Pictures from Cape to Pretoria trip

For my first vacation in South Africa, my boyfriend (Drew) came to visit and we took a road trip from Cape Town, along the Indian Ocean and up through the Drakensburg, to Pretoria. The vacation was way back in the beginning of April, but I have difficulties up-loading pictures. I'm sorry for the delay! To the left, is an African penguin in Simon's Town, just south of Cape Town. The penguins have earned themselves the name 'Jackass' because of the loud donkey-like call that they make.

To the left is the Cape of Good Hope. The park is beautiful with lots of tourists.
If you tilt your head to the left, you can see one of the many waterfalls in Hogsback. Hogsback proudly proclaims to be the inspiration for JRR Tolkein's The Hobbitt, even though he left South Africa when he was five! Regardless, with the lush rainforested hills it isn't hard to imagine a hobbitt living here.
Cows on the beach in Port St. John's. Nice warm water, chill marajauna-smoking hosts, and more forested green hills.
View of the Drakensburg Mountains. We hiked up to the top the Amphitheater to see Tugula Falls, the longest waterfall in South Africa falling 5K. The day was foggy, so the pics of the falls themselves aren't very impressive.
Wild dogs competing for meat in De Wildt Cheetah and Research Center outside of Pretoria. Really close-up to wild dogs and cheetahs and a decent substitute for a game drive.

Petting a king cheetah at De Wildt. Some of the cheetahs are taken to schools and farms around South Africa for educational purposes.

We also stopped at the Valley of Desolation (not great pictures) but it was amazing.

The highlights of the trip for me was the excellent food we had every where along the way and NOT being the local celebrity for two weeks! I'm going to Victoria Falls with some volunteers on Monday. . . I hope to post pictures sooner and make all of you want to come!

Fish are Friends not Food. Well...

It's official. My five years of vegetarianism are over. To the left is a picture of me chomping into a burger at Maxi's while in town with Becca and Alicia. It didn't taste great.

Why am I eating meat? My diet in the village consists of yogurt and muesli for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly with apples for lunch, pap (hard mealie porridge) with potatoes for dinner. Where's the variety? The iron? Plus, I've noticed that I get really tired and kinda cranky after exercising (especially after riding that evil contraption some people call a bicycle) and that's not normal for me.

In the end, I just want to be healthy. But I don't think I'll be enjoying meat any time soon.

Youth Day a Success?

This morning I bathed, ate, and hurried of to school. On my way, I wondered where all the learners were. Normally, I'm surrounded by a thousand children every morning but this morning there were none. I asked the principal, "Why aren't there learners today?"

He replied that the teachers are busy doing schedules (ie, marking exams from last week and reporting the scores) and can not be in the classrooms. Because the teachers cannot be in the classrooms, the learners don't want to come to school (or is it that teachers don't want to deal with them this week?). Plus there isn't school lunch this week, so learners don't want to come when they aren't fed.

Despite the conditions at that school, another of my school is feeding their learners this week and expects them to be there. There may not be much teaching going on, but the teachers keep the learners busy, grade papers, and record marks all at the same time.

Last Friday was Youth Day, commerating the youth up-risings on June 16, 1976 across South Africa. The children protested against the use of Afrikaans in schools (which many of the educators and learners did not speak) and the educational gap between the schools that the white children go to and that the black children attend. The police told the learners to disperse, but they did not. The police fired tear gas into the crowd as children threw rocks. Then a shot fired. And another. Officially 23 children died others estimated that 200 children died. A full history

My teachers are proud of Youth Day. They should be. Regardless, they are part of a system that that is just as bad as the conditions of 30 years ago. The South Africa Human Rights Commision released a report a few days before the 30th anniversary of Youth Day detailing how there are still two systems of education in South Africa: one of the former white-only schools in cities and affluent suburbs (former model C schools) and one for rural or township schools in poor communities for the majority of students. The schools in rural communities (like the ones that Peace Corps Volunteers are working with) experience high levels of violence (mostly corporal punishment and sexual abuse of female learners), learners have difficulty understanding the language of instruction, low levels of community involvement (because schools are viewed as autocratic and alienating by community members), and that educator moral is low, many are underqualified and underperforming. Poverty is a hinderance, but with all of these other problems it cannot be an excuse. Full Report

So where does this leave the schools? I told my principal that I want the schools that I work with to be as good as former model C schools. He didn't think that it's possible. He's right, it's not possible tomorrow. But if all of the teachers actively make little changes every day those changes would add up. Yes be proud of Youth Day, but realize that the fight for good education is not over.

Women's Rights

A recent text message from Becca:

hi girls! i miss home! last night we had a bit of a family dispute @ house. long story.. Stephen's [host cousin living with Becca] sis left gran & has been gone 4 weeks. Gran has been with us. They found Stephen's sister last nite @ boyfriends. older bro brought her here late last night while we were sleepn & uncle ripped some of her hair out! thats when we woke up. boyfriend threatened older bro with gun. matome [host brother], jack [worker of family living with family], older bro, uncle, took sis back 2 grans last nite (where we had xmas party) & beat up boyfriends ( i guess there r many) 2day jack & matome said they should have killed the boys, then matome told me he would shoot his gf or wife if they ever "made a mistake"! ahhh! hope u r bettr!

Becca's life is more like living in the news stories from the Sun [a sensationalist newspaper that is extremely popular in my village], but her message depicts a problems in South Africa: women's rights and domestic disputes. In South Africa, a woman is shot dead by a current or former partner every 18 hours.

The problems extend beyond boyfriends and girlfriends. Every 26 seconds a woman is raped in South Africa. Of those whom press charges, seven percent of cases reach conviction. Look at the trial of former Vice President Jacob Zuma. He was acquitted of rape charges on May 8th, but the trial itself conjured memories of the OJ Simpson trial back home. Every South African watched the trial on TV and knew the outcome. Learners skipped school to see the eight hours of coverage on SABC2 on the day of the verdict. Citizens are divided on his innocence and there is still talk of him becoming the next president of South Africa (although he still faces corruption charges).

Throughout the trial, the plantiff was held in the witness protection program, endured heckling and insults -- and saw her image burnt as she made her way into and out of court, and had to listen to her past sexual history discussed and displayed for the court and nation. She used to consider Zuma a father-figure. From him she heard that her skirt was an invitation to sex and although he did not wear a condom, his shower after intercourse protected him from HIV infection (the plantiff is HIV positive).

Men usually rape to show power over women. Including power over the former oppressor and over women who have become educated and hold positions of power and respect in the community. When I discuss it with teachers, they usually explain to me how rape is a woman's fault and that men are just being men. I tell them it's not.

Despite the high levels of violence in general and against women, I feel safe. There are a few men that I know to avoid but everyone else looks out for my safety and well-being. In the village I can't walk outside my door without yells of 'Lethabo!' and greeting multiple grannies. In town, waiters, ice cream scoopers, grocery store clerks, well, almost everyone, seems to know where I stay and why I'm in South Africa. They are looking out for me and I look out for myself.