Masigcine Children's Home

Yesterday we went to see another potential service site. It is basically an orphanage but they don't call them that anymore. Instead it is called a "children's home". The kids were so excited when we got there and immediately started climbing all over us. There are 28 in the home and their ages range from 0-6. If they cannot find a home for them at age 6, they are still able to stay until they do find a home. The children are brought to this home because of court order usually and removed from the home for different reasons such as abuse and neglect. The home was very well run but it was still sad to know these children don't have a permanent living situation and a stable family. It was especially hard for me to see the children with special needs and the director said they are harder to find homes for because it entails a lot more support. I don't think I will work there for my primary service project but I could definitely see myself going back to visit the kids.

Bo Kaap

A Muslim community in Cape Town

TB Hospital

Today a few of us went to visit the TB hospital. This is different from the TB clinic we went to before because it is all inpatient. When we first walked in we came to the infant ward. Some of the babies are not able to stand or even sit up because of their TB. Many of them are covered with bandages and oxygen tubes. This was pretty heart wrenching. We got a tour of the hospital by the Occupational Therapist. Patients range from a few months to 18 years old. There are about 60 patients. The hospital has a school for the older kids and a preschool for the younger ones. We will be working with the infants and young children because they are less contagious so it will be safer. The hospital has an OT, as well as PTs, and Speech therapists because TB affects EVERYTHING. The kids constantly need to be stimulated. Most of the patients are also infected with HIV/AIDS. The OT we spoke with was amazing and was open to hear our ideas about programs we could implement after hearing more about the needs of the hospital. I was really impressed about how efficiently the hospital was run and the programs for these kids. As of now, this is defintely where I would like to do my service.

Devil's Peak

Yesterday Claire, David, Noah and I went on an amazing hike/climb on Devil's peak. Devil's peak is to the side of Table Mountain and pretty much right in our backyard. It was perfect weather for a hike, sunny but cool. We soon lost the path and just started climbing up the rocks. We discovered a waterfall at one point and the scenery overlooking the city when we got up higher on the mountain was absolutely amazing. We did not quite get to the top because we had to get home for class but I definitely want to go up there again!

South African Hospital

I had my first and hopefully last experience in a South African hospital last night. I suddenly got really sick around dinner time and continually was getting sick until about 11:30 when they decided I should go to the hospital. I was accompanied in the waiting room by a very drunk guy around my age who had cut his head open after jumping out of a taxi (or his friends pushed him?), we couldn't really get a straight story. On the other side of me was a man who had cut his hand by accident with a knife at work, and there I was throwing up every ten minutes. The doctor examined me for a bit and decided he would give me "the injection". Ordinarily I would have asked what it was but all I knew was a boy in our group got "the injection" a couple days ago and he felt completely healed afterwards. Sure enough, after I got that shot in my butt, I began to feel better immediately. WAY TO GO AFRICAN HEALTH CARE!It was supposed to cost me 400 Rand (about $54 US Dollars) but the credit card machine was not working so I just gave her 100 Rand which was what was in my wallet and she was fine with that amount. Needless to say I am better now. Classes started today. I had Poverty and Development this morning, which I think will be a very interesting class, and I have my first Afrikaans Language class tonight. We are revisiting service sites this week and I will choose one by the end of this week!

Desmond Tutu

Today eight of us woke up early to go to St. George's Cathedral to see Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak. Tutu was the first black South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. He also campaigns to fight against AIDS, TB, homophobia, poverty, and racism. Tutu announced his retirement just yesterday. We did not know what to expect and if he was even going to be there. We got to the church a little bit late and filed in just as Tutu was about to start, making our usual foreigner scene. He asked us to introduce ourselves and proceeded to have everyone introduce themselves as well. The crowd was under 50 people, making this even more personable. He was so much more interested in hearing about the people in the crowd than talking about himself, a truly admirable man. It was a shortened service but we all did get communion from Tutu, which was exciting! After the service, he asked if we wanted a picture with him, clearly noticing our hesitance to ask for one. We also met a man who ran a HIV/AIDS clinic in one of the townships. He came over from the US 25 years ago with his wife and six kids to run this clinic. He recently lost his leg and must go to the US for treatments but he wants us to come by his clinic before he leaves to talk with him. Despite the fact I am on three hours of sleep, this has been an amazing morning! When Tutu turns 79 years old in October, he is no longer going to appear for public speeches, so we saw one of his last!

Langa Township

TB Clinic

Today we went to look at another site that we can choose to do our service. I have been looking forward to coming to this site since the trip started. This was a TB day clinic in one of the township areas. They also treated many patients with HIV/AIDS because one usually co-exists with the other due to a weak immune system. There was ONE doctor who worked at the clinic for 1,000 patients. There are many sections of the clinic such as pediatrics, pregnant women, TB patients, and HIV positive patients. There is also a nurse who runs a youth clinic where she gives pregnancy tests and sexually tramsmitted disease tests to groups of teenage girls who come in, most whose parents do not even know they are there. Most people if not all people in the townships can not afford a family doctor so they go to get treated at these public clinics. All medication is free at these clinics. However, there are still many obstacles. First of all, the waiting room was packed. We got there at about 2:30pm and mothers had been waiting with their sick babies since 7am to get in to see the nurse. After the tour of the clinic, I started thinking of projects I could potentially start there if I do in fact choose this for my service. One major problem that stuck out to me was the access to medication. Once the doctor prescribes the medication, a social worker must go to the home and make sure the patient does not drink at home and has food to take their medication with. So, even if you have access to the medication, you may be denied it if you do not have enough food to take it with. There is such a shortage of staff, they do not have the time or the resources to deal with problems such as this. Another problem is just lack of education. They have access to many types of birth control but people are not proactive about it. Girls are being tested for pregnancy and STDs AFTER the fact. Education about medication is also crucial. Many people stop taking medication if they begin to feel better, stop taking it because of side effects, or refuse because of cultural beliefs. I think if I end up working here, thinking outside the box and proposing your own ideas is going to be the key. Counseling was another aspect of the clinic. If a patient's test results are HIV positive, they get three counseling sessions. I think they have the right idea going in this direction but THREE sessions is not nearly enough to cope with the fact you have been diagnosed with a terminating disease. It was very overwhelming and sad but at the same time inspiring to think of endless areas that we could help.

Mandela Day

Today is Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday!! We went to the "Ubuntu Fesitval" downtown. "Ubuntu" means respect in South Africa. It is a very common phrase used here. At the festival there was live music and vendors. We then went a couple streets down to the "green market". There were tons of vendors selling everything from jewelry to art to clothing. Every time you expressed interest in what they were selling you would hear "lady, I will give you good price!" or "I have nice things and will give you discount". You had to bargain with these people and I am sure we got ripped off 9 out of 10 times anyway. It was fun though. For lunch I had a chicken pie which is similar to a chicken pot pie in the US but much better here! Meat pies are very popular here. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANDELA!

Service Learning group

Group photo of the service learning kids on a brick wall at the Castle of Good Hope.

Table Mountain

One end of Table Mountain which does not do the justice of its beauty!

Background

Cape Town is an absolutely gorgeous city in the Western Cape of South Africa. Not only do you get the city feel but you also have the beautiful scenary of Table Mountain almost anywhere you go in the city. It is winter here now and VERY cold. Some days are warm (60s) but most are rainy and cold during this month. Locals have told us this is the coldest winter they have had in a long time. The World Cup just ended here. Hosting the World Cup ran deeper in this country than just having a bunch of soccer matches on their fields. Hosting the World Cup proved to South Africans, the South African governement, and the rest of the world that their government CAN be successful if someone is holding them accountable. It was said to be a fail having the World Cup here and that it would be infested with crime and rioting. However, it was a huge success and spirits are high here because they did it even when people did not believe they could. Since so many people came from around the world, stereotypes are now challenged because there is so much greatness about this country that people do not speak about.

Apartheid just ended in 1994, which is extremely recent. It is still so fresh in people's minds and a hot topic to speak about today. South Africa is broken down into 4 ethnic groups: Black African, Coloured, White, and Indian/Asian. The majority of Cape Town is Black African. There is so much diversity and a very interesting dynamic between races because of Apartheid.

Today, we went to look at a few of the sites that we can do service at. For this, we had to drive into the townships, or the "ghettos", on the outskirts of the city. It is shocking being in these areas. Shacks are made out of anything that the family had available whether it be wood or metal. The houses are crammed together so tightly and there are one million people living in the area we drove through. The first school we went to visit we spoke with the principal who was an amazing, enthusiastic woman. They were in the middle of gathering information about one of their students. She is a ninth grader and is being held hostage by a 50 year old man. The man is doing whatever he wants to her right now. They are trying to locate where she is to get her out of the situation. The shocking thing is how casually the principal was explaining this to us. At that point we knew this happened too often.

The next school we went to was Manenberg Primary School. The teachers were having a staff meeting so we sat in on that. There are 600+ students at the school and each classroom has 40 or 50 students in it. One year a class had 75 students to one teacher. They do not have enough textbooks for each child, nor enough desks. They have computers and one computer program but no headphones so they cannot use the program. When we left everyone was extremely overwhelmed. Where do you start? There is too much to be done. I don't know how these teachers stay so optimistic.

Tonight we are going to an African restaurant to eat and dance!

Arrival in Cape Town

I am in the service learning program here in Cape Town. To be honest I did not really know what this entailed before I got here but I could not be happier I chose this program! We are a group of 11 students from colleges all over the country including Vanderbilt, University of Richmond, Whitman College, Northeastern, Trinity College, University of Maine, Samford in Birmingham, and California Lutheran. It is a great group of kids and we all get along really well. The other program here is just called Arts and Sciences and this has about 130 students in it. We are very independent from their program and do not see much of them. The service learners will be taking three classes that actually meet. Then we will be doing service at the site of our choice which has not been decided yet. In addition to doing service, our ongoing project for the semester is to implement a program at the organization we are serving once we see the needs of the community. I am so excited to get started on this aspect!