The next morning I woke up early to try to make the medical clinic
before my Habitat for Humanity FDP. I managed to be second in line, but
unfortunately the person in front of me was in there for a while and I
didn't have time. I asked if I could just leave a note and the
receptionist told me yes. So I left a note explaining the situation and
headed for habitat for humanity. Our habitat project was in a township
called Mfuleni, and I was so excited to see a township, especially after
staying in Senase.
When we got there we saw that the site of our home was in a neighborhood
where each house maybe had 3 rooms. They were made of stone and were as
close together as homes could ever be without actually caving into each
other. The house that we were building had running water (that was even
clean enough to drink!) and a toilet. The roads were paved and the kids
had a bus to school. Even though this standard of living is still not
acceptable, I couldn't help but continue to think to myself how this
standard of poverty in Cape Town is a dream life for the people of Senase.
Our job for the day was to put the first coat of paint on the house and
all the beams. It didn't take us more than an hour or two to do the
first coat, and while it dried we (well, everyone except me) was treated
to donuts. After that we started putting the second coat of paint on. We
were then taken on a rather long walk of the township and we were shown
the different areas. There were 3 different sections of this township -
poverty, poor and upper poor. The home we were working on was in the
middle section. The poverty section reminded me more of Senase, as the
roads turned into dirt and the cement houses became straw and wood. Our
guide also told us they often do not have plumbing in the poorest areas.
It wasn't as dirty as Senase, but that probably has to do with the trash
disposal of the rest of Mufuleni and the availability of clean water.
The upper poor homes looked like they 5 or 6 rooms, ample lighting,
laundry lines and larger yards. What surprised me the most through this
whole tour though was that in the middle of Mfleuni is a shopping center
with a post office, a grocery store and some clothing shops. I was
shocked at how different the level of poverty was here than in Senase.
In Senase, the closest place to buy something that isn't off of a tent
is hours away, but in Mfuleni you can walk. In the poorest of areas
there were still people selling things off of tents, but there were
alternative options. There was also a gas station and a convenience
store in Mfuleni. It is still crazy to be thinking about how a life of
poverty in this township is a life of luxury for Senase. Neither
standard of living is acceptable, and the people of Mfuleni live so much
worse than the people in Cape Town (South Africa has the worlds largest
gap between rich and poor), but I think that Senase just impacted me so
much that I definitely have a bias towards them.
After we took our tour we went back to finish up painting and then went
back to the ship. I was a little disappointed with the project simply
because the majority of our time was spent doing nothing and I felt that
the hands of 20 laborers could have been put to a lot more use than
painting and moving rocks. But I still enjoyed it and I'm glad I got to
experience the townships.
After Habitat we went to get another bread for me since the one from
before was moldy from being in the sun and Rufus took it away AGAIN
despite the doctor telling me he sent up a note and having left a note
for the nurse that morning. Completely infuriated, I made it my mission
to win this battle.
That night, Dain and I were both so exhausted that we ended up falling
asleep at like 8:30, but oh well.
The next morning at breakfast Michael told us about this amazing mall he
found outside of the touristy area called Canal Walk. Apparently it is
super huge and a hell of a lot cheaper than the one at V+A. I had an FDP
at 1, but we still had the morning so Dain and I got a cab and went
there first thing and even got there before it opened. We ended up
having an amazing cab driver named Sydney who gave us a wicked good
price AND arranged for someone to come pick us up and bring us back for
the same price. It was good to know that not all the cab drivers in the
touristy part are jerks like soccer-game man. Being on a mission, we
walked around the mall and found our plans of attack. Dain wanted a
safari shirt and a tripod, and I wanted gluten free stuff. So we found
our stores and once the mall opened we went right into a clothing store
called Mr. Price. Not only did Dain find his safari shirt, but he also
found pants and a bunch of other clothes. We ended up getting 13 (i
think?) articles of clothing for only 1200R, which is only around 160 in
US dollars. It was crazy because a few days before I had spent 500R on
TWO tee shirts.
After Mr. Price we went to the three camera stores to try to find Dain a
tripod. Even though he already has two, Mr. Cameraman wasn't content and
needed a new one. So we found one in the Kodak store and grabbed it. We
also went the grocery store and the pharmacy to get some GF snacks. No
bread, so my battle with Rufus would have to wait, but I did get some
really good cookies. Our next stop was the post office to get some
stamps and then we found Dain a flag (which wasn't even planned, but we
saw it in the window and were like YES) and a cool store called Out of
Africa which reminded us of Animal Kingdom Lodge.
We headed outside to meet our taxi driver and got back to the ship
around 11:30. The security guards (Rufus wasn't there) were pretty
impressed at how much we managed to buy in 2 hours (it was kind of a
lot...). We went to eat lunch next and afterwards I had an FDP for my
media class.
For my FDP we went to the only community radio station in South Africa.
It is called CapeTV, or CTV, and we got a tour of the facility, learned
about its history and got to go inside the school, called AFDA, that the
station works with to make its original programing. The FDP was a lot
more enjoyable than my history one from a few days ago and it was so
cool to be talking with the founder, a white woman who played a major
role in anti-apartheid movement. It was crazy to hear about all of her
stories and see how much she did for equality when she was benefiting so
well from the Apartheid system. I also loved how integrated the station
was. There were whites, coloureds, indians and blacks working there.
Despite segregation being illegal, it is really still pretty common in a
lot of S.A so I enjoyed seeing the mix at CTV. CTV has a very low range
of viewership. As one of the faculty members at AFDA told us, "if you
can't see the transmitter, you can't get the station." I thought that
was kind of crazy but also amazing how despite the low radius the
station still averages 1.5 million viewers. The station plays original
programming, as well as free programming they find to use. The station
struggles for funds and has been shut down twice, but it seems like
everyone is really determined. I really enjoyed this FDP.
We got back from the FDP and ate dinner and showered. Around 9 Michael
came to my door and asked if Dain and I still wanted to go out. Dain
didn't, but I wasn't giving him a choice since he hadn't wanted to any
night and this was our last one. We were joined by two others, Kathy and
someone's name who I don't remember oops, and first went to this pub
type place. Lucky for me, the bartender didn't charge me for my
strawberry juice so it was free too :) (not that it cost very much
anyway, yay non drinkers!). After the pub we walked down to a place
called Crew. Crew is a gay club that Michael had gone to a few nights
ago and really enjoyed. Dain was pretty hesitant about it, but I didn't
really give him a choice and he ended up being glad I made him go
because he really enjoyed it. We ran into one other group of SAS kids
there, which included my R.D and some of the group that call themselves
"da crew" (a sealife post with an included rant on this group is
forthcoming). I don't really like anyone in that group so I tried to
just keep my distance, but it was a small place so I was forced to
pretend just a little.
We had a really good time at the club and I'm glad we ended up there
rather than the place that all the SAS kids were at. It was nice to be
at more a locals place than a Semester at Sea takeover place.
We got back to the ship around 4am, and had alarms set for 7 the next
morning for our FDPs.
The next morning, I was outside of the health clinic 10 minutes before
it opened ready for a note in hand to bring down Rufus. As it turns out,
two notes had already been sent and the head of security already
approved it and Rufus was just a tool. So I got a copy of the note and
got rather excited to win when I brought the bread later.
My FDP for the last day was for my sociology of marriage and family
class where we visited a place called the Triangle Project. The Triangle
Project is a counseling, support and testing center for the LGBTQQI
community. It started out as a safe-house for middle-class gay white
men, but boomed when Apartheid ended. As our host Mallow was telling us,
the South African Constitution has one of, if not the, most progressive
Constitutions in the world. It allows gays to marry, adopt and share
benefits, all of which can occur in a much quicker process than in other
countries. Mallow and his husband had recently adopted their first child
and he talked about their wedding and their lives. In Cape Town, being
gay is pretty accepted, but in the townships it definitely is not and
gays often suffer physical abuse. We also learned about HIV/AIDS and
what the project does to try to prevent its spread. For me, the Triangle
Project was a really cool learning experience and I really enjoyed this
visit. I love that this place exists to help people who are struggling
with themselves. They have a cost flow chart based upon income so anyone
can afford it, and they will even go and pick you up to bring you to the
center if need be. They seem to do a lot of good things and it makes me
sad to think about how hard it is for gays to live in America.
After my FDP I ate lunch on the ship and then met up with Dain after he
get back from his art museum FDP. We went to the V+A mall with Michael
to get some wifi, a safari hat for Dain and some GF bread. We had about
2 hours there and managed to get it all accomplished, including some skype.
When we got back to the ship I luckily got Rufus as my bag-inspector and
once again he tried to take away my bread. I told him it was okay with
the doctor AND his boss and he looked up at me, seemed to remember me,
grunted and shoved my bag at me. He then tried to smile at me, but I
wasn't having that shit. I almost wish he refused my bread though just
so I could make his boss embarrass him in front of everyone. But I guess
there is always next time. :).
We left South Africa a few hours late due to windstorms, and entered the
rough seems. It is now 3 days later, and the waves have gotten
progressively worse. We are currently going at 10Knotts, which is about
half the speed we normally do, and people are still sick everywhere.
There are two tropical storms we are getting the outskirts of though,
and I am sure that has a lot to do with it. Also, we are rerouting a
long way around and, as I posted early, are loosing Mauritius because of
this. I guess something has to happen on every SAS voyage to make it
unique, but I still kind of hope we get caught in a wicked awesome storm
story.
So now we are at sea for another 8 days until India. But hopefully we
can escape these waves soon!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
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