Until we meet again...

Today was an early morning that started with a two and a half hour drive to the Inverdoorn Game Reserve where we went on a safari! On the safari we saw wildebeests, lions, springbok, zebras, giraffes, and cheetahs, to name a few. It was so exciting!! Especially the cheetahs, they were adorable!! The only part that was not wonderful was that it was chilly and windy. When we were done we were all freezing and crowded around the fire that they had going at the lodge.

Once we got back to where we are staying, we got the afternoon to relax. For the most part we have all been chilling in the dining area doing assignments or going through pictures. We also had a brief talk about our reactions so far during dinner. We also discussed our reservations about going to the townships tomorrow. We will be there for almost a week. At one point Brittany said that one thing that she was worried about was seeing the kids who are living in the townships. The conditions there are never something that a child should be exposed to. Even driving past the squatter areas of the towns we have been in has been challenging. Spending long times in a real township, which is so much bigger than the squatter camps, is going to be hard. I am having a hard time knowing that I will be helpless in doing what I want to do for the families. I will have to accept that the best I can do is to spend time with the kids and give them what they ask of me. I need to see what they need not what I think that they need. In the end these are two very different things.

Before it's too late...

Today was an amazing day again. We spent the morning learning more about the history of South Africa and learning a little bit of Xhosa, one of the native languages here. After that we got to visit the top of Table Mountain. Luckily we were able to take a cable car there rather than spending two and a half hours climbing to the top. The sights were breath taking. It made me wonder, do the people who live in Cape Town still revel at the beauty of the world around them or do they become so desensitized to it that they don't notice? Also, are there ways in my life that this has occurred? Are there things back home that I have taken for granted, things that I should be reveling at every day but fail to because I have yet to notice how amazing and special they are? These are things that I will probably never know the answers to until it is too late, I can only hope that I am able to appreciate them before that time comes.

This brings me to the topic of my paper. Each week we have to write a reflection on what we have learned or experienced the previous week and how that has affected us that week, here is mine:

            One of the biggest differences between the United States and South Africa, or The Twin Cities and Cape Town to be more specific, is the way that the police are perceived. In the Twin Cities, the police are respected and even admired by some. In Cape Town, the police are not respected in the least bit. This is very surprising in some ways, but in others, after thinking about it, it is to be expected.

            The Twin Cities in general has been established for many decades and has never had any major experiences like that of their counterparts in Cape Town. This has contributed to the differing perspectives between the two police forces. In Cape Town, the people have recently been through a huge conflict in which the police were responsible for a portion of the fighting. Because of this, the people of Cape Town do not trust their local police.

That is not the only reason that the people don’t trust the police however. They are also severely over worked and underpaid which contributes to the negative perception that people have of them. According to Jane, many times when the people call the police in an emergency situation they may not come for hours because of how overworked they are and how short of bodies they are. There are many times when they are in the middle of one call when another arrives and they are not able to go to the second call until the first is finished. This can often take a long time. There are also times when there are more calls that continually stack up and make this problem become steadily worse.

I realized this all because of the armed response company signs outside of many homes in Cape Town. Initially I thought that the armed response companies were just used so that people felt extra safe, like the alarm systems that are used in the States. After thinking though I realized the connection to apartheid. I also think that the fact that they are so overworked and underpaid is a part of the apartheid legacy. The people in the government right now have been abused in one way or another by the police and therefore also have negative feelings toward them. This past resentment could possibly affect the management of the police department today. Either way, it’s a sad time when the police department gets robbed and is forced to hire an armed response company to protect.

After this thinking and realizing, I have come to be grateful that there is a group of men and women in my home town and state that I can rely on to protect me. I am relieved that I am able to trust that they will be there and do what they can to keep me safe and to offer justice for wrongs committed. I am also thankful that there are so many police officers that the young kids in my neighborhood and town can look up to. So many kids dream of being police officers when they grow up and without these people to emulate, these kids could turn to others who are not as ideal to become their role models.

Penguinsand Bonding!!

Today was pretty awesome. We skipped the lecture for today and took a journey to Boulder Beach to see the penguins!!! They were so adorable and the pictures were not at all representative of how adorable they were. Then we got to go to Cape Point which is the most south westerly point in Africa. That was gorgeous and we got to see baboons on the road there. The only not great thing was that we got to hike up a mile long steep path to get to the lighthouse on the point. But I made it successfully and survived. Now we have time to chill out until dinner when we are meeting with a leader from here in Cape Town.

Yesterday was also an eventful day. We spent the morning talking about the history of Cape Town. After that we went to the Castle of Good Hope, the Slave Museum, and the District 6 Museum. Those were really fun and I learned a ton about the history of Cape Town.

Another great thing that has happened so far is that the people that I have been traveling with have become a lot more comfortable with one another. Last night we all got together and asked different questions that everyone in the group had to answer. The questions ranged from religious beliefs to last (ideal) date. We learned so much about one another, it was so fun. I hope that this continues despite the fact that there are two separate personality types of people in our group here.

Day one!!

Late last night we arrived in Cape Town!! It was interesting the weather here is similar to the early spring weather in MN (wet and around 50 degrees) but there are palm trees. Also the drive to our lodge was interesting in that when driving we passed both nicer buildings as well as the shacks in the townships. Today we actually got to drive around downtown Capetown. Some parts were really nice and ritzy and then there were others that were more middle class. It won't be until next Sunday when we leave for the townships that we get to see the full extent of the poverty.

One really nice thing that Alan and Jane, our guides here in South Africa, did for us was to buy us samosas. We got both minced meat and vegetarian. They were so delicious!! When we were eating them someone joked that they looked like donuts. That ended up giving Alan another idea and he went back in the restaurant we got the samosas at and got us some cooked sisters. They are an islamic treat that are similar to mokey bread. They are a dense cinnamon bread with a sweet cinnamon carmely coating. They were amazing and actually reminded me of churros.

Now we have some free time so some of us are at an internet cafe near our lodge. I think that this might actually be cheaper than using my computer at the lodge but I'm not sure, all I know is that I have the wrong plug converter, along with half of the rest of the people with me, so we can't charge our computers. Later tonight we are having an authentic South African dinner and night of music. I am super excited for that. Though at this time I don't think that there is anything that I am not excited for, my group is great and I can tell I am going to continue to have fun.

Amsterdam

So here i am in the Amsterdam airport at midnight Minnesota time, 7 am local time. I am at the point where I can't tell whether I am tired, over tired, or awake. Unfortunately I have a 3 hour wait til leaving on a 10 hour flight to Cape Town. Not excited about another, even longer, flight. One was enough for me. Though the pilot was pretty funny considering we were leaving the airport in the middle of a storm, including tornados, and going around an erupting volcano. He also deemed it important to tell us that there were 18 different routes to take in order to arrive safely in Amsterdam. I must say though, before leaving the United States I was nauseous because of nerves, but I am feeling better now.

6 days and counting...

I feel as though I can finally breath, even if it is only for a few days. The end of the semester was hectic and stressful but now that it is over my life is slightly less stressful and I can concentrate on South Africa and China. I say slightly less stressful because I am the kind of person who will always stress at least a little bit over what I don't know. In South Africa and China i don't know what to expect. I don't know if there are things that I should be bringing that I will forget or if there are things that I will think that I need and will bring but end up not using. I think in someways though this is just to distract myself from the fact that in less than one week I am leaving home for pretty much five weeks. That is the longest time I have ever spent away from my family. A lot of people have questioned my summers at camp as being longer but at camp I was only an hour away from home and had that option of visiting. In South Africa and China the closest I will get will be skype. Even then it's not the same, I am going to miss times like tonight when my entire family was together for dinner, with the addition of three of my brothers friends, and we spent a lot of the time laughing and having fun.

In other news a couple weeks ago my church agreed to let me have a door offering after the two services on mother's day. In the end I was able to raise about $1,250 from that offering!!! With the addition of the money that my family and friends have added to my total i have raised a total of $2,320 for Open Arms!!!! That is equivalent to over 46 food parcels! I am so blessed to have such generous people in my life. These people have all expressed joy at hearing about my opportunity to travel and the desire to hear about what I experienced when they next see me. I have even been invited to hold not one but two forums between the services at my church so that there is time to hear about each of my trips.

Regardless of my fears and anxieties, I am so excited to go and I cannot believe that I will be in Cape Town, South Africa in a matter of 7 short days!!