sosatie platter which included, Ostrich, Crocidile, Zebra, Kudu, and last but not least, Chicken. I had my first Guinness in Africa. Hurray. The three of us also got different deserts which we passed around to everyone. It was pretty sweet.

Friday 30 Jan

Today we did the Katutura Quest. We were all assigned different places to check out in Windhoek. I went with Justine and Hannah to an orphanage run by just one lady and her helpers. She gets donations wherever she can and has taken in about 21 one kids. It was a very free lance type of orphanage because parents could just sort of come by and pick up the kids whenever. The owner did a really good job at improving the place. She had just built a new building with bedrooms and bathrooms for boys and girls along with a 2 rooms for homework, playing, etc. it was amazing what she had done. The kids were very young and climbed all over us. The practically tackled Hannah. They loved being lifted up and thrown around. One or two of them had AIDS which is a very hard thing to hear. Another girl was very disabled and forced to squat in order to walk around. She was very kind.
We had a debriefing about the quest and worked out some very interesting calculations comparing prices/minium wages for Namibians and Americas. For a Namibian to buy a pack of diapers it would cost them 51 Namibian dollars(N$) or 5 American Dollars. If they get the average Namibian salary ( 3 N$ an hour) it means they would have to work for 2 days to get one pack of diapers. If an American worked for two days at a minimum wage of abou 5.25 an hour it would mean that an equivalent pack of diapers would be $96.01. So although some assume its cheap for the average Namibian to live here its not if we turn it into an American equivalent. Pretty crazy. TIA.

Wednesday Jan 28

Today we finally head for Namibia. The general consensus among us was that, although we all loved SA and our time there we really wanted to be settled and not living out of suitcases any more. The flight was easy except for Britta who lost her passport. It was found by the lady at the desk literally as the last bus was leaving for the plane. It could not have been cut any closer. We arrived safely and got through customs pretty easily. The drive from the airport to the house was beautiful: flat semi-desert in the foreground and beautiful mountains in the background. We saw baboons and 1 elk on the way there. We arrived in the house which I was totally impressed by. Its awesome, large and very comfortable. The power and internet have been cutting out but TIA. Once we arrived we had dinner which was fine although the food over the last couple days has been fantastic! We did laundry and had a very long intro discussion with the staff. We got a tour as well. Some of us headed up to the Carboard Box up the street which is the local bar. Its pretty cool there. Great environment, nice and open. As far as beer goes, Windhoek Lager = good, Tafel = Eh and Windhoek Draught = Ok. I was awful on there pool table. The balls were smaller.

Tuesday Jan 27

On Tuesday morning we headed out for our trips. The first of these was the US Embassy. Here we met a nice lady who explained all about what the embassy did, how it worked and about some contemporary South African issues. One of the things that I liked which she said about South Africa/Namibia is that their main staples can be summed up as Beef, Beer and Bread. All three sound good to me, except for maybe the beef but Ill deal. After the Embassy we went to the Voortrekker monument. This edifice, adorned with statues of German colonist holding guns and standing resolutely proud, is a “testament to the journey the Afrikaners took from Cape Town to Pretoria”. The fact that the inside of it is plastered with images of Afrikaners slaughtering the natives to make their journey, much like Europeans did to Native Americans, is not really mentioned. There are some who like to see it torn down but arguably it is piece of history and the history is undeniably important. I personally believe however that is should not be such a source of pride however for Afrikaners.
After the monument and museum we had a speaker come to us who was supposed to talk to us about Afrikaner nationalism. He was a nice guy but I believe there was a language barrier because I was lost very quickly. I tried to pay as much attention as possible but I couldn’t follow. I know he was very religious and made broad claims about good fighting evil without out giving what I would call sufficient definitions of either. Oh well.
Once he was finished we headed to the parliament gardens where we had some very intense discussions about racism in SA and USA, poverty and redistribution, European influence on SA, Apathetic Students, and whether or not the Voortrekker monument should be torn down. We disagreed about some things which was the point but I feel like we did a good job at having constructive argument.

Monday 26 Jan

On Monday morning we got back from the homestay went immediately to 17 Shaft. 17 Shaft is a large old mining compound which has been converted into center where young men and women can learn basic skills like masonry or farming to get jobs. The owner of it who we met at the end had a very Sean Connery-like swagger about him. He told us he was a soldier and smuggler by trade and that he started 17 shaft as an original training and recruitment center for the ANC during the resistance movment. He was definitely a badass now trying to do some good in the world.
After 17 Shaft we took, thanks to traffic, and incredibly long drive to Pretoria, the capitol of South Africa. We went to That’s It guest house which was very nice. They had a pool and nice little bungalow with excellent food.

Soweto Homestay

On Friday evening we headed out for our Soweto homestay where we stay with a local family in the South West Township. We went in pairs for this first homestay of three. Ben was my partner. We were both a little nervous but looking forward to it none the less. We arrived in the Kombi and met Duntou, Ichi and Pumi. Duntou was the host mom, Mike her brother, and Pumi her 12 year old son. They were very welcoming. Duntou talked out ear off for the first 15 minutes about AIDS so that definitely eased my worries about running out of things to talk about. We had a very good dinner the first night. It took a little getting used to the style of eating here. A lot of it is just with one’s hands or a spoon. Forks and knives are not necessarily used. The first night Ichi took Ben and I out to get some movies to watch: A Bourne Identity and something else. The rest of the weekend we were incredibly well fed with an assortment of different things. We watched a lot of TV and movies which were interesting. The movies pertained to South Africa and we liked them. Out host mom took us out to a bar not to drink but just to see what one was like in Soweto. It was very nice but a little awkward for Ben and myself being the only white guys there. The night was fine except for a really drunk guy who kept coming by our table, shaking our hand, telling us not to be afraid and he was very glad white people were here. On the last night a friend of our host mom, Charlie, took us out to a braai (barbecue). It was crazy. It was essentially a huge party outside of the night club. There were cars everywhere and people were drinking a lot. They just toss the bottle on the ground where cars run them over causing a perpetual popping sound throughout the night. The meat was delicious and the music and company was good. Ben and I were quite tired and ready to get to bed. We had a good time though.

Some Museums and Speakers

On Tuesday of the first week in Joburg we went to the Hector Pieterson museum. He was the first student killed by the police in the 1976 protest. His sister cam out and talked to us about the experience. It was crazy to actually be hearing from the woman herself. Very surreal and humbling.
Today was the apartheid museum. It was a really good museum. The person who designed it also designed the Holocoust Museum in D.C. The pictures were out of this world. They depicted so many different aspects of Aparthied. I wont waste time trying to explain it all. You really have to go see it.
We also had two speakers comes this day. The first was a very kind man whotalked about the difference between the ANC and COPE. THe ANC was the liberation party and COPE is a new break away party from the ANC. Some of the leaders from ANC wanted their own power and as a result made their own party. The general concensus is that a lot of poiticians are in politics because it is a living. If you can play the game you can have a good life. As a result the people tend to get neglected. Although the speaker on this division was hard to understand and I was very tired what he said was significant and interesting.
The second speaker Dale McKinley was out of this world. He was very intelligent and knowledgeable and portrayed what he wanted to say in the a very coherent manner. Thank god. He talked about politically South Africa is deracialized but socio-economically the poor aren’t any better off and the rich still have the power as per usual. He talked about theimportance education, organization and keeping things local. Big governments are necessary but not always very effective. Participatory is the way to go. He had concrete ideas for actions that can be taken.

SOuth WEstern TOwnship = Soweto

Starting from top Left: 1. Kids playing with dirt in Kliptown. 2. Group walking through shacks of Kliptown. 3. The 10 tenants of the Freedom Charter.

As a note I spent half an hour editing this post to give you some history about South Africa but then the internet cut out so I am going to just give you some really basic history.

In 1948 Aparthied was formally introduced into South Africa. It was very similar to the Jim Crow laws of segregation. Blacks were not allowed to work in the cities without a passbook. They were forced to live outside of the cities in large townships where they were just thrown together. They were segregated and discriminiated against. There were raids in the townships and beatings. If a Black person was found in the cities like Johannesburg without a passbook they were sent to jail for a long time. Soweto the main township outside of Johannesburg was where we did a lot of our traveling. Soweto is literally an abbreviation of South West Township. In 1976 there was peaceful protest of students against Aparthied, which police officers fired upon killing several people. From there more protests continued throughout the 70's and 80's. A snowball effect gradually took place. The Afican National Congress (ANC) was the main opposition to Aparthied. Nelson Mandela was the figurehead of the ANC during these times despite the fact that he was in jail. As protest and violence continued Mandela was released in 1990. In 1994 South Africa (SA) held its first free elections in which Mandela was elected president and the ANC as the leading party. Althought Aparthied has been outlawed on paper one will soon find out that paper means very little. Econcomically and socially the Blacks are still on the bottom rung of society despite that fact that there has eben some improvements. Hopefully this will give you some orientation as you read. I will try to explain more as I post.

The first day of traveling was a hard one. We did a lot of it. We heard a speaker Moelefi talk about Apartheid and then went to see where the freedom charter was created. The Freedom Charter was the consolidation of a list of wants obtained by the government from the African people, a starting point against Apartheid. Wants included things like free health care and dignified housing. A stones throw away from the monument which housed the basic ten of the charter was Kliptown, a South African Slum. It was literally across the tracks from brand new 5 star hotel. It was not easy to see but it was very similar to Nicaragua. This time I actually got to get a good luck at the inside of a house. It was probably half the size of my room and shared between 5 people. The town itself smelled like fresh bathroom making it hard to believe that people lived here but at the same time making the idea that people did live here all the more real. The guy who showed us around was campaigning for his residents. He told of the problems with cholera, TB and basic sanitation. The government doesn’t want to admit that there are cholera and TB problems and therefore the people suffering don’t get the drugs they need. He also showed us a zest pool coming from a sewage pipe and explained that kids swim in it sometimes because they need places to play. Convincing kids not to play is a very difficult thing to do. They need something to keep them occupied but they have nothing. Putting in a swimming pool is probably out of the question.

Tuesday morning we went to the a semi-private school in Soweto and had the chance to speak to kids there. We told them about out culture and they theirs. We danced with some and played games with others. A lot of them were very excited about Obama. The school was catholic and run by the church which resided in the center. The most interesting aspect to me was a handwritten poster that was giving different prompts for students to write an essay. One of the prompts was “South Africans are poor losers” Please write about this.” You would never see this in america either and if you did I can only imagine the difference between the responses from America and Africa. It was good to see.

Driving around, another thing I saw as written on the wall outside of hospital. It said make sure that you get your CD4 count so that if it is high you can receive “life-saving ARV (anti-retroviral) drugs” The fact the no drugs are life saving when it comes to AIDS is ironic. Also the fact that anti-retroviral was already abbreviated shows how much country is affected by the disease.

Later on that day we went to the Regina Mundi Church. A place were a lot resistance against apartheid was talked about. During one service the police came in to break it up because they believed that it was instigating resistance, which it probably was but in a peaceful manner. The police told the people to disperse but when the couldnt they fired bullets in the ceiling and one soldier cracked the alter. The bullet holes and an alter cracked with the butt of a gun are reminders of the south African police breaking apart a peaceful service. Although they may have been resisting Aparthid in some way 2000 people cant leaving a building in 2 minutes.

One of the most interesting parts so far has been talking with one of our SA guides, Molefi. After watching the inauguration which they took us to a local bar in Soweto to see, I got to talk to him. As an aside the inauguration was good to see and I am happy that Obama is president but I have to say that I wasnt exactly bowled over with his speech. Any way it was great talking to Molefi. We spoke about everything from people in SA needing counseling after Aparthied, to the drug problems, the economy, racism, homosexuality, etc. It was really great to speak to him and learn all these things from.

As this is the second time I am attempting this post I think I am about done for now. More to come.

The Flight

Everything went fine at the airport. Meeting everyone in the airport was fun and everyone got along really well from the beginning. We boarded the plane and started out 18 hour journey. It went rather quickly. There were three meals, plenty of movies, which I watched. I slept for quite awhile as well. We landed and we were thrown into a much nicer climate.
Customs was easy and fast. The customs man asked me no questions and didn’t even look me in the eye. It was the first time that ever happened and I wondered if it was because I was an American coming to South Africa. The airport was undergoing renovations so some columns were exposed. The main room of the airport recently renovated was really nice. In the bathroom in the bag check there was a sign on the mirror which said, “South Africa’s Water is Precious. Please Use it Sparingly” You would never see a sign like that in the US. At least not yet but maybe sooner than we think. We met up with Linda, our program coordinator, Passat, our driver, and Moketsi, our south african guide. They took us to St. Peters. The sign in front proclaimed that “Christ the King’s offices” were at the residence. I was excited to finally meet the man in person and see where he worked.
The first dinner was nice and we got to know one another better. We played bananagrams ands would you rather. It was a nice ice breaker. We were all pretty exhausted and headed to bed.

About Me

Today is the Friday before the trip.  I havent packed yet but most of my stuff is ready to go.  I still have to do laundry however.  I am very excited and I cant wait to go.  YesterdayI went out and bought lots of toiletries for my trip because they can be more expensive in Namibia and South Africa.  The flight is going to be a long one, lasting approx 18 hours with one stop in Dakar, Senegal where I can't get off the plane.  I bought Pineapple Express for my ipod and I have plenty of reading material.  I can't wait to see Ky and the others from Clark.  Hopefully I will have lots of cool information to post soon.  See ya.