Sunday, May 30th
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Today we got up and went to a barbeque place called Mzoli's. It sounded Italian to me but it turns out it's rather African. Tons and TONS and BOATLOADS of people get together under a giant shack to socialize and listen to live music. We got a table with about 12 of the ProjectsAbroad volunteers and sat down to wait for our food. The waiting took 3.5 hours, and that's only because Sebastian bribed the cook with 100 Rand (apparently this is a standard practice) to get the food to come faster. It's understandable, I guess; there were SO many people there. Very crowded, and many people very drunk. Once we got the food, it was great though; literally every type of meat you can imagine: ribs, beef, lamb, chicken.. etc. However, I waited so long, I think I almost passed out from starvation (I hadn't eaten anything all morning, because I thought we'd eat soon when we got to Mzoli's!)
After the food, we danced to the music of a local South African artist. She was good at getting the crowd going, and we were having a great time. However, it was getting dark ( = unsafe) so we called a cab and got out of there. I was very proud that I knew the area well enough to tell the driver how to get to my house. My sense of direction is slightly improving apparently.
I came home so exhausted that I just passed out. 10-11 hours of sleep was totally worth it.
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Monday, May 31st
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Today, I found out my semi-final plan for how my teaching schedule will go. I'll be teaching Aysha's children in the informal settlement for two 3-week programs where I give them an overview of computer skills they need to be competent and valuable in the workplace. I decided to make it a 3-section program; the first being keyboard skills, the second being ms office, the third being windows skills.
So today, I focused on getting them more comfortable with the keyboard; I hearkened back to the days of my old keyboarding teacher, Ms. Clark, in 7th grade, calling out nonsensical strings of characters for the students to type. It was, admittedly, a little dry and uninteresting; however, I believe it was necessary for the students to get a better understanding of the keyboard and to get more comfortable so they didn't have to look down at the keys all the time. My morning class received the lesson very well, while the afternoon class had low attendance, and one student walked out halfway through the lesson because she wasn't interested anymore. Great. Good to know I'm enthralling.
Dinner at home was of course great, and Sebastian took me to the DVD store, so now I'm going to watch some episodes of CSI :)
New volunteer arriving on wednesday, woop woop!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Wining, Dining, Photographing, and Partying
Today, I went on a wine-tasting and sight-seeing tour with Petra to the area known as Stellenbosch, the winelands of South Africa. Remember, the drinking age here is 18. We called upon one of the drivers that drives a lot of the ProjectsAbroad volunteers around named Sinclair. Sinclair is a retired schoolteacher who used to teach history, making him a perfect tour guide. As a result, he offers all sorts of personal tours of the surrounding area of Cape Town; he explained that he wanted to take me to places that the big, commercial tours wouldn’t take me - sort of an “insider’s guide.”
Sinclair was extremely friendly, fun to talk to, and really knew his stuff. We drove about 20 minutes from Cape Town and were soon in the midst of beautiful mountains, wondrous water, and several other breath-taking sights. He stopped at key points along the way for us to take photos – he always knew the best places to stop, too. I have attempted to put up a few of my favorites in this post.
Petra and I are wine experts.
I can’t decide whether I’m more of a red wine or a white wine person, though; they definitely both have their pros and cons. I guess they’re both good in different situations.
Sinclair explained to me that the geography of the area lent itself particularly well to making wine since the large mountains blocked harmful wind from damaging the vineyards in the valleys. He said that of all the wines that Cape Town exports now (it’s apparently one of the top revenue sources currently), the Pinotage is the one that started it all. So.. I purchased a Kumkani Pinotage that I particularly liked.
We also tried a dessert wine called a Stellenbosch Hills Muscat de Hambourg that was my favorite – it was sweet (but not too sweet) and warm; I can see myself curling up with a good mystery novel by a fireplace, drinking a glass. I got a bottle of that too - it's only produced at that cellar and is relatively rare.
No, I didn't take this picture. But this is the place we went =]
Decision time: do I drink the wine here or ship it home? I’m leaning towards shipping it home; perhaps we could have a “David arrives from South Africa and now we get to drink this South African wine in celebration” party? I don’t know.
I’m thinking it’s illegal for me to take wine back into the US since I’d be under 21 and in possession of it when I come back, so maybe shipping it home is best. Of course, if a situation turns up that requires celebration here…. ;)
I should have brought sunglasses.
That evening, we attended a 50th birthday party for Philly’s twin brothers. It was like a mini-church service mixed with a huge party; several people got up to give testimonies or talk about their faith, and then people prayed and said nice things about the birthday people. I talked to Derrick and he says that since they have such a large family, every big birthday is a huge ordeal. They even had a DJ! Although here are my observations about South African music tastes:
• Michael Bublé, Justin Bieber, and Alicia Keys are insanely popular.
• 80s and 90s classic rock are still big for adults here too.
• They sing “Happy Birthday” with like 2 or 3 added verses. It’s kind of ridiculous.
And now, I’m sitting here writing this post while Sebastian rocks out to his Bee Gees Greatest Hits DVD for the umpteen millionth time. A good night.
Sinclair was extremely friendly, fun to talk to, and really knew his stuff. We drove about 20 minutes from Cape Town and were soon in the midst of beautiful mountains, wondrous water, and several other breath-taking sights. He stopped at key points along the way for us to take photos – he always knew the best places to stop, too. I have attempted to put up a few of my favorites in this post.
As we passed all of the beautiful mountains, he said, “Now you understand why the Dutch took so long to give this place up!” Indeed, I did. He even took us to the shantytown areas that were remnants of Apartheid, where thousands of people still live; the sight of it all is a little staggering.
Shantytowns.
We stopped at three different wineries along the way, and in between, Sinclair explained the history of the Cape. I tried all sorts of different wines, and I think I gained enough knowledge to be on my way to being a sommelier (an expert in wines).
Shantytowns.
Petra and I are wine experts.Sinclair explained to me that the geography of the area lent itself particularly well to making wine since the large mountains blocked harmful wind from damaging the vineyards in the valleys. He said that of all the wines that Cape Town exports now (it’s apparently one of the top revenue sources currently), the Pinotage is the one that started it all. So.. I purchased a Kumkani Pinotage that I particularly liked.
We also tried a dessert wine called a Stellenbosch Hills Muscat de Hambourg that was my favorite – it was sweet (but not too sweet) and warm; I can see myself curling up with a good mystery novel by a fireplace, drinking a glass. I got a bottle of that too - it's only produced at that cellar and is relatively rare.No, I didn't take this picture. But this is the place we went =]Decision time: do I drink the wine here or ship it home? I’m leaning towards shipping it home; perhaps we could have a “David arrives from South Africa and now we get to drink this South African wine in celebration” party? I don’t know.
I’m thinking it’s illegal for me to take wine back into the US since I’d be under 21 and in possession of it when I come back, so maybe shipping it home is best. Of course, if a situation turns up that requires celebration here…. ;)
Sinclair also took me and Petria to a local restaurant he liked called Dros. I had the oxtail, by his request. It was AWESOME but tedious since you had to cut all of the meat off the bone. Fun fact: South Africans are not big on napkins or refined table manners (I’ve noticed this at home too). Trying to keep up my cotillion skills on such a messy dish was difficult, and I eventually traded my knife and fork for the ten-finger approach.
No one was looking at the camera except me.
No one was looking at the camera except me.In all seriousness, it was an exquisite day where I got to see the beautiful sights of rural South Africa, taste some great South African wine, and enjoy great company at the same time. I think I could get used to this South Africa thing.
I should have brought sunglasses.• Michael Bublé, Justin Bieber, and Alicia Keys are insanely popular.
• 80s and 90s classic rock are still big for adults here too.
• They sing “Happy Birthday” with like 2 or 3 added verses. It’s kind of ridiculous.
And now, I’m sitting here writing this post while Sebastian rocks out to his Bee Gees Greatest Hits DVD for the umpteen millionth time. A good night.
Work, Work, Work
Friday, May 28th
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Again, a relatively uneventful day since my teaching doesn’t start again until Monday. I improved the website a little bit more, designed business cards for Lucinda’s organization and some related projects, and made some scans of some very interesting newspaper articles (upon typing this list, I’m realizing that perhaps the day was more productive than I thought!). I’m supposed to put them up on the website, but the internet here is so unreliable that it’s very difficult (even at work) to get them to upload. I want you all to be able to see them, because they give some very important background on where Philiza Abafazi has been in terms of history, and some of the key things it has done in the past.
That night, we had a really good dinner consisting of pork ribs and sausages, barbequed over a fire that Derrick (my host dad) made. I know I talk a lot about food in my blog, but I truly mean it when I say that every single meal I’ve eaten here has been DELICIOUS. These people know how to cook.
I watched Pretty Woman for the first time (I’ve been on a romantic comedy stint recently), and really liked it. I also watched The Break Up but didn’t like how it ended (although if you’ve seen it, you’ll understand that the ending is much more realistic than a lot of the fairytale happenings in 90% of romantic comedies). And… that was it. Saturday would be MUCH more entertaining.
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Again, a relatively uneventful day since my teaching doesn’t start again until Monday. I improved the website a little bit more, designed business cards for Lucinda’s organization and some related projects, and made some scans of some very interesting newspaper articles (upon typing this list, I’m realizing that perhaps the day was more productive than I thought!). I’m supposed to put them up on the website, but the internet here is so unreliable that it’s very difficult (even at work) to get them to upload. I want you all to be able to see them, because they give some very important background on where Philiza Abafazi has been in terms of history, and some of the key things it has done in the past.
That night, we had a really good dinner consisting of pork ribs and sausages, barbequed over a fire that Derrick (my host dad) made. I know I talk a lot about food in my blog, but I truly mean it when I say that every single meal I’ve eaten here has been DELICIOUS. These people know how to cook.
I watched Pretty Woman for the first time (I’ve been on a romantic comedy stint recently), and really liked it. I also watched The Break Up but didn’t like how it ended (although if you’ve seen it, you’ll understand that the ending is much more realistic than a lot of the fairytale happenings in 90% of romantic comedies). And… that was it. Saturday would be MUCH more entertaining.
Friday, May 28, 2010
PHOTOS!
I'm running a day behind on these blog posts, I apologize.
Thursday, May 27th 2010
I really didn't do anything of too incredible interest today other than working on the website, http://www.philizaabafazi.org/ (check it out if you haven't already!). I don't have another class til Monday. BUT! I thought I could upload a few photos that might be interesting to you guys to make up for the lack of content in this post.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Wednesday, May 26 2010
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So I'm just getting around to this post because of the LONG and packed day I had yesterday. Let me fill you in.
So Wednesday was my big 'work on the website' day at Philisa Abafazi. I was getting tired of having to email the IT person we were going through to add content to the website, so I emailed him and he gave me access to editing its full content. I spent most of the day figuring out how to use the CMS (content management system) they were using, called Joomla (it means 'united' in Swahili); it was apparently a system that was supposed to make editing websites easier, but it basically just ate up a chunk of my time. Nonetheless, I figured it out, and revamped the homepage. I'm currently in the process of adding new sections and working on tweaking current pages.
At 2 PM, I had a class with the children - only 2 of them showed up though, out of a normal 4 or so that were supposed to be there. Still, I was able to be fairly productive with them. However, the most challenging part of the teaching is because the attendance is irregular; with some children coming to every class and getting to the 'advanced parts' of my curriculum and others coming for the first time and having to do keyboard skills, I can't teach one thing to the entire class and save time. Instead, I have to go around individually and assign things - this is fine, but I think I could cover more if people would just show up.
After I got off work, I came home and Philly, my host mom, made me Samosas! They were quite good. I then had to go to the weekly ProjectsAbroad volunteer social at Cubana's, a Cuban restaurant, unsurprisingly. However, getting there would prove to be more of a challenge than I anticipated.
After being dropped off at the train station by Philly, I went and bought a ticket for R8 (very cheap, basically $1) and checked the map for where I'd be getting off. I had to count how many times the train stopped in order to figure out when to get off because no one announced where the train was each time people got off. I had only taken a train one time before, and that was in Long Island; "How different could it be?" I thought. At the 10th stop (the correct one), I tried to get off of the train by politely moving past people and saying "excuse me"; the people were not very kind and were like boulders - they wouldn't move! By the time I realized that politeness was not the way to go here, the train had already started moving again. Great. Just Great.
I got off at the 11th stop and was determined to take the train back to the 10th stop (they run fairly regularly). So I got back on, and when the train reached the correct destination once more, I made my way to the front of the door and waited for it to open (like they do in New York, right?). Apparently the doors in Cape Town trains are not automatic - you have to open them yourself quite forcefully. Unfortunately, I didn't figure this out until the train started moving AGAIN. UGH!
So, I'm back at the 9th stop and frustrated out of my mind with this transportation system and my inability to use common sense to make my way around Africa. After slowly calming myself down, I eventually took the train for a final time, yanked the doors open, and got to my final destination: Cubana's.
Dinner was quite nice and I got to talk to and get to know a few volunteers that I hadn't talked to very much. It was good to see I had a good community of people around me, although the majority of them were aged 23-27. The two I was with were my age though. One thing that I've noticed here is that practically all of the locals here smoke. It's so unattractive (and UNHEALTHY). About a third of the volunteers smoked as well.
Anywho, after dinner, we went to the Melting Pot, a local hangout and musician venue. We called a driver (ProjectsAbroad has several private taxis they recommend) to take us there, and he proved to be basically the best taxi driver ever. He had an amazing playlist on his stereo, where we sang everything from "Total Eclipse of the Heart" to staples such as Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" - and no, we did NOT sing Justin Bieber (thank goodness this blog post doesn't involve him, for once). I'll be using him again in the future. And it was cheap. Like really cheap. For a fifteen minute drive, he charged us 30 Rand - that's 3 DOLLARS. YAY SOUTH AFRICA!
We relaxed on the comfortable couches, met some other volunteers, and heard some interesting flavors of music (ranging from reggae to smooth jazz). All in all, a successful night.
I know, pictures pictures pictures. I'm WORKING ON IT! I'm taking them, but I can't upload too much without destroying my internet. Eventually I'll have some more up.
Talk to you all soon!
PS: I apologize for the quasi-lame title of this blog post. I couldn't think of anything else.
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So I'm just getting around to this post because of the LONG and packed day I had yesterday. Let me fill you in.
So Wednesday was my big 'work on the website' day at Philisa Abafazi. I was getting tired of having to email the IT person we were going through to add content to the website, so I emailed him and he gave me access to editing its full content. I spent most of the day figuring out how to use the CMS (content management system) they were using, called Joomla (it means 'united' in Swahili); it was apparently a system that was supposed to make editing websites easier, but it basically just ate up a chunk of my time. Nonetheless, I figured it out, and revamped the homepage. I'm currently in the process of adding new sections and working on tweaking current pages.
At 2 PM, I had a class with the children - only 2 of them showed up though, out of a normal 4 or so that were supposed to be there. Still, I was able to be fairly productive with them. However, the most challenging part of the teaching is because the attendance is irregular; with some children coming to every class and getting to the 'advanced parts' of my curriculum and others coming for the first time and having to do keyboard skills, I can't teach one thing to the entire class and save time. Instead, I have to go around individually and assign things - this is fine, but I think I could cover more if people would just show up.
After I got off work, I came home and Philly, my host mom, made me Samosas! They were quite good. I then had to go to the weekly ProjectsAbroad volunteer social at Cubana's, a Cuban restaurant, unsurprisingly. However, getting there would prove to be more of a challenge than I anticipated.
After being dropped off at the train station by Philly, I went and bought a ticket for R8 (very cheap, basically $1) and checked the map for where I'd be getting off. I had to count how many times the train stopped in order to figure out when to get off because no one announced where the train was each time people got off. I had only taken a train one time before, and that was in Long Island; "How different could it be?" I thought. At the 10th stop (the correct one), I tried to get off of the train by politely moving past people and saying "excuse me"; the people were not very kind and were like boulders - they wouldn't move! By the time I realized that politeness was not the way to go here, the train had already started moving again. Great. Just Great.
I got off at the 11th stop and was determined to take the train back to the 10th stop (they run fairly regularly). So I got back on, and when the train reached the correct destination once more, I made my way to the front of the door and waited for it to open (like they do in New York, right?). Apparently the doors in Cape Town trains are not automatic - you have to open them yourself quite forcefully. Unfortunately, I didn't figure this out until the train started moving AGAIN. UGH!
So, I'm back at the 9th stop and frustrated out of my mind with this transportation system and my inability to use common sense to make my way around Africa. After slowly calming myself down, I eventually took the train for a final time, yanked the doors open, and got to my final destination: Cubana's.
Dinner was quite nice and I got to talk to and get to know a few volunteers that I hadn't talked to very much. It was good to see I had a good community of people around me, although the majority of them were aged 23-27. The two I was with were my age though. One thing that I've noticed here is that practically all of the locals here smoke. It's so unattractive (and UNHEALTHY). About a third of the volunteers smoked as well.
Anywho, after dinner, we went to the Melting Pot, a local hangout and musician venue. We called a driver (ProjectsAbroad has several private taxis they recommend) to take us there, and he proved to be basically the best taxi driver ever. He had an amazing playlist on his stereo, where we sang everything from "Total Eclipse of the Heart" to staples such as Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" - and no, we did NOT sing Justin Bieber (thank goodness this blog post doesn't involve him, for once). I'll be using him again in the future. And it was cheap. Like really cheap. For a fifteen minute drive, he charged us 30 Rand - that's 3 DOLLARS. YAY SOUTH AFRICA!
We relaxed on the comfortable couches, met some other volunteers, and heard some interesting flavors of music (ranging from reggae to smooth jazz). All in all, a successful night.
I know, pictures pictures pictures. I'm WORKING ON IT! I'm taking them, but I can't upload too much without destroying my internet. Eventually I'll have some more up.
Talk to you all soon!
PS: I apologize for the quasi-lame title of this blog post. I couldn't think of anything else.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Apparently, I AM Justin Bieber.
Today was my first official teaching day, and it began with the children of the informal housing settlement that Lucinda’s friend Aysha headed up. I read more about the children in an old newspaper article I found: apparently the majority of them were expelled or dropped out of school, but are seeking to get themselves back on the right track. When the children approached the school to re-enroll, administrators refused to let them in. So they approached Aysha with their willingness to get educated. She has been working to give them the best opportunities she can afford, but has largely run into roadblocks. She reached out to Lucinda at Philisa Abafazi; Lucinda agreed to lend out some of her computers to her for occupational training for the kids. With the arrival of ProjectsAbroad volunteers such as myself, we’re now able to give these kids another chance by teaching them skills that are applicable and desirable in the workplace. That’s where I come in.
My first class was from 10 AM to 12 PM with six children from the community (including Lauren from yesterday). I focused the day on typing skills (it’s remarkably hard to keep them from only using one finger of one hand to type each letter), Microsoft Word skills, and even some basic skills in Excel. It was a painstaking task, working with two children to a computer (so they had to alternate who was on the keyboard) and having them get distracted by each other or goings on in the community. However, I was definitely making some progress. One of the three groups worked super fast (surprisingly, not Lauren’s group!) and actually finished my entire lesson plan for that day. I’m going to actually have to sit down and figure out what else I’m going to teach for the rest of the time I’m here; a specific curriculum will be much more helpful than planning things the night before. Overall, the class went well and I was happy with the progress I had made, though.
At that point, I came back to Philisa Abafazi for a staff meeting with Lucinda about everything that was going on this week. She told Petra and I that we would be in charge of giving weekly status reports, making a newsletter, and a few other tasks. She also said that we may have to cancel the children’s holiday program due to lack of funds for a decent venue; keep in mind that Philisa Abafazi receives no external funding from the government (South Africa’s social rights/welfare program is apparently rubbish) – it runs solely on donations and Lucinda’s husband’s wages. Meanwhile, I have several applications for computers that I am working on getting filled out that will hopefully get us some better equipment for the classes. If you’re reading this and want to help out, check out their website’s contact page for details on an account that you can wire funds to: http://www.philisaabafazi.org/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1&Itemid=53
As I was setting up for my afternoon class (in the much less-cramped meeting space at Lucinda’s place), several children came by and said, “Why, hello Justin Bieber!” (Note: these are not related in any way to the woman I sang Bieber with yesterday). We then talked for a good while about their obsession with him, and how apparently I looked like the 16-year-old pop idol. I don’t know if I actually look like this kid, or whether the kids just thought, “White kid, Brown hair.. close enough.” Eh, whatever. I told her she could call me that. I can live with being a 16-year old pop star.
My second class had three kids show up out of a possible six. One of them worked very quickly and again exhausted my entire lesson plan, while the other two struggled with typing, highlighting, and using the mouse. I’m not worried about the learning differences, though. I think once we’ve had a few classes, I’ll separate the classes by skill level; that way, we can have a beginner class, intermediate class, and advanced class.
Dinner was awesome; my host mom Philly made some amazing beef rice thing (I have no idea what it was called) that was really really good. I also watched a really depressing movie called LineWatch that Sebastian rented.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a social with the other volunteers after work at a Mexican restaurant called Cubana’s. Should be fun!
My first class was from 10 AM to 12 PM with six children from the community (including Lauren from yesterday). I focused the day on typing skills (it’s remarkably hard to keep them from only using one finger of one hand to type each letter), Microsoft Word skills, and even some basic skills in Excel. It was a painstaking task, working with two children to a computer (so they had to alternate who was on the keyboard) and having them get distracted by each other or goings on in the community. However, I was definitely making some progress. One of the three groups worked super fast (surprisingly, not Lauren’s group!) and actually finished my entire lesson plan for that day. I’m going to actually have to sit down and figure out what else I’m going to teach for the rest of the time I’m here; a specific curriculum will be much more helpful than planning things the night before. Overall, the class went well and I was happy with the progress I had made, though.
At that point, I came back to Philisa Abafazi for a staff meeting with Lucinda about everything that was going on this week. She told Petra and I that we would be in charge of giving weekly status reports, making a newsletter, and a few other tasks. She also said that we may have to cancel the children’s holiday program due to lack of funds for a decent venue; keep in mind that Philisa Abafazi receives no external funding from the government (South Africa’s social rights/welfare program is apparently rubbish) – it runs solely on donations and Lucinda’s husband’s wages. Meanwhile, I have several applications for computers that I am working on getting filled out that will hopefully get us some better equipment for the classes. If you’re reading this and want to help out, check out their website’s contact page for details on an account that you can wire funds to: http://www.philisaabafazi.org/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1&Itemid=53
As I was setting up for my afternoon class (in the much less-cramped meeting space at Lucinda’s place), several children came by and said, “Why, hello Justin Bieber!” (Note: these are not related in any way to the woman I sang Bieber with yesterday). We then talked for a good while about their obsession with him, and how apparently I looked like the 16-year-old pop idol. I don’t know if I actually look like this kid, or whether the kids just thought, “White kid, Brown hair.. close enough.” Eh, whatever. I told her she could call me that. I can live with being a 16-year old pop star.
You decide.
My second class had three kids show up out of a possible six. One of them worked very quickly and again exhausted my entire lesson plan, while the other two struggled with typing, highlighting, and using the mouse. I’m not worried about the learning differences, though. I think once we’ve had a few classes, I’ll separate the classes by skill level; that way, we can have a beginner class, intermediate class, and advanced class.
Dinner was awesome; my host mom Philly made some amazing beef rice thing (I have no idea what it was called) that was really really good. I also watched a really depressing movie called LineWatch that Sebastian rented.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a social with the other volunteers after work at a Mexican restaurant called Cubana’s. Should be fun!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Justin Bieber: South Africa Loves Him Too
Sunday, May 23rd:
This day was relatively uneventful – your typical “lazy Sunday.” This was fine for me, because I needed a little break and was still catching up on sleep a little bit. Around 2 PM, Philly (my host mom) made an awesome brunch for the family and me: curry chicken and potatoes, beef, and vegetables. It was DELICIOUS and spicy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The cuisine reminded me a lot of Indian food I had eaten before (probably because of the curry). I got to chat with my parents in the early afternoon which was great; Skype voicechat doesn’t take up too much bandwidth, so I think I can afford to do that on my internet card. The only other things of remote substance I did that day were watch two movies: Grease (I forgot that I love this movie SO much. SO much.) and The Wedding Singer (which, coincidentally, is now an awesome musical that Hoof ‘n’ Horn really needs to do). And… that was Sunday.
Monday, May 24th:
Today was my first official day at work! Hooray! So, I got picked up at around 8:30 AM (I am beginning to learn the meaning of ‘Africa time’ – when someone says they’ll pick you up at 8 or 8:15, go ahead and assume they meant at least 15 minutes later). After helping my coworker Petra get set up for her morning computer class with the women of Philisa Abafazi (I’m working on a different teaching schedule than her, so I teach at different times), I set out to assess the computer situation of what the organization had. I tested all of the assets and found that we had 1 working desktop out of 5 desktop computers. So, I then channeled my 9th grade computer repair skills to see if I could fix any of the remaining ones. Unfortunately, it looks like they all have broken power supplies (more expensive to replace than simply buying a new computer) or have strange BIOS/motherboard problems that I can’t seem to fix. Bottom line: we need more computers. Luckily, for our main classes with the women, we have the one working computer and 3 laptops for them to use. So, allowing them to take turns, we’re able to cover a good amount of ground between them. Still, having more computers would be extremely nice. I’m beginning to look into various nonprofits that might be able to donate some to us, such as the OLPC (one laptop per child) initiative. We’ll see what happens there.
I took a short lunch break and then had some time to sit in on and help out a bit with the classes Petra was teaching. We wer
e working on basic skills such as typing, using the mouse, and word processing. The women were extremely enthusiastic about learning, even if the learning was coming rather slowly; many of them had trouble grasping the concept of using two hands at the keyboard for more efficient typing, and the mouse was awkward to hold for some of them. With time, I’m sure this will improve. Still, just in this very first lesson, I could already tell that we were going to cover a lot of ground.
In the late afternoon, I got to work with another group of people Philisa Abafazi is affiliated with, the informal housing settlement. Headed up by a woman named Aysha, this living community provides a place for hundreds of families to live because getting an actual house from the government is a lengthy, unjust process that can take more than 30 years to complete (!). So, today, I worked with some of the youth of the settlement, getting them comfortable with typing and some of the same skills that Petra was working on. I encountered some of the same difficulties Petra was facing, with the children awkwardly pecking out each individual key on the keyboard with one finger of one hand. I recalled that it took an entire semester in 7th grade for me to learn to type properly, and conjectured that I wasn’t going to be able to ingrain exactly proper typing into the minds of my pupils – so I instead settled on the idea of keeping the hands on the home row; this would improve typing efficiency a considerable bit anyway.
The rest of the day was fairly relaxed, and I got picked up from work around 4 PM. We have a new volunteer from the USA today, which is really exciting – California! She isn’t working at Philisa Abafazi very much though. Oh well, it was still nice to talk to someone without a British accent. No offense to those of you who have them, of course.
More excitement tomorrow!
PS: I'll slowly be adding a few photos here and there. Not too much, gotta make that internet last until I can get out to buy another card. Check previous posts every now and then, I might get some new stuff up. Also, click the photos for larger versions.
This day was relatively uneventful – your typical “lazy Sunday.” This was fine for me, because I needed a little break and was still catching up on sleep a little bit. Around 2 PM, Philly (my host mom) made an awesome brunch for the family and me: curry chicken and potatoes, beef, and vegetables. It was DELICIOUS and spicy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The cuisine reminded me a lot of Indian food I had eaten before (probably because of the curry). I got to chat with my parents in the early afternoon which was great; Skype voicechat doesn’t take up too much bandwidth, so I think I can afford to do that on my internet card. The only other things of remote substance I did that day were watch two movies: Grease (I forgot that I love this movie SO much. SO much.) and The Wedding Singer (which, coincidentally, is now an awesome musical that Hoof ‘n’ Horn really needs to do). And… that was Sunday.
Monday, May 24th:
Today was my first official day at work! Hooray! So, I got picked up at around 8:30 AM (I am beginning to learn the meaning of ‘Africa time’ – when someone says they’ll pick you up at 8 or 8:15, go ahead and assume they meant at least 15 minutes later). After helping my coworker Petra get set up for her morning computer class with the women of Philisa Abafazi (I’m working on a different teaching schedule than her, so I teach at different times), I set out to assess the computer situation of what the organization had. I tested all of the assets and found that we had 1 working desktop out of 5 desktop computers. So, I then channeled my 9th grade computer repair skills to see if I could fix any of the remaining ones. Unfortunately, it looks like they all have broken power supplies (more expensive to replace than simply buying a new computer) or have strange BIOS/motherboard problems that I can’t seem to fix. Bottom line: we need more computers. Luckily, for our main classes with the women, we have the one working computer and 3 laptops for them to use. So, allowing them to take turns, we’re able to cover a good amount of ground between them. Still, having more computers would be extremely nice. I’m beginning to look into various nonprofits that might be able to donate some to us, such as the OLPC (one laptop per child) initiative. We’ll see what happens there.
I took a short lunch break and then had some time to sit in on and help out a bit with the classes Petra was teaching. We wer
e working on basic skills such as typing, using the mouse, and word processing. The women were extremely enthusiastic about learning, even if the learning was coming rather slowly; many of them had trouble grasping the concept of using two hands at the keyboard for more efficient typing, and the mouse was awkward to hold for some of them. With time, I’m sure this will improve. Still, just in this very first lesson, I could already tell that we were going to cover a lot of ground.In the late afternoon, I got to work with another group of people Philisa Abafazi is affiliated with, the informal housing settlement. Headed up by a woman named Aysha, this living community provides a place for hundreds of families to live because getting an actual house from the government is a lengthy, unjust process that can take more than 30 years to complete (!). So, today, I worked with some of the youth of the settlement, getting them comfortable with typing and some of the same skills that Petra was working on. I encountered some of the same difficulties Petra was facing, with the children awkwardly pecking out each individual key on the keyboard with one finger of one hand. I recalled that it took an entire semester in 7th grade for me to learn to type properly, and conjectured that I wasn’t going to be able to ingrain exactly proper typing into the minds of my pupils – so I instead settled on the idea of keeping the hands on the home row; this would improve typing efficiency a considerable bit anyway.
The children weren’t as enthusiastic as the adults about the typing drills I had them do; typing names, addresses, and sentences is admittedly a boring task. But some of them really needed to get comfortable with this before we could move on. One of my students walked out after about 10 minutes of teaching – I either was really boring or he was really uninterested. Another was gaining accuracy and speed with the typing slowly, but it took a little while. The last student, a girl named Lauren, was my star student. She was a quick learner, and did what I asked of her without any hesitation. After mastering the basics of typing, I decided to give her a quick foray into Excel. So I taught her how to enter numbers and add them up. Then I showed her how to use the first basic formula function of Excel, th
e average function. I felt it was appropriate to first explain what exactly an average was – harder than you think, by the way – but had a lot of trouble describing what it was without a mathematical formula or using the word average. I eventually interpreted it in terms of test scores and that seemed to click pretty well. By the end of the session, Lauren was typing, summing, averaging, and inserting clip art like a pro. I was impressed. Before I left, some of the local residents of the came by the makeshift computer lab and chatted for a bit. One of them was crazy about Justin Bieber and played his "Baby" over and over on the computer near me. She knew all of the words; even the Ludacris rap. I was impressed.
e average function. I felt it was appropriate to first explain what exactly an average was – harder than you think, by the way – but had a lot of trouble describing what it was without a mathematical formula or using the word average. I eventually interpreted it in terms of test scores and that seemed to click pretty well. By the end of the session, Lauren was typing, summing, averaging, and inserting clip art like a pro. I was impressed. Before I left, some of the local residents of the came by the makeshift computer lab and chatted for a bit. One of them was crazy about Justin Bieber and played his "Baby" over and over on the computer near me. She knew all of the words; even the Ludacris rap. I was impressed.The rest of the day was fairly relaxed, and I got picked up from work around 4 PM. We have a new volunteer from the USA today, which is really exciting – California! She isn’t working at Philisa Abafazi very much though. Oh well, it was still nice to talk to someone without a British accent. No offense to those of you who have them, of course.
More excitement tomorrow!
PS: I'll slowly be adding a few photos here and there. Not too much, gotta make that internet last until I can get out to buy another card. Check previous posts every now and then, I might get some new stuff up. Also, click the photos for larger versions.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
I Bless the Rains (and Internet Cards) Down in Africa.
Today was my “David needs to find a way to have continuous access to the internet or he will explode” day. So, after I slept late and had breakfast, I asked one of my housemates to draw me a map to the Blue Route Mall, which had a Vodacom store where I could buy a USB 3G internet card for my laptop. The walk would supposedly take 20 minutes; knowing my sense of direction (or more accurately, the lack thereof) fairly well, I knew this would be no short endeavor. Nonetheless, I set off for the mall around 12 PM.
I got lost a few times, but I asked people who looked friendly and they always pointed me in the right direction. As I got further into the various neighborhoods of Cape Town, I began receiving more and more funny looks; apparently, white people don’t walk to the mall here, and especially not through the areas I was going through. It was the daytime though, so I felt safe. I only was heckled on my way twice; once to buy some cotton candy (I politely declined), and another from some teenagers riding in a car yelling at me.
I made it to the Blue Route Mall eventually. I was so happy to see the mall’s sign that I didn’t check the time, so I don’t know how lost I really got. Roughly half an hour later, I was walking out of the Vodacom store with an internet card and 110 MB of airtime (I’m going to add more later; it’s running out rather quickly) for roughly R 549 (about $70) – this was an incredible deal, considering it was prepaid. Apparently the US is just extremely overpriced. I worked up a pretty sizeable appetite, so I headed to the food court, but was disappointed with the selection: A place named Wimpy (the name didn’t sound impressive, so I declined), an ice cream shop, and a KFC were the primary places I had to choose from. I was intrigued to see what South Africa’s take on Kentucky Fried Chicken was, so decided on that. I ordered a combo and a Pepsi; biscuits were sadly not on the menu. The food’s quality was excellent, and slightly less greasy than what I was accustomed to in America. However, one detail of the meal was particularly striking: the serving sizes were all drastically smaller. For example, a normal can of soda here is only 200 mL; I have to order two of those normally because I’m so thirsty!
The can is similar to the one in the middle here.
I talked to a ProjectsAbroad member about this, and he said that this is just another example of America’s obsession with food and its rampant obesity. Maybe he’s right; still, I want more cola in my can.
Fun fact about South Africa #2: Chicken sandwiches are called burgers. I’m not quite sure what burgers are called.
Alright, enough of my food digression; I don’t know why, but it seems like all of my blogs always tend to focus on food more than primary content. I’m sure I’ll have more relevant things to say on Monday when I really start my job.
I walked back to the house from the mall after that, and got lost one time; I got help at a convenience store, and found out I wasn’t too far from home. Once I was home, I took a glorious nap for several hours.
Later, Sebastian (my roommate) and I went down to Victoria Harbour for food and to watch some sports games. The Victoria Harbour is in downtime Cape Town and is one of the more affluent and modern areas of Cape Town. The buildings near the area were high rise and reminiscent of a big city. It was striking how much contrast there was between this urban area and the poverty I had been witness to just days earlier. I took my camera with me, but most of the pictures didn’t turn out very well. I’ll try to take some better ones in the daytime another day. I posted two of the more interesting ones below (I won’t be posting all of the photos I take until the end of the trip, because my internet access is limited to a set amount of bandwidth; uploading photos takes away from that bandwidth).
[Update: I'm having trouble getting the photos to upload at all; I'll try tomorrow and see if I can't get it to work; otherwise, we might have to wait until I get back for much photo action. Sorry!! ]
We watched a rugby game between the Stormers and the Waratahs – rugby, by the way, is very confusing to me and seems unnecessarily rough. I was especially into this game because the Stormers’ team color was Duke Blue, and the Waratahs’ team color was that other shade of blue; needless to say, Duke, I mean the Stormers, trampled the Waratahs for an excellent game.
This dreadful color (right) haunts me everywhere. I even saw someone wearing a Carolina hoodie as I walked to the mall today. Go figure.
At the same time, we were eating a fancy German restaurant that I forgot the name of. I had a schnitzel and some Coke, and I was thoroughly satisfied – those Germans know how to cook.
I came back to the house and wrote this blog post. And now, I sleep. More exciting things to be posted soon, I’m sure :)
- David
Fun Fact about South Africa #3: Its televised sporting events are not interrupted by annoying commercials every 3 minutes. In fact, the only commercials during the game are at halftime. Take note, America!
Fun Fact about South Africa #4: I thought the South Africans would think songs such as Toto's "Africa" were cliché; however, as I walked around the Victoria Harbour, the DJ present proved me wrong. Hmph.
Update on Previous Post: I asked my host dad, Derek, what South Africans call actual robots if they call traffic lights that name; he said that's irrelevant because South Africa doesn't have robots. X__X However, if they did, he said they'd be called robots as well. Hmph.
Journey's Beginning
Wow. What a trip this has been so far. I suppose I’ll begin summarizing what’s happened up until this point; however, I don’t have internet access at home and getting to an internet café is more of a hassle than I anticipated. So I don’t actually know when this will get posted.. Oh well. Here goes!
I left Charleston, SC at around 10 AM. After a painless pass through security, I boarded the plane and a quick flight brought me to Dulles airport in Washington, DC. This included a 6-hour layover. Luckily, this gave me time to do lots of facebooking and catch up on episodes of Glee and House. I then departed DC around 6:30 PM.
The subsequent flight was to Amsterdam and was a total of 7 hours. I enjoyed the fact that the KLM Dutch Airlines employees wore uniforms of bright royal blue; it reminded me of Duke a good bit. In addition, I had access to my own personal entertainment console with video games, movies, television, and music. The food wasn’t that bad, either. Still, 7 hours was a long time.
Once I got to Amsterdam, I had about 2 hours until my next flight so I wanted to make contact with my parents and let them know everything was going alright. However, I quickly found out that: 1) There is no free internet in the Amsterdam Airport; 2) The paid internet didn’t work; 3) All pay phones which took credit cards refused to take any of my American cards. Luckily, I finally figured out that an international collect call would work. After gathering my things, I headed out to the 11-hour flight to Cape Town.
This flight was REALLY LONG. The airline food (and the employees’ uniforms) were quickly losing their novelty, and my personal entertainment center was defective. So.. I slept a lot. Which was fine except for the jet lag I’d later suffer.
When I finally got into Cape Town, it was 10:30 PM and I really couldn’t see anything (obviously, since it was dark). I stood at the baggage claim for half an hour, and I never got my main suitcase with all of my toiletries and 90% of my clothes; GREAT. I went to baggage claim and stood in line for what felt like almost another hour, and found out the bag never got out of DC. So.. I’m stuck with a minimal set of clothes until Saturday night. Once I finally got out of claims and customs and all of those other departments, two ProjectsAbroad members met me and drove me to my host family’s house.
My host mother Phillida, who gave me a big hug and immediately offered me tea or coffee, met me with open arms. Since it was 1 AM, I politely declined, but I was really struck by her kindness. I got to my room, which was shared with a 26-year-old German named Sebastian and quickly went to bed.
The place I was staying was surprisingly nice; there was a separate wing for Sebastian and I who had a bathroom, media room, and a bedroom. The media room had a large TV with DVD player, a computer (without internet, unfortunately), and a lounge area for hanging out.
The next morning, Phillida greeted me and offered me a choice of cereals and breads for breakfast, and made me coffee. Already, I felt like part of the family because she was so caring. It was good to know I had someone genuine to come home to at night.
At 9:00 AM, a man from ProjectsAbroad came to give me my “volunteer orientation” and take me around Cape Town. Normally, to get to the ProjectsAbroad office, I would simply take the train into town and walk a short distance. However, the train workers were on strike. So.. we took the signature form of Cape Town travel, the minibus. Think Voltswagon bus crowded with 14 or 15 people; really cozy. We took three different minibuses in total to get to our destination.
Frankly, at the moment, I’m pretty daunted at the prospect of having to do this on my own; the minibus routes seem confusing, the people aren’t exceptionally friendly, and I feel a little out of place. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it in time though.
Once at the office, I met Dana, the leader of the Cape Town ProjectsAbroad team, and several other members of the office. They were all very friendly and willing to help me with any questions I had. Once some initial paperwork had been completed, a worker named Jason took me out to lunch and to show me a bit more of Cape Town. We walked to a nearby shopping mall which was very comparable to those of America. And yes, it had a McDonalds – they really are everywhere. After a delicious chicken melt and berry smoothie (and a great chat), we walked around the mall and got my US dollars exchanged for South African rand, visited a computer store (since Jason knew I was into computers) which was basically comparable to Western prices and selection, and bought me a cell phone which could use a local SIM card. And voila – I had a South African phone number, courtesy of Vodacom.
Perhaps the most interesting part of my day was when the ProjectsAbroad members took me to the place I’d begin working officially on Monday. The Philiza Abafazi home for women and children is run by a woman named Lucinda who receives no outside funding other than the wages she can raise through grants and her husband’s wages. Providing after school care, sexual/domestic counseling, and literacy/numeracy skill enhancement, the center is an amazing place run by one of the kindest souls I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. Lucinda told me I’d be helping with the IT project that they were just beginning, which was focused on teaching women and young adults the skills they need to be comfortable with a computer and able to create a resume. Lucinda also said this would allow them to possibly become entrepreneurs. She sent me on a walk with two of the members of the home, who showed me the area I’d be working around. The surrounding area was impoverished, with people living in shacks made of wood and sheets of metal. I wanted to take pictures, but I forgot to bring my camera; I’ll get some pictures another day for sure though. They took me by a satellite of the Philiza Abafazi office which had several broken computers; just from initial inspection, I wasn’t able to fix them, but we’ll see as time goes on. I also went by the library in the crèche, which was active with many children participating in arts and crafts projects. The library also had some computers that needed fixing.
After a long tour and briefing on the next week’s goals, I was brought home for dinner (delicious!) and hanging out with some of the volunteers. We threw a small party for one of the volunteers who was leaving tomorrow. This mostly involved lots of karaoke to the Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey – needless to say, I was ok with that. Everyone I met today was really friendly, and I think if I can just figure out a few other things, I’ll be very comfortable here.
Annoying Things: Communication with home; the lack of internet is really jarring, and the closest place with access is a 20-minute walk. I bought some minutes on my cell phone for calling here and home, but a 12-minute call home burned up the entire R10 card. So.. I’m going to need to find a way to get reliable access to the internet and have a better way to communicate to home than the cell phone. I’m hoping to stop by the mall tomorrow and figure this all out. With any luck, I’ll be back home with a cell phone full of minutes and a wifi card for my laptop that will give me internet. Here’s hoping for the best!
I left Charleston, SC at around 10 AM. After a painless pass through security, I boarded the plane and a quick flight brought me to Dulles airport in Washington, DC. This included a 6-hour layover. Luckily, this gave me time to do lots of facebooking and catch up on episodes of Glee and House. I then departed DC around 6:30 PM.
The subsequent flight was to Amsterdam and was a total of 7 hours. I enjoyed the fact that the KLM Dutch Airlines employees wore uniforms of bright royal blue; it reminded me of Duke a good bit. In addition, I had access to my own personal entertainment console with video games, movies, television, and music. The food wasn’t that bad, either. Still, 7 hours was a long time.
Once I got to Amsterdam, I had about 2 hours until my next flight so I wanted to make contact with my parents and let them know everything was going alright. However, I quickly found out that: 1) There is no free internet in the Amsterdam Airport; 2) The paid internet didn’t work; 3) All pay phones which took credit cards refused to take any of my American cards. Luckily, I finally figured out that an international collect call would work. After gathering my things, I headed out to the 11-hour flight to Cape Town.
This flight was REALLY LONG. The airline food (and the employees’ uniforms) were quickly losing their novelty, and my personal entertainment center was defective. So.. I slept a lot. Which was fine except for the jet lag I’d later suffer.
When I finally got into Cape Town, it was 10:30 PM and I really couldn’t see anything (obviously, since it was dark). I stood at the baggage claim for half an hour, and I never got my main suitcase with all of my toiletries and 90% of my clothes; GREAT. I went to baggage claim and stood in line for what felt like almost another hour, and found out the bag never got out of DC. So.. I’m stuck with a minimal set of clothes until Saturday night. Once I finally got out of claims and customs and all of those other departments, two ProjectsAbroad members met me and drove me to my host family’s house.
My host mother Phillida, who gave me a big hug and immediately offered me tea or coffee, met me with open arms. Since it was 1 AM, I politely declined, but I was really struck by her kindness. I got to my room, which was shared with a 26-year-old German named Sebastian and quickly went to bed.
The place I was staying was surprisingly nice; there was a separate wing for Sebastian and I who had a bathroom, media room, and a bedroom. The media room had a large TV with DVD player, a computer (without internet, unfortunately), and a lounge area for hanging out.
The next morning, Phillida greeted me and offered me a choice of cereals and breads for breakfast, and made me coffee. Already, I felt like part of the family because she was so caring. It was good to know I had someone genuine to come home to at night.
At 9:00 AM, a man from ProjectsAbroad came to give me my “volunteer orientation” and take me around Cape Town. Normally, to get to the ProjectsAbroad office, I would simply take the train into town and walk a short distance. However, the train workers were on strike. So.. we took the signature form of Cape Town travel, the minibus. Think Voltswagon bus crowded with 14 or 15 people; really cozy. We took three different minibuses in total to get to our destination.
Frankly, at the moment, I’m pretty daunted at the prospect of having to do this on my own; the minibus routes seem confusing, the people aren’t exceptionally friendly, and I feel a little out of place. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it in time though.
Once at the office, I met Dana, the leader of the Cape Town ProjectsAbroad team, and several other members of the office. They were all very friendly and willing to help me with any questions I had. Once some initial paperwork had been completed, a worker named Jason took me out to lunch and to show me a bit more of Cape Town. We walked to a nearby shopping mall which was very comparable to those of America. And yes, it had a McDonalds – they really are everywhere. After a delicious chicken melt and berry smoothie (and a great chat), we walked around the mall and got my US dollars exchanged for South African rand, visited a computer store (since Jason knew I was into computers) which was basically comparable to Western prices and selection, and bought me a cell phone which could use a local SIM card. And voila – I had a South African phone number, courtesy of Vodacom.
Perhaps the most interesting part of my day was when the ProjectsAbroad members took me to the place I’d begin working officially on Monday. The Philiza Abafazi home for women and children is run by a woman named Lucinda who receives no outside funding other than the wages she can raise through grants and her husband’s wages. Providing after school care, sexual/domestic counseling, and literacy/numeracy skill enhancement, the center is an amazing place run by one of the kindest souls I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. Lucinda told me I’d be helping with the IT project that they were just beginning, which was focused on teaching women and young adults the skills they need to be comfortable with a computer and able to create a resume. Lucinda also said this would allow them to possibly become entrepreneurs. She sent me on a walk with two of the members of the home, who showed me the area I’d be working around. The surrounding area was impoverished, with people living in shacks made of wood and sheets of metal. I wanted to take pictures, but I forgot to bring my camera; I’ll get some pictures another day for sure though. They took me by a satellite of the Philiza Abafazi office which had several broken computers; just from initial inspection, I wasn’t able to fix them, but we’ll see as time goes on. I also went by the library in the crèche, which was active with many children participating in arts and crafts projects. The library also had some computers that needed fixing.
After a long tour and briefing on the next week’s goals, I was brought home for dinner (delicious!) and hanging out with some of the volunteers. We threw a small party for one of the volunteers who was leaving tomorrow. This mostly involved lots of karaoke to the Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey – needless to say, I was ok with that. Everyone I met today was really friendly, and I think if I can just figure out a few other things, I’ll be very comfortable here.
Annoying Things: Communication with home; the lack of internet is really jarring, and the closest place with access is a 20-minute walk. I bought some minutes on my cell phone for calling here and home, but a 12-minute call home burned up the entire R10 card. So.. I’m going to need to find a way to get reliable access to the internet and have a better way to communicate to home than the cell phone. I’m hoping to stop by the mall tomorrow and figure this all out. With any luck, I’ll be back home with a cell phone full of minutes and a wifi card for my laptop that will give me internet. Here’s hoping for the best!
UPDATE: Obviously, since I'm posting this, I got internet access. More news on how I got that later. And pictures coming soon!!
Fun fact about South Africa #1: Traffic Lights are called Robots. Makes you wonder what they call Robots, huh? I'll let you know when I find out the answer to that question.
- David
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Preparing for Adventure
Hey guys! Here is where I'll be keeping you all updated on my International Summer of Service in Capetown, South Africa. I leave tomorrow. Wow, this is happening rather quickly. I'll be trying to update this blog as often as I can, although I don't think I have internet access directly at the host family's home, so blog updates will be less frequent, but nonetheless I'll do my best to keep y'all informed. Here's the basic information:I'll be in Cape Town, South Africa from May 19th to July 19th. I'll be working with the Philisa Abafazi Bethu Women and Children's Intervention Program teaching computer and IT skills for three weeks, and then working at the afterschool care center there for the remaining five weeks. A description of the Philisa Abafazi Bethu center can be found on their website linked above.
I'll be living with Phillida and Derek Smith, a host family that lives in the Cape Town suburb of Retreat. Phillida is retired and Derek works in the flooring trade. I believe there will also be other volunteers living with me as well.
If you want to contact me while I'm over in South Africa, the quickest way is email, but feel free to send me a letter or use whatever medium suits you. Information below:
Email: david.oberst@duke.edu
Skype: davidoberst
Postal Address:
David Oberst
Projects Abroad
c/o Mr Dana Myers
Fourth Floor, Letterstedt House
Newlands on Main
Corner of Campground
Cape Town, 7700
Republic of South Africa
I promise to keep you guys as updated as possible! Feel free to send me mail, email, or Skype me if you see me online, I want to stay in touch.
I can't say that I'm not a little daunted by the prospect of the adventure that I'm about to embark on, but I know it's going to be significant, amazing, and life-changing. Here we go!
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