Lovin' Life.

We've done a pretty good job of cramming absolutely everything we can into our weekends and this weekend did not disappoint. 

Saturday, we picked up Cindy, Mimi's good friend from the ND program, at the airport and made our way to the Old Biscuit Mill (same swanky/upscale market we'd previously visited) - ate a little, drank a little champagne, shopped a little -- definitely not roughing it here. :)

Afterward, we drove down to Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern tip of Africa, and spent the afternoon hiking along the water through the mountains.  It was gorgeous. 

We saw a few eland (antelope-esque animals) and baboons (!!).  Baboons are really mean animals and there are signs everywhere to prevent people from feeding them.  They actually tell you not to bring any food with you to the Cape because if you do, and they are around when you open your doors, they'll jump in the car to find the food.  Despite these warnings, a couple threw a banana at one of the baboons and he happily at the whole thing, peel and all.

[Drew later bought a shot glass from the store that he had in a bag and when the baboon saw his bag, he jumped up ON Drew to make sure it wasn't food - thankfully, he quickly realized it wasn't and backed down.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that!]

After a leisurely meal at Lemoncello, a small restaurant close to our apartments, we called it an early night.

Sunday morning we picked up Arden, Kirsten's friend who is vising from LA, and discovered a new brunch place which was pretty fantastic.  We had been told that Lion's Head was a nice, easy hike (pretty sure it was described to us as a 'leisurely stroll') so figured it was a perfect afternoon activity for the crew as Arden had just flown for 30+ hours.  We quickly realized, our definition of leisurely and South Africa's definition are two very different things.  [I am slowly understanding where Americans get the "lazy" stereotype.]  Steep, rock climbing, ladders, chains to help pull yourself up... you get the idea.  Views from the top, as expected, were fantastic and as you probably expect, it was my favorite climb thus far.

First World vs. Third World

We decided to take some time off of work on Wednesday to accompany Drew and Holly to one of their township meetings - for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children.  [The previous president of South Africa, Mbeki, in the late 1990s denied that HIV/AIDS was caused by a viral infection that could be fought with medicine.  He believed, rather, that it was caused by poverty, poor nourishment, and general ill-health - the solution was not expensive western medicine, but the alleviation of poverty in Africa.  He rejected all free medicine and grants to help prevent the disease.  As a result, it is said that more than 330,000 people died unnecessarily in South Africa while he was in office and many children lost their parents to the virus - now known as the "lost generation".  Ikamva - the organization Drew and Holly work for - aim to help these children and the senior citizens that now must raise them.]
 
The meeting took place in Khayelitsha, a township we hadn't yet visited, the fastest growing in all of South Africa.  It currently houses over 400,000 people, so as you can imagine, it is extremely crowded, and very few have access to running water.  Most homes are shacks with flat metal roofs and mangy dogs run rampant amid the laundry hung out to dry.  [I feel uncomfortable taking pictures of the surroundings but the picture below pretty much captures what we drove through - although it was pulled off Google.]

We arrived at the meeting a bit early and after our drive in, I was not expecting the people who greeted us - a room filled with over 100 people (mostly women) and everyone was standing up, singing, dancing, and so joyful.  It was really uplifting to see such happy faces despite the world they live in every day.  The meeting was two hours long and conducted in xhosa, so we understood none of it.  We left after about an hour but not before they brought all of us to the front of the room for an introduction.  Everyone stood up again, and started singing in xhosa and dancing.  We clapped along as best we could until a women got up and started yelling "shake your boooddyy" - we tried.  I'm sure everyone got a good laugh out of us up there awkwardly dancing and clapping off beat but it was entertaining nonetheless.

[I expected poverty.  And shacks.  And cute little children without parents.  But what I definitely was not prepared for was the HUGE discrepancy between the rich and the poor.  Cape Town is definitely a first world country with gorgeous houses, fantastic restaurants, shopping, and scenery but just a ten minute drive out of town sits Khayelitsha, by definition third world.  Many of those working in Cape Town live in one of the townships - including many of our colleagues - and it's hard to imagine, leaving your home without running water and traveling to a warm, well-equipped office building for the majority of the week.  I don't think I'd want to leave work.]

After the meeting we drove into Gugulethu to visit a 'deli' we'd heard about called Mzolis.  We parked onto the street, walked into the small shop and were greeted by a big glass case filled with all sorts of meats.  We pointed to those we wanted to try, paid, and then brought our big meat-filled bowl back to the fire to cook.  Two men manned the fire and cooked our meat for us, adding some sort of great bbq sauce, and then provided one knife, two forks, and one napkin for the five of us to share.  As you can imagine, most of the meat was eaten with our hands and we were quite messy by the end of the meal but the meat was delicious.

Kirsten, Mimi, and I ended the day with a trip to the spa - a 30 minute hot stone massage, manicure, and pedicure for only $22!  Back to the first world again.  I think we should take Wednesdays off every week.

Settling In

Thursday was Youth Day in South Africa and we had the day off of work.  Sadly, I knew very little about South African history before living here but am slowly picking up bits and pieces.  Youth Day commemorates the beginning of the Soweto riots of 1976 - a series of student-led protests in response to the government edict that Afrikaans be used as a method of instruction in schools (split 50/50 with English).  As Afrikaans was strongly associated with apartheid, most black South Africans preferred English, and as such, the edict sparked riots.  It is said that over 20,000 students participated and 176 were killed.

Ironically, we did not do anything 'youth' related on Youth Day.  Rather, Kirsten, Mimi and I spent part of the day wandering around Hout Bay, a costal suburb in Cape Town.  Unfortunately, it was kind of rainy and gross but we snapped a few pics before the real rain started.

We spent the early afternoon in the Cape Town aquarium which was pretty much like any other aquarium I've ever seen although the sharks did get us excited/terrified for shark diving.  (We did learn, however, that sharks only killed 4 people last year and defective toasters killed 476 - or something along those lines - so hopefully that puts Mom at ease.)

We had an appointment at 3:30 for high tea at the Mount Nelson hotel - described as "one of the best high tea experiences in the world".  I haven't had many "high tea experiences" but this one certainly topped my list.  We were shown to a corner of the room with couches that sank as soon as you sat in them while the piano man played song after song.  The menu was filled with all sorts of teas and you could try as many as you wanted - vanilla was my favorite but we tried at least 6.  That wasn't the best part, though.  There was a large table in the middle of the room that was filled with little sandwiches, quiches, cakes, cookies, brownies, etc - exactly what I'd expect out of a tea party.  We spent two hours eating and drinking tea and believe we could have easily stayed another two (perhaps with a nap as well) - unfortunately, the tea room closes at 5:30 but it was the perfect activity for a rainy afternoon.

Friday we went for another run along the promenade, made dinner as a group, and then ventured down to a bar close to our apartments and ended up singing "American Pie" with the rest of the bar while a guy played guitar for us on stage.

Saturday morning started very early.  We made it to the base of Table Mountain at 8AM and Daniel (one of our buddies from work), Kirsten, and I spent the morning hiking the mountain.  We chose the most direct route as it was the quickest way up and had the best views.  However, most direct also means steepest - we spent the entire 1.5 hours walking up rock steps that are carved into the side of the mountain (think stairmaster for 1.5 hours on a hard level).  Luckily, the weather was absolutely perfect and the views were fantastic.  Totally worth it.

 
[I had read before our hike that during apartheid, Table Mountain was deemed a "whites only" area and as such, many still view the mountain as solely for whites or tourists.  I didn't really believe that could still be the case but during our trip up the mountain, it was definitely true.  Pretty eye opening to realize that the first democratic elections in South Africa - with people of all races being able to vote - was only in 1994.  I was already nine years old.]

Spent the afternoon over a leisurely lunch with Daniel and our boss, Martin (it was Daniel's birthday) and the evening watching a movie we rented from the video store in the mall.

Sunday, however, was not our best day.  It started off quite well - slept in late and had a late brunch in a cute little area in CT.  We had heard (and read) about this great market on Sunday by the stadium so spent a good chunk of time driving around looking for it - only to finally hear it had been shut down.  Afterwards, we made our way to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens (very Longwood Gardens-esque) which was beautiful.  We planned to spend a few hours wandering around the grounds before dining in the restaurant on the property where there was a live concert scheduled.  However, it started to pour within 45 minutes of our arrival and after speaking to a few of the employees, learned that the concert had been cancelled and the restaurant would not be opening (we can only assume due to the weather).  As such, we headed back to our apartments, made dinner, and went to bed early.

Whirlwind Weekend

Thinking back on our weekend, it's a wonder we actually had time to sleep.  As such, I tried to put this in the most concise, organized way I thought possible (sounds like me, right?):

[Figured out how to add pics - so enjoy!]

Friday:
Kirsten, Mimi, and I were very productive at work so decided to take off a bit early and enjoy the beautiful weather (no wind, 70-ish degrees, and sunny).  Kirsten and I went running along the promenade, which is right along the coast, and watched the sun set over the water.

Afterwards, our whole group ventured down to Long Street (the bar/restaurant/young people part of town) and had great burgers while enjoying a few beers on the balcony of a bar.

Saturday:
Most of the crew got up early and went to the Old Biscuit Mill (Kirsten and I visited last weekend so we opted to sleep in) but the market is fantastic and is only open on Saturday mornings - it's sort of a mix between an upscale farmers market and every type of food you could ever want (pizza, crepes, paninis, burgers, pitas, wine, beer, cheese, meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc).  They have these great long tables with candles on them and everyone crowds in to share food - it's great.

In the afternoon, we were planning on hiking Table Mountain but the winds were crazy again plus they said there was zero visibility at the top so we opted to drive down the coast to the southern suburbs.  We started at Muizenberg beach - gorgeous, brightly painted wash houses on the beach.

Then made our way to Kalk Bay, a small fishing village on the coast of False Bay and found a fantastic marimba band that was playing on the wharf.

Our final destination was Boulder Beach, home to LOTS of jackass penguins (they bray like donkeys which is where they got their name).  Penguins are super cute and I feel like I could sit and watch them waddle forever, but, penguins stink.  Terribly.

We drove back to Kalk Bay for a fantastic seafood dinner (the mussels were the best I've ever had) before stopping by a bar by our apartment to watch the end of the Stormers' highly anticipated rugby match (we tried to get tickets when we got to CT but they had been sold out for awhile before our arrival).

Sunday:
Woke up and took a boat to Robben Island.  After about a 45 min boat ride we approached an island that was much bigger than I expected (I was thinking Alcatraz) and still currently houses 120 people who maintain the island for tours.  We took an hour ride around the island with a great guide who incorporated all our home countries into his stories about the fight for SA freedom (people on our bus were from Mexico, Saudi Arabia, England, Uruguay, Norway, Sweden, and, obviously, the US).  Afterwards, a former inmate from the prison, took us on our a tour around the prison itself.  It was pretty remarkable to hear the stories about the ways of life of the prisoners from Robben Island (as they were all political leaders) and compare to stories we've read about life in other prisons in South Africa (ie prison gangs, rape, violent beatings, etc.) - much more peaceful, as you can imagine.  We saw Mandela's garden, the limestone quarries where the prisoners were forced to work without sunglasses (many prisoners ended up with sight impairments as a result and to this day, you are not allowed to take a picture of Mandela with a flash for this reason), and his cell, which he writes about extensively in A Long Walk to Freedom.  The day was absolutely gorgeous and it seemed weird for me to be in such a depressing place on such a beautiful day.

We spent a lazy afternoon in Camps Bay, the ritziest part of Cape Town and absolutely where I would choose to live if I moved here, lounging on the beach and closed the weekend with a 3 course dinner overlooking the sunset.  [Since we're here in the winter, most of the expensive restaurants have a "winter special" which we are definitely taking advantage of.]  Perfect end to a great weekend.

Hope you all had a great weekend, too! :)

The Consulting Side

Almost done week one of work which is pretty hard to believe and, for the most part, business practices seem pretty similar to those in the states (with the exception of working fewer hours).  I still am having trouble understanding those with a very thick SA accent though and find myself asking people to repeat themselves often, especially their names! I DID learn a phrase in xhosa this week though - walala wasala - you snooze you lose.

As mentioned earlier, The Business Place's main purpose is to provide guidance to entrepreneurs who have started or are thinking about starting a business.  We got to sit in on two different "navigation" meetings (which is TBPs term for consulting) which couldn't have been more different.  The first was for an organization that uses peer education to promote HIV prevention and healthy behavioral change among SA youth - they are interested in expanding their business to include a consultancy arm and are fairly far along on the planning (have a business plan, projected cash flows/financials, marketing, etc) but The Business Place is helping to poke potential holes in their expansion.  Mimi and I were able to sit in on the meeting and provide suggestions to issues they hadn't considered (we DID learn things at school last year).  The second navigation meeting was with a couple who are thinking about starting their own garage door instillation project and were completely the opposite than the first in therms of preparation - they hadn't done much market research, didn't have evidence of a need for their service, hadn't thought about where to get the money, etc - so as you can imagine, the conversations were quite different.

Additionally, yesterday we got to sit in for part of a day-long program called The Best Game.  The objective is to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with skills, tools, and a grounding in practical decision-making and planning to enable them to start (and run) a successful business.  We had a room with 20 entrepreneurs (4 groups) and both Mimi and I got to observe a group.  As I could understand it, 3 groups were given a loan and then had to determine how much to use to buy products and how much to save.  Then they had to negotiate with the 4th group to sell their products (and make a profit).  There were four rounds (and special "life cards", rent, etc. as well) so the goal was to make the most money by the end and then calculate the variable costs, fixed costs, and total profit.  The majority of the group did not understand the difference between variable and fixed costs (although one of our members, who was previously a police man, did) which made me question how successful their businesses have the potential to be...

Since we've been here, we've had a number of conversations with various individuals about how poor the eduction system is in SA so I thought it was really interesting to see adults who were struggling with skills that are obviously necessary to run a business yet very few had even considered the challenges they may face without them.

[As a random aside, the wind here is incredible.  I honestly have never seen anything like it although apparently, it gets worse.  It causes the windows in our apartment to shake so much that I seriously thought they may shatter (they haven't, phew) and there are times that it is so strong that it's hard to walk.  Kirsten and I tried to run in it yesterday which, in hindsight, was a huge mistake.  I tried to take a picture but wind is very tricky to capture in a photo.  Regardless, the first night we heard it, both Kirsten and I thought we were in a tornado/hurricane/tropical storm, so take my word for it, it's intense.]

Summer Internship: Cape Town Activa

We finally started our internship yesterday (not that I’m complaining about the time off!) and I thought you all might be interested in hearing what three of us will be doing.  Kirsten, Mimi, and I are working for an organization called The Business Place, which is a non-profit that provides guidance for South African entrepreneurs.  Currently in South Africa, entrepreneurship is not highly regarded as a profession but is viewed by many as necessary for survival.  The Business Place helps these individuals by understanding their needs and then matching them to various organizations in South Africa that provide solutions to those needs (business plan development, financial consulting, marketing consulting, etc.). 

The Cape Town government has recently started an initiative, Cape Town Activa, to make the city more economically desirable from a business standpoint.  Their goal is to try to create an environment that is more conducive for both Capetonians and non-Capetonians to start businesses and has tasked The Business Place with developing an implementation plan.  Considering the current state of the entrepreneurial environment, extremely fragmented with little collaboration, this is an arduous task (especially as there are only two people currently working on this initiative).  Kirsten, Mimi, and I were all brought on to help.

I, specifically, will be working on overseeing the development of the web site (or portal) for Cape Town Activa.  We had a meeting last Friday with all the potential web developers (4 companies) and explained our objective/vision.  They all have a week to think about the project and then I am working to schedule meetings with all of them to answer any clarifying questions they may have.  In the meantime, I’m trying to determine exactly what we want to include on our portal and develop a site map to more easily categorize similar information.  As I’m not exactly sure WHAT we want to include and as of now, the portal seems very very large and all encompassing, this is tricky. 

As I understand it, each potential/existing entrepreneur will create a profile and answer a number of questions regarding their idea, which will eventually put them into one of several categories (have a fuzzy idea; have a concrete, well-thought out idea; run a struggling business; run a successful business and want to grow; etc.).  These categories are all matched with various organizations that currently exist to provide help and will be displayed at the end of the questionnaire.  (Mimi is working on researching all these suppliers and determining their dominant skill sets to match to various categories The Business Place has developed.)  Additionally, there will be a place to apply for funding which we’ve called “Capital Connect” to match funding providers with funding requests.  (Kirsten is working on developing this part of the portal.)  There will also be a benefit for the suppliers – when an entrepreneur comes into one of their offices, they can create a profile for them and “refer” them to one of the other organizations that may be more suited to handle their needs (this also prevents the entrepreneur from re-pitching their idea over and over since all the necessary information will be in their profile on the portal). 

I feel like I could go on and on regarding the potential functionality of this but basically, you all understand we have our work cut out for us. :)

Township Mass

So one of the professors from ND, who is also a priest, spends a good chunk of time (maybe 4-5 months) in Cape Town each year and teaches a class at the business school at Cape Town.  He also occasionally says mass in the Gugulethu township (same one we visited earlier this week but a different area) and invited us to join him.  I don't think any of us really knew what to expect...

BUT it was so so cool.  We arrived a bit early and were asked to sit in the front row (which made me a bit uncomfortable - lots of curious glances especially considering we were the only white people in mass with the exception of two women visiting from Holland).  There were so many adorable kids running around and saying hello to all their friends (and lots, we noticed, were at mass without parents - hoping that is not due to lack of parents but not optimistic that that is the case).  Before mass started random women would just start belting out beautiful songs and everyone would jump in (and when I say jump in, I don't just mean singing - dancing, clapping, smacking their bibles, etc.) - really cool to watch.

The entire mass (with a few exceptions, including the gospel) was conducted in xhosa, a tonal language of SA that uses lots of clicks, which made it interesting to listen to.  I was able to follow along pretty well from all the Sundays spent at church although I realized its MUCH harder to remember what to say and when to say it when no one else is repeating it with you!  When it was time for collection, two boys stood at the front of the alter with big wooden baskets and those wishing to contribute had to walk forward and place their money in the basket.  I was shocked that almost everyone in the church came forward - these people who already have so little, willing to give up something for the benefit of the community - it was really humbling to see.  Throughout mass at specific times women would jump in and start singing (not sure if they were singing random songs or if they were predetermined) and these 3 young boys would jump up and start playing three big wooden xylophones.  Fantastic.

The entire mass was so joyful and uplifting that  I wish I had a video because words just don't do the whole scene justice (unfortunately cameras are not allowed during mass).  Regardless, it was an awesome experience and we're definitely planning on going back again before we leave.    

Township Visit

So Drew and Holly, two NDers, are working with an organization called Ikamva Labantu which is a non-profit that works with local townships so they can become sustainable (health, education, food, security, infrastructure, etc).  The organization was started by a woman named Helen Lieberman who is just an absolutely fantastic human being.  We had an opportunity to meet her yesterday and words can't even describe how amazing this woman is although this article I just found does a pretty good job.

Many donors to Ikamva (and many other non-profits) are becoming much more interested in determining where the money they donate goes and what impact it has.  As such, from what I understand, Drew and Holly will be working to create some sort of tracking tool to help quantify Ikamva's impact, specifically related to the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) group (how many children are involved, how long, etc.).  Since Kirstin, Mimi, and I don't actually start our internship until Monday, we were able to join Holly and Drew this morning on a township visit, to Gugulethu.

We were escorted in (safety is a key concern in the townships especially for white women) and arrived a bit early so we were able to spend some time at the Ikamva preschool.  The kids were absolutely adorable and all OVCs (so either orphaned or likely being raised by grandparents/great grandparents due to AIDS deaths).  They were amazed by my hair since I was wearing it down and all kept petting it whenever I would bend over since it feels so differently than theirs does.  They also kept trying to pick me up, reach into my pockets, give high fives (or thumb snaps, which was a new one for me), and loved seeing their faces on my digital camera after I took a picture (unfortunately, I somehow managed to delete all the pictures on my memory card but thankfully Mimi got some good pictures and it's only 3 days in)!  Afterwards, we sat in on the OVC team meeting which I also found very interesting.  Still not entirely sure how the whole thing works but basically, they have one director and a different community based worker (CBW) for each section of the township.  The CBWs are responsible for a certain number of families and stop in as often as necessary to check up on their safety, food, living conditions, etc - after each visit they must fill out an evaluation-type form and are required to complete a certain number of visits each month. I still don't completely understand the whole organizational structure but it appears these CBWs work closely with the government social workers that are also assigned to the township.  They also have one specific CBW that is responsible just for special needs kids.  Regardless, these woman have quite a task on their hands and I imagine must encounter some incredibly difficult circumstances.  All in all, quite the visit.  Part of me is jealous I'm not on this project however a much bigger part of me isn't sure I'd be able to handle seeing kids in such desperate states.  Helen mentioned yesterday that she would bring us back and walk us around so definitely looking forward to that trip (especially since she's pretty much a legend around the townships) and will promise not to delete my pictures this time!

Feel like that was a lot for one day so I'll fill you in on my other happenings another time.

xo.

Made IT!

I made it to Cape Town - phew!  Only took 29ish hours but got here late last night and had a great day today getting all set up (cars, cell phones - think old school nokia's, internet, groceries, etc).  A few updates for you guys:

Apartment: we really do live in a mall - it's bizarre but pretty fantastic.  We have to walk through the mall to get to our apartments so if we didn't have jobs, we could realistically never leave.  We got our phones here today, had lunch here, and even bought groceries.  We have a small kitchen, bathroom, living area, and two beds (think hotel) - they come clean, change the sheets, etc everyday which is great.  We're pretty centrally located and think we're only about 6 or so blocks from where I'll be working (although Melissa, our organizer, said we should still drive).  Also, there is no heat... and it's cold.  I definitely did not expect it to be as cold as it is (people keep telling us this is unseasonably cold so I'm crossing my fingers it warms up).  As such, both Kirsten, my roommate, and I, are quite bundled up and I stole an extra comforter from Drew, another intern who is living by himself with two beds, so hopefully I'll be warmer tonight.  If it doesn't get warm soon, we'll likely get a space heater - it's that cold. 

Cars: haven't had to drive on the left side yet but we do have two cars between the six of us - tiny little Hyundai Jazz' I believe and no issues with my temporary license (Kel - any luck on a license in the mail??)

Cape Town: not at ALL like I expected Africa to be - it's super developed and you can get pretty much anything you need inside our mall.  Some of the houses are beautiful and Table Mountain (which borders CT on one side) is HUGE and gorgeous.  We went down to the waterfront this evening and it reminds me of Newport Beach - it's all very new looking, with fancy stores, and fabulous/expensive restaurants - very weird.  The town is very hilly which makes for some gorgeous views but definitely a tough run (went on a short one today with Drew and am hoping they get longer throughout the summer).  However, just a 4 minute drive out of CT is completely different - the highways are surrounded by townships which are more of what I expected when I pictured Africa - tiny little huts/sheds, super crowded, trash all over, laundry hanging, etc. 

We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon with our employer so hopefully I'll get a bit more detail on what I'll actually be doing here!