Blame the slow and unreliable internet connection! Wow, the internet is one thing that I miss dearly.
I am pleased to say that the last week has been full of excitement and culture. Let me start from the beginning of last week, Monday, July 23, my dear friend Alana's bday :). Well, this was the first day of our community site visits...I was assigned as a floater among all sites so that I have a large subject pool for my dissertation data collection, great! I started off at Missionville Township School. This is a school surrounded by shacks and serves a place for disadvantaged children to grow and learn. All great things, except for Pastor Russel (the principal) who is a bit full of it. He has been super unreliable and honestly is wasting our time (I change sites next week, thank goodness :)). Instead of helping with the children, we are promoting learned helplessness. See, Missionville also serves as a center that caters to the poor and needy whom were affected by the apartheid government a few years ago. These people are all allowed to receive food (2x a day) and clothing (1x a month) from the government. Each day hundreds of people line up and wait to receive these items, then throw their trash (from the food) on the ground. All they do is wait and sit. Get up and do something! The government services are not helping them at all; these acts of kindness aren't actually doing these people any good.How about make them work for their food, or sit in in an educational class/lecture for an hour or so, then get food? there's a thought! Wow, makes me really sad when I see how hard others work here (e.g., carrying heavy items on their heads, taking care of sick children, etc.). I guess I got to get a taste of the real South Africa after Apartheid.
Anyway, there is this one really nice lady at Missionville who works in the school; her name is Geraldine and she is the one and only lunch lady. Her job is to prepare breakfast and lunch for the 200 children (the only two meals these kids receive each day; most do not eat at home due to their parents being drunks and unemployed). In the morning she prepares porridge and in the afternoon, some type of sandwich and artificial juice. I help her with the lunch work and have actually taught her a few things. The lunch schedule rotates between bread, butter, and shredded cheese sandwiches, bread butter, and peanut butter sandwiches, and bread, butter, and sardines. Sick! So I asked her why so much butter? What's the point? The kids aren't malnourished; they don't need the added fat. So I introduced the idea of PB&J! Who would have thought this would be a new phenomenon in South Africa! She and the children loved it! No butter either:). Next mission, get rid of the Kool-Aid drink, but it's baby steps.
On Thursday we went into an even poorer township and spent the night at a backpackers lodge. Here we spent time with the Momma's again and even visited a few homes of local artists. It was really sad to see their living conditions but inspirational at the same time because of the beautiful art they produce.
The Momma's all filled out my survey! Woo Hoo! got about 15 participants from that sample. This was an interesting experience because most of these women, average age of 65, couldn't read; so I read each question to them and helped them fill out the survey. I appreciated their support and they enjoyed taking it too! The momma's also asked a local dance team to come in and do some traditional dancing (See pictures below). Some of the dancers also took my survey! That's right...I'm gonna graduate!
Saturday we headed about three hours west to an Afrikaans farm (Afrikaans are the white people, the majority of which are farmers who have a lot of money). The girls stayed on one farm (about 6000 acres) and the guys stayed on another (about 4000 acres) that was near by. It was unbelievable what we saw; tons of wildlife, natural waterfalls and springs, and natural trails. These farmers also had domestic workers, similar to slaves, which was really sad.
The house I stayed at was one of a game hunter; his wall of pride out does my fathers; but he did extend an invitation for the men in my life to travel back, stay with him, and go game hunting. See pictures below; we also did some target shooting and went on a ride into the woods during the late night to see the animals in their prime. Very cool! Very COLD!
Well, I am about to head a bit north to Durban, South Africa. This is were the South African's vacation to. I'm staying on North Beach and look forward to a bit warmer weather, a new city to explore, and hopefully my first warm shower in weeks :). I will try and update this blog while there if the internet is stronger. TaTa for now...
I am pleased to say that the last week has been full of excitement and culture. Let me start from the beginning of last week, Monday, July 23, my dear friend Alana's bday :). Well, this was the first day of our community site visits...I was assigned as a floater among all sites so that I have a large subject pool for my dissertation data collection, great! I started off at Missionville Township School. This is a school surrounded by shacks and serves a place for disadvantaged children to grow and learn. All great things, except for Pastor Russel (the principal) who is a bit full of it. He has been super unreliable and honestly is wasting our time (I change sites next week, thank goodness :)). Instead of helping with the children, we are promoting learned helplessness. See, Missionville also serves as a center that caters to the poor and needy whom were affected by the apartheid government a few years ago. These people are all allowed to receive food (2x a day) and clothing (1x a month) from the government. Each day hundreds of people line up and wait to receive these items, then throw their trash (from the food) on the ground. All they do is wait and sit. Get up and do something! The government services are not helping them at all; these acts of kindness aren't actually doing these people any good.How about make them work for their food, or sit in in an educational class/lecture for an hour or so, then get food? there's a thought! Wow, makes me really sad when I see how hard others work here (e.g., carrying heavy items on their heads, taking care of sick children, etc.). I guess I got to get a taste of the real South Africa after Apartheid.
Anyway, there is this one really nice lady at Missionville who works in the school; her name is Geraldine and she is the one and only lunch lady. Her job is to prepare breakfast and lunch for the 200 children (the only two meals these kids receive each day; most do not eat at home due to their parents being drunks and unemployed). In the morning she prepares porridge and in the afternoon, some type of sandwich and artificial juice. I help her with the lunch work and have actually taught her a few things. The lunch schedule rotates between bread, butter, and shredded cheese sandwiches, bread butter, and peanut butter sandwiches, and bread, butter, and sardines. Sick! So I asked her why so much butter? What's the point? The kids aren't malnourished; they don't need the added fat. So I introduced the idea of PB&J! Who would have thought this would be a new phenomenon in South Africa! She and the children loved it! No butter either:). Next mission, get rid of the Kool-Aid drink, but it's baby steps.
On Thursday we went into an even poorer township and spent the night at a backpackers lodge. Here we spent time with the Momma's again and even visited a few homes of local artists. It was really sad to see their living conditions but inspirational at the same time because of the beautiful art they produce.
The Momma's all filled out my survey! Woo Hoo! got about 15 participants from that sample. This was an interesting experience because most of these women, average age of 65, couldn't read; so I read each question to them and helped them fill out the survey. I appreciated their support and they enjoyed taking it too! The momma's also asked a local dance team to come in and do some traditional dancing (See pictures below). Some of the dancers also took my survey! That's right...I'm gonna graduate!
Saturday we headed about three hours west to an Afrikaans farm (Afrikaans are the white people, the majority of which are farmers who have a lot of money). The girls stayed on one farm (about 6000 acres) and the guys stayed on another (about 4000 acres) that was near by. It was unbelievable what we saw; tons of wildlife, natural waterfalls and springs, and natural trails. These farmers also had domestic workers, similar to slaves, which was really sad.
The house I stayed at was one of a game hunter; his wall of pride out does my fathers; but he did extend an invitation for the men in my life to travel back, stay with him, and go game hunting. See pictures below; we also did some target shooting and went on a ride into the woods during the late night to see the animals in their prime. Very cool! Very COLD!
LOVED this post! You are getting to experience so much! It's so good to hear about you helping the people and also getting some great data for your dissertation!
ReplyDeleteI was thrilled to hear about you helping in the kitchen with the children's meals!! Baby steps can lead to big changes! Way to go!
Loved the dancers too. I hope you learned some awesome new moves to teach me when you return. Maybe we can do a synchronized African dance at the wedding to Pit Bull. haha
The Afrikaans hunting trophies were amazing! I hope that he is using the meat for food instead of just shooting those beautiful creatures to put on his wall. I read the saddest story about elephant poachers recently so I hope you do not experience that. I'm glad you've been practicing your shooting skills here lately so you hopefully showed them how it's done. Did you see any cool animals out of night?
Have so much fun on your next adventure. I'm wishing super warm weather and showers to you!
Miss you - ANT
J-E-A-L-O-U-S. That’s really all I have to say. Other than that, I am thrilled to hear that your surveys are getting filled out and that everything is going as planned. You were worried for no reason… it looks like someone has a little bit of our mother in them, eh?! The towns you have described are unimaginable and make the statement “There’s starving children in Africa” all the more real. Makes me appreciate the simple things in life. I have to admit, it was a bit tough for me to see those beautiful animals mounted…. But let’s be for real here, it’s nothing I am not used to (except the Giraffe and Zebra). Anywhooo, soak up some African culture for me because in my next life I’m pretty sure I’ll be an African Safari Tracker. Make memories, be safe, have fun, love and miss ya! Tootles for now.
ReplyDeleteXO
Stephanie
P.S.- Hang out with some elephants and think of me!
Learning, learning, learning, nothing is better for the mind. Soak it all in and at the same time, the appreciation of the support from this end in all your endeavors should elevate to all time high! Visiting and learning gives one, the experience that teaches them that nothing is as great as a supportive family and that nothing is as sweet as, “HOME SWEET HOME”. Enjoy the remaining days, and tell your new friend the “Ranch Owner”, I have a saying, “Invite Me and I Will Come”. Keep contact with him, you never know, I might take him up on it.
ReplyDeleteCongrats,
Dad
Wow....This is amazing!!!! We are all so proud of you and love reading your blog each day. What a wonderful life experience and adventure that you will have to treasure for many years. Enjoy every waking minute and learn as much as you can on your Safari in SF. Be smart, safe and keep warm. Wishing you the best, because you're the best! We love you and miss you so much, Aunt Nina, Uncle Lance, Kayla, Nicole and Lance....and Daisy!
ReplyDelete