last leg/recap

here is a little summary of what i did during the last leg of the trip- kwazulu natal: for three days, we were broken into groups of three and sent to do a "rural homestay." i was placed with two of my good friends, rachel and becca, and we stayed with an inspirational, accomplished woman named zandile and her family. zandile does not live in a rural area, however, so those three days weren't all that different from the remainder of the trip considering we were in the city of durban. zandile works for an organization that does community development through encouraging women's rights. zandile conducts workshops and does home visits. she went way above and beyond her call of duty and set up meetings at five different durban-area ngos for us, as well as invited some neighbors our age over to talk about differences in our lives. we met with community health care workers, a huge hiv/aids-only hospice called the dream centre, a multi-purpose organization called 1000 hills community helpers, as well as some income-generating projects for women with hiv and clinics. we had quite the tour of hiv/aids activism in durban and were busier on the days at zandile's than some with the whole group. some of my peers were four hours outside of the city without running water or electricity- and got to experience the sickness that comes with unsafe drinking water- while we ran around in the city and suburban areas. zandile's family is made up of her mechanic husband, her 13-year-old and 7-year-old daughters (who both speak english very well), and her adorable three-year-old son named mlu. he played with us a lot- singing, chatting away in zulu, coloring, etc. besides the cockroaches we found in our bed, in a potato, and up becca's skirt, the home was quite nice. we all felt pretty guilty by the end of it, however, because the lives of even lower-class americans are still consistently easier than that of most south africans. we are inherently privileged.

after the homestay we reunited as a group to explore durban (further). we stayed at a wonderful bed & breakfast that made us feel like we were a huge family all living together in one home. some of my classmates even got to calling our trip leader professors "mom" and "dad" (i'm not sure how much they liked that). we spent a significant amount of time on the porch and in the pool. our final day there, we went to a multipurpose park that contained a reform school, a dirt-bike riding course, and a lovely waterfall. there we met with jeanine hicks, who leads south africa's commission on gender equity. one of the biggest issues in contemporary south africa is gender inequality- it is most definitely the most patriarchal place i've ever been. she told us a little bit about the history of the issue as well as what she/the government do to counteract it, although her job is under constant pressure because most of the males in the government (police, judges, congress, etc.) feel that women should be subservient to all men. after her talk we all hiked to the waterfall and had lunch together. later that afternoon we went to the indian ocean beach, where we swam in the extremely salty water, lounged in the south african sun, and made my friend laura into a sand-giraffe. it was probably the most diverse beach i've ever been to, and it was the first time i saw women in complete-coverage black burquas (the kind that show only the eyes) swimming or picnicking on the beach. in the morning before we hopped onto a series of planes, we went to the durban botanic gardens and enjoyed the gorgeous natural beauty of kwazulu-natal while devouring our favorite magnum ice cream bars.

the trip home, in the end, took about 30 hours. we left the b&b at noon on monday and arrived at goucher at noon on tuesday- there is a seven-hour time difference in there too. we flew durban-johannesburg-dakar, senegal-dulles/dc and then slowly made our way to baltimore and goucher with rush hour traffic. the flights went as well as we could have hoped but were just unbearably long. in senegal they sprayed the plane with insecticides and frantically searched all empty seats (for bombs? i'm not sure), which was kind of unnerving to watch. by the end of our journey yesterday, all of us were acting a little punch-drunk and nuts. even one of our professors was acting goofy, lining up all of our suitcases and running around them.

i had precisely an hour and a half between arriving back on campus and going to my first class. it was a mad dash to dump everything in my room, take a shower, eat lunch, buy my books and supplies, and head to class- without being too distracted or overwhelmed by the other students, including ones who had been abroad first semester and who we had months of catching up to do. my heart was racing intently as i sat down in that first class. after that, however, i gave a tour to a prospective student, ate dinner, went to my night class, and unpacked. today i have three more classes, three hours of work, and a newspaper meeting! i guess this is what you call hitting the ground running...

here is a list of some outstanding memories from south africa, arranged into the greatest highlights and challenges:
highlights--
-visiting bush radio, an amazing community radio station in cape town. check them out at www.bushradio.co.za.
-cape town in general. i particularly enjoyed the beach at muizenberg, seeing the view from table mountain, and going to see penguins in their natural habitat.
-visiting a creche (daycare) and schools. this kids seemed genuinely excited to see new faces and learn about where we came from. there is no judgement from them and we learned a lot too.
-giving our peace tiles to the keiskamma trust, one of the most comprehensive community organizations we visited.
-spending time with our awesome and inspirational host families.
-attending several lectures at rhodes university in grahamstown and then running into these professors at dinner...we felt like part of that community already!
-the friendly, hospitable attitude of nearly every south african we met.
-south african summer heat, traditional beadwork, native languages, obsession with soccer and rugby, gorgeous landscapes, and exotic animals.

challenges--
-getting up close and personal with poverty in contemporary sa. walking around urban townships and rural villages, experiencing life in a corrugated tin shack without running water or electricity, meeting grandmothers who survived on government grants totaling about 30 dollars a month while caring for many children.
-aids. i've seen many cases of full-blown aids now, and it scares the heck out of me. it is haunting. i am committed to fighting hiv/aids more fully now, after seeing both the immediate horrors of the disease and its infinite repercussions in every community.
-trying to explore and experience the lives of south africans without being voyeuristic or exploitative.
-feeling guilty for living so lavishly as an american. we traveled south africa more than most citizens of the country. we can just swoop in and out of where ever we please, then jet back home and continue studying at our private university. we have so many opportunities in life just handed to us.
-eating the "african salad" of sour milk and cornmeal. i almost gagged.
-speaking xhosa and zulu. i just can't produce those clicking noises!
-being in a group setting for three weeks straight. i need some serious alone time now!
-my independent research on newspapers went awry. i had a realization that newspapers are, in this context, inherently elitist. if you are illiterate and unemployed, why on earth would you ever buy a newspaper? it is no wonder that readership is basically exclusive to white businessmen in that country. if you have any extra money at all, it is much wiser to spend it on a radio or tv to get information. so now i need to write a paper proving this instead of my original hypothesis that newspapers are a good method of education for learning about hiv/aids.

i will post some pictures soon. it's class time now!