Keep on Traveling and Don't Stop

Being part of my program we have to have at least one cultural activity a week. Ours for the week was going to a food market and then going to the Peace March Museum.

The Peace March Museum is The Cathedral’s Crypt has recently been rededicated as a Crypt Memory and Witness Centre, a sacred space of dialogue, hope and healing, with an inaugural exhibition commemorating the Cape Town Peace March of 1989.

on, 13 September 1989, a crowd of some 30,000 people from every walk of life gathered in front of the Cathedral and marched to the Grand Parade to protest against the violence of the apartheid regime and to proclaim that another world was possible; a world in which the dignity of every person was respected and her promise of freedom and democracy would be available to all.

Describing the 1980s as a decade during which the apartheid government reacted with increasing violence to those whom opposed it, the growth of mass movements such as the United Democratic front and the churches Kairos declaration in 1985, following the World Alliance of Reform Churches’ declaration that apartheid a heresy in 1982, they paint a picture of a country rendered ungovernable by an unrelenting tide of protest. They tell of the events of 6 September 1989, which triggered the Peace March.  At least 24 people died on that day in clashes with police and army during a boycott of the election of a racially segregated tri-cameral parliament. The following evening, dismayed at the carnage, Archbishop Desmond Tutu retreated to his chapel to pray and seek divine guidance. The next day, at a memorial service in the Cathedral, he called on the people of Cape Town to march on parliament to protest the killings.

The Cape Town Peace March caught the imagination of people across the country. Over the following days 85,000 people gathered in Uitenhage; 50,000 in Bloemfontein; 40,000 in East London; 20,000 in King William’s Town; 20,000 in Durban; 20,000 in Johannesburg; 7,500 in Kimberley; 2,000 in Oudtshoorn and; 2,000 in Grahamstown. The demand for justice was heard across the country.

While the current exhibition focuses on the 1989 Peace March, Father Lester and Lynette remind us that the Cathedral has long served as a place of protest against injustice and as a refuge, earning it the title of the ‘people’s cathedral’. In the 1960s protesters including members of the Black Sash gathered outside the Cathedral with their placards. In the 1970s student protesters were stormed by police and brutally beaten on the cathedral steps on several occasions. In 1982 the Cathedral gave sanctuary to a group of Nyanga ‘squatters’, who were, in terms of apartheid laws living illegally in the area, and who embarked on a fast, vowing to starve to death unless they were granted permission to live in with their families in Cape Town.

The Crypt Memory and Witness Centre is an initiative of the Cathedral’s Justice and Reconciliation Group (CJR) whose mission is to fulfil the Cathedral’s prophetic mission as a place of hope and healing through its commitment to issues of justice and reconciliation. While the exhibition commemorates an event in the Cathedral’s history, the group extends the work of reconciliation and social justice to address current concerns – among others, xenophobia, homophobia and HIV Aids seeking to make these difficult issues visible. Other programmes and activities include developing and an annual observance of South Africa’s Day of Reconciliation, promoting interfaith and other pilgrimages and opportunities including to the Church of the Good Shepherd on Robben Island, for facilitated reflection on particularly social justice issues.

That evening we decided to hike lions head again. It was a great hike. At the top there was a music video going on. It was really cool for several reasons, 1 being that it was on top of lions head and you could see all of cape town so it was a beautiful view. Another reason why it was awesome was that we got interviewed to be put on national tv. So I am kind of famous nbd.

Cape town is known for surfing… so I tried it

Lets just say I should never become a pro surfer. It was so hard to do I literally got beat up by the waves. It was so much fun and hilarious but I suck.

St. pattys day in cape town…

Even though they are not Irish they sure know how to celebrate st. pattys day. Basically take a college campus and put it on 1 street called long street and have the entire cape town population celebrating a holiday that doesn’t even relate to them. Every bar and club was packed. It was quite and evening.

Well now peace out

Durban

Durban… a city on the eastern cape of south Africa. I don’t even know where to begin explaining that trip. I went with my roommate Jeana and we had an amazing time! I will start off by going through each day and what we did and our experiences. Let me start off by saying we brought all of our food and didn’t spend a single penny on food for the whole weekend. On Thursday our plane is delay blah blah blah you know the drill you have to sit in a shitty airport… so on.

Friday we get up bright and early and decide to go to the city. We walk around and go to a really nice memorial park that is across from city hall. It was a little weird because there were a lot of people standing at the entrance of city hall. We go up to them and ask what is going on. The women there were like there is a try out for a movie here. I was going to try out but then I read the sign and you had to be black and have your first language be Zulu…unfortunately I do not fit into that category. From there we walked to a sketchy part of the city that apparently was dangerous… oh well I survived. We eventually made it to the Golden Mile. The Golden Mile is the entire waterfront of Durban. It is extremely long and keeps on going. There are about 5 beaches in it. it is absolutely beautiful. The waves were about 15 feet high and were just crashing on the pier. It was so cool. I have now conquered to swim in 3 oceans. Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean. It was awesome. We were walking along the beach and saw these beautiful sand castles. Of course as tourists we wanted to take pictures of them but the people who made them harassed us to pay them.

We decided to take the mini buses everywhere because it is only 4 rand a person. On our program were not supposed to take them anywhere o well.

The next day we went to Zululand and got a tour of a Zulu village. It might have been the coolest experience I have seen. We started off by going to the Zulu village and learning about the rituals and their ancestors. The village we went to has around 300 people in it but it is spread over a lot of land. We go to a family’s house and our guide shows us the crawl which is where they keep their animals and have rituals. One ritual that they do is when a baby is born they have to slaughter a cow and the mother has to eat the meat. After that they either cut the baby’s face with 3 marks on each side or cut off the tip of the pinky depending on your families rituals and yours tribes rituals. They belong to two churches the village people. One of them is the Nasserites Baptist Church. It might be the coolest Church I have ever seen. It is outside and they pray inside white rocks. They have to wear their traditional clothing to pray. Their main services are on Saturdays instead of Sundays. When not praying the kids are normally playing soccer in a big open field.

The Zulu culture’s traditional meal is Maize and vegetables. They also don’t use silver wear so I got to eat with my hands which was awesome. After we ate we got to meet the healer who is told by the ancestors that they are to become the healer of the village.

This culture is really the coolest thing ever. I wish I could spend more then a day there with them.

Well that’s all of now folks.

Peace out

p.s. I am very behind in blogs so a lot will come in the next few days. 

I'm on top of the world

On top of Table Mountain 

 

7 weeks have gone by and I only have 4 left with my program and one extra week. I can’t believe how fast these weeks have gone by. I am seriously in shock. This has been the best experience ever. Words can not describe how I feel about this country and the culture. My placements mean so much to me. Working at Eros school has made my passion for working with children with disabilities so much more strong. It makes me want to help people even more. I am so in love with my kids. I don’t even want to think about leaving them. I put so much work into my kids, by feeding Kudzai everyday, or taking Natasha to physio, helping them learn the letters A and O. I put my heart and soul into school everyday. In the afternoons I go and work at a shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. I go in and bring different art ideas and we do art for two hours twice a week. After all of these women have been through they still have a smile on their faces and willing to spend the afternoons with me.

While taking this long trek here to Africa I have done some pretty cool things I must say. I know it is not all fun and games here. I am here for my placement but on the weekends and a couple of weekdays I can do what I want in the afternoons. When you come to Cape Town you see a beautiful ocean on one side and a huge ass mountain on the other. One of the to-do’s here in Cape Town in hike Table Mountain. It was recently just voted into the 7 wonders of the world. Everyday going to placement or for the matter of fact everywhere I go I see Table Mountain. It is staring right at me saying climb me climb me. We ventured off to the hike that looked impossible and never ending. It was the most amazing thing ever! I made it up the mountain in a hour and 45 mins. It was so hard but so amazing! I could not believe I made it to the top of a mountain. The view was breath taking. I would climb that mountain a hundred times if I could. It is so beautiful.

I tried out a new beach. It is called Kalk Bay. It is beautiful. It is more of a town/fishing beach. There a seal mulled a woman. The ocean is so clear and there are tons of cute little shops. I love the little town. I have decided I want to open a B&B here and have an ice cream shop attached. I love it here. I do not want to leave.

On Saturday morning we all went to a home for children where these kids stay either because they have rough family situations or other reasons. There we painted a mural for children’s home. The children were running around and helping us paint the mural that was for them. It was absolutely beautiful the mural and was so much fun to help paint. It was amazing to see what 4 hours of hard work can do. It was so much fun.

When coming to south Africa you think of the world cup in 2010. I experienced what it was like to be inside the world cup stadium. Going to a soccer game, there was an amazing experience. It was sort of like going to Spartan basketball games, but not as crowded. The stadium wasn’t even close to being filled but the noise level for the game was amazing. They have these noise makers called fooozalhs that everyone has, they also have drums and horns that they are playing the entire game. The atmosphere was amazing and so much fun. It was a great experience.

That’s all of now.

Peace out

The Holocaust Museum

Everywhere I travel to I go to the Holocaust museum. The holocaust museum in cape town is one of the first in Africa. It is my calling as a Jew and someone who is extremely interested in WWII to read about it everywhere I go. It was interesting how the holocaust took part in South Africa and how it influenced apartheid here. In this blog I am going to quote a lot of things that I saw in the museum that I was interested about, shocked, and thought whoever reads my blog should know. I am going to write mostly about how WWII was affected in South Africa. It is a new perspective to the war that many people do not know.

“Racial discrimination, religious intolerance and ideological conflict have resulted in untold suffering, persecution and mass death. Only recently south Africa emerged from the injustices of apartheid with its abuse of human rights. There have been hundred of conflicts in the name of race, religion and ideology. While discrimination does not always lead to genocide, it invariably preceded it and in the 20^th century alone, genocides have claimed millions of lives.”

Just like the holocaust is a huge part of my life still, south Africans have such a more recent history to look at that just ended in 1992. Apartheid and the holocaust were not the same, but they were reflecting each other in a way. Both has discriminations of people and forcing to leave where they lived and discriminated against because of who they were.

“The greyshirts- in October 1933 Louis T Weichardt founded the south African Christian national socialist movement, later known as the gryshirts. Although centered in Cape Town, the greyshirts organization had cells throughout the country. Weichardt, an Afrikaner anti-Semite, was a fascist and raciest. “

“the 1930s and early 40s witnessed a popular surge of anti-Semitism in south africa, ensuring a prominent position for the ‘Jewish Question’ on the public agenda. Anti-Semitism formed an important influential component of the radical Afrikaner nationalist world view. It was particular evident in the rhetoric and actions of movements such as the pro- Nazi Greyshirts, the Ossewabrandwag and the New Order.”

“among those Afrikaners wishing to curtail the influx and rights of Jews in the 1930s and early 1940s were intellectuals who formulated the apartheid system as a way of safeguarding Afrikaners identity and the racial purity. Many of them had studied in Germany where they were influenced by fascist ideas, including an exclusivist of ‘ pure’ form of nationalism.

“ Apartheid – meaning literally ‘apartness’ – was formalized by the national party after it came to power in 1948. Building on earlier policies of segregation designed by English administrators, race discrimination was now vigorously applied to all areas of life it was built on a set of fundamental race- based laws and structured around an elaborate system of Homelands or Bantustans.”

During WWII the Jews had all of these laws for example: no mixed marriages. They did not have a lot of rights. During apartheid a lot of these same issues came up.

:apartheid was a form of racial domination that rendered black south Africans second – class citizens in the country of their birth. Gross human rights abuses and untold suffering accompanied its policies. However, apartheid was not genocidal in intent or in effect. Nazism, on the other hand, aimed at the annihilation of all Jews in countries under Nazi control.”

Many Jews during the war went to south America or the united states. A huge amount of Lithuanian Jews came to south Africa.

The swastika, an ancient Indo –European symbol, became the emblem of the Nazi party.

“I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator; by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord… a racially pure people wiihc is conscious of its blood can never be enslaved by the Jew.” – Adolf Hitler

“Where one burns books, one will in the end, burn people”

“ in 1933 the subject ‘Rassenkunde’ (racial science) became part of the German school curriculum. German children were taught how to identify a Jew and they learn that Germans were the ‘master race’ and the Jews were ‘inferiors’”

“There are higher races…there are inferior races,, there Germans are a branch of the higher Aryan race and the Jews place is in the lowest rank of the inferior Semitic race… preservation of racial purity is the prime and holy obligation of the chosen (Aryan) race. “ –Adolf Hitler

Immigration to south Africa

“ Between 1933 and 1936, about 3600 German- Jewish refugees entered south Africa. Their arrival aroused bitter opposition, which was inflamed by the Greyshirts, the most prominent of the anti-Semitic pro Nazi groups which sprang up during the 1930s. they created an atmosphere of incitement against Jews in general and Jewish immigrants in particular. The public debate reached a peak in 1936 when the Stuttgrart arrived in cape town with 570 German Jewish refugees on board. The outcry, coupled with ountain anti-Semitism, resulted in the aliens act of 1937 which virtually closed South Africa’s doors to further Jewish immigration.”

“In may 1939, Jews left Germany for Cuba. When they reached Cuba the government refused to honour their visas, the ship then sailed to Florida, by president Roosevelt’s concern about massive unemployment and mounting anti-Semitism resulted in them not being allowed din. These passengers had to go back to Europe and many of them died in the death camps.”

South Africa and Britain declared war on Germany.

“ the implementation of the ‘final solution’ required Jews from all over Nazi occupied Europe to the be brought by rail to the death camps in Poland. These deportations, euphemistically called ‘transports’, began in earnest in 1942 and involved a great deal of deception. Jews were told that they would resettled to the east. In reality they were taken to death camps and murdered”

“we learn about the holocaust so that we can become more human, more gentle, more caring, more compassionate, valuing every person as being of infinite worth so precious that we know such atrocities will never happen again and the world will be a more humane place.” – archbishop emeritus

the whole world from a tin can

Top of Lions Head

 skydiving nbd

  I survived!

I am sorry I have not had a lot to blog about, but now I do. This blog will be really long.

As a girl you always know how to scout a cheap shopping trips. We were determined to find out where our staff gets their beautiful scarfs. We went to the shook. The shook is like the shook in Israel but its mostly Muslim clothes so they have beautiful scarfs and dresses. Of course knowing me and how much I like scarfs, I decided to buy out the whole shook. I also found a pair of “African” pants that I have been wanting to get here, I was super pumped about it. I of course bought 2 pairs and am repping them all the time.

            Later that night we went out to a pool bar. There we hung out with the locals and talked and did club stuff but there was also pool. Lets just say for never playing pool before I am pretty danm good. It was tons of fun. The only thing about the bars and clubs here is that you are allowed to smoke inside. Its kind of annoying since I get sick from the smoke. O well I have to deal with it since I am here for 2 more months.

Random story. To get to the beach the cheap way you take the train. You are supposed to leave before 5 because 5 is rush hour. Our train was delayed a half hour so we got stuck with rush hour. I was sitting with my friend Jeana and I was all calm reading my book and she’s freaking out that we wont get off at our stop. The key to getting off the train in time is to pretend like you are a 300 pound football player and mull through the 60 that are in your way. It is literally jam packed. Jeana was freaking out and I was like were fine its no big deal. It is the stop before ours and Jeana refuses to push so I am behind her screaming to go and am pushing her through the crowd of madness. We get off the train and our friend Mara is stuck on it. She couldn’t get through and had to get off at the next stop. Lesson learned…never take the train during rush hour

LADIES AND GENTALMEN DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!

This is what you have all been waiting for….THE SKYDIVING STORY!

Yes when I came to Cape Town the one thing my mom forbid me to do is skydive. O well I am a rebel (but not really). It was the one thing that I really wanted to do and it was the perfect time to do it. it wasn’t to expensive and I had to opportunity so I just had to do it. we signed up for it and paid online, no turning back now. The night before I was freaking out and kind of nervous but I love adrenaline junky stuff. The next day we got a call and was offered to go early because a group cancelled. I jump up and down and am all cattery and so excited. My friends are freaking out it was so funny. We get there and have to wait a while and they are pacing and freaking out. I am pumped I am about to jump out of an airplane this is awesome! We signed our lives away basically and then suited up. We are wearing a harness. They tell us no instruction. One of the guys we were jumping with told us to follow him and we were like umm what are we doing. We see the plane. They told us that we were going to sit in the instructors laps and then they would strap us in. the airplane was a tin can literally. I am sitting on the door that opens so if it by accident opens then I fly out. That was the scariest part for me. My friends were freaking out partially because the guy I was jumping with was making jokes about people he jumped with that didn’t survive. I was joking a lot it was so funny. I am the first one to jump out of the plane. I turn around and sit in my guys lap and he straps me in. I put on my goggles and he says when the door opens you hold on to your harness, put your head back and swing your legs over. All of a sudden I was out of the airplane. I had no clue I had fallen and all of a sudden I was flying. We were free falling for about 40 seconds. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! I was having so much fun. I could see all of cape town, table mountain, the ocean, Robben island, and the entire country side. It was absolutely beautiful. Then I got to steer the parachute and it was awesome. It was the best experience ever. I called my mom after and gave her a heart attack and decided where ever I go in the future I am going to sky dive.

Lesson learned…. Go skydiving…you wont ever regret it.

            Mamma Africa… real African food place. I couldn’t really eat anything there, but my friends did and they ate springbok, crocodile, ostrich, and kalou. They all really liked it. there was also live African music playing. It was so great. I loved it and the experience.

I have more posts to do. I will write them out today and probably post them tomorrow. I went to the Holocaust museum. It was amazing. More stories to come….

Peace out America

hello friends

So I am very behind on my blogs and my journal. So sorry I will catch everyone up on things for last week and the weekend now and try to post again this weekend. Also I am doing about a week and a half in one blog this time so I can be caught up hopefully. So sorry if its really long this week!

We had a little staff get to know you kind of thing. Most of the long term people went which was good. One of my goals here was to get to know the staff. They are all super nice but sometimes it is hard to connect with them because they are always busy or we are busy. This program was for the volunteers to get to know the staff and talk to them and ask about their stories and views on south Africa. It was a great way to start to know them.

            We went to the district 6 museum. There we talked to a guide who had lived there. He was friends with one of our drivers when they lived there and wrote a book. District 6 is a community just like every other community where mostly blacks lived. When apartheid stared the government kicked out all of the people and bulldozed their houses. Everything was destroyed besides places of warship. They were forced out of their own communities. Not just blacks but every religion, race, ethnicity. It was super interesting. I bought a book from a guy who lived there and it was his story told. After the museum we went to Charlie’s Bakery. IT WAS ABSOLUTLY THE BEST DESERT EVER (sorry mom and grandma. Your stuff is still the best it is just bakery things not cakes like yours). I got a cupcake and a cake thingy here. They were sooo good!!

            We went to Gugs “Mzolis Tavern” which is a place where you buy meat and they cook it right there for you. It is one of the townships and it is packed. Everyone goes there. It’s the “hip” place. After lunch we went to Bongani’s youth singing and acting about the issues in south Africa or the history. By singing and dancing they tell the story of what their families went through or they have been through. It was really interesting and moving. They told us that singing runs in the blood of Africans because the way they deal with issues is singing it out. It was pretty awesome.

            So I wore a dress…I know very weird. It was a pressure thing. Everyone was so dressed up and wearing heals. So I wore a dress. We went to a very nice dinner at the waterfront. It was really pretty. I could for once not eat lentals (that’s all the vegetarian meals here…im sick of them). The dinner was delicious. Afterwards we went to the clubs and dance the ngiht way….the way it should be done in cape town.

            So now the house is basically empty. 7 people and then people are leaving and coming this weekend. This week has been bonding time. We played “family fun night” basically. We played card games and outdoor games. We don’t have any afternoon activities anymore so were on our own until our afternoon placement starts. Today we climbed lions head. It was really fun and hard at the same time. We wanted to watch the sunset. We climbed to the top and ate cheese, crackers, and fruit. The view was absolutely beautiful. You could see all of cape town. We were literally in the clouds. It was amazing. I would do it 100 times more (I might do that). It was worth it. we were over looking the ocean and city. We could even see and island. How cool is that! I loved it. We watched the sunset which was beautiful. I basically ran half the way down because I needed to get energy out of my system.

            Oh placement where do I even begin. It has been a hectic. Let me start with we walk into class one day and our teacher isn’t there. She left no lesson plan or anything for us. We start off with the usual morning routine. Let them play. I give a girl her medicine and put on her splints. We then have them all clean up and sit on the rug for circle time. We do a little bit of singing songs and going over numbers and then all craziness brakes loose. The kids are running around and are going crazy. Mara has to feed Kudazi and I had to deal with the other 11 running around kids. Finally I just let them outside because I had no clue what to do with them. After the teacher not being in class for two days it got more calm. Placement is fun and relaxing. We are on my body theme for the next two weeks and are teaching them all about body parts and shapes. We are trying to work on fine motor skills with the kids because a lot of them don’t have them. I love running around and helping the kids with their work. I have a new goal for the rest of my placement here. I want to work with two of the kids to have them focus more and listen. They are sever issues and can’t grasp things so I want to help them with that.

That is all for now folks

Peace out

p.s. for anyone who cares I am sorry I don’t proof read my blog before I post it. I don’t really have the time. So sorry for not looking over my blog before posting

lions and tigers and bears OH MY!

So the blog you have all been waiting for. THE SAFARI BLOG! So this was a ridic weekend. I did so much and had so much fun. We had to wait and leave until after placement because 9 of us couldn’t miss placement. So we had this tour guide named Yan. He was an interesting guy. He knew so much about South Africa it was ridic. He told us all about animals and places we went. We passed mussels bay on the way to our first hostile. In mussels bay it is the number one place in South Africa to find sharks. They have a huge seal community and the sharks lurk around there and wait for the seals to go in the water so they can eat them. The drive was really long but beautiful. I loved just looking out the window of farms, flat land, the ocean, and the mountains. It was absolutely beautiful. We got to our hostile and it was cool. It was a lot of young people there and so many surfers. We got to our rooms and put our stuff down and walked to the beach. It was on the Indian Ocean so the water was warmer. It was so beautiful. They had a bonfire so we stayed up late and talked there.

            The next day we start off bright and early in the morning. 7 am sharp! We leave our hostile and drive about a hour to the safari. It is raining on the way but it stops right before we get there. So I decided that it would a good idea to just wear a sweatshirt and shorts. I didn’t think it through that it might rain again…stupid part on me because it was pouring rain the entire time. It was awesome we just got soaking wet which sucked. I literally was soaked for the rest of the day. We start off on the safari looking for the big 5. The big 5 animals are rhinos, elephants, leopards, lions, and buffalo. They are called the big 5 because they were the most dangerous animals to hunt. On the safari we saw a hippo. Hippos don’t come out of the water until nighttime but we saw the body in the water, which was still cool. They run about 40 km/h. so if one is chasing after you I suggest going up hill because they can’t run uphill. We saw a lot of animals related to gazelles. They are all beautiful animals and were getting extinct. The populations are going up now which is good. They were going extinct because they had beautiful fur that people wanted. We saw a giraffe from afar but it kind of sucked because we couldn’t drive to it because of the rain. We saw crocs and lions along with buffalo. We saw lots of zebras; there were lots of baby ones that were adorable.

            We go to lunch at monkeyland after the safari. We were all cold and soaking wet but it was fun. We had lunch saw lots of cute monkeys it was great. After lunch we went to the elephant sanctuary. There we learned a lot about the elephants. The elephants are from a few different places. They are brought to the sanctuary because they are not safe where they were previously staying. I walked a elephant that was the lead female and she was really cute. They have the prettiest eyes. We also got to ride an elephant. They are huge and really hard to get onto. I really enjoyed riding one. I seriously wish I could take one home. It was so cute.

            After we went to zip lining. It was absolutely amazing! We were zip lining on a mountain over waterfalls and trees. I felt like a monkey. The scenery was just absolutely beautiful. We zip lined 9 courses and hiked a little. the longest zip line was 265 meters (I think it was that measurement….). it was so much fun I would totally do it again. After zip ling we went to the hostel and just hung out all night. It was a blast.

            The next day was really long. It was basically at 7 hour drive back to the house. We stopped at the cango caves which were awesome. These caves are stalagmite and stalactite caves. They were awesome. The had so many caves. They used to have concerts in the caves but people started to break off the limestone so they had to stop the concerts. It is sad because it would have been awesome to see a concert in a the caves. They were so beautiful.  That’s the end of the weekend now. I will be posting a new one tomorrow probably about my week this week. I had a good week.

Peace out girl scout

(I forgot to post one last week so here’s one for last week. Peace out home skilliet)

a long but great week

 colored houses

original slave lodge 

This post is going to be an over view of the past week. The weekend isn’t included yet because it will be really long then.

I am loving my placement more and more everyday. My class has its troubles but what class doesn’t. They are kindergarteners. We are starting to learn more about them. We don’t know exactly what is wrong yet but we know what helps them and what is good for them so that is a start. One of my favorites who can’t walk at all wanted to walk the other day. So I walked around with him for a hour. It was a huge work our because I literally had to hold him up so he didn’t fall.

            We had a speaker come in from this organization called Scalabrini. Scalabrini is a organization that helps refugees in south Africa get benefits that they are rightfully entitled to. It was started in the early 1990’s, so it’s been around for about ten years. Some facts about refugees:

            Refugees: seeking safety from their country. Have left for many reasons like politics, religion, and race.

            Asylum seekers: they want refugee status. They can work and study, but don’t have the refugee status yet.

            Undocumented refugee: the government doesn’t know about them.

South Africa is the second largest refugee country in the world right behind Iran. In South Africa there is a lot of xenophobia. They don’t like foreigners because they think they will take all their jobs. It is kind of sad but because of organizations like Scalabrini they are trying to change this.

            I went to a place in Cape Town called the triangle project. The triangle project is for people who are GLBTQ. This organization is a safe place for these people to get support. It is specifically for people who had HIV or AIDS.  There is free testing once a week for people. They put on the pride parade every year and this year it Is while I am still here so I am going to volunteer during it. It is a huge event and a lot of people come and participate.

            In Cape Town there is a community called Bokaap. This community is mostly the Muslim quarters in Cape Town. It is mostly Muslim but some other religions live there. This community is very different then others. All of the houses are different colors and the community is very safe. All of the people in the community are very close. Ubuntu- neighborly love. There is a myth that everyone shared paint and that is how they got colored houses. They all look out for each other so that is why they are so close and trustworthy.

            In Cape Town there was a slave lodge. Since then it has been changed into a museum. It is the oldest surviving slave building in South Africa. The slave lodge. It was built in 1679, this is where the Dutch east India company slaves were confined. These slaves labored on public works and company outposts. In 1998 the building was renamed the slave lodge. ‘Remembering slavery’ is a project that tells of the long history of slavery in South Africa and raises awareness of human rights. The flag of South Africa had a huge history. It stands for several things. The colors of the flag are different because of the different people. They are interpreted freely. The unique central design of the flag, which begins as a V at the flagpole and comes together in the center for the flag, extending further, as a single horizontal band to the outer edge of the flay, can ben seen as symbolic of the different groups of people in South African society, coming together, and taking the road ahead together.

cape town pennisula (Its also pengiun mating season)

 Cape Point and Point where the two oceans meet

 PENGUINS

So we start off the day going to see seals. We didn’t know it wasn’t included but I wasn’t going to miss out seeing those cute little things. It was in Hout bay. This was the beginning of our adventure across the cape peninsula. It was a really long day but sooo much fun! Ok so back to the seals. We took a boat to an island where the seals were and saw them swimming. There were literally hundreds.

O random thought. So it was my group on the tour and then 5 random Brazilians. Lets just say that those 5 were ruder and more obnoxious then all 12 Americans of us put together. They would scream across the bus. Like just sit next to each other if you want to talk. So annoying but anyways back to the tour.

Next on the tour was boulders beach. This is the exciting part. It was drum roll please….. THE PENGIUN BEACH!!! These little guys were so cute! They are little African penguins and I wanted to take one home. But don’t worry I didn’t because it is illegal. Someone tried and they got arrested. It was also mating season for penguins so we saw a lot of them going at it…really funny. But there were some swimming and just chilling. I thought they were the cutest things ever.

            Fun facts about African penguins:

1)   They are listed as an endangered species

2)    Because of their donkey-like braying call they were previously named the Jackass Penguin

3)   They have serious beaks that can bite or fight

After boulders beach we went to Buffles Bay. This was the start of us going on top of Table Mountain. Like I went to the top of a mountain. It was freaking awesome!!! We ate lunch at Buffles Bay. We saw a baboon and an ostrich. Baboons will go into peoples houses and steal food. They are really smart but dangerous. They take peoples bags and search for food and when they don’t find any they put all the stuff back in the bag. Kind of awesome. They are so smart. Our tour guide kept on saying watch out for the baboons!

We then had a choice of biking to the Cape of Good Hope or taking the bus. I decided to bike…worst idea but great idea. I for sure felt accomplished but the winds were about 40 mph…lets just say it was a toughy. It was mostly up hill biking. It felt like it was forever. We did it in 25 mins apparently but it was so hard. It was beautiful senery but that wind was making us move from side to side and we were going against it the entire time. The whole time I was thinking what if I see a snake what am I going to do. Then I realized I would scream and cry and bike faster. O I might say that before biking I saw a poster of how many snake species there were in South Africa. I might have freaked out a little and then was scared. Our tour guide also said we would see one. I was quite scared! So I finally made it to cape of good hope and it was the most south western point of Africa. It is also beautiful. Then we went to the most southern tip of Africa. It is cape point it is where the two oceans the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet. It is beautiful. While we see this amazing view might I add we are ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN. A FRICKIN MOUNTAIN!!! It was beautiful.

That’s all of today now.

Peace out boy scout

first time at school

So it’s that time of the week where I need to blog.

This week was the first week of our placements. Mine is in Eros school which is a school for kids with disabilities. I had no clue how sever they were or anything. Lets just say the first day was a shock. We get to school and they have an assembly and I have never seen so many well behaved kids in a assembly. No one talked in the assembly or moved. They all said their prayers which I thought was awkward for me because I was just standing there not knowing what was going on or the prayers.

We went to the founders stage which is k-3^rd grade here. I am in grade R which is kindergarten. I have the greatest kids but it is for sure a challenge. Our teacher is new and wasn’t sure what to do so it was really good that Mara and I were in the class to help. The kids have a lot of energy so they have to go outside for a hour everyday. In the morning we let them color, do puzzles, play with blocks. For a lot of them it is really good to color because they need the fine motor skills. These kids have various disabilities. A lot have cerebral palsy but with other disabilities with it. One of can’t talk and is in a chair and has so many issues but is the smartest boy ever. He is one of my favorites. Yes I have favorites. Another boy has adhd and I think affection disorder because he is always wanting attention and the things he does he needs the attention. We are starting to get the class in order. In the moring is play time in the class then outside and then after outside is circle time and we talk about our day and how we are. They learned the days of the week this week which was good and I want to teach them the ABC’s this week. The theme for the class this upcoming week is my school and my classroom. we will be learning about the classroom and things at school. It is really interesting about the placement is that there is a hostile and some kids live there and others go there during the day to get food if their family can’t afford to bring food.

Today I went to an art fair and it was soo cool. I love the art from Africa. I bought some things and it’s the beginning of every month so I will be going again. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of cape peninsula and cape point so I am super excited. I am getting my tan on which I am happy about. I don’t look as out of place here by being so white just mostly now; chaoco tan is coming in nice.

That’s all for now

Peace out

 table mountain

 This photo is of houses in cape town. They are on a dump and its a black neighborhood

memorial where a girl got shot because of apartheid

Still trying to get over this jetlegged

Today we had orientation about our placements. For my placement these are special needs kids who are in public school. What is interesting is that it is a government runned school, but can only hold a certain amount of kids so there is a waiting list. Tons of other international people come to volunteer there. The classrooms are small and I will most likely have 20 kids. I have to learn Afrikaans for the school because the younger children don’t know English yet.

After orientation we had a orientation about their culture, religion, and traditions. South Africa take the best of various worlds to try to make up their country. Rituals and traditions are very important to society. Spiritual and tribal beliefs are in everyday life. A trance/dance is used to help people connect with their ancestors. Ancestry is a huge deal in Africa. They believe in ancestors like we believe in God.

            FUN FACT

                        They eat worms

Initiation and traditions

            Boy get initiatied into the culture between ages 15-25

            It is important social device dealing with adolescence

            It is the shift from childhood to adult

            They go to the mountains to get initiated over a 21 period day!

These people are sooo cool!

So then we had a great lunch because it was jonathons birthday and we celebrated it. Then I went on a township tour and saw povershed housed and went to the market. People let their kids run around everywhere. It is pretty cool. These people are also beautiful. We went to district 6 and many other memorials of things that happened during apartheid. We then went to a preschool and all the little kids sang us songs and then we played with them. I had 4 kids climbing on me like I was a jungle gym. They were so happy and had so much fun. We danced and played. They were so cute. We took pictures of them and they were so excited to see themselves because many of them have never seen a picture of themselves. (sorry but I can’t post pictures of people up. But I can show you them when I get home). They were memorized by my watch.

On the drive back to the home base was really pretty and interesting. I noticed so many coca cola signs everywhere.  As building signs or on houses. There are houses that are made out of tin. They sloutter animals and cook them right on the street. Its so gross but good for them for doing that.

There is a huge difference in communites from colored, blacks, and whites. The colored are people who are mixed. Blacks are the “less” of the three and then colored and whites are  the “supreme” all of the towns you can clearly see the differences. It is so sad and makes me want to change it but I know I can’t save the world.

NO WORRIES GUYS MY CHACO TAN IS COMING IN VERY NICELY AFTER ONLY ONE DAY OF WEARING THEM!!!. I am going ot the beach this week to work on my tan. The sun is so bright here. It was really windy today but no worries everyone be jealous it was 80 degrees. CHACHING!!!

I am going to try and post everyday but if I can’t no worries guys I will do it as much as possible. I can’t upload pictures on facebook because I have to pay for internet and its expensive to upload them. I am waiting to go to an internet free café

Peace out A town