District Six

District Six is a neighborhood located in the city center of Cape Town. The ocean and city views and the mountain backdrop makes this location prime real estate. That is exactly what the white government thought during apartheid and thus decided to forcefully remove over 60,000 colored people living in this area, they called the "slums", in the 1970's. After the removals, the white government rolled in the bulldozers and demolished most of the buildings, with the exception of a few churches.

Montgomery, Mallory, and I decided to spend our last Friday in Cape Town in the famous District Six area. We visited the museum and signed up (125 Rand) for a walking tour by a former resident of the neighborhood. Our guide, Linda Fortune, is the Educational Officer of the District Six Museum. Her family was removed and banished to the townships in the Cape Flats in 1971. She is a kind woman with a good and strong heart for forgiveness. Yet, she vividly relives her story every time she gives a walking tour and occasionally the hurt still bubbles up in her narrative. Linda also wrote a book, The House in Tyne Street, of which we each bought a signed copy of after the tour for 100 Rand ($14 US). Also, we discovered a very cool connection--we read a book, A Walk in the Night by Alex LaGuma, as part of the Global LEAD curriculum and it turns out that Linda's family was neighbors with LaGuma's family when they all lived in District Six. It really brought his story of District Six to life.

There was a sad little incident that occurred during the tour and I am not sure why I feel compelled to write about it, but here it is...Linda had her granddaughter with her and two hours into the tour the poor little girl started doing the "OMG, I have to go pee" dance. Before we knew it, she had a little accident on what used to be the lively Constitution Street. I suppose it just goes to show how wrapped up Linda was in re-telling the story that she did not even notice her granddaughters dance.

Today, restitution is slowly taking place with a very small number of people moving back into the area. In fact, Linda walked us by some of the houses that are in the process of being built.

Service-Learning at Sir Lowry's Pass Township

One aspect of the Global LEAD study abroad program is service-learning: where the students work with a local community and the intercultural exchange is reciprocal. In fact, the students receive three credit hours for the service learning field work and accompanying curriculum (and journaling in those big blue books that we spend countless hours grading.) For the past three years the program has partnered with Sir Lowry's Pass, a township of mostly coloreds (yes, this is proper terminology and not interpreted as derogatory) and Khosa people. The aim is to play with the children and simply show them love (many of them have a rough life). So, we coordinate such things as a field day, soccer games, bracelet making, coloring stations, etc. This year we also painted a mural at the primary school. I had the food fortune was meeting Miss Felia, one of the soup mothers in the community. Miss Felia and about 15 other mothers in the community serve soup daily to the children that otherwise might go hungry. Some of them have private sponsors or governmental funding to purchase electricity and the food needed for the soup. At 5 p.m. Miss Felia blows the whistle outside her humble abode made of wood scraps and a tin roof. The children come with plastic bowls, some with old butter plastic bowls, and Miss Felia scoops them a ladle of piping hot hearty soup. On this evening it was rather cold (upper 50's rainy and cold) and many of the children came without shoes and wearing shorts, as I was shivering in my jeans, three layers of shirts, and a rain coat. While I am still trying to figure out what type of impact we have on a community like this, I have to think we are bringing some sense of joy, if nothing else. Even though I critically question the idea of us helping them...perhaps they help us more by showing that no matter the level of materialist possessions we possess, happiness comes in all forms.

High Tea at Mount Nelson Hotel

Afternoon Tea at Mount Nelson Hotel is a must-do for tea lovers. The Global LEAD (fabulous) academic staff (Professor Wolf, Chase, Mallory and I) decided to take an afternoon to enjoy the tea offerings at the posh Nelson Hotel. As one of the first hotels on the Cape built in 1899, the Nelson Hotel painted in pale yellow and green served as a destination for wealthy Brits. It then became a spot for negotiations between the Brits and Boers, officers, soldiers, and even journalists (including Sir Winston Churchill) as tensions increased over the power in the Cape. After the First World War, Hotel Nelson was painted pink and has since danced under Table Mountain all pretty in pink.

We found ourselves seated in the regal couches in a sweet little alcove in the lounge area. They came around to take our tea orders (orange-berries green tea for me, please) and then we were sent loose on the incredible buffet table of finger sandwiches, desserts, and scones. We must have sat there for at least three hours simply enjoying a non-Global LEAD conversation about life and occasionally going back to the buffet table for seconds, thirds, and yes, fourths. Ah, this was definitely a highlight of my Cape Town experience!

From the Nelson website:
"You'll enjoy delicate finger sandwiches filled with rare roast beef and rocket, smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise or cucumber, and you will surely lose yourself in thought as you savour our delectable dark chocolate cake and heavenly lemon meringue. The freshly baked scones are traditional favourites, served with clotted cream and preserves, and as a special local treat, enjoy a typical South African milk tart, called “melktert” in Afrikaans."

Rugby- South African Style!

With painted faces and blue Stormer jersey's 107 Americans poured out of the Mercedes bus and into the rugby tailgate area. Yeah, it was a scene for all to be had...we even had a few tailgaters come over and ask to take a photo with some individuals in our group. Ugh...this is why I do not particularly enjoy traveling in a large group, I much rather fit right in with the locals and the local rhythm. Nonetheless, we settled into "our" area that was roped off by our South African friends from Cape Xtreme (the adventure tour company that we work with) and they grilled up some "boer wors" (traditional South African sausage) on a large "braai" stand. "Braai" is Afrikaans for barbecue or grill.

After a few hours at the braai we made our way through the thick crowd to the standing section in Newlands Rugby Stadium. Chase, Mallory, and I stuck together and eventually made our way down to the first few rows in the standing section. We were in the thick of the crowd where the five senses came alive: you could hear screams of joy and frustration in Afrikaans and you could smell the smokiness of tobacco. It was a close game and the crowd was really into the cross-town rivalry (Stormers=Cape Town team) (Bulls=Pretoria team). Even though I have no idea how the game of rugby is played, I did enjoy the experience because South Africans love their rugby and I love a true cultural experience.

Adventure Day 5: The Traveling Circus Comes to an End...

No more bus rides, no more bus buddies, no more bus karaoke, no more bus sing-a-longs, no more gas station stops, no more falling asleep in a chair, no more silly bus games, no more deep bus conversations, no more...

Now, back to Lagoon beach apartments in Cape Town where we will spend the last nine days of this study abroad program. Looking forward to a hot shower and my twin bed. Woohoo...

Adventure Day 4: More Elephants, Cheetah, Leopards & one U-G-L-Y Stork

The morning started at 7 a.m. with freshly baked bread at the backpackers. YUM! We were originally scheduled for a dolphin cruise, but a big storm (with lots of rain and wind) changed our plans. We went to the Elephant Sanctuary as originally planned, but we were unable to ride the elephants because of the downpour. Some students did brave the torrential rains as they walked the elephants with trunk in hand. No dolphins, but I think we got to experience something even cooler...cheetahs, leopards, and the craziest looking storks (see photo below) at the Tenikwa Cheetah Rehabilitation Center. We had the chance to get up close and personal with some of the fastest animals on this earth. Man, leopards have a beautiful coat! Lunch was pretty chill as we hung out at the Kynsna Waterfront shopping area and then back to the Afrovibe hostel in Sedgefield.

Adventure Day 3: Safari Madness & Bungy Jumping & Gumboot Dancing

The 6 a.m. wake up call was well worth it because we got to see lions on our morning game drive. Awesome! Lions are extremely rare in the park and we watched them chill out for a good portion of the morning (sorry for the bad photo to left...they were far away). As we were driving out of the park we saw elephants, warthogs, zebra, ostrich, and many more safari animals. Our safari did not disappoint! Near the end of the game drive, some of the students asked me to teach a little bus chair yoga, so as we were stretching our arms up, up, up one of the young ladies said, "Look over there...when will we ever be doing yoga so close to an elephant? This is like the traveling circus." Yes, this adventure was becoming more and more like a traveling circus, well said! Try spending over 40 hours with the same 25 young people and it feels more and more like a traveling circus.




The afternoon was filled with a lot of fear, anxiety, and excitement as the students jumped off of the world's highest bungy jump. I had already made up my mind NOT to jump. I have never really had the desire to do it, as it seems crazy to jump from a bridge...an experience that lasts less than four seconds. No thanks. I would much rather para-glide or abseil down a mountain, an adrenaline rush that lasts a little longer than four seconds. Many of the students can remember jumping, but do not remember the actual fall. Nonetheless, it was a huge accomplishment for many of them...and I was there to support all of them.

When we arrived at the Storms River Tube n Axe hostel we were entertained as a few locals from the community taught us how to gumboot dance. The gumboot dance originated with the black miners of South Africa, as they wore wellington boots and would stomp around and slap their boots.

Adventure Day 2: Hiking & Safari

We started the day at 6:15 a.m. with a typical hostel breakfast at the Afrovibe adventure lodge: cereal, milk, toast, jelly, butter, and juice and coffee. We boarded the truck and headed to the beautiful Knysna Heads (photo to right) where the salt water meets the fresh water. After a brief morning hike, we found ourselves at the next adventure: zip-lining over small waterfalls. As much as I like to zip-line, I did not throw down the 350 Rand (US$50), as I could not rationalize spending the money to go zip-lining again. (In March, I zip-lined in the Costa Rican cloud forest...it does not get any better than that!) After the students flew through the sky and the rain began to fall...we were on our way to the next adventure: a safari in Addo Elephant National Park. A two-hour night drive proved to be quite soggy, cold, photo-less and adventurous. We did, however, see scrub hare, black topped jacquel, and a family of elephant (with babies). Our evening in the park ended with a girls dance party (in my room...yes, I instigated it!)

Adventure Day 1: Caves & Ostrich

We started the day at 5:15 a.m. and drove for six hours (with a few bathroom--gas station breaks). Most of us slept on the bus before arriving at our first official adventure site: Cango Caves where we crept through the underground wonder of stalactites and stalagmites. We started in the chambers where concerts (with more than 2,000 people) used to be held. What an incredible concert hall, albeit the humidity must have led to a lot of sweat, especially with all of those people. After the brilliant chambers we became up-close and personal with the rock formations as we made our way through the tiny love tunnel and slid on our bellies down the postbox. One student had an extremely hard time crawling through the tight spots, as she was fearful and claustrophobic, but her tears dried up as we made our way closer to the "light at the end of the tunnel". I hung back with her and helped her breath through the experience (ah, the power of the yogic breath...such a blessing!) which was fine with me because I do much better in these tight situations with space in front of and behind me, it makes me feel like I can breath. Ah, we made it through!

Then, we got back on the bus for a quick drive to the Cango Ostrich Farm where we learned that an ostrich's brain is the size of their eyeball. A few students actually rode the ostrich which, to be honest, I thought was rather cruel.

Back on the bus (for a few hours)...to our next adventure! Time for arts and crafts at Masithandane, a non-profit organization serving the disadvantaged communities in the Sedgefield area. We painted what they call "huggables" and made mosaics. It was a little strange because we went there painted, listened to a presentation about the organization, ate snacks and drank tea, and then paid 35 rand ($5US) to take the items that we made. I suppose it is their way of raising money for the community, but I would have liked to be more involved in the community rather than just give money. Giving money is not my style of "giving back" to the community. Nonetheless, it was fun to get crafty, even though my huggable is rather U-G-L-Y.

Adventure Week!

5 days.
25 students.
1 bad-ass truck.
2 staff (including me).
Over 40 hours on the bus.
3 hostels.
Approximately 600 miles of driving.
14 adventures (including zip-lines, shark-cage diving, bungee-jumping, ostrich farm, safari, caving, gumboot dancing, and more...)









***The photo of "Ronnie's sex shop" was a bathroom break. It is not really a sex shop, but a very clever marketing ploy.