Ok – I am really trying to keep up, but it is so difficult. I try to take time during the day to list out what I am doing and thinking, so that I will remember what I want to put in my blog post later. Day 6 was a little brutal…we had 3 lectures scheduled on exciting topics, but none of the professors talked on topic! They kind of decided to “go their own way” and it seemed a little disorganized. We were all very excited about the evening wine and cheese tasting that we had planned. We all brought a bottle of wine, and some snacks and then met up at the beach to watch the sun set. The beach is rocky, so we were up above it in a grassy park area. There were people running and walking by and a group of young boys playing soccer near by. We stayed until well after dark! We went to an internet café/restaurant/bar afterwards and sat outside in this Moroccan-style seating area. We ended up chatting up a bunch of people, 2 of which owned the place. We got some Afrikaans lessons and had a blast asking questions and exchanging stories. It was a fun night.
I am still having a difficult time sleeping. You ALL know that I am NOT a morning person, but apparently my body has decided that I only need 5 to 6 hours of sleep in South Africa. Currently, I am incapable of sleeping in! It is horrid! Today (day 7) we went to the hospital where the first ever heart transplant was preformed. My science oriented friends may have liked it, but it definitely was NOT my bag!
The lecture in the afternoon discussed the difficulty of education in a nation that has 11 official languages. Parents feel that learning English is the only way for their children to succeed, but not speaking it themselves, and teachers not having a good idea of it, means that students have an inability to truly understand and think at higher levels in school. There seems to be this reoccurring issue: how do we honor our culture and background, but also succeed in a country that is so western AND “African? “
New favorite candy discovered at lunch: Astros! YUM!
DAY 8:
Today’s focus was on religion in South Africa. It is amazing that religion has played such a prominent role in Apartheid, but also in the ending of Apartheid. A strong majority of the population here is Christian, but there are also indigenous beliefs, as well as followers of both the Muslims, and Jewish faith.
We went to the Muslim neighborhood – Bo-Kapp.
We got a chance to look through a museum, but it was pretty small. We spent most of the time wandering through the brightly colored neighborhood. Then, out of the blue we heard the singing of Arabic. We all froze, looking around to see where it was coming from. It was the call to prayer, and it was amazing to hear. It is another validation of the diversity of Cape Town. There is an image of Africa – of black people, and maybe when thinking of South Africa, people think there is only black or white. Really, it is an incredible diverse place. On our way back to the bus we found a little shop called Monkey Madness. It is a place where people who have HIV/AIDS can work and interact. They produce beautiful beaded animals, dolls, wall hangings and magnets. There was even Barack Obama – made of beads! Lol… Afterwards we went to St. George’s cathedral, Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s church. For dinner Kim’s brother Simon took me, Tadashi, Kim, Chris, and Tracy to Rick’s American Café off of Long St. Rick’s is totally modeled around Casablanca. A great day…
Day 9: MAAK IT ANN! (Make it happen)
Today, we had some lectures, and my group did our presentation! It went well! More interesting is that we went to see two documentaries at Cape Town’s film festival. One of them followed the rising artist Jitsvinger as he talked about his views and message. Raised in the Cape Flats townships he raps in Afrikaans and Xhosa. There were some many touching moments and insights, but one highlight was his discussion of how people avoid talking about the severe poverty problem. “It’s a blood clot mentality.” The film follows him to shows in Europe and he wonders what his friends from the flats would do if they moved into the western world… “Would they miss the poverty? The hunger? The crime? Not being able to get home to be with their wife or hold their baby?” He has this amazing balance of honoring his “roots,” while working to change the future. In Afrikaans he sings “MAAK IT ANN” (Make it happen). It was very thought provoking and really spoke to this lingering question: What is African? What does that mean? People talk about being African, or being a proud African, but Africa is so diverse. This question is something I am going to continue to ponder…
The second documentary followed South Africa’s #1 rap artist HHP (double H. P) on a new series where South Africans do genealogy to discover their own diverse pasts. It went right along with this theme of Identity, but the best part was the Q & A with HHP after the film. All of these excited teenagers were there taking pictures and asking questions. I got really excited when a girl asked if by looking at “roots” and the past, are South Africans prevented from moving forward. I was practically bouncing in my seat, because it was such a great question. I feel that this factors into the identity issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment