As my time in South Africa (ZA) comes to a close and I reflect on my experiences here, I must say that I am sad that my time has come to an end. In these past three weeks, I have seen poverty like never before yet lived (and shopped) like a person of great wealth and privilege. I have heard the most heart breaking stories of seperatism and discrimination yet witnessed the greatest sense of unity and love for ones country. I have never been more of an outsider yet I have never felt more a part of something that was bigger than me. The list goes on and on and on.
There were a lot of firsts for me here as well; first time on a plane, first time overseas, first time eating lamb (it was either that or go hungry), first time climbing a mountain and,well, I could go on forever. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by some really special people who have all given me a little of themselves to take with me. So, as I prepare to leave, I do so knowing that I will one day return to this great place...Mama Africa.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
I climbed a mountain!
I hiked table mountain today. It was hard. Though I fell in some pricker bushes, fell down some rocks and tripped countless times I made it to the top! I am so proud of myself right now that I just felt like telling everybody lol. Once I got to the top (finally) it was the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen. I was truly amazed to see God's creation. The I took some A-MAZING pictures and will post them later.
God bless!
God bless!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Pictures of my placement: Valkenburg Hospital
The hospital is huge, its not one building but a campus with different buildings. It also has a maximum security ward that I'm trying to make my way to. This is the administrative building with all the offices.
A view of one of the wards.
The dragon man...lol
View of the mountain from my placement
Apparently they don't have firefighters in S.A. cause you have to fight fires yourself
An extremely random poster outside my placement.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Camera update
I bought I new camera for a ridiculously marked up price (arg!) so I will post more pics as soon as the internet stops being so slow. Goodnight!
Placement
I have been at my placement for over a week now and so far it has been pretty interesting. I've been at Vandeburg Psychiatric Hospital working with an organization called "The Friends of Vandeburg". The organizations acts as sort of a support system for the hospitals patients and staff. They run various activities weekly for the patients just as; a store, hair salon, and cooking classes. They also hold events throughout the year to celebrate holidays and show some appreciation for the staff.
The hospital is actually pretty scary looking. It looks like one of those old hospitals from the 1960's (which it is). There's about 13 wards that house patients with varying ailments ranging from voluntary admissions to the forensic wards for the criminally insane. So far I have worked in the salon, the store, the clothing depot and the beauty class ( doing nails and makeup). It has been a pretty interesting experience and I'm enjoying spending time with the patients.
The patients say that I "talk funny" and ask me a lot of questions about "the states". Some of them make up stories about having been here before. This one guy told me that he was in the U.S. Navy and I could register in my head if I wanted to be apart of it lol. I've made a lot of interesting new friends ( like Navy guy) who I'm starting to enjoy working with and actually look forward to seeing every day.
One friend is the Dragon Man. I met Andy the first day of my placement. I was in the van driving towards my placement when we saw a man in a red cape walking down the street. Another person joked that he must have been walking to where I was going. Five minutes after I get to my placement, who walks in but the Dragon Man. Every since then, I have seen the Dragon man almost every day. He's very polite, always speaks when he sees me. Asks me for things like green socks and sometimes just randomly screams. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship....
The hospital is actually pretty scary looking. It looks like one of those old hospitals from the 1960's (which it is). There's about 13 wards that house patients with varying ailments ranging from voluntary admissions to the forensic wards for the criminally insane. So far I have worked in the salon, the store, the clothing depot and the beauty class ( doing nails and makeup). It has been a pretty interesting experience and I'm enjoying spending time with the patients.
The patients say that I "talk funny" and ask me a lot of questions about "the states". Some of them make up stories about having been here before. This one guy told me that he was in the U.S. Navy and I could register in my head if I wanted to be apart of it lol. I've made a lot of interesting new friends ( like Navy guy) who I'm starting to enjoy working with and actually look forward to seeing every day.
One friend is the Dragon Man. I met Andy the first day of my placement. I was in the van driving towards my placement when we saw a man in a red cape walking down the street. Another person joked that he must have been walking to where I was going. Five minutes after I get to my placement, who walks in but the Dragon Man. Every since then, I have seen the Dragon man almost every day. He's very polite, always speaks when he sees me. Asks me for things like green socks and sometimes just randomly screams. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship....
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
McDonalds ( I'm hatin it!)
I went to McDonalds the other day.It was horrible.
I was excited for some good fries. There was no salt on them. They were greasy.
I had a BigMac. It tasted like cardboard, special sauce, lettuce, cheese on a sesame seed bun.
I was angry.
I had a caramel sundae. Thou it had a strange oily taste. That was good.
I became less angry.
That is all.
I was excited for some good fries. There was no salt on them. They were greasy.
I had a BigMac. It tasted like cardboard, special sauce, lettuce, cheese on a sesame seed bun.
I was angry.
I had a caramel sundae. Thou it had a strange oily taste. That was good.
I became less angry.
That is all.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Robben Island
On Saturday I visited Robben Island. An island that had served as a prison for many years until it was shut down in the 90's. Robbben Island is most famous because it is the place where Nelson Mandela was held captive for 18 years of his life.
To be honest, the tour itself was pretty boring, I fell asleep on the ferry and the tour bus twice (I'm blaming that on jet lag lol). And lets not even talk about the sea sickness...ahhhh. After we got off the tour bus and went into the actual prison grounds it was pretty amazing to see the type of conditions that the prisoners were subjected to. They were held in a large room made for 50 but would hold up to 100 prisoners at a time. Since there were so many they would sleep on pads on the floor. There was a communal bathroom in each room that contained only 3 toilets.
Mr. Mandela and the other political leaders were not afforded such luxuries. They were held in solitary confinement where they were locked up in a small cell at 3pm not to be let out until 5am the next morning. During the day they were allowed a small window of time to play tennis. They would communicate with the rest of the prisoners by hiding notes in tennis balls and hitting them over the walls. I will post some pictures (pilfered from my peers) later on.
The best part of the tour was the tour guide for the prison. He was an actual former prisoner who had been held at Robben island in his youth for political activism. It was interesting to hear his personal story about his time there. Unfortunately, the interesting part was only about 40 minutes of a 3 hour tour AND we didn't have time to look around on our own OR buy souvenirs...hmph! Overall, though it is one experience that I'm thankful to have the chance to have had, I will never do it again.
God Bless!
Sae
To be honest, the tour itself was pretty boring, I fell asleep on the ferry and the tour bus twice (I'm blaming that on jet lag lol). And lets not even talk about the sea sickness...ahhhh. After we got off the tour bus and went into the actual prison grounds it was pretty amazing to see the type of conditions that the prisoners were subjected to. They were held in a large room made for 50 but would hold up to 100 prisoners at a time. Since there were so many they would sleep on pads on the floor. There was a communal bathroom in each room that contained only 3 toilets.
Mr. Mandela and the other political leaders were not afforded such luxuries. They were held in solitary confinement where they were locked up in a small cell at 3pm not to be let out until 5am the next morning. During the day they were allowed a small window of time to play tennis. They would communicate with the rest of the prisoners by hiding notes in tennis balls and hitting them over the walls. I will post some pictures (pilfered from my peers) later on.
The best part of the tour was the tour guide for the prison. He was an actual former prisoner who had been held at Robben island in his youth for political activism. It was interesting to hear his personal story about his time there. Unfortunately, the interesting part was only about 40 minutes of a 3 hour tour AND we didn't have time to look around on our own OR buy souvenirs...hmph! Overall, though it is one experience that I'm thankful to have the chance to have had, I will never do it again.
God Bless!
Sae
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Camera, where art thou?
Unfortunately, my camera has going missing so I will be unable to post pictures from this point on. =(
Townships
Yesterday we had the opportunity to go into the townships that surround the city of Capetown. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. One of the first images that comes to mind when I think of the experience is one of a pink cement house about the size of a room with half of a tin roof and the other half covered with a tarp that was being held down by strategically placed rocks. This is followed by blocks and blocks of similar-looking houses with people milling about everywhere. As we're passing through the neighborhood the tour guide is explains to us that entire families, sometimes up to three generations share such tight conditions. She also explains that the older children will sometimes build shacks behind the house to sleep in when space becomes to tight.
After a few stop in front of a few tall buildings that house multiple families know has hostels. We go inside and are in a small room, the tour guide explains to us that this room is common room shared by different families living in the same apartment. There are two cement picnic tables and a leaking sink in the corner. Off of the common area or 4 bedrooms rooms and a small kitchen that I originally though was a pantry. Each bedroom has at 3, and up to 4, beds packed into it. We are told that one bed often houses one family so there can sometimes be 3 families sharing one ROOM. That means there can be twelve families in one of these small, unmaintained apartments.The most shocking thing about the whole situation was that these hostels are government subsidized housing where the tenants pay rent charged per BED.
I go outside to get some fresh hair and there are children playing in the courtyard which is an area of dirt with abandoned cars, shopping carts and other debris that have been dumped there. The children are using and old shopping cart and a cardboard box to play a game. When I told them I was from the States they started singing Justin Bieber and asked me if I knew him. I told them "no" and they allowed me to take some pictures with them and a video of them singing an Africa song.
After this experience, I must say that I have truly been humbled and I definitely have a greater appreciation for my life. It also has made me realize just how lucky we are to live in a place where there is system in place to assist people who are unable to provide for themselves in a way that does not further victimize and take advantage of them. Definitely counting my blessings!
Stay Blessed!
After a few stop in front of a few tall buildings that house multiple families know has hostels. We go inside and are in a small room, the tour guide explains to us that this room is common room shared by different families living in the same apartment. There are two cement picnic tables and a leaking sink in the corner. Off of the common area or 4 bedrooms rooms and a small kitchen that I originally though was a pantry. Each bedroom has at 3, and up to 4, beds packed into it. We are told that one bed often houses one family so there can sometimes be 3 families sharing one ROOM. That means there can be twelve families in one of these small, unmaintained apartments.The most shocking thing about the whole situation was that these hostels are government subsidized housing where the tenants pay rent charged per BED.
I go outside to get some fresh hair and there are children playing in the courtyard which is an area of dirt with abandoned cars, shopping carts and other debris that have been dumped there. The children are using and old shopping cart and a cardboard box to play a game. When I told them I was from the States they started singing Justin Bieber and asked me if I knew him. I told them "no" and they allowed me to take some pictures with them and a video of them singing an Africa song.
After this experience, I must say that I have truly been humbled and I definitely have a greater appreciation for my life. It also has made me realize just how lucky we are to live in a place where there is system in place to assist people who are unable to provide for themselves in a way that does not further victimize and take advantage of them. Definitely counting my blessings!
Stay Blessed!
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