Mozambique

I was walking through my political science building on the University of Cape Town campus one day and picked up a flyer about a trip to Mozambique. Its funny how one piece of paper can completely change you and your experiences. I decided to give it a go with my roommate Gabi and venture out to Mozambique with a diving group from Cape Town for our Spring break. The trip took place September 3rd- 12th and promised to be fun, relaxing, and memorable. I can definitely say that it was all of that and much more!

After arriving at the Johannesburg airport on Friday, September 3rd Gabi and I met with the 15 other group members and piled into a very nice, but small van. We were headed for Kruger National Park, world renowned for its wildlife, but the only catch was that we had to travel throughout the night. Needless to say when we finally arrived at Kruger the next morning, “tired” wouldn’t even begin to describe how we all felt. Our driver and group leader Vanessa was amazing—6 Red Bulls throughout the night kept her going strong.

Our group arrived at Kruger in the wee hours of the morning—perfect viewing time for the wildlife. While in Kruger we saw many elephants, rhino, zebras, bison, giraffes, and birds. I was a little disappointed not to see any lions or leopards, but I plan to go back with my mom in January and spend more time there. After spending a few hours at Kruger, we drove through to the border of Mozambique from the park on the bumpiest roads I’ve ever seen and felt. Our group spent approximately 2 and a half hours getting through the border patrol. We passed the time by staring at one another, counting the number of mosquitoes, and calculating how much we would sleep that night. But finally our passports were all stamped and we were ready to go onto our next destination—a grass hut in the middle of nowhere. Our group drove for another few hours and we found ourselves at a camp site literally in the Middle of Nowhere, Mozambique. The camp site was bare bones, but very welcoming. I was able to see the Southern hemisphere stars so clearly—absolutely stunning. We all grilled out for supper, took our anti-Malaria medications, and went to bed early.

Sunrise in Mozambique happens quite early because the country doesn’t operate in its assigned time zone. I asked some locals why not and they replied, “We just don’t feel like it”. Now that is real “Island Time” :). So the sun woke us all up early the next morning and we were back on the road again for 9 hours to Tofo, Mozambique. On the road we passed through many villages—complete with grass huts, people gathering water in large buckets at watering holes, random farm animals (even a camel or two), and Coca-Cola signs everywhere. America has indeed touched absolutely everything. Also on the journey to Tofo I noticed many Chinese construction crews building roads (proper roads with asphalt). If you haven’t read the latest about the Chinese deals in Africa, check out this site http://www.heritage.org/Research/Lecture/Into-Africa-Chinas-Grab-for-Influence-and-Oil . It’s a little daunting for Africa.

Finally after a long and bumpy journey, we arrived at our vacation site, Bamboozi, in Tofo just in time for sunset (5:45- 6pm). The site of the beach and the Indian Ocean was absolutely gorgeous! I knew this would be a great vacation. Upon arrival, we settled in our hut which was no more than an open air cabin made of bamboo and dried palm leaves. The cabin had a few lights above in the ceiling, mosquito nets for each one of the 13 beds, and a pillow for each bed. Bamboozi shut off the lights every night around 10:30pm to save electricity (we found this out the hard way on the first night). The darkness was a little scary at times because you literally could not see your hand in front of your face until the sun rose the next morning. There were communal bathrooms and showers located a feet from our hut, but the best part of all was that the beach was literally steps away.

The next few days were filled with swimming, diving in the Indian Ocean, touring the Tofo area, horseback riding on the beach, venturing out in the ocean to a remote island to hang with the locals, shopping at the local market, and reading. For me the highlight of the trip was completing my diving certification. Diving is a sport which requires a lot of gear and a lot of patience. For example, to get ready for a dive I had to meet my group at the dive center and get briefed on the day’s dive: where we were going, how deep it was, what to look out for in terms of aquatic life, and how long we would be diving. Next, I had to get all of my gear together: wet suit, bcd (vest), regulator and other gauges, cylinder, flippers, mask and snorkel, and weight belt. Once everything was assembled, then it was time to go through all of the equipment checks (basically to make sure your stuff works before it’s too late and you’re underwater). Then, the boat is loaded and the drivers haul it down to the beach on a trailer. The boat was then pushed out the edge of the ocean and the divers have to work together to flip it around and ready to launch. Pushing the boat into the ocean can sometimes be very tricky. We had several huge waves crash into us that would literally knock you off your feet. Once the boat started in the water, everyone would jump on board and hang on for the bumpy ride (i.e. put your feet in the feet straps and hold on to ropes on the boat so you don’t fall off).

I was able to experience some really cool dives complete with sea turtles, manta rays, coral archways, tropical fish, lion fish, whale sharks, and jellyfish. The only part I didn’t like was completing my skills test for my certification; particularly taking off my mask under 60 feet of water, putting it back on, and clearing it. Before this task, I meditated underwater and prayed that everything would go okay. Thankfully it did and then I was able to enjoy the dives. Now I just have the problem of planning more vacations around places that I can go dive!

Saturday morning, September 11th, our group left Tofo and headed for Maputo, the capitol of Mozambique. It took us another 9 hours in the van to get there, but the scenery was so beautiful and unique around us that it didn’t matter. Arriving in Maputo was an experience—I think it was obvious to see the long lasting devastation from colonialism from the rundown buildings that the Portuguese left behind. The city people are now rioting due to the rising costs of fuel, food, and water. The unemployment rate is 21% and rising. The government is literally on the edge of collapse. We only stayed there for one night, but it was an experience I’ll never forget.

The next morning we woke up at 5:30am and headed to Johannesburg. The journey took us about 6 and half hours—much time to reflect on the whole Mozambique experience. On the way back we crossed the border control and noticed a sign that said “Arrive Alive” as we were headed back into South Africa. I guess that’s good advice to follow! We made it back to the Joburg airport and headed home to Cape Town. I found it strange to suddenly be back in a civilized, Western atmosphere with computers, cell phones, and cars. All of a sudden I could communicate again; which also meant that all of a sudden I would be back at school, studying politics.

This trip was absolutely amazing and I have Rotary to thank for giving me the opportunity study abroad here in South Africa!

Lessons in the Water

Growing up in Charleston, SC I would safely argue that I spent at least 50% of my childhood in the water. We were fortunate enough to live relatively close to the beach and to have a swimming pool in our backyard. I remember my summer schedule as such:

7am- Morning swim
9am- Read
10am- Run errands with dad
11am- lunch
12:30pm- afternoon swim
3pm- Clean up room
5pm- Dinner
6:30pm- Evening swim

Those of you who know my dad will understand that even during the summer vacation time, my brother and I had daily schedules that we were expected to follow. But my point in this is to show how much time we spent in the water. My brother and I took swim lessons, went through several certifications, and learned to be very good swimmers. Later on in life I learned to water ski and subsequently spent even more time in the water.

I think I subconsciously chose Cape Town because it is located on the water. Contrary to what some of my friends think, Cape Town is only located on the Atlantic Ocean, but the water here is much clearer than back home. The two things that are unfortunate about the Cape Town waters are that the water is VERY cold, but more importantly highly inhabited by great white sharks. At first I was just comforted by the notion of being near water, but then my curiosity took hold. I first experienced the cold, shark infested waters when I went surfing (or attempted to surf) with one of my roommates Frederik. We took the train to Muizenberg which is about a 25 minute ride and rented equipment at the beach. The wet suit and surf board rental equaled out to be $8, so it was a good price to try to learn. The minute I entered the water my body went into shock from the temperature. I was actually so focused on trying to control my shivering that I didn’t even think about sharks. Surfing was incredibly hard and I definitely need lessons and a lot of practice. So after experiencing how cold the waters here are I didn’t think I would enter them again for quite some time. But not true…

I was going to class a few weeks ago and passed a flyer on a bulletin board advertising diving. I picked it up and held onto it for a few days. The flyer listed the contact details of a local organization that taught people how to dive and showed multiple pictures of people having fun while diving. So after talking to another roommate of mine, Gabi, we decided to give it a go. The course that they teach at the organization is a PADI certification course. Basically PADI will certify you in diving for life, but a few refresher courses might need to be taken from time to time. Gabi and I went to an info session and watched a video that depicted the fun and enjoyment of diving. We were both psyched and couldn’t wait to try it, but first came the studying. The manual and diving tables were given to us and so we began our studying. Everything seemed incredibly clear in theory, but then it came time for the reality of diving.

The first session of diving was done in a swimming pool. I was incredibly excited about getting in the pool since I considered myself to be an excellent swimmer (plus I’m a Pisces, so even my astrological sign tells me that I should be in water). Upon entering the frigid water of the pool, my body completely froze. Then I was told to go for it—breathe underwater. It was the strangest feeling, not as comfortable as I had imagined. The day progressed slowly because some students (like me) were a little panicked about the fact that you’re under alot water and are totally reliant upon your oxygen source. But as the session went on I became more comfortable—that is until my oxygen source decided to blow up. It was a panic situation for me, one that the instructor claims has only happened once before in over 2,000 dives. I guess you can say that I learned by experience early on.

The second session took place in the ocean. I went with one instructor and one other student. We went to Long Beach in Simon’s Town which is about a 30 minute drive from Cape Town. We suited up on the beach—wet suit, booties, fins, cylinders, bcd’s, masks, and weight belts. Walking with all of this equipment on plus fins is incredibly difficult, but I’m sure entertaining for others to watch. Eventually we waded into the cold ocean and began our dive. I again wasn’t concerned about the great whites because my instructor assured me that they don’t like divers because of the cylinders we carry. If great whites are to attack, it’s generally swimmers and surfers (comforting right?). The dive was great—I felt much more relaxed and saw many sea creatures- octopi, starfish, fish, and jellyfish. After exploring we swam back to the beach, or at least attempted to. I noticed that on the way back I wasn’t moving much. The current was incredibly strong (as thus cut the rest of our session short because it was too dangerous), but also I apparently had lost a fin. I’m not really sure how or when it happened because the water was so cold and I had booties that I never noticed. But we made it back to the shore safely and took all of our gear apart. On the drive back my instructor decided to tell me that a few days ago a group was diving in the same spot we were today and swam into a great white. The group remained calm and the shark swam away. I’m so glad he told me this AFTER our dive.

I’m leaving this Friday, September 3rd to go to Mozambique with my roommate Gabi to finish my required dives there and also to vacation (it’s a work hard, play hard attitude here). I’m so excited because the water temperature will be at least 20 degrees warmer. People say that if you can learn to dive in Cape Town that you can dive anywhere. I hope they’re right!

So this Pisces has once again found water and is happy :).

Traveling Around Cape Town

One of my biggest worries before coming to Cape Town was, “How am I going to get around the city?” Prior to leaving for South Africa, so many people had warned me about the dangers in using public transportation and the fact that I would most definitely need a car. I am happy to report though that this has not been the case thus far. The cab drivers I’ve used (with one exception) have all been very nice and reasonable. I do find it a bit odd at times that they don’t know the city well, so it’s always best to know exactly where you are going. For example, last night my roommate and I went to an informational meeting about our upcoming trip to Mozambique in September. The meeting was literally 7 minutes walking distance from our house, but because it was after dark we had to take a cab. Before getting in the cab I looked up the address and location of the meeting and had a general sense of where we were going. Of course, the taxi cab driver got lost and I had to tell him that the building was most definitely on a different road than where he was taking us. Most of the time the taxi drivers in Cape Town are foreign, so they don’t know the area very well, but then of course you have others who know you are foreign and probably don’t know your way, so they’ll take you the “long way” to raise the price.

My one exception for taxis happened this past Saturday. My roommates and I were downtown for dinner at an African restaurant. As we were leaving downtown my roommate negotiated a price for a cab to take us back to our house in the suburbs (a little over $10). We all got in and were on our way and then suddenly the cab driver took a different route; one that none of us recognized. I told him that we needed to get back on Main Road, but for some reason he tried to convince us that there are two Main Roads—not true. We would tell him to turn right and he would turn left. I’m not sure if this cab driver was trying to raise the price or if he really just did not know what he was doing. In any case I learned a good lesson: before you get in a cab, tell the driver where you are going and ask if he/she knows where the place is; have them describe to you where the place is; and ask how they’re getting there.

The other popular mode of city transportation is the mini bus, or black taxi. The mini buses are actually really old 14 passenger vans that are literally falling apart. They run the main streets from Wynberg to downtown Cape Town. If you’re walking along Main Road you will most definitely hear them coming— the person driving the mini bus is always honking the horn and the other person is hanging out the window whistling and shouting for passengers. It’s not uncommon for one of these vans to squeeze 20 people in at a time. My roommate and I took one of these from the Main Road outside of our house to downtown Cape Town this past Sunday. It cost us 7 Rand each (a little less than $1) on a trip that would normally cost 100 Rand in a taxicab. Things to look for when riding a mini bus: 1. Make sure there are people in it 2. Make sure there are women and/or children in it 3. Trust your instincts to let you know if something is sketchy. Our experience was great, but it’s definitely only something I would do during the day time.

Lastly, the other mode of transportation I use is the Jammie shuttle (see picture). These are the University buses that have several stops throughout the city that take people to UCT campus. They are bright blue and are fairly similar to ones you would find in America. Every morning I wait for the shuttle at a stop that’s about a 4-5 minute walk from my house. It takes me about 5 minutes from there to get to campus. This is such a big difference from commuting in Charleston where it would take me 25-30 minutes to drive downtown to school, at least 10 minutes to find a parking space, and 10 minutes to walk to class. The Jammie shuttle is definitely my friend :).

South Africa’s National Women’s Day

Yesterday, August 9th, was South Africa’s National Women’s Day. National Women's Day is an annual holiday that commemorates the national march of women on this day in 1956 to petition against legislation that required African persons to carry the "pass”, special identification documents which limited an African's freedom of movement during the apartheid era. So in order to join in the celebration, my roommate Gabi and I went out for a full day to explore the downtown area of Cape Town.

Our day started at 6am as we had to be at a downtown theatre by 8am, in line to get tickets for a play entitled Waiting for Godot. The play starred Ian McKellan who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Since both us are big fans of his, this play was certainly high on our priority list. We arrived at the theatre 10 minutes early, but the taxi driver obviously had other things to do and let us out in the rain to wait. To pass the time before the theatre opened, we decided to find a place for coffee. Obviously we passed a little too much time because when we got back to the theatre it was 9am, but luckily we got the last two tickets (by a matter of 2 seconds). We found out that the play started at 7:30pm which of course meant we had the whole day downtown.

Gabi and I walked to the Alfred and Victoria waterfront area which is located in a very tourist friendly area of Cape Town. Some of the local attractions included: a Ferris wheel (titled “The Wheel of Excellence”), lots of shopping (the mall was comparable to, if not better than, South Park Mall in Charlotte, NC), movie cinema, live entertainment, restaurants, breweries, World Cup stadium, and much more. We ended up spending the day here—eating, shopping, drinking coffee, watching men parade around in dresses (in honor of Women’s Day), seeing Shrek 4 in 3-D, enjoying the many rainbows in the Cape Town sky (weather changes rapidly and there were many short rainstorms—thus lots of rainbows), and listening to live entertainment.
We made it back to the Fugard Theatre by 6:30pm where we thoroughly enjoyed the play Waiting for Godot. During the play I got a thought in my head that I couldn’t shake out—I had to meet Ian McKellan, somehow, someway. During intermission I told Gabi that we HAVE to meet him no matter what after the play. After seeing how determined I was, Gabi agreed and we waited 45 minutes after the play in the lobby. I had to see “Gandalf” and indeed I did (see picture). After the show we returned home at 11:30pm. Gabi and I had the best Women’s Day ever!

SHAWCO-- volunteering

I recently signed up for a student volunteer group at UCT called SHAWCO (Student Health and Welfare Centres Organisation) because the humanitarian side of the Rotary scholarship is just as important if not more than the academic side for me. People that volunteer with SHAWCO use their talents to go into impoverished areas to teach or tutor. I decided to teach art (which includes painting, drawing, music, dance, drama, and literature) because it’s one of my passions, but mostly because I remember the way art made me feel growing up. Art was always my favorite subject because you could express yourself using a variety of methods.

Today was my first day of teaching—if you could call it that. I feel like today was more about classroom management (i.e. trying to control the kids) and learning names. The class is full with a total of 30, 3rd- 5th grade students from Manenburg. Manenburg is a small town where people of color were forced to move to during Apartheid (i.e. “Kicked out of Cape Town”). Next time I go and teach I will most definitely take pictures because my words will not accurately describe what I saw. As our bus pulled into the town I saw rows upon rows of shacks (no bigger than a room you could put a twin size mattress in), children running barefoot in the filthy streets, farm animals on the street, dirt roads, and barbed wire everywhere. Children would literally cling to our van as we pulled into the school. The school was a one story building made of cinderblocks and the classroom doors faced the outside (like a motel). There were large classrooms, chalkboards, and desks, but the thing that struck me as odd is that I didn’t see any evidence of kids owning any part of the school. By that I mean I didn’t see any artwork, stories, books, any supplies of any kind—it was just an empty building. This school is a far cry from where I just did my student teaching—Ashley River Creative Arts in Charleston, SC—where every space was covered with a child’s work and the environment was friendly.

Overall though the kids were friendly and wanted to know my name, play with my hair and show me different dances and sing me their songs. I thought my day was going to be easy and that we would accomplish a lot, but sadly I was mistaken. After I started the lesson a grown male and older female walked into the room (the school officials). They had a presence about them that even I found terrifying. I continued the lesson and then some of the kids started to cut up. The older female took out her cane and hit several of the children very forcefully. The male started to scream and say what I presume to be nasty things to them in a different language. From that moment things just began to get more chaotic. My role quickly went from teacher to crowd controller. How can one expect students to learn and behave when the emotion of fear is present?

At the end of the day as I was leaving, many of the children gave me hugs and I assured them that I would be back next week. I started to wonder how many people they see come and make promises only to never return…

I will go back and I will try again.

For more information about SHAWCO, please visit www.shawco.org

Culture Shock

I arrived in Cape Town Wednesday morning at 9am local time after a very long 2 day trip from Asheville-Atlanta- London- Cape Town. Needless to say I was completely exhausted upon arrival, but found my energy quickly when I met my Rotary host Henry and my Rotary coordinator Helene. They were at the airport to greet me, complete with a Rotary banner.
My first impressions of Cape Town were from the airport. The airport was just completed in time for the World Cup. It was completely spotless, the people were friendly, and it was easy to navigate. After saying hello and goodbye to Helene, Henry and I were off to my new home in Mowbray (suburb of Cape Town and close to the University). On the way we passed many sites, including townships. I was shocked. I expected the townships to be far removed from the city, but instead, the people that live there are right in the city. They see the “other side” often. I plan to get involved through a service organization at the University.
Henry dropped me off at my new home and I met my landlord Rosalie who is also very nice and helpful. It was a bit shocking to see the security measures on the houses—I have a lock for the front gate, lock in the front door’s bars, lock for the front door, 3 locks for my room, lock for my closet, 3 locks on the back door, lock on the back gate, alarm system complete with panic buttons, and bars on all windows and doors. It took me a little while to learn all of the ropes, but now I think I have it down. All of the houses I’ve seen in Cape Town have a similar setup.
Rosalie was kind enough to help me settle in by taking me to get a cell phone. I bought a cheap phone at a local store, sim card, and a plan. Phones here don’t require contracts like they do back in the States which is nice. I’ll admit that I’m a little jealous because most of the world operates off this system. My European friends are able to use their phones here, but not us Americans!
I met 2 of my roommates, one guy is Norwegian and the other guy is German. I will have another roommate coming on August 4th, a girl from Germany. The house that we live in is a semi-detached Victorian cottage. The biggest differences in the house from one in America are the following: you pay for electricity at the grocery store and load it yourself, the washer and dryer (if you’re lucky enough to have one) are in the kitchen, the television has 3 channels (which I can’t seem to find any news on), and there is no central heating or air conditioning. I’m learning that differences aren’t bad, but just a different way of doing something. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by these differences and go into culture shock. I’ve noticed several other International students going through culture shock and instead of dealing with the differences, they complain. I’m trying my best not to complain at all, but just adapt instead.

Flying to Cape Town

I realized today that I've never traveled anywhere that took not hours, but days. In the past I've flown to Europe which ususally takes 8-9 hours, but flying to Cape Town will take a total of 30 hours. Today I arrived in London after a 8 hour flight from Atlanta. In a few hours I will then board another flight for Cape Town which will be 11.5 hours. All of this after a 9 hour layover in London. I admire people that travel the globe for work because it really takes a toll on your body! British Airways has been great so far-- I would recommend it to anyone. The staff all speak with a pleasant British accent and the planes are much bigger than other comparable flights. The only thing that I find a bit weird is that London-Heathrow will not post your departing gate until 1 hour before your flight leaves. That means that you have to watch the screen like hawk and hope that you don't have to travel too far to a different concourse.

Next time I blog it will be from South Africa!