Odds and Ends

As the title of this post indicates, here are just some thoughts about things happening in my life over here. I have broken it into sections so it is easier to read...

Elections

Below is a not-so-brief synopsis/list of facts/opinions/musings of what I have learned about politics here in South Africa (mostly second hand information from my South African friends). The election is April 22nd.

-Party loyalty is HUGE. The ANC is the leading party and likely winner solely because it is Nelson Mandela’s party that pulled SA out of apartheid in 1994. People feel indebted to this party and therefore obliged to vote for it no matter what. Even though Jacob Zuma has been charged with rape, corruption, money laundering (among other things), and had no formal schooling, people are still ready to vote for him out of loyalty and lack of education about policies and other candidates.

-People continue to vote along racial lines. Even though apartheid was overturned 15 years ago… it was only… 15 years ago. Many people here still identify with their racial group due to the entrenchment of apartheid policies within South African culture. Undoing the damage is going to take more than just time. Ok, so here is an issue for you to ponder: The justice in land redistribution. Background: Since so much land was seized from black South Africans during the apartheid regime and redistributed to white South Africans, some discuss the idea of land redistribution back to black South Africans. This is a tricky question, however, because the whites have owned the land for over 50 years now. The question: How could one justly take that land away from the whites who have lived there for a few generations now? What about the black and colored South Africans living in townships who can’t pull themselves out of poverty? Can there ever be justice in this situation? What do you think? Welcome to my politics class, the land of never-answered never-ending questions and puzzles about liberal democracy.

-Political parties are also very regional. Here in the Eastern Cape, people generally talk about ANC, DA (Democratic Alliance, and note their strangely similar campaign logo to Obama) and COPE ("Congress of the People," a new rising breakaway party from the ANC). In KwaZulu-Natal, people are primarily talking about IFP (Inkatha Freedom Party) and ANC. Joburg and Cape Town will have different stories too. Really the only party that is effectively crossing regional lines is the ANC, which is one of the major reasons why their victory is imminent.

-The new rising generation of voters (i.e. university students) was born into a free South Africa, and they therefore do not have the same loyalty to the ANC as the older generations do (and they also have education, which most of the country lacks). This new generation is starting to take initiative in voting not by party, but by policies. It is a really exciting for many of my south African student friends who are attempting to make an informed choice, even if ANC victory seems inevitable. Just last night there was a formal debate between representatives from each major party. I didn’t attend (I wanted to let the voters get seats) but I heard it was a very interesting evening of debate and questions. Also, recently the youth leader of the ANC was scheduled to come visit Rhodes. That caused quite a stir because of the many strong feelings about Jacob Zuma and the ANC. It is sooo interesting to be here at the univeristy in such an exciting time for the students and for the country!

Reading Camp

This past weekend I volunteered at a 24-hour reading camp for about 20 10-year-old kids from the township. Run (kind of) through the Anglican monastery here in Grahamstown, this program helps with remedial reading education in weekend and week-long camps throughout the year. It was an amazing, exhausting, beautiful, challenging, and rewarding experience.

The kids who came are all learning English as their second language. Their first language is Xhosa (the main indigenous language here in Eastern Cape, pronounced with a click in the beginning). The children were all very bright, SO well behaved, and so excited to learn! This camp provided them with extra attention to give them a boost with their confidence and with their reading skills. Saturday morning consisted of 6 different stations to work on phonics, writing, reading comprehension, etc. Lindsay (from BC) and I were in charge of the reading comprehension station, where we read a story with them a few times and had a simple discussion about plot, characters, setting, etc.

This was just as much READING camp as it was CAMP! On Friday and Saturday afternoon, the kids got to do fun activities like hiking, campfire with marshmallows, games, songs, stories, arts and crafts, abseiling, etc. It was so fun to watch them experience the excitement of each new activity and join them in that exciting activity! Sorry I don’t have pictures – but Lindsay took a lot, so our experience was well-documented. Remind me to show them to you when I see you next :)

CAMP CAMP CAMP!

Speaking of CAMP, a few of you have been asking if I will be back this summer. The answer is YES! I will be working at Deer Run again this summer for the second 3/4 of the summer, starting second session. Yay! This means that:
a) I get to have another summer at one of my favorite places in the world with some of my favorite people... and
b) Since I am starting work at camp later, I get to stay for the the first few days of the Grahamstown Arts Festival, the biggest arts festival in the whole of AFRICA! That's right, in this tiny little town out of all places in South Africa! I am stooooooked to see how it transforms to accomodate thousands of extras for about two weeks.

Coming Up in the near future:

-a Potjie on Friday (this big cookout thing that I actually don’t know much about, I will tell you more later when I am more informed. Apparently we eat stew… outside…)

-a hiking trip on Saturday and Sunday (yay!!!)

-three tests next week – Anthropology, Economics, then Politics. Should be a fun week.

-BC course registration (for senior year?!)

-APRIL VACATION!! Much needs to happen before I will be frolicking for two weeks with three other Americans on the infamous GARDEN ROUTE and then the Mother City, CAPE TOWN. I can’t waaaaaaaaait until April 4th!!


Sorry for a wordy blog post. Thanks to my faithful readers for getting to the end :)
Much love to all! Please let me know how you are doing and stay in touch!

--Lindapants

Lessons Learned

I have learned a lot here in Grahamstown in the last five weeks. I obviously can't really record ALL of the lessons, but here is a short list of a a few I have (somewhat painfully) re-learned in the past week:

1. The sun will still burn the unprotected skin on a cloudy day. Especially the South African sun...in the summer...by the water...not wearing sunscreen (I am too embarassed to even post a picture. ow.)

2. When there is a fire drill or alarm, you are required here (at Rhodes) to take a blanket outside with you. (Sensible, right? Somehow I never learned this advice back at BC despite the 5+ fire alarms in the middle of winter in 90 last year)

3. South Africa has a very very high rate of HIV infection. I went to the hospital for the first time on Friday. I joined the medical team for rounds in the hospice ward. I would estimate that 75% of the patients (in hospice) have opportunistic infections due to AIDS. I think about 50% of the patients we saw had TB. UNAIDS estimated that in 2007, six million people were infected with HIV in South Africa.

4. I actually did seem to lose my school work ethic somewhere over the Atlantic (well, come to think of it, I lost it back in December. Before Christmas). I have found it quite difficult to sit down and do work here. As soon as I try... the words "I'm in South Africa" start creeping into my mind and make me find something better to do. Like... having rooibos tea and rusks with res friends. Or chilling on the roof. Or posting on my blog. Or going to the beach. I think you get the idea...

5. I am not always ... "proud to be American." I was not surprised to see that Coca-Cola products, KFC, and MTV are longstanding incorporations into the daily life of South Africa (and much of the rest of the world, for that matter). Some food for thought: As Peter Raven, from my Anthropology textbook, says, "if everyone lived like Americans, you'd need three planet earths... to sustain that level of consumption." And, "on average, one North American consumes hundreds of times the resources of a single African."

On that note, I will be turning off my light and getting some rest before the start of another crazy week. Much love to all at home and abroad. Miss you!

Love,
Linda

Giraffe, Politics, and a Roadtrip

Hello everyone!!

So life lately has been both really busy and really fun...here is a summary.

Last weekend on Saturday, Geoff (our BC program coordinator) took us in his truck to two nearby game reserves. We left early in the morning so we could see more animals – they all hide and sleep during the hottest part of the day. It was a really fun and adventurous day, complete with a picnic at a bird-watching hut, prickly pears, and a little bit of off-roading to see the following: giraffe, ostrich, zebra, baboon, springbok, kudu, antelope, tortoise, and MASSIVE earthworms (i.e. 3 feet long). It was a really fun trip :) Here are a few of MANY pics:

We saw these signs... but not all of the animals on the sign. Maybe next time!

To my fellow Deer Runners: every now and then, did you ever wonder what a springbok looks like? I was never in that cabin, but here are 3 grazing springbok!

Ostrich!
Allegra, Lindsay, and Me - 3 out of 4 of the BC girls here at Rhodes. This is us in the bird-watching hut.

GIRAFFE IN THE ROAD (obviously.)
A herd of (what I THINK is) some kind of reedbuck, but it also could be antelope. As soon as we pulled up, they all started STARING at us. We silently took as many pictures as possible but they quickly ran away.
And last but not least, ZEBRA!

Last week I took my first Rhodes test - in politics! The test was quite HECTIC, but I love that class because it is really challenging me to critically think about social issues & ideals and government. Not easy, but REALLY cool :)

This past weekend (yesterday and today) I went to Jeffrey’s Bay with two other BC girls (Sheneita and Lindsay) and two friends from my res (Sarita and Katie). Jeffrey’s Bay is a beach/surf town about 3 hours away from Grahamstown, so we rented a car and took a road trip. The beach was beautiful, and the town really quiet and relaxing (almost ghost-town quiet, we couldn’t figure out where everyone was)! We stayed in a really cute homey backpackers hostel (with a LOT of character) in the center of town just a 5-minute walk from the beach. It was a fantastic group of girls, and we had a lot of fun travelling together! Overall, the trip was just stunning… even though it didn’t all go exactly as planned. These trips never do… Here are a few pics of J-bay:

Sheneita from BC (left) and Sarita from Joburg in our awesome hostel.
Katie, from Port Elizabeth - our lovely reliable safe driver!Sheneita and Lindsay, on the beautiful J-bay beach.
We woke up to see the sunrise this morning. And... nobody complained! Impressive. Although it was cloudy, the sky was beautiful and the beach was so peaceful! We also saw lots of dolphins playing in the waves! Stunning.

Well, that's it for today. Please let me know how you all are doing (How is/was spring break?? How is COSMOS? How are classes/How is school?? Do you know your summer plans? How is Europe/Asia/Austrailia/South America/North America/Africa??)!!!!

Love,
Lindapants