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
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