Classes and Volunteering, Jazz and Soccer, and Seaview Lion Park

Well it's been about week since the last post, and a lot has happened in between.

          Monday was the first day of both volunteering and school for us. Unfortunately there has been a bug running around Langerry. Much of the group, including me, were pretty sick with some form of the cold. Since I chose to volunteer in the Missionvale Township, I wasn't able to volunteer on Monday. It was very disappointing. Since 3 out of every 5 residents of Missionvale are affected by HIV or AIDS, we weren't able to volunteer because of the likelihood of spreading what we had into the township, which could be lethal for over 60% of it's citizens. In my flat alone, Dummer, Norby and myself were sick and couldn't go. The whole situation helped me to again realize where I was in the world, and that the third world problems I learned about on TV as a kid are very real and everywhere here in South Africa. After a little bit of thought and talking with Dummer and Norby, I realized that if we had gone to volunteer, it would have been only for us, and would have defeated the purpose of helping those in Missionvale. I felt better about staying back and catching up on sleep. On Tuesday I was lucky and able to go and volunteer. I worked in the Care Center garden transforming raw land into arable plots. It was rewarding to know that what I was doing was sustainable and had long-term benefits for the community. We planted squash in the newly transformed land.

          I am registered for five different classes at NMMU. I will be taking an Ethics/Intercultural/Senior Seminar class with my professor from Saint John's, South African Literature, South African Music, Marine Biology and a once-a-month service learning class where we talk, reflect and journal about what we have done during our time volunteering. I have one class a day (with volunteering Mondays and Wednesdays in the morning) and each class runs for about three hours, it's a unusual change of pace from the usual class day I may have at SJU. Right now it's hard to pick a favorite class, since they all offer unique and different perspectives on South Africa. I can already tell that they are all grounded in the rich culture, history, and politics of South Africa and I will be learning much more than just what the class syllabus says I should learn. I'm especially excited for our lab practicals and field trips for Marine Biology. Several trips are to the beaches in the area, and there is one where we venture out on a boat into the Indian Ocean. It will be far different than any other science course I have ever taken so far, and I'm excited to learn about large scale marine ecosystems, marine life, and oceanography.

Trying to pet the penguins at Bayworld.

          On the Sunday before school started, several of us went to Bayworld which is a museum/aquarium just down a few blocks from where we live. We saw penguins, seals, and all kinds of fish and snakes. I actually got bit by one of the South African penguins while attempting to pet him when his back was towards me, that was pretty funny. I probably deserved it. There was also a museum with an evolutionary history of life in South Africa and it's oceans. One of the coolest things was the Southern Right Whale skeleton which was over 50 feet long which was suspended from the ceiling. I love aquariums, and when on vacation as a kid, I always asked my parents if we could see the nearest aquarium. My dad can attest to that. What made this museum and aquarium cool is the fact that the Indian Ocean was right across the street and it had many fish and animals native to the area and South Africa.

Local artist showing his art in the township.

               During our previous week of touring service sites and Port Elizabeth, we visited a local township and met an artist right in the heart of it. Out of his very humble and run down home, he was producing incredible art. His art has been displayed alongside those on the same magnitude of Van Gogh. He is a sculptor, and his art was very impressive. The visit to his home really made me think about all of the other talent and potential that is spread throughout these townships. To put it into more of a perspective, it helps to know that the population of Port Elizabeth is roughly 1 million people, and 800,000 of those 1 million people live in townships just like his. Of the roughly 50 million citizens of South Africa, only 5 million pay taxes. How is anything supposed to get done for people in South Africa if there just simply isn't enough to go around? I wondered about all the kids who aspire to become or have the potential to become athletes, engineers, artists, politicians, doctors or businessmen/women, but may never have the opportunity to do so since poverty here is such a deep, cyclic and social rut. For someone to make their way out is an amazing feat. I realized I need to take advantage of everything I have, especially my education. Education, I have realized especially in my first few weeks here in South Africa, is the key to opening many doors in life.

One of the mamas.

          On Tuesday (Valentines Day) we headed into another local township to see a Valentines Days jazz festival. The most unique thing about this experience was where it was hosted, and who was hosting it. Married women who are elders in the township are called 'mamas.' The building that hosted this jazz festival has been built upon a plot where a local tavern used to stand. We spoke to the mamas about the history of the location, and in broken English (since they primarily speak Xhosa, a native 'click' language spoken by many black South Africans), one told us about how the building used to poison and corrupt the men of their town. In rebellion they set fire to the building and destroyed it. The mamas involved were beaten by the Apartheid Police and security forces prior to being hauled away in a military grade armored vehicle called a "casspir" to be taken to jail. One of the mamas (pictured above) still has difficulty walking to this day, but had enough physical and emotional strength to stand up in front of us to tell us her story.


On Wednesday about half of our group went to a soccer game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. This stadium was the home of the 2010 World Cup, and its architecture was breathtaking:

About twelve of us went along with Gary Prevost, a political science professor from SJU who is down here in PE for a few months, and our study abroad director. The game was between the Kaizer Chiefs and the Jomo Cosmos. The game resulted in a tie, but was still pretty exciting.

We all took an unscheduled group excursion to Seaview Lion Park about 30-40 minutes out of town to see lions. We ended up seeing more than expected, including giraffes, wildebeest, meerkats, and Siberian tigers. Almost everyone opted to pay the extra fee to interact with their choice of lion and Siberian tiger cubs.

Siberian Tiger cub. There are only 1,000 total left in the entire
world, both in captivity and in the wild.

A white lion.

A giraffe we saw on the drive into the lion park.

A photo of Shakira and Zolani performing together.

           On Saturday, a small group of us took a taxi over to a local music festival. We heard some great live music from a symphony orchestra. They played some great tunes like Queen, Jungle Book, and several other notable songs. We were lucky to hear Zolana Maholah, the lead singer of Freshlyground, the band that worked in junction with Shakira to produce and perform "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)." She was an amazing artist with incredible talent. She sang as the symphony orchestra played some of her most famous songs. Saturday was also filled with the shenanigans involved with celebrating Sydney's birthday, after we all caught up on homework of course. On Sunday, most of us went to the beach for at least a portion of the day, and later that night while the ladies went out to dinner for Sydney, the guys went to listen to some jazz at a local cafe over a few beers. It was a great way to end the weekend.

Until next post,

Isaak

NMMU Orientation and Service Sites

This last week has been incredible, in many different ways...it has been full of many ups and downs. I've been completely exhausted one day and completely relaxed the next. I'm trying to keep things short, but I already know it's going to be a long post. I'll try to throw in a few pictures.

NMMU South Campus

      On Monday, we had our international student orientation at NMMU, which was alright, except for all of the logistical stuff we had to go through. Campus is about 3 kilometers (~2 miles) from Langerry. The logistical stuff included our housing information, security, where we shouldn't go in town, and information about the hospitals and police. When they spoke about the police I realized I did notice some different things when walking around PE, such as fences and walls around all personal property, barbed wire (or razor or electrical) fencing on those walls, and the large number of private security companies contracted by homeowners and especially businesses.They assured us that the police are indeed reliable.

          The hosptials and EMS (the state funded ones), however,  seemed less reliable. The state-run ambulance service arrival time may be up to two hours and in the hospital, if you aren't turned away, you most likely won't even see a medical doctor. South Africa suffers from 'brain drain,' which is the movement of the most educated or skilled people out of the country, since they can afford to do so. Because of this, there is a shortage of physicians (especially rurally). NMMU gave us the number for the private ambulance service and private hospitals which provide much greater pre-hospital care (2-4 minute response time) and even greater hospital care for patients.  Margaret, Dummer and I are interested in this health system and are now in the process of setting up physician shadowing at the private hospital, and when we feel comfortable later on, we'll try the state hospitals. We're hoping things will work out. I've also gotten a few responses about ride-along opportunities as an EMT with the local ambulance services in PE, which is very exciting.

       The NMMU Campus is awesome. Around you are palm trees, tropical plants, and umbrella trees that resemble miniature versions of the "Tree of Life" in The Lion King. If you have seen it, you can imagine exactly what I'm talking about. Before I had left for South Africa, I had been told many times that monkeys run around campus in an analogous manner to squirrels in Minnesota, except the monkeys are much more likely to steal food from your hands.

Vervet Monkey

           In a lecture given by our tour guide at our health center stop on campus,  one of her main topics was "what to do if you get bitten by a monkey." I never would have thought I would  hear that speech, so that was pretty funny. We did end up seeing five Vervet monkeys, running around the trees and digging in the trash for food. They are eerily human-like in the way they use their hands, play, and interact.

         I can't speak for the rest of South Africa's universities, but I can say for sure that the students at NMMU are very well dressed in comparison to the average dress at CSB or SJU. Not that it is very surprising, but I just never considered what students in Africa dress like I guess. Sports are huge on campus and when you look at the map of campus, you'll see sports facilities for soccer, cricket, and rugby. The rugby stadium is awesome, but I've heard the team isn't that great. We're still looking forward to grabbing a beer with the rest of the students at the next game. In fact, after the game on Monday we say all of the rugby groupies at Barney's, a local bar. They were all built like rugby players, but we're not convinced it was the team.

       One of the major reasons I chose to go to South Africa was because of the service learning component attached to the program. CSB-SJU has been sending students to NMMU and volunteering at the same service sites for over ten years now (with the exception of one service site). We have spent the last few days touring these sites and Port Elizabeth. There are three service sites:

Pendla Primary School

Pendla Primary courtyard.

          Pendla has just enough educators for grades R-7 (R is their form of Kindergarten) with anywhere from 20-30 learners per classroom. The classes are somewhat run down and old, but still functional. (Most of the school was built in 1941.) We were given a tour with the principal and several of the educators and we had a small meeting where we had a chance to ask questions about the role we would play as volunteers there. Many of the people on the trip are excited to help tutor in math and English and play cricket and other games with the kids throughout the day. The most exciting part of the tour was seeing the library there. On the library was a plaque:

The plaque that was presented at the completion of Umanyano Library.

If you can't read it, it says:

This library was made possible 

with the generous assistance 

and donations received from the

staff and students of the

College of St. Benedict 

and the

St. John's University,

Minnesota, U.S.A. 

Officially opened on

10 May 1999

        It was pretty incredible to see how long of a relationship our school has had with Pendla, Port Elizabeth, and the people of South Africa. I found myself wondering how this contribution changed the lives of the kids who have passed through over the last 10 years and how many more it will in the years to come.

House of Resurrection

Garden of Remembrance

        House is a location for orphans living with or affected by HIV/AIDS in any way shape or form. House has about =50 some residents ranging from birth to age 12, all housed in several buildings. It was opened as an HIV/AIDS haven in the mid-1990's and has continued to do amazing things for the children who have the disease or have lost their parents to it. The children there are very happy, and House has begun a project to house kids of varying age and genders together in a home with a guardian to simulate a family. It is still a work in progress to get the rest of the kids housed in buildings like these.
        Just outside the main building and courtyard is the Garden of Remembrance. For the orphans who have died at the House of Resurrection, their ashes were spread in this garden. It is beautiful and well maintained and does well for preserving the memory of the children who have passed away.





Missionvale Care Center

Warehouse at the Missionvale Care Center

Inside the  Missionvale Township

        Missionvale is a township in the very poor colored area of Port Elizabeth.  It is also the site I have found the most interest in, because of the opportunity to volunteer in the Care Center's clinic pharmacy and work with the Caregivers, the people who provide basic medical care out in the township. The woman who started the Missionvale Care Center has been there for over 25 years now. She has won numerous awards and has been visited by both Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and several other big names.
          To describe what Missionvale looks like in words would never do it justice. Many of us, including me, had a lot of trouble taking in what I was seeing. I'm not embarrassed to say that it was very difficult to hold back tears, as it was for many of the others. Three out of every five citizens of Missionvale are affected by HIV or AIDS. Right when we arrived we witnessed a food handout with hundreds of people waiting in line.  I have never seen so much poverty in my life. I don't like trying to describe what the township looks like by using a Hollywood film as an example, but Missionvale looks very similar to the slums in the "District 9," which actually is set in Johannesburg, South Africa and is an allegory of the Apartheid government that oppressed the non-whites. The movie makes perfect sense to me now after learning the history of Apartheid. On the more positive side, those of you familiar with Tom's shoes, you would probably like to know that Missionvale was a recent recipient of over 30,000 shoes. The shoes make an incredible difference (the shoes fill the blue labeled boxes in upper picture), and the people are very thankful for it. Besides all of that though, I'm really looking forward to taking on the big projects and trying to do what I can to improve the lives of these people in Missionvale.


        We took a tour of the city prior to touring our Missionvale Service site. We saw many of the old landmarks and learned a lot from our tour guide, Bradley. He was the one who spoke to us Bush Camp about the history of South Africa and other social issues. We took the bus into the townships and when we arrived, the NMMU Missionvale Campus, was immediately across the street. It's brand new, flashy, and very modern. 200 meters away was one of the poorest areas of Port Elizabeth, with shacks made from whatever scrap they could find. I looked to the distance over the roof tops of the shacks, and saw the beach, tall white buildings, and the street we lived on in the very far distance. I started thinking about how polarized everything is in South Africa. The haves, the have-nots. The wealthy, the poor. The whites, the non-whites.  Beach Road (where I live), and township slums 15 minutes away. I could keep going on and on. I can see this becoming very mentally and emotionally draining as we begin our time at our service sites this next week moving between two different worlds. Past students have told me that it really is. There were a few people who actually became edgy and sensitive in response to what others were complaining about later that day, no matter how small.

Missionvale Township in the foreground, Beach Road in Humewood
and west Port Elizabeth in the background.

        It lead to discussion between a few of us about where we draw a line about playing the 'starving or poor people in Africa card,' now that we have actually seen this in person. It is a God-given gift to be healthy and have everything that we do. But should we dwell on what we had just seen and let it penetrate into every facet of our normal day or routine? That would be too overwhelming. We never came up with any definite answers, but we have certainly been thinking about it.



Until next post,
Isaak

Bush Camp, Market and Surfing

This past weekend we went to  "Bush Camp" at Tsitsikama National Park. It was approximately a two hours drive from Port Elizabeth. 

CSB-SJU South Africa 2012

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's Office of Education Abroad hosts Bush Camp, the international student orientation that involved students from America (including some from SCSU), Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Botswana, and Zimbabwe... to mention a few. It was raining and very foggy for the two hour drive to the national park so many of us were not able to see much of the surrounding scenery. One thing we did see was a group of fifteen baboons crossing the highway less than 15 meters in front of us. The way our driver reacted was similar to a Minnesota driver who had seen deer running across the road, pretty casual. Our inability to see around us for the whole drive up made our first view of the mountains, jungle and river where we stayed that much more impressive on Saturday. Early on Saturday morning a few others and myself were able to witness part of the African sunrise which revealed our first glimpse mountains, it was incredible. Friday night we had African drumming lessons and during the day on Saturday we went zip lining through the jungle and down the river where there were large waterfalls, pools, and all kinds of foliage we had never seen before.

A portion of the zipline course.

 

Bush camp was very fun, but we weren't messing around the entire time. We listend to several lectures, and one of them was especially moving. The selected speaker for us has been involved with CSB|SJU students for many years here in South Africa. He was given the task of providing an overview of South Africa's history to us, in two hours. To begin, he spoke about the racial inequality in South Africa. He also touched on how the Chinese, Dutch, German, American, and especially the British have shaped South Africa. Only about half of his lecture was on the history, however. Despite my love for history, it did not disappoint me. He went on to speak about his skin pigment condition and how it has affected his life here in South Africa. Although he is mostly white, there are portions of his skin that have brown pigment and discoloration. Until recently, because of both his mixed Dutch and Native lineage and his skin condition, he has always been categorized as "colored." He then talked about those who used to be difficult to categorize. There used to be three tests (listed in order) to determine the category of these people: the tone of skin, running a pen through the persons hair to see if it gets caught (if it did, they were colored or black), and the width of the person's nose. He never made it past the first test. He was a revolutionist who opposed Apartheid and is now a middle aged man. Currently, he is a student just like us. This would not be too unusual except for the fact that he never was allowed to go to University, only whites were able to under Apartheid. Knowledge is power, some say. I spent some time later that day reflecting on what I had heard and how lucky to be where I am at this time in my life. I certainly realized I was only beginning to scratch at the surface of the social, political, and economic complexity of modern South Africa. I can't wait for classes to begin.

Hiking the mountains in Tsitsikama National Park.

That  afternoon we went hiking up through the woods and up one of the nearby mountains which provided some spectacular views of the surrounding South African countryside.

On the drive back on Sunday we were able to see all of the mountains and scenery around us, including an all encompassing view of Jeffreys Bay, a very beautiful location just outside of PE. Jeffereys Bay is home to some of the world's best surfing, and is also the home of the Billabong clothing factory. On the drive back we were stopped at a police roadblock where every single vehicle had their engine, plates, cargo and passengers checked, for multiple reasons. From what we were told it's pretty common and it is their form of enhanced highway security. The drive back was topped off by a glimpse of several wild zebra and ostriches just off the road a short ways.

View from our balcony with King's beach in the background.

When we got back to Langerry in Port Elizabeth several of us checked out the flea market, bought a few souvenirs for those back home, or fake brand name sunglasses. Pat actually bought a 100 trillion dollar bill from  Zimbabwe. (It was from when Zimbabwe was suffering from hyperinflation.) When the vendor asked if he was interested in purchasing another bill to add to the collection he replied "No way man, I think I'm pretty set with 100 trillion dollars." He just walked away without saying anything else. That was pretty funny. After the market, we made lunch at Langerry and went to the beach where we played with a dead jellyfish, burnt the remaining white skin that hadn't already been burnt this weekend, and attempted surfing with an old surfboard left behind by previous CSB|SJU students. 

Tonight, us guys are planning to screw up our newly adjusted sleep schedule all over again in order to try watching the Superbowl with the rest of Port Elizabeth's football-loving Americans in the local casino. The game starts at 2:00am local time.

I plan on posting every time new and big things are happening over here, and I suppose that in the first few weeks there will be plenty of things to write about. I'm sure it'll slow down as school starts factoring into my time here.

Cheers,

Isaak

Travel, Arrival and First Impressions

I am happy to say I made it to South Africa safely.

The flight to South Africa

The 17 hour flight from D.C. to Johannesburg was long, but bearable since there were about 20 of us on the plane enduring it together. I sat next to a man who was born in South Africa and lived there for 30 years, served in the South African military during Apartheid, and now lives in Denver where he is married with three kids. He is a well traveled and educated man who was very comfortable talking about his home country and why he chose to move to the United States. The main three reasons he had were: he doesn't need to lock up his house at night, his kids can play outside comfortably, and his children don't have to grow up seeing the racial inequality that still persists in the post-Apartheid era. He said that as an American, for the most part, you don't worry about things like that. I readily admitted to it.  I should mention that every single individual in South Africa is categorized into one of four racial categories: Black 79.4%, White 9.2%, Coloured 8.8%, or Indian/Asian 2.6% which he said ultimately effects South African life in many different ways, including job opportunities. He was not shy about sharing the negatives about South Africa and the "anti-americanism" we may encounter during our time here. To my surprise, for example, many South Africans are very bitter about the United States' involvement in Libya due to South Africa's close ties with Colonel Gaddafi. So far, we haven't experienced any bitter South Africans and actually the people have been very welcoming, friendly, and helpful. Towards the end of our conversation he seemed happy to see that we chose to study South Africa because of its cultural and social complexity, and was also very adamant about me "digging deeper" in my classes to understand the underlying reasons about how and why South Africa arrived where it is today. To say the least, he was a wealth of information and gave me a great introduction to what I should expect during my stay. It was my first realization of what I had really gotten myself into and where I was going. I thanked him and we parted ways in Johannesburg while our group continued to PE.

Arrival in Port Elizabeth

We arrived in Port Elizabeth at 9:20pm where we were welcomed by Jim, our program director who is also a professor at St. John's. Besides Bob''s luggage getting left behind in the JoBurg airport,  travel was smooth. He got his luggage this morning.

Last night, Langerry Holiday Flats was full of 24 CSB|SJU students running around carrying luggage and unpacking. The other 6 had already moved in the other day. Some of us went down the block to get some South African Rand from the ATM, while the rest continued to unpack and rest. The air was warm, humid, and refreshing after the long flight. Eventually everyone settled in and fell asleep. Because of the eight hour time difference, everyone's sleep schedule was completely different. People were falling asleep anywhere from 12:00am and 6:00am local time. We were up and active around 7:30 this morning after going to bed around 1:00am.

Today we strolled down Beach Road a few kilometers  to find the grocery, cell phone store, and a bank for currency exchange in the local mall. We walked along the sidewalk that was right along the ocean. Just off the beach no more than 50 meters, was a pod of several hundred dolphins, which is apparently normal.

View of Beach Road from Langerry Flat 11

On the way we asked a few security guards who were very willing to help, but unable to understand what we meant by "stoplight" (called a robot) or "grocery store"(still have no idea what they call it). We figured it out eventually and bought our groceries for the next few days. Immediately after getting groceries, everyone went straight to get beer from the liquor store immediately across the street. We tossed it in the fridge and met the other half of the crew on the beach to swim and play catch with a frisbee. Today has been overcast and slightly rainy but the ocean was still relatively... I say relatively warm as we were the only ones on the entire beach.

Inside Langerry Flat 11

As I'm typing this, there are several flats gathered in ours to talk, drink beer, and play board games left behind by some of the previous groups. Now if any previous SAers are reading this, I think you'd be pleased to know that Captain's is on the agenda tonight. It's karaoke night. Tonight we had a group dinner at "The Mediterranean" where Dummer and I had an enormous seafood platter with squid heads, mussels, kingklip, and prawns.

We had a group meeting tonight and tomorrow we will begin "Bush Camp," a camp-out kind of orientation for international students at NMMU. We'll be taking off for Tsitsikamma National Park and will be there for the weekend. I'll have another post up sometime next week, if anything cool or exciting happens. Otherwise, school starts in a couple weeks. I'll have to post about that.

Cheers,
Isaak