Megan H learning skills to take back home

This week was a very exciting week at my internship. Last week, the premier of the Western Cape province gave her State of the Province address, and this week was the Budget Speech was given by South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. That meant a lot of organization and protests for the team I work with. Because I was on the Garden Route last weekend, I wasn’t able to attend the protest regarding the State of the Province. However, I was able to attend the opposition party’s response this week in Parliament. One of the things that I found so astounding was how quick all the politicians were to accuse each other of being racist. First, the ANC said that the DA was racist because they weren’t doing enough to help the disadvantaged black citizens in the Western Cape. Then, the DA said the ANC was racist because it only cared about Africans, not people classified Coloured or Indian. One of the things that came as the biggest surprise to me was one of the MP’s stood up and said “Black lives do matter,” to which a MP of the DA shouted back “That’s racist.” I do not live here, and I obviously do not know as much about the political implications of ANC policy proposals or stances as the members of parliament do, however I found it astounding that given the history of this country a politician could make such a statement. I am used to hearing that sort of thing at home, even from politicians, however I might have naively thought that here people would understand the meaning behind that statement.

Then, for budget day I got to go to 2 protests, one on Bungha Avenue in Langa and one outside of Parliament during the speech. We were protesting where South African funding is going, and calling for the funding to go to the people. We were also protesting the fact that leaders are allowing money to flow out of the country while still cutting social spending. My sign said “free wifi for all,” which was really fun to hold because all of the students going home loved it. It was also very controversial to some people because they thought it was asking too much. However, after having learned about the struggles that historically black schools have with Matric, and seeing the disparities in education and in access to information because of the legacy of apartheid, I think that its necessary as reparations in order to level the playing field. Back home, I would have thought that Wifi was out of the realm of government to provide to the people, however here it seems just and necessary.

I am learning so much about organizing through my internship, and I can’t wait to bring the skills I am gaining here to effect change at home. 

Paige loving the kids

Sister Jasmina, one of the nurses from Tafelsig, has a sister who works at an orphanage in Ottery, which is where I’ll be doing my activist project. This past Friday I took the trip out there along with Isabel, Maria, and Kayla and we got to meet all the kids for the first time. They were the cutest kids in the whole entire world, so cute that I’m like 99% positive my mom will take one home with her when I bring her to visit. They were so happy to have visitors and welcomed us with plenty of hugs and smiles. At one point I had about 5 kids on me—one was hugging my legs, one was brushing my hair, one was jumping on my lap and the other two were wrapped under my arms by my side. They loved all the attention.

The orphanage was much more resourced than I had anticipated. It seemed pretty well funded, however there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to fixing things up, supplying food, and just helping with the maintenance and care for the kids. The two women running the center threw us right into it—we bathed the kids, changed their diapers (or should I say ‘nappies’) and dressed them about 15 minutes into arriving there. The kids’ ages ranged from 1 year to 7 years and there are 3 bedrooms: one for girls, one for boys, and one for toddlers. I hate to say that I already have a favorite, but there’s this one 3 year old that held on to me the entire time we were there and wouldn’t let me go, except when he went to Kayla for the last few minutes, during which time I got extremely jealous. He was such a little flirt, doing flips off the wall in his crib to show off.

After developing a relationship with these kids in such a short time, it broke my heart to hear their stories from the main Auntie in charge. The kids are placed in this facility if their parents neglect them, abuse them, don’t feed them or take care of them, have drug addictions, or if they are living on the streets. There was one little girl who Maria was playing with who started giggling when Maria swung her around the main Auntie was shocked. She told us that she hasn’t smiled since she was put here, that she’s always sad and quiet in her crib and that this was a first for her. It really moved me to see this girl so happy for the first time. I’m so glad to be a part of something so special to the kids, hopefully we can continue to make them smile, and influence all of their lives in some positive way.

A few other students are doing their activist project with Bongi and the Khayelitsha Fire Fighters soccer team. I plan on joining them sometime next week, to help coach, support, and practice with the team. As part of the project we will also be trying to raise money to put towards equipment and fees. I love soccer and have played my whole life, so I think this would be another fun way to get involved in the Cape Town community while also doing something important—the team is a way for the young boys to avoid gangsterism and to be a part of something meaningful instead. 

(You can check out the GoFundMe page for the FireFighter Fundraiser at  https://www.gofundme.com/FireFightersClub/share/gfm/fb_d_5_q )

Josh's exciting adventure

Friday February 26^th, 2016

2:47pm – One of my good friends Ryan from the US who I went to high school with facebook messages me that he has arrived in Cape Town and asks if I want to hike table mountain with the friends he is staying with.

3:11pm – I see the message and respond that I have a skype call from 4-4:45pm.

3:22pm – Ryan responds saying that they will be meeting at 4pm to start the hike.

3:33pm – Ryan tells me that they are hiking up skeleton gorge and sleeping on the mountain

3:36pm – I tell Ryan that I am going to try to make the skype call really quick, then get to the mountain and run up behind them and try to catch them before they get to the top of the mountain

4:00pm – I hop on the skype call and finish by 4:25pm.

4:26pm – I call the taxi company and the dispatcher says a taxi will be there in 10 minutes.

4:45pm – I call the taxi company and ask where the taxi cab driver was?  I was assured it was on its way and would be there in the next couple minutes.

4:53pm – The taxi cab finally arrives and we head over to the mountain.  (The taxi cab driver was awesome, his daughter lives in Dubai and he used to work as a planner within the field of technology I believe for the South African government.  He’s driving taxis as a transitional period leading up to him wanting to go teach English abroad and then start a second career.)

5:15pm – I purchase my ticket and start the run up the mountain.

5:45pm – After a hard run with heavy breathing I see a large group hiking up the actual rock gorge.  And I see my friend Ryan waiting up there for me. 

After not seeing Ryan for a couple years (he had moved out to California the second he graduated with his Mom and I hadn’t seen him since I was in California for a work conference in April, 2015), we were reunited on a completely different continent!  We spent the night in a cabin that, the girl Ryan is staying with, Anna’s friend rented through someone he knows who used to be a boy scout.  The night was an absolute blast.  There were a bunch of high-schoolers there (Anna’s brothers friend) and UCT students from South Africa and Zimbabwe.  We had fun with card tricks/mind games all night.  Since I was not prepared (I didn’t bring a blanket, a pillow or enough clothes) I was freezing and didn’t sleep well, so the second the sun was up I went outside.  In the distance I saw a large peak, near where apparently there used to be an old cable station on the side of Table Mountain by Camps Bay.  So I put my mind to climbing up it.  After scaling the large rock wall to get to the top of the peak I came down.  Then we all hiked down Table Mountain on the backside of the mountain via the nursery route.  Our final landing point was in the middle of Kirstenbosch gardens.  My friend Ryan and I had a great time catching up on the way down just talking about our dreams and passions.

Although my idea to run up behind them and catch them on Friday may have been a bit ambitious, and I was definitely underprepared in the food and clothing department (you could bring all types of food and they had a kettle to boil water in and an open fire to make a braii, which I was unaware of), the trip was by far one of the most exciting times I have had outside of the program while in South Africa.  On Friday night when we came back inside to a fire after stargazing, my friend Ryan summed it up well – “no matter where you are in the world, people are people”.  We may have different amounts of resources, some may be wealthier than others, we may represent different races/cultures, etc. but at the end of the day people are people.  And for us that meant regardless of the different backgrounds we all came from, we were able to enjoy such a simple of conversation with one another.

Alex L found her calling

I have finally found my calling, my passion, and what I will eventually be doing for my activist project this semester! After speaking with Marita one day about how I had no idea what I could personally do to contribute to a project or give back to the community, she told me “It’ll just come to you, something will pull on your heartstrings and then you’ll know what you might want to do.” Ironically, while walking home from that meeting with her, I passed a dog training session on the front lawn of a school and caught myself outwardly gushing over the dogs…it then hit me that I have such a strong love for animals and they must be incorporated with my project idea. I then immediately got on the internet searching for organizations with therapy dogs that traveled to different communities such as schools or hospitals and simply put smiles on people’s faces who needed them the most. Unfortunately, the organizations I found did not fit with my schedule, or were way too far away to access, so I kept persisting with my search. I then stumbled across a program called the Underdog Program which brought tears to my eyes while reading and watching videos about what they did, which then solidified that this is something I must get involved with. The Underdog Project is an after school program located in the township of Hout Bay, specifically for teenagers who have been suffering some kind of emotional distress, drug abuse, involvement in gang related violence, etc. As a part of the non invasive therapeutic process, these teens are paired up with a dog from a local kennel and are to spend an hour training them. Not only are these dogs getting the training, attention, and socialization they need, but these teenagers are gaining an unexplainable amount of positivity through these dogs as well. It teaches many different lessons of responsibility, but also they get the feeling of a companionship and bonding experience that comes with caring for an animal. After the training session, the teens then go to a “class”, mostly a discussion about important life skills and lessons that will hopefully give them insight to getting out of their situations and improving their lives in positive ways. It is a safe and comfortable environment for these teenagers to be in opposed to getting involved with other detrimental things/activities after school. I am ecstatic to be getting involved with this project because it incorporates so many things that are important to me. I’m sure it’ll be a life changing experience, and I will certainly want to incorporate what I’ve done here back home as well.

Mariko grappling to understand

So many amazing things have happened between my last blog post and now. Last weekend, most of our group ventured off on a three-day Garden Route excursion, which ended up being one of the best weekends so far. The initial six-hour scenic drive brought us to the Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn, ostrich capital of the world. Although it may not sound exciting, caving was actually an intense adventure of squeezing through spaces that don’t exactly accommodate a human my size. 

The following morning, we woke up early to go walk with elephants on a reserve, followed by canoeing and bungee jumping, which I opted out of because jumping off the highest bridge is definitely not on my bucket list. Everybody on the trip agreed that Saturday was one of the best days of their lives, but Sunday was my personal favorite. The hostel we stayed in that night was located right on the beach, meaning I got to spend the morning sitting in the sand by the Indian Ocean before heading off for a game drive on a ranch that truly looked like a scene straight out of Lion King.

As incredible as that weekend was, it was only the start to an even better week. Monday marked the first day at my new internship placement, Melomed GatesvilleHospital. I had no idea what to expect and tried not to get my hopes up, but it has been such a positive experience thus far. We spent the first day meeting the staff throughout the relatively large hospital, which offers almost every type of service you would expect to see in an American hospital. Everyone was extremely welcoming and couldn’t wait to spark conversation with us. Hopefully we will end up rotating through all the wards, including the trauma unit, which I’m looking forward to the most, but this week was spent entirely in the maternity unit.  

I’ve mostly been situated in the NICU, where I got to help with the premature babies or newborns who have some sort of illness. I also got to go into the OR to see a C-section and assist the doctor with the baby as soon as it came out. That was by far the highlight of my week and possibly one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Despite the very strict policies that the facility abides by, the staff are still so trusting of my capabilities and I’m benefiting a lot from the resultant hands on experience. However, I can’t stop comparing this facility to my my past internship, Sarah Fox, because it blows my mind that there can be such a disparity solely due to the manner of funding between two health facilities across the street from each other. Children suffering from TB and HIV who aren’t fortunate enough to have been born into a family with health insurance are stuck getting the bare minimum in terms of treatment, while those born into an insured or wealthy family receive incredibly advanced and modern treatment before being sent home in little embroidered blankets. I have no problem with the prestige of my current placement and agree with how they run the practice, but I’m just surprised at how much I am still grappling to understand the extent of inequality after having been in this country for over a month now.