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