Finally Feeling Far (Fri 06/19)

I thought today was going to be another lame day at work. I was only right for about half the day, thank God. The morning was incredible slow again, especially since my boss has been in Joburg for the past couple days and is thus “unreachable.” Unfortunate when you’re trying to get assignments from him. So great, I was expecting another dilly-dally day. Rebecca saved me. She took me and two other interns to Khayletsha for the afternoon to sit in on a briefing in the township. Getting there was a little bit of an adventure. I hadn’t taken the mini-buses here in Cape Town until this afternoon. They are wicked cheap if you’re trying to get out to the townships, but also probably wicked sketchy if you’re on your own. It was such an experience too see the mini-bus station (which was surprisingly organized) and to ride out in a crowded vans to the townships. The five of us crowded into the very back of the bus, which served for some good TAC bonding. The office here is so ridiculously young. Rebecca, the head of the PCR department in our National Office, is probably the spunkiest/most intense person I’ve ever met, is only 27. 

From what I could see, Khayletsha is a township worse off than Langa (the one we visited as a group). The majority of it is very dirty, filled with crowded shacks and weak looking buildings. Our first stop was the TAC office in Khayletsha where we spent some quality time talking as interns about relationships, traveling, and the massive stack of boxes filled with condoms in the room. After a cup of tea and an hour or so of waiting, we discovered that the meeting was being held elsewhere, so we packed back into a minibus to drive over to a local library.

The meeting consisted of informing the people present on TAC’s Resources for Health Campaign that is being launched this July. The purpose of the campaign is to push the government to meet the health system promises that were made to South Africa despite the global economic crisis. These promises include having 80% of all HIV positive people on treatment and reducing the infection rate by 50% by the year 2011. Frankly, I don’t see these promises being met, but I fully support the optimism and belief that they can be fulfilled if the government focuses it’s money in the appropriate areas of this society. It was moving to see how these people, who are mere community members of Khayletsha, are so motivated to mobilize their community in this fight against HIV/AIDS. I’m thankful that Rebecca took me today, I feel like I learn so much from sitting in on these briefings and from seeing the actual communities that are being impacted by the decisions and actions being taken in the National Office. It always helps to have a face in your mind while doing service work.

I didn’t get back from Khayletsha until almost five which meant that I had to walk home alone from work, which I HATE doing. I ended up being fine except for a man who decided to follow me until another man told him to lay off and stop bothering me. I powerwalked in the heat wearing my NorthFace fleece and carrying my probably 40lb backpack uphill, at least 1.5 miles all the way back to the B&B. And then I collapsed on my bed before starting to skype.

Today is the first day I’ve really started to miss home. I guess there’s just been a lot going on in my head and I want to be right beside the people who always help me deal with them. I feel very separate from everyone right now. It was bound to happen, and it happened while I was abroad, too. It even happens at Duke sometimes. I'll get over it soon, but I need to snap out of this funk asap, hopefully by tomorrow. Between spending time in the township, feeling like I have to sprint home from work to avoid getting followed, missing my family and friends who I can't constantly talk to, and dealing with life, for the first time I feel like the thousands of miles from home.

Just know that I’m missing you all very much, but don’t worry, I’m still having an awesome time here while I save the world. Joke. But I am trying though, one little step at a time.

Ukuthula,

Lynn

Warning: My first ranting blog (Thurs 06/18)

Ok, weird realization: I actually like having work to do at work. Who would have thought? Today was soooooooo boooooooring in the office. I would much rather be scrambling to finish an assignment then peddling around on my computer for 6/7 hours of my work day. I think you can guess that’s what happened today yes? After I finished up the women’s report for Phillip, I emailed him the draft and told him that I’d take another assignment. No response all day. He hasn’t been in the office lately so the only form of communication I have with him is via email, so if I don’t have that, I’m stuck. That happened today. Of course there are some perks to not having an assignment. I can blog, read ESPN and CNN, find out what’s going on around the world, facebook stalk some people, skype whoever is online. But really though, I have a lot of trouble keeping myself entertained on a computer for extensive periods of time. Also, if anyone would like to email me some new songs, I’m dying on my itunes right now and youtube is blocked at work. Lame South Africa for having the most expensive internet on the planet. The only semi-interesting thing that happened to me today was getting hit on by a little man who was at least two feet shorter than me.

After the gym today, we headed back to the B&B for an in-house dinner and speaker. The speaker, whose name is Dr. Mohammed Something-or-Another teaches at the University of Cape Town. I hated him. I actually loathed every phrase that came out of the man’s mouth. He’s this little Indian guy, except he doesn’t acknowledge that about himself at all. I don’t even know if I can relay my feelings about him with going on a blogging rampage, but the man was completely regressive in his thoughts and actions regarding racial views. Note: this is clearly my opinion, but remember I did say in my first entry that I was not going to be poltically correct at times. Case in point.

I should explain why I disliked this man so much. Let me begin by saying that I most definitely gave him a chance. I was excited to hear about the Coloured experience in South Africa because I feel like that is a side that gets left out in a lot of history lessons. I was interested to see how the Coloured community of South Africa had progressed post-apartheid. Yes, for once, I was actively interested in a speaker. I sat across from him at the dinner table before the formal discussion began. He, Naomi, Anthony and I were having a discussion the differences in the way that people are classified around the world. Seems to be a pretty common conversation topic during this trip which I’m frankly almost- only almost-tired of focusing on. At first the man was still on my good side, having a legitimate discussion about the word Coloured vs. Black, whatever whatever. Oh, also, he has these horrible shifty eyes and doesn’t make eye-contact with you whether it’s at a dinnertime conversation or during the group discussion. But moving on to what he said to heat me up for the remainder of the evening...

Our dicussion came around to the topic of how Americans from immigrant families choose their identities in the US. Well golly gee, I wonder who would be able to contribute to that discussion from firsthand experience. Oh, I don’t know, maybe me? Duh. I said my polite piece concerning my opinion that one’s identity changes according to their surroundings and the context in which that person find’s themselves. Like I said, my polite piece. This man, who very clearly said that his parents were Indian immigrants who “grew up on rice patties” (his quote), somehow felt that he could deny his culture and religion by instead looking at the world as containing humanity. While that sounds like a nice theory being written out here, the way man said it was so irrational and almost mocking that I wanted to smack him over the head. He was clearly ashamed of his ancestry, and stated that he didn’t hold any value to neither his Indian nor Muslim background. Bull****. P.s. this has nothing to do with him being Muslim because I think some people in the group definitely thought that was what was annoying me about him. No, this had much more to do with the fact that this bastard (pardon the language, but again not PC here). Then I got rude. I basically told him that I thought his argument was completely bogus because I did not think that it was in any way appropriate for someone of a different background to choose to disassociate themselves from that in order to stop racism because all that was doing was encouraging that person (or society) to maintain there racist standards seeing as how those who were being undermined were conforming to their “humanity.” Bull****. I told him that I thought his approach was doing nothing more than reinforcing racism and that the more active approach should be to instead show those who are undermining you that despite your differences from them and despite those characteristics that they consider to make  you worse than them, you should show them that you are their equivalent. Or just by virtue of the fact that they let their racism define their lifestyles, that oyu are their superior. End of story. Do not try to ever argue with me on this point because I will not bend. I understand the concept of “humanity” being all the same. Trust me, I’m a BAA major. I know that there is more genetic variation within a “race” than between “races,” that humans have all evolved from the same bipedal hominid, that race has no genetic basis and is defined differently according to context, I know all that. But I also FULLY recognize that there are differences among different groups of people, and these differences have been exploited so that one group considers themselves better than others, often at that “lower group’s” detriment. To make an argument by disassociating yourself from your differences in a society that has condemned you for them is nothing but regressive in my eyes.

Anyway, the group discussion went on for way too long and all the professor did was manage to disgust me more than educate me. At the end of his lecture, we were given the opportunity to ask questions. I asked him the following: “Not as an academic, not as an intellectual, not as a scholar, but as a Coloured person, what strides do you think that Coloured population has taken since apartheid, and what do you hope to still see in your lifetime?” I wanted him to answer that he didn’t consider himself Coloured and that he didn’t see the Coloured population as having made any progression. And he did. I wanted the entire group to hear him say, despite the fact that he had been telling us for his ENTIRE lecture that everyone who wasn’t White or African Black had been seen as Coloured, that he himself as the son of Indian immigrants parents was not Coloured. Bull****. I got what I wanted out of him, and I can’t wait to have a group discussion about it.

After our sit-in with Dr. Crackhead, a couple of us went to Rafiki’s (a restaurant close to our B&B) to watch the soccer game before going out for a little bit in the evening. Highlight: Egypt wonnnnnn! Yaaaaaay! We went to Dubliner’s afterwards for afterwards where I had my yummy hot chocolate again. I was feeling calm and content by the end of the evening, but the thought of that man still makes me want to smack him. Figurately speaking, of course.

Ukuthula,

Lynn

Avenue Q-Everyone's a little bit racist (Wed 06/17)

You know how they say all good things come to an end? Well unfortunately that also applies to relaxing four day weekends as well. Boo.

It’s back to work after a splendid four day weekend with my lovely group. I’ve been working on a report for the TAC employee I’m working under, Phillip. It basically involves me summarizing all the TAC stories and campaigns for 2008 regarding women’s rights and gender issues. I definitely have been learning a lot. Between condom shortages, over-priced HPV vaccines, and male circumcision, it feels like I could spend years only begin to learn all the layers of the complex HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. The report is loooooong. It’s taken me all day to get through the stories on the TAC website, and I still have three documents to get through for tomorrow afternoon. In all honesty, I’m not quite sure what I’m doing, but I haven’t been done I’m doing a really crappy job yet so I guess that’s a good sign…
One of my daily routines at work is going through my emails every morning. It’s been so great to hear from some of you that you’re actually reading this, so I just wanted to say thank you thank you thank you. A second of my routines is to g-chat with Anthony throughout the day. Everyone except him and me have another intern working with them at their site, so we keep each other as much company as possible throughout the day. Third routine- muffins. Random I know. But I some reason find a way to eat a muffin every day, and by muffin I actually just mean muffin top because I don’t care much for the bottom half. So my work days usually progress as follows: emails to g-chatting to working/blogging to muffins to working/blogging to getting bored to leaving to gym to dinner to whatever we do in the evening. It’s so odd to be in a work routine. I’m not going to lie though, I LOVE not having work in the evenings when I get home from the office.

Oh, for those of you who know even a little about my wardrobe capacity, you will find the following incredibly comical. I currently have no pants to wear. Literally. I gave EVERY pair of my pants to the laundry Monday morning, forgetting the Tuesday was a holiday which would probably mean no laundry again until Wednesday. I have been wearing Naomi’s leggings for the past three days. I think it is the first (and hopefully last) time in my life I have ever run out of clothing. Hopefully I’ll get them back by tomorrow, otherwise I might have to wear a sheet around my waist. Kidding, Anthony offered to give me his pants already, but I do look like a straight fool wearing them.

We also had a group reflection session this evening which always keeps me thinking for the rest of the day. I usually go into them not thinking I have something to say, but somehow always end up wanting to talk through things with the others. Very deep, I know. Really though, they’ve been amazing and I’m completely comfortable stating my opinions and concerns to this group.

After the reflection session, Julian, Naomi, Lauren and I hung out in our room to watch South Africa play in the Confederation Cup. Throughout the game, we were having a discussion about race in SA vs. in Germany vs. in the States. The one message that really hit home for me during the conversation came from Julian, when he said, “I didn’t know what racism was until I came here, to South Africa.” It was an interesting dynamic we had going, with German, African American, Arab/Muslim, and Southern US sides all playing in. Unfortunately, I have come to include that racism, in some form or another, exists globally. The difference comes in how the issue is dealt with among other countries, societies, and even individuals. Everyone is a little racist, let’s be real. I mean listen to the Avenue Q song (shoutout to Ella Lipin.) It’s human nature to associate characteristics according to appearance, whether you’re looking at skin color, body physique, accent, dress, style, smile, whatever. Racism is always an issue, but what I’m still trying to figure out is how we should be dealing with it since these differences are never, ever going to disappear.

Ukuthula,
Lynn

A Touristly Authentic Day (Tues 06/16)

This morning started up bright and early as it usually does here in Cape Town with DukeEngage. The past couple days have been obvious exceptions, and I don’t expect to have another morning where all I stare at is the back of my eyelids for a while now. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

The only thing that truly motivated me to be happy this morning was that our favorite tour guide, Calvin, came back into our lives today to take us to a couple townships around Cape Town. We all love Calvin dearly. He was the first person we spent an extensive amount of time with in South Africa as he was our tour guide all through Johannesburg. He is basically a huge teddy bear of a man, but he definitely has some bad ass history. He spent some time in jail while he was actively fighting apartheid, and his stories are all unmatched. Calvin is also very good at making history interesting to me, which is something that very few people are capable of doing.

Our tour of the townships ended up being a fairly trying day. We started in the Cape Malay area of Cape Town where the majority of the population is Muslim. It was neat for me to see Arabic on some of the walls in this part of town, not to mention that the town houses were all painted different colors of bright blue, green, orange, pink, purple, yellow, etc. We didn’t spend too much time here but basically listened to a little historical spiel

from Calvin before hopping back into the mini-van to go onto another township. Because I am me and I don’t pay attention to details, the only township name is Langa and so I won’t specify experiences according to where they were. Sorryyyy.

The day involved seeing a lot of things that are kept well hidden in the touristy part of Cape Town. Aka slums, extensive poverty, unsanitary and over-crowded living conditions, etc. The first stop we made was to a community center where members there make different crafts to sell to support the organization. We went into a little pottery making area where we saw how the pieces were made before being scurried off to go buy items outside. Mommy, I bought I pretty little plate that was probably way over-priced but at least supports a cause.

We moved on from the community center to see different aspects of the townships. We went into a couple local taverns and restaurants just to get a feel for what the local people live like. At least I guess that’s what it was for. Honestly, a lot of the day was very touristy despite the fact that it was supposed to be showing us the authenticity of the townships. The tour was a paradox in itself. Let our TOUR group show you through the “REAL Cape Town.” Nice. Anyway, we saw a couple things that were intriguing. One was a very open (and dirty) meat market where one of the things being sold/grilled were whole lamb heads. Mmmm yummy. Slash horribly disgusting to even think about eating. Calvin also took us into one of the slummy areas

to show us a routine beer brewing and sharing process that the local people partake in for just about every celebratory event and then plus some. We also all drank from the nasty bucket, and while I’m trying to be culturally sensitive, it was not the tastiest nor most culturally satisfying experience. One thing that really threw me off today though was the fact that alcohol is EVERYWHERE in these areas. It is actually quite ridiculous and obnoxious in my opinion. It seems in a lot of ways that while these people can’t afford to eat properly, they somehow manage to buy large bottles of Smirnoff and every other alcoholic product in large quantities. Maybe that is a harsh criticism on my part, but the fact that the man explaining the beer ceremony to us confidently stated that the drink eases hypertension, high blood

pressure, and diabetes makes me very skeptical about lifestyle choices here. On top that, the touristy witch doctor man that we went to go see and listen too also had rows of alcohol, along with his dead animals hanging from the ceiling and all around the wall. Rose and I did NOT enjoy that place, especially after I got smacked in the face with a squirrel skin and then looked up only to see a dead baboon hand right above my head. Nice. Again, while the tour was interesting and I appreciate getting to see another side of Cape Town, I do feel like the process was still especially touristy and exploitative.

The whole tour lasted until only about 1:30. When we got back to the B&B, most of us laid down to take a nap. Lauren and I passed out for almost two hours before I got up for a quick run to the gym before heading off to listen to a speaker on the Save Darfur organization at the District Six Museum. The speaker raised some interesting points on how Save Darfur markets the crisis in Sudan in a way that leaves out historical context and etc. Good news is that I stayed awake the whole time. Bad news is that I was starving so about halfway through the speech I started to think about how good dinner was going to be. Karlyn, Victoria, Naomi, Anthony, and I left the discussion portion early to go get some foodage where Julian joined us. The rest of the evening was fairly chill with the group having random discussions, including giving everyone an animal identity. Apparently I ooze giraffe. Go figure.

Ukuthula,

Lynn

Maybe you could watch and learn (Mon 06/15)

Aaaaaaah another day of sleep. (I should probably add that the TAC office was closed today for a four day weekend before a public holiday tomorrow, so I was not skipping out on work.) Not quite as much but still a decent amount. Also a day of working out. Not only did I go on what I considered an almost-intense with Anthony, but I also went to the gym. I’m an exercise fiend, let me tell you. Not quite but I can pretend. Anthony goes running every day, and almost every day he asks if any one wants to go with him. Today, I said yes. Running up the hilly streets of Cape Town didn’t kick my butt quite as much as I expected it to, but it was not a walk in the park either. I’m sure Anthony wouldn’t agree with me, especially since he went running again after we came back. Lame on my part. Running here is an experience though. Between gasping breaths (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration) you can just look around and see how beautiful everything is around you. Anthony took me up the road and on this path over part of the mountain, and at the end of the run (aka when I didn’t think I’d make it back if we went any further) you can stop and see Cape Town below you, with the ocean off to the left and the mountains framing it all. Breathtaking. And not because I had been running but because it was pretty thank you very much. Anthony and I also had a good conversation during our time together. Actually, our entire group is so good about striking the perfect balance of deep, reflective conversations along with the goofiest comments and moments. These people I’m with here are truly incredible.

After the run and a short gym session with the Lauren, the two of us plus Anthony went to a travel agent office to check out what adventurous things we can do in Cape Town. So far, we have decided that we will be going cage diving with great whites and on a mini-safari. Please, try to control your jealousy J I am so so SO excited about it all. It’ll require a little bit of planning and cash investment, but I’m sure it’ll totally be worth it.

The major excitement of the whole day started around 5:00 when we all started getting ready for the alumni dinner that Duke coordinated for alums in the area. Between the 10 of us plus three other Duke students who joined us, we made up more than half of the people at the event. While the food at the even was definitely sub-par, the conversations were good and the open bar was definitely a plus. Of course, after everyone was feeling good about themselves post-event, we decided that the perfect thing to do was go out. Of course! Please note that this included Bill and Karlyn as well (our professor and grad student coordinators). It was epic. We our massive group made our way down to Long Street singing and dancing like the loud Americans that we are dubbed to be. We decided to meet up with Julian and a friend of his at a place called Fiction. Highlight of the night for me: getting to dance with Bill. I wish someone would have recorded it because I would love to be able to watch it over and over and over and over. Second biggest highlight: Karlyn FINALLY pulled out some of her break-dancing moves for us. Despite the fact that tomorrow is a public holiday (aka no work again!) there was hardly any one at the bar other than our group. When Bill and Karlyn decided to go back to the B&B, the rest of us decided to relocate to a place with more mainstream music. (Much more my scene by the way). We headed over to a place called Chrome, where again, we were basically the only people there besides a group of younger kids there who kept having dance offs with Anthony. I don’t know what it was about the evening, but it was definitely what I would consider our most fun night out together so far. Sometimes I wonder if our group of “black,” “white,” and “coloured” people throws off the South Africans that see us together. They could probably learn a thing or two about truly getting along. Or maybe they just watch and admire how great of friends we all are becoming right before their eyes.

Ukuthula,

Lynn

And on the seventh day in Cape Town, we rested (Sun 06/14)

This glorious Sunday morning on the 14^th of June, I finally was allowed to sleep in for as looooooong as I wanted. Probably the first time since before finals started at Duke. It was amazing. The only reason I even woke up by 12 is because Anthony came in to ask if Lauren or I wanted to go running. The answer, not today. Not because I don’t love Anthony because I do, but because the only thing I love more than a cozy bed is God. And my parents and my brother, for good measure.

Honestly, today was not exciting. And I loved that. I do not want every Sunday to be a lame day of sleeping in and then gyming it, but today it was well needed. The only semi-interesting thing that I did was go to Green Market with Rose, Victoria, and Lauren, before meeting up with Danielle and Naomi at a late lunch.

The night out tonight was also pretty chill with drinks at an Irish bar here called Dubliners that is usually packed with foreigners. Rose and Victoria started up a little dance sess in front of the band that attracted a number of over-weight men to us, but other than that nothing too exciting. The hot chocolate I had is worth raving about however, it was goooood.

Hopefully I’ll have something exciting for tomorrow because I’m already over the relaxed times. At least for now.

Ukuthula,

Lynn

"Storey" time in the Cape of Good Hope (Sat 06/13)

After what I would like to think has been a successful and productive (for about 85% of the time) week, it’s finally Saturday. But of course, because our lovely group coordinators do not seem to understand that some of us need to sleep extensive hours in the morning, we had to wake up at the crack of dawn to go on an adventure today. Ok maybe not the crack of dawn, but it was still way to early.

Our first stop of the day was to the lovely home of Reverend Peter Storey. Reverend Storey and his wife Elizabeth may actually be the NICEST couple in South Africa. They happily welcomed all 11 of us into their adorable home, and served the yummiest buttered scones I’ve ever had in my life. After we spent a few minutes admiring their beautiful house, we sat down to listen to Reverend Storey discuss various aspects of his life, ranging from his roles in fighting apartheid to what he knows in life to be absolutely true (courtesy of Lauren’s random but enticing question). Embarrassingly enough, I did nod off during some of Rev. Storey’s talk. I could kick myself in the face for it, but I honestly can’t help it when I start falling asleep at the most unfortunate times. He called me out on it at our lunch later, but in the nicest way possible. He also proceeded to tell me that he had been falling asleep at the World Economic Forum, so now I am even more fond of this man. (Note: He was falling asleep at the global meeting I protested last week, how great is that?) Our time with the Storeys was more reflective than anything. As lazy as this sounds, there are only so many academic conversations about history and policy that I can handle before I definitely start zoning out. But Rev. Storey conveys to others his missions (in a non-religious sense) with such a deep understanding of what it means to be truly passionate about something that you can’t help but admire him. It makes me wonder (and hope) if I’ll ever consider something so important to me that I’ll choose to dedicate my life to it.

The rest of our day is where the active adventures took place. After we said good-bye to the Storeys at lunch, we walked to…wait for it…a penguin colony! It was so exciting. Except I was shocked about something. As dumb as this sounds, I completely expected these little guys to be in snow or at least in the distance on snow. Of course that makes zero to none sense. There is no snow on the beaches of South Africa, I do realize that. But I just immediately associated

penguins with snow and was so thrown off to see them in muddy bushes. We were all so excited and took way too many pictures of them. The little boardwalk and park area are made so that you can walk right up to the penguins to take pictures. I wouldn’t recommend trying to catch or pet one because those critters can bite your finger off with their beaks. Pictures definitely sufficed. In the area with the penguins, you can climb over these massive rocks to be standing above the ocean. Our entire group climbed up there, in our rainboots and raincoats, and started singing and posing and taking random pictures for God only knows how long. We can keep ourselves entertained forever, I swear. This is when I wish I could post video clips and pics so that I could show you how ridiculous we were being.

When Bill and Karlyn finally called us down from our ocean-rock-stage, we all packed back into the bus for the drive to the Cape of Good Hope. This was the first time I really felt like I was even close to being in Africa. While we were driving, we say an ostrich in the reserve, and on the way back guess what we saw??? Baboons!!! I was ecstatic beyond belief. This whole trip everyone else has had part of their major at Duke come alive through history or policy or politics or whatever. But this time, my primates finally made their appearance into my life. Unfortunately, the poor animals are about to go extinct and the ones in the reserve are so accustomed to humans and their food that they are in even more danger of dying out, but it was still awesome to see them. We climbed up to the lighthouse at the Cape which looks over an amazing view of the ocean. This part of the world is really breathtaking. It almost feels like we’re actually at the bottom of the globe and that looking out you could maybe but not really see the South Pole if you squinted hard enough. Such a beautiful country with a horrendously ugly past. On the way home, I passed out on Anthony, literally until we got back to the hotel. I was exhausted after jumping on rocks and climbing a little mountain all day. But not too tired to go out at night of course. Julian, Anthony, and I were the only ones up for going out, so we made our way to Joburg and Pretoria, two semi-sketchy places on Long Street. Note: I went out in a long sleeve t-shirt and tennis shoes. But it's all good because I'm pretty sure that I'm the only female in the whole place that came in with two guys :) Life is good.

Welcome to South Africa ladies and gents: Spend the morning reflecting on history, the afternoon appreciating the torn country's beauty, and the evening partying it all away. Kind of sounds like Lebanon actually...

Ukuthula,

Lynn

Bipolar Cape Town (Fri 06/12)

Today was back in the office for me. It’s ok, I wasn’t that disappointed. As exciting as yesterday was, I was exhausted after running around Cape Town from 8:30-2:30. I spent the day rewriting an article about girls getting abducted and being forced into marriages with men 50+years older than them who also tend to HIV. (Article is here http://www.tac.org.za/community/node/2611) I learned a lot from the article. At first I wasn’t too excited about the fact that I would be doing a lot of editing during my internship, but I’m quickly discovering that reading up on things that TAC has done or researched is the best way for me to learn things. Reading=Learning, since when? Joke.

So I finally had it…my first really unsettling experience on the streets of Cape Town. This afternoon on my way back from meeting Lauren and Ryan for lunch at a cute little café, some sketchy guy hissed at me from across the road as I was crossing it. After living in Cairo, guys making comments doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I don’t even really notice it most of the time. But this guy was being really obnoxious and caught up to walk with me. He kept trying to talk to me, and while I know the best decision to make at that point is to completely ignore the guy, it is quite difficult as he’s in my face asking me questions and following me. We won’t go into what he was saying to me, but let’s just say they weren’t dinner table comments. He followed me back to the office which makes me a little nervous now that he knows where I work, but whatever. He probably has found some other random girl to stalk in the streets anyway. I did ask Rose and Danielle to meet me at the office to walk home though, just in case.

The second bad experience came later in the evening when the group went out to celebrate our first week in Cape Town. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that we picked the most ghetto bar on the already sketchy Long Street to go to. We were all having a great time, but keep in mind that when we go out it’s usually 7 girls plus 2 boys (Anthony and Julian from the B&B who is volunteering there for year rather than going into the German army). Not the best protection ratio. After we’d been at the bar for a little while, this guy (as usually happens to a group of girls) came up and started to be gross with everyone. Anthony and Julian both attempted to step in (especially Anthony), but the man, who happened to be black, blew the whole thing WAY out of proportion and turned the whole ordeal into a black vs. white issue. He was going crazy, literally. As in Naomi and I both think he was bipolar seeing as how he later came up and apologized to Anthony. Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about some guy getting pissed about a guy getting in his way to a group of females. But again, because of all the hype around muggings and violence, I couldn’t help but be a little worried about this guy taking things to a different, more violent level. Fortunately, nothing happened and we left soon after. Everyone except Naomi, Ryan, Anthony, Julian, and I went back, but we decided to stay out. Julian took us to this reggae-ish club called Zula where we had a much more relaxed time dancing like fools. Naomi and I started people dancing on the stage, as in we both went up there and then 15 guys followed us up there. Nice J

Ukuthula,

Lynn

We are Watching: Day 2 (Thurs 06/11)

I was right, today was even better than yesterday! After some miscommunication with the the coordinator of advocacy for ARASA Paula,  I ended up following her to the ARASA to help with the poster making. I know it sounds lame, but it was way way WAY better than failing at finding any helpful stats for Marcus and Pouya.

I can’t even count how many posters I made that said things like “Knock Out the Stock Outs!,” “HIV/TB are not in recession,” etc. But what I can tell you is that it was super cool to see all these people carrying my posters around at the march today. If I can figure out how to post pictures, you can see for yourself all my craftiness. If not, you’ll see in August.

The march was really powerful, an exaggerated version of yesterday’s protest. African people do protest in an interesting way though. It involves a lot of singing and dancing, which I definitely got in on. If you were watching from a distance, you would think that the protestors were celebrating. Odd. I feel like protests in the States tend to be more somber and/or angry. It was truly amazing to see all these different people coming together for one cause. I feel like this country is so often divided into White, Coloured, and Black, but when it comes to HIV/AIDS/TB, the fight is colorblind. People of all colors finally have the same enemy, not one another, but this killer disease. I guess there is something that unifies the majority of this country. Now if we could only get rid of all the AIDS denalists…

One interesting pressing moment that I did have today involved me getting yelled at by a coloured women while I was helping to guard the massive eyeball. (p,.s. It was still there in the parking spot this morning!) Thinking that I was a coloured South African, this woman started speaking to me in Afrikaans. I told her I didn’t speak the language, which I clearly said in English, and she started to yell at me! Her English speaking friend told her that I was AMERICAN and that there was no need to yell at me for not claiming my mother language. What the hell??? Afrikaans isn’t even the language of South Africa, there are 11 remember lady? It really threw me off. But only for about 30 seconds, and then I was off on the march.

Maybe I’m making a little bit of a difference? I’d like to think so…

Ukuthula,

Lynn

We are Watching: Day 1 (Wed 06/10)

Remember my wish for things getting more exciting than sitting at a desk all day?? The wheels are in motion! I got to go on a mini protest today! The day started out pretty slow, with me doing a little bit of research on how money could be better spent towards the health budget. Let’s just say I have not been succeeding too greatly at that. Google is letting me down. Or maybe I just suck at researching stats. Either way, it’s not all that enticing.

But about the protest…The World Economic Forum is being held in Cape Town this week. In blunt terms, it basically means that Africa plus some of the other world’s big shots in finance and business sit around at a big shiny table and discuss how everyone’s life is taking a turn for the worst during the global economic crisis. What does this mean for me as an intern? A lot of time out of the office, yes! Around 10 (a mere hour after I arrived at the office) everyone in the office made their way downtown to the protest site. But first, we had to pick up The Eyeball. Yes, you read correctly. A 3 meter by 3 meter helium filled eyeball that says “We are Watching” on it. The idea is that even during the economic crisis that Africa is watching to make sure that certain promises that were made to the public health sector will remain a priority. From what I have seen so far, health care in this country is not often placed at the top of the government’s list of priorities. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy soccer just as much as anyone else, especially the world cup. But I am a little confused as to how the government can afford to support the tournament while its also promising that every person in South Africa who was HIV will be on ARV treatment by the year 2010. Puzzling right? Maybe watching the Fifa World Cup is actually a cure for AIDS. Who knew.

Anyway, back to the protest, it primariliy involved a lot of different advocacy groups standing in front of the Conference Center in downtown Cape Town, shouting catchy phrases at what I assume was the building holding all the important people. I’m not going to lie, while I do find protesting exciting, I do question its effectiveness. Apparently, though, it is a strong way to get a message across in this country, so more power to them. I mean, to us.

After my few hours of excitement, it was back to the drawing board, sifting through the 239589754 sites that come up while trying to search for a health budget. At the end of the day, Rebecca (the head of the department and the coolest boss EVER) told me to “take a walk” with her so she could fill me in on my project for the next two days. During this “walk,” I ended up four blocks from the TAC office (keep in mind my excellent sense of direction), helping to squish the 3mX3m massive inflatable eyeball up three stories of a parking garage who’s height level equals 2 meters. Do the math, NOT POSSIBLE. After some clever readjusting, deflating, and unfortunate balloon popping, we finally managed to squeeze the balloon into a parking spot in front of Rebecca’s car. Let’s hope it’s still there tomorrow.

During this whole balloon pushing process, the project Rebecca had for me was never discussed, but I did somehow manage to get nominated to help the ARASA folks (Aids Rights Alliance for South Africa, the group running the protest/march) make posters for tomorrow’s march. Summing it up, tomorrow should be even better than today J

Ukuthula,

Lynn

And today...We welcome you to advocacy (Tues 06/09)

Today was my first full day of work. Excitement! The TAC office is a lot different than I originally anticipated it to be. First off, like I mentioned yesterday, there are a lot of interns. In a way, I feel like this is probably for the best in the sense that at least the majority of people in the room are in a similar boat as me. I know that at this point, there is still so much for me to learn, about South Africa, about TAC, about AIDS. It makes me feel a little better knowing that a couple other people in the room are in the same boat as me.

From what I can tell. I’ll be doing some research, editing, and protesting during my time at TAC. Today, for instance, my first (and only) assignment was to edit an article for a magazine that TAC puts out every month. I now know a lot more about the TB/HIV relationship than I did before. Learning already! While I normally get fairly bored reading an entire magazine, I didn’t mind so much on this one. Maybe that’s a good indication of where my interests lie? I guess we shall see…

That was basically the only work I was given for today. Which was good since the office internet is freeeeeee! I don’t think I ever realized how amazing it is to have internet at your fingertips. So I am taking full advantage of that at the office whenever I can. Don’t worry, I’ll do my work too. But emails are important too you know?

Also, get this. The office has free peanut butter! How perfect is that?! The staple of my diet is officially there whenever I want it. You might not find that especially exciting, but if you know me well enough, you know of my obsession with and need for peanut butter. So don’t worry, I’m eating just fine in SA. Actually, apparently that “Africa diet” I had decided I would put myself on when I got here involves a large plate of dessert every night. Who knew? As such, a couple of the girls in the group have joined a gym. An all women gym at that. It’s really nice, with machines, classes, a hot tub. The plan is to go every day after work, so we’ll see how that goes.

Getting back on track…

Overall satisfying first day of work. Honestly though, I do hope it gets a little more exciting. The thought of sitting in an office, at a desk for the whole summer is not so appealing. And not such a great idea given my reputation for falling asleep at any given moment.

Ukuthula,

Lynn

Really, another intern at TAC? (Mon 06/08)

Because I haven’t been doing the best job keeping up with my blog for the past couple entries, I’ve posted a bunch of entries all at the same time so bear with me. On top of that, our internet at our bed and breakfast is too expensive to be downloading and uploading onto the blog, so this way I’m saving time and money. Nice.

Anyway on to the important things…

I thought I’d give you some basic information on the NGO I’m interning with this summer. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) was started in 1998 by AIDS rights activists in South Africa. Again, in the interest of time and space, I won’t go into much detail about the group’s history here but if you want to wiki it, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatment_Action_Campaign. The primary goal of the organization is to raise awareness and to mobilize governments around the world to ensure that all people who are HIV positive are given the proper antiretroviral treatment that they need to survive, regardless of social or economic status. This has been a huge struggle in South Africa especially due to the AIDS denialists who have unfortunately had a strong presence in the government, including former president Mbeki, who in my opinion, may be one of the worst things that has happened to this country post-apartheid. I’m working with the PCR department in the Cape Town office this summer. My primary goals: 1) to learn how an NGO works from the inside, 2) to explore all the different aspects of global health and activism that I could go into, 3) to develop some good networking connections, 4) to get a sweet “HIV positive” trademark t-shirt from the group.

Here’s what my week looked like:

MONDAY

My first day of work! Or half day at least. Everyone went to their respective internship sites this morning. I’m the only member from our group working at TAC, with the others interning in law offices, policy programs, teaching, or working at a local museum. I’m the token health child. Every time our group is introduced as “history and public policy” majors I’m sure to put in my science words. Can’t get drowned out you know? At any rate, my first hour at my internship was crap. Bill and Karlyn took each of us to our sites to make sure we could find our way there and to assure that we actually had internships. They stayed with me for a grand total of thirty seconds before one of the girls in the office took me in. She, unfortunately, was not super friendly at first. I didn’t need someone to take me into their arms and tell me how excited they were to have me there. But she did basically the opposite. Her reaction, along with many others, was “another intern?” Thanks guys, really. Way to make me feel welcome. Like I said, it did get better once the head of the department, Rebecca Hodes, finally came in. This woman is SUCH a rockstar. She immediately came up to me and made me feel like I would actually have a purpose this summer other than taking up valuable desk space. I basically spent the remainder of the day reading up on TAC and a couple of the magazines they put out, as well as taking advantage of the free internet at the office. All in all, a pretty slow first day.

Anybody who really knows me knows that my sense of direction is not my strongest trait. Not at all. So of course, because I had to walk home alone from my internship site, I got lost. For…I don’t know…maybe...an hour? Not good in Cape Town. I have never been a paranoid person when it comes to walking alone by myself. I’ve been to big cities, go to school in Durham, and walked around the streets of Cairo by myself, and never really felt uncomfortable. That is definitely not the case here. Cape Town is so unnerving to walk around. We here so much about people getting mugged that when you’re walking on a street alone and the only people on that street are a couple guys hanging out on the corner with no obvious purpose for being there, you don’t necessarily feel like you’re strolling in the Duke gardens. After asking a couple people for directions and having Victoria guide me over the phone, I eventually made it back to the B&B in one whole piece. But I’m not too keen on walking around alone anymore. 

Dear Cape Town, you’re beautiful on the surface…But what’s underneath? (Sun 6/07)

I don’t get this place. The South African society is so confusing to me. Maybe it’s because I could barely describe it as a whole society. It might be more appropriate to describe it as a whole lot of little societies that unfortunately were obsessed with same relatively small area and so all decided that it was theirs and that no one else deserved it. Nice.

We arrived in Cape Town this morning. Please note that after being out last night we all had to get our butts out of bed by 7 AM this morning to be at the airport by 8 AM. Good news though, I slept the whole way on the airplane. I was knocked out, mouth open and everything. Gross I know. But it was sleep nonetheless.

Our B&B here is really nice. Even nicer than the other place. (http://www.medvilla.co.za/). My only complaint is that internet is really expensive. Especially to skype on. We were told it would be “cheap cheap cheap.” Lies. But I won’t spend my blog post whining about that, I promise. (Note: These blog spots are being posted at my internship where internet is free, free, free for me!) Other than that, the place is beautiful. I’m rooming with Lauren again which I’m very excited about. She is a really funny girl and I enjoy living with her. Favorite thing about the B&B so far: the cookies that the owner had out for us when we arrived. It already feels like home!

Once we had a chance to settle in for a bit, a couple of us hungry ones went to lunch at a small café down the road. Afterwards, one of the DukeEngagers from last year, Michael, took us on a brief stroll through the city. Here are my thoughts on Cape Town so far…

The place is breathtaking. As soon as I figure out how to post pictures on here, you’ll be able to see what I mean. The mountains are constantly in the horizon, and the areas we walked through are all adorable. But there is something off about this place. If I were to look at it in pictures, I would think that Cape Town had a laid back, beachy feel to it. It doesn’t though. The tension here is almost tangible, kind of like what I feel in Lebanon. The streets are unnerving. Despite the fact that I’ve been to many cities, go to school in Durham, and lived in Cairo for four months, this is the first place that I’ve felt uncomfortable walking around the streets. I feel like all you hear about are stories of people getting mugged. Not to mention South Africa having the highest rape rate of any country in the world. Greeeeaaaaat. Don’t worry though, it won’t get me down! I just would rather it was a happy-go-lucky little place where I could run around and not worry that every man in the corner is waiting to grab my cell phone or steal my backpack.

All in all, Sunday’s been a pretty chill day. Not too much to report. We start our internships tomorrow! I’ll probably be posting about this entire week in one big blog, maybe by Friday? I’ll try to get it done by then. If not, then asap.

Wish me luck at the Treatment Action Campaign tomorrow!

Ukuthula,

Lynn

SOuth WEstern TOwnship = Soweto (Sat 06/06)

Saturday was our last full day in Joburg before heading off to Cape Town for the remainder of our time here in South Africa. Soweto, a SOuth WEstern TOwnship (clever right?), is among the poorest suburbs of Joburg, which if you know anything about South Africa or Joburg, is pretty freaking poor.

Our day was basically planned out by a tour guide who showed us around the township for the majority of the day. Soweto is the poorest area that we’ve been in so far, 

other than of course the refugee church we volunteered with. The township is best known for the uprising that happened in 1976. The community rebelled against the government as they were being forced to learn in a language they didn’t understand. The area school lessons were being conducted in Afrikaans despite the fact that the majority of the population did not speak it. During the protest march from a local school, police opened fire on the protestors and killed 566 people. (That’s enough history from me. If you want more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto.)

To be honest, I didn’t find the day particularly exciting. We just hit up a church, a couple museums, ate lunch at a “local” place (which even though DukeEngage paid for it, I expect was a rip-off seeing as how it was the only place in that area), and went to Nelson Mandela’s house. One really cool thing did happen at the church though. Our guide there was absolutely hilarious and would pick at certain people throughout the explaination of the church’s significance during the uprising. During the tour, he grabbed my shoulders and said, “Stand right there. Don’t you move.” So of course I froze while he talked a little more for a minute. And then just as we were about to relocate, he looks at me and says “Now…(dramatic pause)…you are standing in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela.” I swear I got shivers. A lot of famous people have been to that church, but to be standing in the footsteps of Mandela is pretty sick, let me tell you. Even if it is only figuratively. Those are some big shoes to fill.

Because it was our last night in Joburg, the natural thing to do in the evening is of course go out. So we did! We all, coordinators included, went to a bar/dance floor in Melville. We had such a great time. The music was on, and so were the drinks according to everyone. I’m pretty sure our group stuck out though. Not that that’s a bad thing. It was cool to see all kinds of people there (black, white, coloured, striped, polka-dot; I wouldn’t be surprised if this country started classifying people like that). Anthony and Lauren started “shag dancing” in the middle of a crowd, and they started chanting “Go white girl! Go white girl!” It was great. Our group is really amazing. I wish I could post a 934875394 page long description of all them. Maybe I will actually. Well not that long, but a little blurb about each person so you know who I’m talking about. Be on the lookout for that.

Off to Cape Town tomorrow. 

Ukuthula,

Lynn

p.s. I promise to start posting more regularly. At least every other day.

Such a recent history (Fri 06/05)

Our last couple days in Joburg have been two of our most intense. I mean this in terms of what kind of emotional effect the sites we’ve been visiting have had on me, and probably the rest of the group…

On Friday, we made our way onto Constitutional Hill to meet with one of the Justices of the South African court. This South African equivalent of our Supreme Court was the US’s polar opposite. The building, having been constructed on the foundation of the old court and even has some of the old bricks raising its walls, is breathtaking. Its high ceilings and sleek features make it look more like a studio flat in New York than a government building in the middle of South Africa. If I ever figure out how to post pictures on this blog, I’ll do those. But until then you’ll just have to use your imagination. You can handle that right?

 

Our meeting with Justice Mokgoro was brief. Most of us had either met her or at least heard her speak when she came to Duke this last spring semester. This little woman is probably the most distinguished looking and speaking person I have ever seen. Every soothing word that comes out of her mouth is a golden, satisfying, yet somehow vague answer to whatever question has been posed to her. Our time with her was short as she was called into a meeting, but some of the clerks in the building gave us a quick tour on the architecture and organization of the building. It was during this tour that it hit me again how recent all of South Africa’s history really is. That the more modern architecture was more of a reflection of a modern history than anything else. These indications keep popping up at me, and they keep throwing me off. It just doesn’t necessarily feel like this country was extremely racially segregated until 20 some odd years ago, and that xenophobia is such a part of everyday life. Maybe it’s because at night we go back to our lovely little bed and breakfast, away from the tensions present in the middle of South African society.

 

Constitution Hill is also on the site of a former prison in Joburg. Prisons in and of themselves are depressing, but this one was particularly horrible to walk through. Our tour guide, while good, went into great detail about the horrors that had recently taken place within those prison walls. As recently as 1984 when the prison stopped operating. It takes a lot, I mean a lot, to jerk serious emotions out of me during a tour when someone I don’t even know is talking to me about things I will never fully understand, but I cried at the end of this one. As the tour guide described to us how apartheid had kept him from ever knowing his father, who was suspected to have been brutally murdered and randomly buried while attempting to cross the border with the ANC. How this young man had never known his father because to others, his life and body had been too worthless to even bother bringing back to his family for years and years. The prison was essentially a torture chamber to all its members, but especially to its black residents. Didi I mention that Ghandi had been kept there? As well as Winnie Mandela and a number of major movers of South African history. I won’t go into severe detail about the prison, but I do think that a quote by Mandela on one of the signs there does an excellent job of conveying the purpose of its story: “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” If you can only imagine…

 

Later in the day we went to the apartheid museum that we had been hearing about since our first meeting as the DukeEngage group to South Africa. Oh, important detail, we didn’t have lunch this day because we were trying to make it to the apartheid museum before closing hours. Our lunch time consisted of a quick stop at a gas station where most of us got a small granola bar and a water. In other words, we were all starving and lacking energy from the already trying day. As such, I don’t think I got everything out of the apartheid museum like I normally would have. While it provided an excellent history of pre to post-apartheid, I was unable to fully appreciate the museum. One part that did impact me though were the three massive television screens at the end of the museum. On these there were clips of xenophobia and apartheid movements playing. And again, it struck me how recent all this history truly was. The clips were in color, clear color. Only a couple years ago. I still am having trouble grasping and understanding this country…

 

All in all, it was a very eventful and emotionally draining day. That night, we had a reflection session as a group. Clearly I can’t discuss what we talked about, but let me just say that it floors me how well all 8 of us have connected in the little time that we’ve had together. We have such a great time together, and somehow manage to perfectly balance intellectual conversations with ridiculous discussions on any random aspect of life. We have all become great friends, and I know that these seven people will be a huge factor of entertainment and support throughout my time here. We’ve already been here for each other through our confusions, difficulties, thrills, and laughs. Amazing J

Ukuthula,

Lynn

Those who make me want to help change the world (Wed 06/03-Thurs 06/04)

Do you ever fall asleep feeling as though everything you thought you knew about the world is so miniscule and insignificant compared to what you still have to learn? That’s what is about to happen to me for the second night in a row.

The past three days have been very intense for us here in Joburg. On Wednesday and Thursday, we spent the majority of our time at the Central Methodist Church in downtown. We also taught for about an hour at the school the church has opened for the refugee children. The church is best known for providing shelter for some of the Zimbabwean refugees here.(For a background on what’s going on in Zimbabwe, check out http://www.somalipress.com/zimbabwe-overview/modern-history-zimbabwe-1142.html or the other 2 million sites that come up.)  Like in so many other countries, the issue of Zimbabwean refugees fleeing to South Africa is highly controversial. As such, the church has been a target of aggression from the SA community who feels that the church should not be caring for the refugees. When I say caring for, I mean that the church is attempting to provide a community for this traumatized population to be part of while the South Africans are marginalizing the refugees. Then again, looking at it from South Africa’s side, don’t they have their own crap to wade through? 

My experience at the church was not what I expected it to be. While in Egypt, we taught English to African refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, and other more northern African countries. I found my time interacting with these refugees to be very different from any evening I had spent in Cairo with our students. Our first hour or so in the church on Wednesday was spent with Bishop Paul, an absolutely amazing individual who is clearly dedicated to his mission. He briefed us on the background of the church and the struggles that it has faced, and it still facing. The details of the discussion would require their own blog, but his insight and personal accounts of the xenophobic attacks in SA were very powerful. The church community looks to this man for leadership, and he provides his congregation with what they are looking to him for. Between spending some time with the school children, exploring every corner of the church, being attacked with hugs by the most loving group of four year olds ever, sitting in on the evening service, talking with a 19 year old Zimbabwean refugee named George, and leaving the already full church only to see a thousand more refugees sleeping outside of it, I have been exposed to a community of determined and resilient people who are working to find where they belong. Truly amazing.

Seeing these people makes me appreciate what God has given me in my fortunate and blessed life even more than I have before. And you know what’s so intriguing to me? These people, these refugees whose families have been slaughtered, whose lives have been forever altered, whose stomachs probably growl all day and night with hunger, they never once made me feel uncomfortable for what I have been given. Instead, they just ask for help. They are not angry for what they do not have and what we do, but rather aspire to be more than they are. And THAT is what inspires me to do something about it. Baby steps of course, but these people, and those all around the world just like them, they have the drive and passion to move forward, and our job is to reinforce those emotions that are already there. 

Ukuthula (around the world),

Lynn

GEORGE: You are a muslim then?

ME: Yes

GEORGE: We all worship the same God after all.

Change in Blog

When I was thinking of some way to sign off of each entry, I thought that YISA was very clever. I have just been reminded that a certain group that two of my good friends are in sign off of their emails with "Yours In..." making mine much less original. So from now on my sign off will be... Ukuthula, which means "Peace" in Zulu, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. Someone told me it's all artsy and immersed, which sounds good to me. 

In any case,

Ukuthula,

Lynn

06/02/09, 8:08 AM, Welcome to South Africa!

After a 50 min drive to Charleston; 1.5 hours to Washington D.C. on the smallest commercial airplane known to man; 6 hours lounging around in Dulles; 7 hours to London; 13 hours hanging out with Big Ben; and 10 hours flying over Africa…

WE’RE HERE! I can’t believe that we’ve finally made it. I kept saying last summer that the coming year I would be in South Africa, and it’s actually happened.

Currently in a van driving to our B&B in JoBurg, I thought I would take the time to write my first official blog in this country. It’ll probably take me a couple entries to get comfortable talking to a nonexistent person, but I’ll get the hang of it.

I guess maybe I should write about what I’m feeling right now. If that’s even what people do in blogs. Oh well, that’s what I’m going to do. Feel free to skip anything you’re not interested in.

1) excited- duh. In case you missed the memo.

2) curious- we’ve done some reading on the history of this vibrant country. I’m hoping that what little I know will be exponentially increased. At this point though, I’m not sure what to expect…

3) stinky- but it’s ok. Everyone else is smelly, too. And in less than two hours I will have showered for the first time since leaving WV. Be happy Mommy J

4) maybe a little bit tired- not that I’m complaining or anything, but it has been a very long past two days. Sleeping in awkward positions and lugging around heavy bags isn’t exactly effortless know?

5) lopsided- we’re driving on the right side of the road. I feel a bit off center.

6) hungry- always

Like I said, I’m not exactly sure what to expect right now. It feels really different from when I arrived in Cairo with Habibi. There, I got off the plane with no hesitation. This time, while I would never think of turning back, there is a different feeling. I can’t pinpoint it yet. It may be hesitation, but not in a negative sense. Maybe I’m taking my time here, and absorbing what it could mean to live in this country for two months.

Who knows right? I’ll figure it out. Hopefully by July 26^th.

-Lynn

INTRODUCTION

Before I left to spend a semester abroad in Egypt last August, my mother kept telling me I should keep a journal of my experiences. While I was living and loving my semester, she kept telling me to write. When I came back, she told me I should have written. It wasn’t until my dearest friend made me a book of all the emails and texts we had sent while 10,222 km apart from one another did I realize what it meant to have those memories of what I had been feeling and experiencing at the time written down.

 

When I received an email telling me I had been accepted into the DukeEngage program based in South Africa, I promised myself I would finally listen to my mother. I’m only about 10 months late. So here it is! My first ever blog. I’ve never kept a journal or any regularly written account of my experiences. I am hoping that more than two people will read it at least once. To those of you who will, thank you in advance.

 

For anyone who has ever had a lengthy conversation with me or received an informal email from me, you can expect this blog to be written in a similar manner. Roundabout, randomly, thoroughly (hopefully). I am writing this selfishly, however. It’s going to be allll about me. Just kidding. What I mean about me writing this selfishly is that I didn’t set up this blog with the intent of being formal, historically analytical, or politically correct. That said, it won’t be grammatically correct either. (Again, if you know how I write or speak informally, no surprise). I plan for it to be a record of my personal experiences here, and how they play out into the grander scheme of things in this fascinating country. I promise I won’t get mushy-gushy about intense feelings or anything. But I will lay things out for both you and me. I’ll draw comparisons to my semester in Egypt. I think I grew up a lot in the past year, and hopefully writing this will help me keep track of an experience that will push me even further. If you’re curious about anything in particular, let me know and I’ll do my best to find out. I’ve never been a big blog reader, so I’m not sure how to go about this. They had an info session about it during our DukEngage orientation, but I didn’t pay any attention. Why should there be a proper way of doing this?

 

Again, thank you for reading this. If you continue to do so, I promise to post regularly, and hopefully in an entertaining and insightful manner. Feel free to call me out where you think I’m falling short or where you think I’m missing something. Don’t bother correcting spelling or grammar. I’m foreign. Sort of.

 

Yours in South Africa,

Lynn

 

P.S. “Yours in South Africa” will henceforth be abbreviated YISA. Kinda like Visa. Not clever but that’s the best I could come up with for now.