Heaven's Nest

Heaven's Nest is a home that houses a mix of children who are orphaned or who are waiting for their parents to be deemed “ready” to parent again. It is well funded and the children receive great care. There are usually 2 staff at all times taking care of the children as well as other volunteers. We have seen at least 8 different volunteers stop by Heaven's Nest over the two weeks that we have been working there. Volunteers who stop by shower the children with love. It's been cool to see that so many people deeply care about the kids.

Parents are allowed to visit their children every day from 10-3 but many parents choose not too. Two parents have stopped by over the time that we have been there. It's hard because of course we are happy to see that their parents have come and the children seem happy to have someone to play with, but when their mothers leave the children don't cry and don't seem to miss her when she's gone.

There are 10 kids living there currently- 4 girls and 6 boys. The children are really sweet and Marissa and I have really been enjoying our time here. Although they choose not to listen sometimes, they are always so excited and happy to see us and to play.

The home that the children live in is very nice. They have a spacious backyard filled with swing sets and toys that the children love to play with. The children love to swing and typically sing songs while they are swinging such as “Baby” by Justin Bieber- it is the most adorable thing. There are three separate bedrooms upstairs for the boys, girls, and infants with a nice bathroom for bathing and changing. Also upstairs is a therapy room with a wide variety of toys where you can bring either a group of children up to play with specific toys or children can be brought up individually to really specialize the kind of play you want to engage them in. The downstairs living room/play room is stocked with many books, toys, and a TV with VHS and DVDs to watch.

Our time at Heaven's Nest has been a lot of fun. The kids were easy to connect with so it was tough to say goodbye to them today but we are definitely planning on keeping in touch! The children asked repeatedly everyday to see our cameras and take pictures with them so we are hoping to print some pictures out and send them to Heaven's Nest so the kids can have something tangible to remember us by.

Heaven's Nest is doing great things in the lives of children here in South Africa who don't have much. Check out their website if you want to learn a little bit more or help support them! http://www.heavensnest.org.za/Home.html

Emasithandane Children's Organization

Over the past few weeks, three volunteers from our study abroad program have dedicated themselves to Emasithandane Children’s Organization. Located in Nyanga within the Cape Flats region, this primarily black township is one of oldest as well as one of the most dangerous and poorest. Unfortunately, these innocent children from this deprived orphanage are stricken with conditions and obstacles no child should ever face. Despite their horrendous circumstances, the endless love emanating from each and every child and staff member guides their positive outlook towards a brighter and more hopeful future.

Affectionately known as Emasi, this home/shelter’s overall motto is to provide a loving safe environment for abandoned, abused, orphans, vulnerable children, and those affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. They supply education, food, and extra mural programming for all of infants, toddlers, and adolescents they take in. There are approximately 39 total children living in these confined quarters and over 25 additional children in the neighborhood are fed for in the community kitchen. The majority of the people from this orphanage speak Xhosa, one of the 12 primary languages of South Africa; in turn, making it fun for the volunteers to learn the bare essentials of this language. The children are from different, difficult backgrounds and arrive at Emasi for a variety of reasons; however, all are affected in some way by HIV/AIDS and the grips of poverty. Some are there for a short time while others are there permanently. After a few weeks, the children start to gain weight, feel loved, and enjoy themselves. The chief goal is to re-bond the family and the child when they are eighteen, whereby they can defend themselves from a previously abusive situation. The aim is to keep the children energetic, active, and busy.

The orphanage’s humble beginnings started with Mama Zelphin Maposela and her colleagues door-to-door mobile clinic to visit those who couldn’t help themselves. As many of these patients laid in bed dying, they worried about their children’s stigmatized future as AIDS orphans. So Mama promised to find them a safe home. When she couldn’t find foster homes for these children, she decided to create one herself and stay true to her promise. Because Mama Maposela grew up as an orphan herself, she knows exactly how difficult it is to be in that situation. In 1994, she became an official foster parent to three of these AIDS orphans. Emasi became an officially registered safe home with the South African government and primarily relies on private donations because of constantly jeopardized government funding…so think of Emasi when giving backJ

The forged relationships with all of the children are dear to our hearts and will be cherished forever. Simply being a jungle gym or hair salon for these giddy youngsters is always appreciated and reciprocated with a hug or smile: a universal language. In spite of the surrounding area being notoriously rough and unpredictable, the community certainly does everything in its power to protect these precious children. The lively township constantly blasting Rihanna or Michael Jackson undoubtedly creates for a vibrant atmosphere where even the babies have a bounce in their step. What Americans would think of as “madness” such as neighbors constantly stumbling in to chat with the children or us and slaughtering poultry for meals just beyond the gate, subsequently depicts character of this township and accurately represents this culture most know little about. Even though these children aren’t blessed with overflowing toy chests or Baby Einstein dvds, like any child in any country, they crave and deserve attention and unconditional love.

If you would like to contribute to Emasithandane Children’s Organization, please contact them via their website (www.emasithandane.org.za) or email (info@emasithandane.org.za). Any little bit helps and is greatly appreciated!

Shark Cage Diving

Today was technically our “free day” and we were able to spend the

sted at the house, and others went to church with our cook Ivy. For most of us however, today was one of the highlights of our trip and perhaps one of the most exhilarating events of our lives – shark cage diving.day relaxing however we chose. Some people took a trip to the mall and re

The group of us who went shark cage diving consisted of Hannah, Allie, Jackie, Maggie, Noelle, Bridgett, Carrie, Amy, Marissa, Diandra, Ashley, and myself, Ashlyn. We got picked up at 8:30 this morning (which was nice compared to our other option of 4 am) and mostly slept on the two-hour drive to the White Shark Projects location. We were treated with a great breakfast, preparation as to what to expect on the boat, and we saw the pictures of when Ricky Martin and Nicholas Cage were there a couple of years ago doing the same thing as us!

The boat drove about 20 minutes out to the middle of the waters, and through all of the mist, at first we couldn’t see any land – it made for a much creepier atmosphere! The process of attracting the great white sharks included throwing “chum” into the water and luring the shark with a tuna head. The chum is made up of mostly fish oil and pieces of tuna to make the sharks follow the smell towards the boat. The tuna head isn’t for food necessarily, just used as a visual and a distraction for the sharks to follow something right beside the boat. There is no real food or medicine involved – just the sharks in their natural state.

We all wore 7 mm thick wetsuits because the water was absolutely freezing. The wetsuits came with booties and a hood to keep us extra warm, and we each got a pair of goggles. As soon as we arrived to our destination we all geared up in case a shark came soon and we needed to quickly alternate spots. The cage was hooked onto the side of the boat and large enough for five people at a time. It was far enough out of the water so that our heads and shoulders were above water while we were waiting. We would climb in and hold onto the top of the cage, but as soon the instructor saw a shark they would scream “DOWN DOWN!!” and we had to grab onto the red bar about 2 feet under water. The water was so murky that in order to see the shark our faces had to be right against the edge of the cage – we could only see about 2 meters in front of us. This meant that we would be staring into nothing, unaware of what direction the shark was coming from, and suddenly see it swim not more than a foot away from us. Everyone in our group saw the same 3-meter shark, and it was a fairly big for the great whites they had recently been seeing, especially because we came at the slowest time of the year. Also, sharks do not live in one spot so there are no guarantees that there would be sharks at all.

The instructors were also telling us that great white sharks are on the top ten endangered species list, and are not expected to be around 15 years from now. It is because people hunt them for their jaws that can be up to 100,000 US dollars, and they hunt the biggest sharks so they cannot repopulate. Also, over 200 million great white sharks are killed every year for their fins. In many Asian countries shark fin is considered a delicacy, a sign of wealth, and some even think it can make you wise. If the sharks become extinct the entire ecosystem will change and could be detrimental. Unfortunately, it is in high demand and will be until more people are educated about the risks.

A couple of people in our group bought the DVD they made and promise to try and put it up on facebook so that more people can see the sharks. Also, a lot of us got great videos and photos.

The rest of the day consisted of more relaxing and eating, something our group needed. It was a fantastic day!

1/7/11

Today began our first weekend after a long week of volunteering. We started our day off at our work sites for three hours as opposed to the usual six. Our bus picked us up promptly at noon and after a quick lunch on the bus we immediately set off for the Waterfront. The Waterfront is a beautiful touristy shopping center where boats can dock and people can shop and explore Cape Town. This site has also been seen in movies such as Blood Diamond. This is also where the boat for Robben Island picks up passengers. So, after an hour of browsing the shops we all boarded the boat for Robben Island.
Robben Island was originally a prison made famous during the apartheid years for housing freedom fighters. It’s most famous inmate: Nelson Mandela. Now the entire island is considered a museum and the new government has given houses on Robben Island to former inmates. Several inmates work at the museum. During the apartheid Robben Island was overcrowded, overrun with disease and abusive to prisoners. The prison was divided into A, B and C sections depending on the behavior of the inmate. The C section was a group cell where as many as 50 men would share a 50x50 foot cell. The B section was were Nelson Mandela stayed for the majority of his section he was allowed two visits every four months and one letter every month. All personal visits were required to be conducted in English or Afrikaans. We got to explore Mandela’s cell which was quite moving because that is where he wrote the much of the manuscript for The Long Walk to Freedom, which we read prior to class. The trip to Robben Island was both informative and moving. Seeing the cells, the work sites and the prison yards made the apartheid movement more real. Being at the place where many of our modern day heroes suffered for the benefit of others was an amazing experience that will not be taken for granted. The opportunity to stand in Mandela’s former cell and appreciate the time he spent there was truly amazing.

1/8/2011

We started off our Saturday by returning to the African Market to finish buying some souvenirs. The weather was great; it was warm and sunny with a nice breeze. Then, we headed to South Africa’s oldest wine farm, Groot Constantia, created in 1685. The vineyard was beautiful! We took a tour of the inside of the winery to see where the wine is made and stored, and then we were all able to do some wine tasting ourselves. We sampled 5 different wines, and learned about different ways on how to tell the quality of wine. We were able to purchase wines after the tour. After that, we headed over to Spier, another vineyard. We had lunch outside on the grass, and then also did some more wine tasting at this vineyard. Located on the other side of the vineyard is the Cheetah Outreach Reserve Center. Here they have cheetahs that they are trying to protect, and you can choose to go into the cages to the pet the cheetahs. A lot of us chose to pet cheetahs, such as Amy, Ashlyn, and myself, and it was a great experience! We learned that cheetahs in the wild live approx. from 4-8 years, and they can live up to 14 years at the reserve. After that, we went and looked at the grounds of one other vineyard and then headed back to Spier for dinner at Moyo’s. Dinner was amazing! We sat at this table up on a large deck, and they brought us all blankets and painted our faces. There was a huge buffet with many choices, from fish to steak to native African dishes! The restaurant was mainly outside, and there were tables set up under neat little “Moroccan” inspired tents and people were going around to the different areas and performing different dances and songs. We headed home around 10:00 p.m., and had a great day!

Table Mountain

We just completed our third day of volunteering and are now well acclimated to the sites. When we arrived back in Observatory after a day of hard work we had some time to shower and change before we headed to Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a popular site to visit in South Africa. The mountain has a flat top and overlooks the city of Cape Town.

When we arrived at Table Mountain it was packed with cars, buses, and tourists. We took a quick group photo before getting on the cable car. The cable car holds 65 people and was completely filled. The floor of the cable car made a 360 degree rotation which allowed us to see the coastal views and back side of the mountain.

When we got to the top of the mountain we found a spot to sit and eat dinner together. Ivy, our cook, prepared a delicious meal of macaroni and cheese with vegetables. After eating we broke up into smaller groups and explored the mountain.

At 1,067 meters above sea level (approximately 3,500 feet) the views were breath taking. We spent two hours at the top of Table Mountain. We all took tons of pictures but everyone seemed to agree that no pictures truly capture the beautiful views. We watched the sunset and then got in line to take the cable car back down to the ground. The mountain was packed so we had to wait in line for a while but none of us minded because it allowed us time to catch up with everyone and the view of the city lights was amazing.

This is a picture of Jackie, Amy, Hannah, and Ashlyn spelling out CTSA (Cape Town, South Africa) with our arms.

St. Anne's Home

Maggie, Carrie, and I are volunteering at St. Anne’s home. This shelter has been helping abused women and children in South Africa for over 100 years. They provide many resources and guidance for both the women and children. Mother’s are given basic skills training, typing classes and computer literacy, along with skills and assistance with job searching. In addition, they are educated on many other things such as HIV/AIDS and self-esteem. While the mothers are at work the center provides care for the young children ranging from age 1 month to 5 years. Educational tools are used to stimulate the toddlers’ along with recreational play. The babies are looked after in another room where the play and sleep. There aren’t many children in the shelter right now because the parents leave during the holiday. The children that we have cared for thus far are adorable, energetic, loving, and entertaining.

Within the past couple of years the shelter’s fallen on hard times due to loss of funding. Our mission coming here was to help and contribute to the community the best way we can. With that goal in mind, the 3 of us gathered a list of supplies the shelter needed and bought them. Today we delivered the materials to them, which included diaper cream, baby wipes, a thermometer, teething powder, baby formula, baby wash, cough syrup, Vaseline, bottles, gloves, insect repellent, hand soap, and various other items. They were very grateful to receive the supplies. One of the teachers told us,“ You saved my life.” The satisfaction of knowing that we are making a great difference in their lives made today a great day and makes this trip all worth the while!

First Day at Work Sites

Today was the day we all have been waiting for, to get the chance to work with less fortunate South African boys and girls. We all were excited and anxious to meet and play with the children. We had to be up and ready by 8:30 am to depart for our various work sites. The work sites include Crossroads Community Health Center, St. Joseph’s Home, Heaven’s Nest, St. Anne’s Home, and Nyanga Orphanage. We were at our work sites from 9am until 3pm.

I was assigned to the St. Joseph’s Home for Chronically Ill Children. The home is divided into three different wards. The ward I was in was the boys’ ward also known as “Sweet Basil” along with Clarissa and Jackie. Allie, Hannah, and Diandra were in the Sunflower ward, which consisted of children with HIV/AIDS. The third ward was “Daisy” or the girl’s ward where Brigette and Paul decided to volunteer.

The boys in Basil were welcoming and excited to see us come into the room. They range in age from 2 years old and up. They were pulling us in every direction to play or to walk across the tires. No one could ever tell they were ill by the amount of energy they exhibit. They were jumping on our backs, playing with our hair, and sitting in our laps. After all the playing and jumping around they still managed to have time to flirt with the three of us. Most of the morning consisted of us playing outside on the playground and then we took them inside so they were out of the sun to play catch and watch movies. The cultural barrier of how race classification is established in the States shocked one boy. He asked me if I was coloured and when I told him no he was surprised. I explained to him that in America I am considered black and there is no classification for a mixed race. One of the boys wanted to know what languages we spoke beside English. We taught him and another boy some Spanish words and phrases and they taught us Xhosa. One word he taught us was “Ndzakubona ngomso” which means “See You Tomorrow”. The day was full and exhausting but exciting all at the same time. The boys were an amazing and awesome group to work with and I’m excited to see what they have planned for us tomorrow.

Monday January 3, 2011

It is hard to believe that we have already been in Cape Town five days. Part of me feels like we just got here, but looking back on all that we have done is no wonder the time has flown. Today was an extremely busy day beginning at 9:30 am with tours of 4 of the 6 sites that we will be volunteering at (St. Anne’s Home, St Joseph’s Home, Crossroads Health Clinic, and Nyanga Orphanage). We all enjoyed getting to see where we will spend the next couple of weeks and it definitely reminded us why we chose to come on this trip in the first place.

After the tours we headed to an outdoor market in Cape Town to do some souvenir shopping and got the chance to try our hand at bartering. The market contained countless stands with everything from World Cup jerseys to handcrafted Zimbabwean masks. Needless to say we could have spent all day there but our schedule only allotted us to be there for an hour, good thing many of us have lots of experience with power shopping...

Our next stop was the District 6 museum where we met with Linda Fortune the author of House on Tyne Street which was a book we read earlier in the semester. She told us about the history of Apartheid and the impact it had on District 6 and the people who lived there. Having grown up in District 6 herself she could recall with great detail what it was like to see the place she called home completely demolished because of the white supremacy. Linda showed us around the museum, which essentially was a memory box of what the neighborhood used to be. She told us about all the people who come to the museum and point to different pictures and places on maps recalling earlier years. (Pictured is Linda Fortune and our driver Sedick sitting on a bench that during apartheid was for whites only).

Linda took us to our final stop of the day, Oudekraal. Oudekraal today is a beach hidden down from the highway where families would save their money all year for the chance to vacation there during the holiday. Linda told us how her family used to go camping there when she was younger, staying in a cave made out of the boulders that surrounded the beach. She reminisced about her time there and explained to us about how after Apartheid her family and others were no longer welcome even though they had been coming there for years. Linda took us on a tour around the beach showing us inside some of the caves as well as some of the most amazing views we have seen since we got here.

The day ended with us arriving back to the house around 6:30 pm to a delicious meal of chicken, steamed veggies, and sweet potato curry. It goes without saying that we were all exhausted after such a long day and are looking forward to some much needed sleep before we begin volunteering at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

Mind the Connection

Mama Thope had just finished talking, and I could not grasp just how one could communicate the friendliness of townships, as such was the desire of hers to be done in the understanding of the people in her community. For starters, I didn't know they were friendly. Everything I had read pointed to the fact that I should actually be afraid for my life while visiting. And secondly, still and moving pictures in such circumstances tend to only capture the presence of poverty and suffering. What does friendliness even look like?

But walking the first 300 yards outside the secured gates of Mama Thope's home, we were surrounded by it. It's all you could see and feel. And it never ended. Street after street thereafter, a welcoming smile met you at your feet.

While smiles do not reveal a person's state of happiness, as Mama Thope noted in a comment about the challenges community members face, they do reveal the goodness of one's heart. And that to me is what had been lost in all the stories I had read about South Africa and its people. I had been taught to fear the socioeconomic gap rather than merely be mindful of it. And in that fear, the gap widened to where all connection was lost. I could no longer see what was in their hearts. Only what was in my wallet.

But walking the streets of Khayelitsha, a connection was restored and my perspective changed. I could see that their eyes were not on what was mine. I could see instead their eyes were just like mine.

So that is now what I seek through my eye and lens. To be mindful of the gap but to remember what we all share. There is a divide in the poverty and suffering but not in who we are.

Second day in C.T!! Last day in 2010!

Our second day here we started fairly early. Leaving the house around 9am we went to the grocery store and pharmacy to get any personal items needed. It was our first time inside a South African pharmacy. It was very interesting seeing the similarities and differences between our pharmacies back home and the ones here. They do have some of the same brand names that we do in the U.S. but for the majority, the brands are different.

After that we drove towards the H0ut Bay area to do a walking tour of Mandela's Park. This township is called "Imizama Yet" which means "Our Struggle". This township is built on a landfill and houses many families. It has bars, salons, and a church. About 8 families or 40 people share one toilet and water well, which can be up to 1km or 1/2 mile away from their home.

The people of Mandela's park were all very friendly, the kids loved having their pictures taken by us. Today we learned a new word from these children, "abelungu" (pronounced a-baa-lu) which means "whities" or white people. As we walked by they would call out "abelungu" to us. While on our tour we visited the church were some women in the church choir sang two songs for us. While singing their second song one of the women pulled me up to join in their dance/sway to the song. There were also crafts made by people from the township which we were able to purchase.

After the tour of the township, we drove to Hout Bay and had a picnic of cous cous with vegetables, apples, & juice boxes. While in Hout Bay we were also able to explore an old war post on the side of the mountain.

For dinner we went to Ivy's and had a Braai, where we met the students from America University in Washington D.C. Once again the food was very good. Following dinner we went to TrenchTown Bar down the street to ring in the New Year - complete with a champaign toast at midnight and us dancing to "Waka Waka"!!

Overall we had a great New Years Eve day!!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!

The first day of 2011 started off slow due to a little rain. No longer being able to go to the market, a lot of us assumed we would get to go back to sleep. No way! First Jan took us to see the penguins at Table Mountain National Park. Immediately the penguins stole our hearts! After spending an hour posing, waddling, and dancing with the penguins, it was time to continue our day.

While driving to Cape of Good Hope, Jan and our driver warned us about seeing baboons in the roads and off to the sides. In no time all were at the windows with our cameras taking pictures of the baboons that were playing nearby. Finally making it up to the Cape of Good Hope site, everyone began preparing for the venture up then mountain. Every so often a break was taken and numerous amounts of pictures were taken. We all made it to the top of the mountain and it was gorgeous! Each day we are realizing more and more how beautiful this country is. On the way to the bottom of the coast some had the opportunity to be driven down or take the hike. About six students decided to hike and made it down to the coast feeling accomplished.

In an attempt to exit Cape of Good Hope there was an odd traffic jam. We finally realized that the hold up was due to baboons in the street again! This time, however, ostriches accompanied them but were off to the side. On the way back we stopped at an interesting cliff-like area that gave us the opportunity to view the entire city. From that very spot we were also able to view Pollsmoor Prison, where Nelson Mandela was unconditionally released after serving 27 years in prison.

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

We made it!!

Hi All,

We made it!  After we said our good-byes at the airport on Tuesday, December 28th, we took an 8 hour flight to London.  The flight went smoothly and we landed in London around 10 a.m.  A few of us shopped around in the terminals while the rest of us journeyed out to explore London.  We took a bus tour and stopped to eat before heading back to the airport for a 12 hour flight to Cape Town.  The plane was dark and we slept a little better but we were still tired when we landed this morning at 11 a.m.
When we arrived, we unpacked and took a quick tour around the neighborhood to see where we would be staying for the next 3 weeks.  After the tour we went down the street to Ivy's Kitchen for a traditional South African Braai (similar to a barbecue) and ate outside in the 80 degree weather in our shorts and tank tops!
Our next stop was the beach.  We all hopped in a van and drove around Table Mountain and down a winding road with incredible scenery!  There were gorgeous houses and palm trees all the way down to the white sandy beaches and clear water.  Unfortunately, it was extremely windy so we didn't stay too long but we were able to enjoy it for a little.  Our driver took us on Long Street on the way back to the house which is one of the oldest streets in Cape Town, famous for its night life.
Back at the house we were finally able to shower and clean up after a few days of traveling.  Dinner was at a restaurant down the street and the food and dessert was awesome!  After a few hours eating and telling stories at the table, we called it a night.
Most of us had the opportunity to set up our internet this past hour and were able to talk to family.  It is time for bed and we can't wait to finally lay down!  Tomorrow we will take a tour of a township and a few more outings that Jan has planned.

Good night from Cape Town!
Maggie