Computer-less in Cape Town

Over the past weekend my computer began having technical difficulties, and it turns out SA has a woefully inadequate knowledge of Macs. Long story short, it will be a while until I get my laptop back. In the mean time I'm in the school computer lab writing a quick update.

The weather has been a roller coaster ride these past few weeks. Today it is 80 degrees and sunny...over the weekend it was rainy and cold. I think I definitely made the right choice to study in Cape Town (as opposed to Europe) because as soon as the weather gets even a little cool or grey I get tired and antsy.

Here are a few one sentence updates on various activities from the past week:

Aquarium Field Trip - My kids loved it and were well behaved - the sharks and giant eels were a hit - and we had a dance / pizza party on the Water Front afterwards.

National Gallery - Monday is free museum day in Cape Town and it was raining, so I spent the morning perusing the mostly modern (and kind of underwhelming) collection of the National Gallery.

Cafe Ganesh - A girls' night at this charming Middle Eastern cafe resulted in copious amounts of pita consumption and excellent conversation.

Kirstenbosch Hike - Yesterday was glorious, so I broke in my new safari hiking boots by heading around the mountain to Kirstenbosch gardens and enjoying a zen-ful picnic lunch and several hours of reading in the sun.

Fat Cactus Friday - Last Friday we had a Mexican-themed house dinner at Fat Cactus complete with many margarita toasts to the semester and general reminiscing.

Stay tuned for - Later today a few of us are going to high tea at the ritzy Mount Nelson resort, and on Friday we are having a massive Fall Feast potluck where we introduce our South African friends to the wonderful tradition of Thanksgiving. I'm responsible for dessert, so I sure hope South Africa knows about pre-made pie crust.

More to come when I can steal another minute at a computer. It's time to begin reflecting on the semester and exploring the bigger picture implications of my time spent in Cape Town. Expect a detailed post soon.

The End of Classes

Classes ended yesterday, and I still can't believe that my semester at UCT is drawing to a close. I am definitely ready to be done with the academic aspect of my semester abroad (the classes were boring and the university was basically just inefficient and disappointing), but I feel like there are still so many things I want to do while in South Africa.

Last Thursday my house went out for a fun Ethiopian dinner downtown. We ate tons of delicious food with our hands and enjoyed a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony after the meal. On Saturday a few of us took a minibus all the way into Cape Town to check out the District Six Museum. The story of District Six is really interesting. It was one of the original twelve districts of Cape Town, and it developed into a bustling poor / working class neighborhood where blacks, whites, colored people, Indians, and immigrants all lived together and interacted. It was one of the most diverse areas in Cape Town, with tons of racial and cultural exchange and a unique community feeling. But during the apartheid era the government declared District Six a white only zone and forcibly removed over 60,000 people. They bulldozed the entire area to the ground because the city council wanted to rebuild Cape Town according to modern principles of city planning - there are really eerie aerial pictures of this desolate, completely barren patch of land right in the middle of down town Cape Town. The people who were removed from District Six were of course separated into their respective races, and working class blacks ended up in squalid townships outside of the city. Anyway, the museum just tells the story of District Six and has lots of interesting information and testimony provided by ex-residents. We all learned a lot and had a fun time exploring.

On Monday evening we had another house dinner, this time at a game grill in Rondebosch. The specials include everything from ostrich to warthog (although I got a Greek salad and some stuffed mushrooms...after a brief flirtation with South African meat, I'm back to being almost completely vegetarian). People were moaning and groaning that the gourmet steaks were 120 rand - around 12 USD - and I am not looking forward to US prices. In particular I am going to miss the wonderful, cheap South African wine. High quality and delicious pinotage is only around 30 or maybe 40 rand a bottle, which is going to be hard to beat.

Last night we had our final CIEE dinner at a touristy place in Stellenbosch. There was a 30 meter long buffet with every type of African food you could imagine, and traditional African dancers entertained us while we ate outside under the stars. Cozy safari blankets and fires kept us warm, and everyone had a great time. To complete the night we went out for drinks and live music in Observatory.

Although I was thrilled to have my last UCT lecture yesterday, I have to say that I am not looking forward to leaving the kids I work with at Baphumelele. Over the past semester I have grown incredibly close with them, and several have asked me to adopt them. I can't wait to take them on the field trip to the aquarium this Saturday...hopefully it will be give them a break from their daily life at the children's home. I know that I am just one of a long string of American student volunteers who rotate through their lives every six months, but I really hope that I provided my kids with a few fun after school activities and memories. I can definitely tell that their English has improved a little bit, if nothing else. I will miss them a lot, and they definitely gave meaning to my time here in Cape Town.

I have a two week break here before my exams start, so I am planning to do as much as possible during that time. Some friends and I are trying to figure out a way to get out of Cape Town for a bit, so I will definitely keep everyone updated. Although this is the beginning of the end of my amazing experience in South Africa, I absolutely am going to make the most of the time I have left.

Robben Island

This past weekend I finally made it out to Robben Island - one of the most iconic / obligatory Cape Town sites. On Saturday we had a nice breakfast in Rondebosch and then took a cab down to the Water Front. Amazingly, I had not been back to the Water Front since my first day in Cape Town, and it was incredible to see what a change of perspective three months has given me. I really still can't believe what a beautiful place Cape Town is. The weather has also taken an unseasonably pleasant turn, with highs in the low 70s and plenty of sunshine. Anyway, from the Water Front we took a ferry out to the island. On the ride we managed to spot a few penguins swimming in the ocean. The island has an interesting ecological feeling that is quite different from the mainland. Due to the introduction of eucalyptus trees and rabbits, the island is incredibly dry...like a desert. In the 1970s they tried to set traps for the rabbit population, but rabbits can sense when they are being threatened and their defense mechanism is to multiply even more rapidly than usually. So basically there are rabbits EVERYWHERE. 

We took a bus tour around the island, which today still houses around 200 people. There is one school, one post office, and one grocery store. The main infrastructure of the island obviously revolves around the prison, where almost all of the most famous anti-apartheid and ANC members spent at least some time before the democratic transition. According to trusty Wikipedia, over 3,000 men were imprisoned there between 1961 and 1991 (women were kept elsewhere on the mainland). 

The highlight of the visit was a cell tour given by an ex-political prisoner. Our tour guide had been imprisoned for six years, and it was fascinating to hear an inside perspective of life on Robben Island. Life as a prisoner was brutal and humiliating, but the men found ways to secretly communicate and even continue their studies. We visited Mandela's cell, and it was smaller than I ever imagined. The fact that he could spend 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment there and then re-enter South African society as one of the most dignified, effective, and forgiving leaders of the 20th century is really a testament to what a hero he is.

For the rest of the day we wandered around and explored the Water Front, followed by a delicious house dinner consisting of homemade pizza and a huge salad. Since then I've mostly been scrambling to finish up final papers and take last minute class tests - classes end in exactly one week! I definitely want to make the most of my time here as the entire experience begins to wind down, so hopefully I will have lots of interesting updates in the next couple of weeks. One of the things I'm looking most forward to is taking my Baphumelele kids on a field-trip to the Cape Town Aquarium a week from Saturday! For now though, it's time to do a bit of reading and figure out tonight's dinner plans. Adios!

Rainy Days

Sorry about the lack of updating - the South African internet provider my house uses has disabled the use of all google applications including Gmail (and my USC email) and blogger.com. I'm stealing a few minutes between classes here on campus to update using the UCT network. 

Fall is slowly settling down here in Cape Town, and days are getting rainy and shorter. We still do what we can to get out and do interesting things. Last Monday night we went down to Long Street to hear my friend's brother perform stand-up comedy at Zula Lounge. Parts of it were pretty darn funny, and it was definitely something different. During last week very little eventful happened. There were TWO public holidays...one last Monday and one on Friday. On Friday my house had a huge braai to celebrate. We were only allowed to invite South Africans (no other study abroad students), so it was a great way to meet people. The party started at around 10:00 in the morning with a pancake breakfast with my housemates. Other people started trickling in around noon, and the meat was cooking on the braai from 1:00 to 5:00. Braai is an amazing word. It's an adjective (as in braai meat or braai seasoning), a verb (let's braai or I'm going to braai up this lamb), and also a noun with several different meanings (the braai is the grill itself as well as the process of having a barbeque). All in all the day was fun and relaxing.

On Saturday a few of us tried to go scuba diving near Simon's Town in False Bay. Now I knew the water was going to be really, really cold, but I could not possibly have expected exactly what the experience of diving in that water would be like. I've dived in San Diego before where the water was around 60 degrees, and that was painful. But when I first rolled off the boat and hit the 46 degree water of the Western Cape, I had to stifle a scream. I basically had a miserable time and thought I was going to die the entire dive, and my buddy and I had to come up early together because we were just too cold. The worst part was we couldn't see anything. There was some pretty soft coral and a few sponges, and that was literally it. Although we had signed up from a second dive, not one of us could face going in that water again, so we all went and had lunch while the rest of our group dived yet again. In our defense, the other people we were diving with had dry suits, while we were outfitted in old smelly wetsuits and weren't even given gloves. Oh well, it was a crazy experience and definitely rivaled the bungee jump in terms of wildest things I've done here. 

On Saturday night my house went to a fun African drumming concert at a cool venue called The Assembly in downtown Cape Town. Everyone had a great time, and we all went for some late night falafel on Long Street after the show.

I'm definitely getting a bit antsy now that the weather is cooling off and the end of the semester is in sight. As much as I love Cape Town, I'm really beginning to miss my independence. As a girl, I'm getting tired of not being able to take public transportation by myself or walk anywhere after 6:00 PM (which is when it gets dark now). I've experience most of the easily accessible things that there are to do and see around Cape Town, and I have to say I'm itching to go farther afield and have new experiences. Unfortunately, this would require getting a liked-minded group of people together, and everyone is quite busy with the last three weeks of classes coming up. 

It's time to go to my philosophy class and debate about free will and Schopenhauer. Hopefully it won't be so long until my next update!

Happy Election Day

Happy Election 2009! Tomorrow South Africans will be going to the polls to vote in their fourth democratic elections since the end of apartheid in 1994. For my Thinking in the Social Sciences class, I was required to write a paper arguing which political party I would vote for. Here is a copy of the paper for anyone who wants to learn a bit more about South African politics. Whenever it seems like I go off on tangents about identity and patriarchialism and symbolism it's just because the class required it...I didn't mean any of it (especially the part about wanting to vote for Helen Zille because she's a woman - the professor is just a raging feminist). 

The Case for COPE: A Critical Analysis of the 2009 Election Parites

As an exchange student from the US, it has been fascinating for me to observe the election season unfold here in South Africa. I have been impressed by the free and open democratic dialogue – including lively debates surrounding Zuma’s indictment and the government’s decision to deny the Dalai Lama a visa. After carefully researching the many parties and candidates running in the upcoming election, I would argue that voting for COPE makes the most sense in terms of South Africa’s current political landscape. Using concepts including patriarchialism, race, and political identity, I will examine the advantages and disadvantages that accompany a vote for the ANC, DA, or one of the smaller minority parties. Ultimately, I conclude that COPE offers the best chance for South Africa to move forward in a constructive manner.

According to the South African Elections Statistics Centre, the four most visible parties in terms of media coverage are overwhelmingly the ANC (at 55%), COPE (22%), DA (13%) and IFP (6%). From a pragmatic standpoint, I would not want to waste my vote on some tiny opposition party that is ill-equipped to make any real policy impact, so I focused my research on these four parties. A quick scan of general reference sources identified the IFP as a rather unorganized Zulu dominated party formed in response to the ANC. A few years ago, MP Gavin Woods, a well-respected IFP member, claimed the party had no discernible vision or mission, no clear national ambitions or direction, and no articulated ideology offering current, vibrant policies (Jan-Jan Joubert 2005). The 2009 IFP manifesto confirmed this sentiment: while the party has sweeping political goals, it doesn’t give evidence of specific programs or policies. While I respect the opposition role the IFP has assumed, I quickly turned my attention to the three most serious players in the upcoming election: the ANC, DA, and COPE.

For a liberal Westerner like me, voting for the ANC and Zuma would not be an option. The rape charges, the allegations of racketeering and corruption, the dirty arms dealing, the polygamy – I have been raised in a political climate where any one of these things would make a candidate ineligible for office. I understand why many poor black South Africans feel compelled to vote for the ANC. This party is supposed to represent their interests. ANC politicians share their same roots, and the ANC was obviously instrumental in fighting against oppression and apartheid. For many black South Africans, their racial identity is inextricably linked with their political identity as ANC members. They feel that not voting for the ANC would be tantamount to betraying their identity as proud black South Africans.

However, in her insightful article Will South Africa's poor always back ANC?, Rebecca Harrison points out that the most loyal ANC voters are, ironically, the ones who have been let down most bitterly by the party. Harrison quotes COPE’s presidential candidate Mvume Dandala, who explains, “It’s like an abused wife – you get beaten every day but you keep going back to this man. And deep in your mind there’s something that says, were it not for this man I would probably never have been married.” In this way, the hold that the ANC has over the poor black majority is similar to the way that so many oppressed females still buy into systems of patriarchialism. Women are socialized to accept this world of male domination, and everywhere symbols and traditions entrench this system as seemingly natural and beneficial for women. Similarly, the ANC uses symbolism to remind South Africa’s poor black that the party understands them. Zuma kicks his legs and dances in the traditional tribal manner at party rallies, singing the freedom-fighter anthem “Bring Me My Machine Gun.” Even though service delivery has progressed at an unacceptably slow pace over the past decade, many blacks cannot tear themselves away from the ANC, because they could not bring themselves to leave this party that they know and understand.

So although an ANC victory and Zuma presidency seem inevitable, the big question for this election will be whether COPE and the DA can draw enough votes to overcome a two-thirds ANC majority. This would be a particularly important step for South Africa, as vibrant political opposition is the best mechanism to ensure adequate service delivery and transparency on behalf of the majority government. In looking at the DA platform, I have to say I was definitely influenced a bit irrationally by the fact that Helen Zille is a woman. It’s tempting for me, as a woman, to suppose that placing a strong female in power might be the answer to many of South Africa’s problems. Additionally, I was impressed by the clear policy goals laid out by the DA on the party website – for example, the DA’s Preparing for Success educational program lays out specific goals such as “introducing a per-child pre-school state subsidy,” and “ensuring that, within five years, South Africa has access to an additional 30 000 teachers a year.”

However, the DA will never pose a serious threat to the ANC as long as it is perceived as an elitist white party. I have several well-educated black friends at UCT who absolutely hate the DA and would never vote for it because they see it as representing white interests and perpetuating racism. As a result, the DA stands no chance of bridging the country’s racial gap. In fact, DA Youth Coordinator Siyabonga Nala recently left the DA and joined the ANC, claiming he sees “no hope for black people in the DA.” Regardless of whether the DA has good ideas for South Africa, I wouldn’t want to vote for a party that simply doesn’t resonate with almost 90% of the population. I believe the ANC has the potential to regain the legitimacy and standing it enjoyed in the Mandela days, but it needs enough political pressure placed on it that it is compelled to radically change course as a party, weeding out corruption and actually delivering on promises. The DA will never be able to draw enough black votes to fulfill this role.

However, COPE does have the potential to serve as this opposition party, forcing the ANC to get its act together. COPE’s policies and approach to politics may not be very different from the ANC’s, but that could actually be a good thing. In breaking away from the ANC, COPE altered its identity in a way that is still recognizable to many black South Africans. This identity shift was not a drastic conversion; rather, it was an alteration, a type of common social identity change that remains consistent within a generally understood framework. Because of this, black South Africans could theoretically imagine themselves voting for COPE while retaining their racial-political roots. In his new book Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa From Mandela to Zuma, Alec Russell explains that a lack of political competition to the ANC has resulted in the party’s recent stagnation. According to Russell, the ANC "is fighting to escape the shadow of so many other liberation movements that came to office with great dreams only to see them founder under the weight of unfulfillable expectations and against the backdrop of corruption, infighting, and misrule” (2009, 2). Russell’s prescription to this problem is the introduction of serious political opposition that will compel the ANC to get back on track.

Ultimately, my conclusion that a vote for COPE is the best option is based more on a structural analysis than on specific policy concerns. South Africa’s current democracy lacks any serious political opposition, which will allow the ANC to continue indefinitely in its current misguided direction. The DA will never appeal to the wider South African population, but COPE has the potential to do so. Once legitimate opposition is introduced to South African politics, it won’t matter what party is actually in power: that party will be forced to be more accountable for its actions, and voters will have a real alternative if the ruling party fails to deliver. While I don’t expect COPE to win the upcoming election, it would be great if it could at least make a dent in the ANC two-third parliamentary majority.

More About Spring Break

I've more or less recovered from the traumatic experience of having my spring break blog deleted, so it's time for me to write a little more about it.

To get to Sodwana Bay, I first flew to Durban, then took the BAZBus up to Coral Divers. BAZBus is the student and backpackers door-to-door hostel bus - it's a really cool concept and the people on the bus were all great, but it was a bit expensive. Once at Coral Divers, I was pleased with my accommodations in a huge single tent. I met my instructor and my University of Pretoria friends soon after arriving, and we planned out our dives for the week. Because I got my advanced scuba certification, I had to do several skill-based dives, including a deep dive, a peak performance buoyancy dive, and (my favorite) a fish identification naturalist dive. I learned so much about marine wildlife, and I can now tell the difference between Coachmen and Moorish Idols, spot various types of juvenile butterfly fish, and recognize whether a school of kingfish (also called jacks) are hunting or just swimming around together. 

As I mentioned, one of the highlights of the trip was getting to swim with two whale sharks on my last day of diving. The skipper spotted the first whale shark as we were boating out to 7 Mile Reef, and we frantically grabbed our snorkel gear and jumped in to swim with it. It was huge - probably about 30 feet long - and had such beautiful markings. As we frantically swam at the surface to keep up, it barely moved its tail from side to side to propel gracefully through the water. The Dive Master went down a few times to swim next to it (it was probably 15 feet beneath us), but it wasn't particularly curious. After we got back on the boat and had gone about 5 more minutes, we then spotted ANOTHER whale shark...and this one was swimming with dolphins. We were all screaming and hooting and hollering. A German guy with us who had been diving for 35 years was almost crying with happiness: this was the first time he had ever seen a whale shark, and it was a truly amazing experience. Anyway we dived into the water to swim with this one as well, and it was really interesting to watch the dolphins interacting with it. I cannot wait to go diving again!

In the evenings I hung out by the pool or the bar and played board games with my new South African friends. There was a group of four girls that I got to know particularly well, although they knew a few other people at Coral Divers who would often join us for dinner. It was really interesting to hear their perspectives on the directions of the country and the upcoming elections. In Cape Town, there is an overwhelming sense of excitement for the future, largely because the World Cup is going to be held there in 2010. But across South Africa, white people are quietly leaving and becoming more and more discouraged. Crime really is a serious issue here - one of the girls had even had her car hijacked from her at gunpoint. Every single one of their families own guns and have security systems surrounding their houses. The ANC has been in power for 15 years, and in that time infrastructure has slowly been getting worse. Many whites think there won't be clean drinking water in the country within 5 years. White South Africans are completely disillusioned with politics and the government. The ANC is corrupt beyond help, and yet it is virtually cemented in power and guaranteed to win the upcoming election.

Sadly, the frustration that white South Africans are feeling and the alarming rate at which they are leaving the country is really, really bad for South Africa. White people still make up a disproportionate majority of business owners, entrepreneurs, doctors, and engineers, and the country really can't afford to lose them too quickly. Eventually, the machinery will be in place for the black population to get the education necessary to fill this professional vacuum, but this will be a gradual process. Popular black politicians frequently make comments to the extent of, "We don't need any whites in this country...let them all leave." Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is widely accepted but obviously not practically sound. And even though my many black friends here seem to be optimistic about the future and ready to face the challenges ahead, I think it is a bad sign that so many white people are so disillusioned and leaving the country as such high rates.

On a similar note, I was struck by the fact that every single white South African I met on this trip asked me the same question about coming to study in South Africa: "Why?" They couldn't understand why someone from American would want to come to their country, and they were worried that I would be horrified by all the crime. They asked me if I thought there would be elephants and lions roaming around the cities, and seemed relieved to find out that I didn't have any false preconceptions about their country. 

Anyway, the elections are coming up on April 22nd, and it will be interesting to see what the atmosphere in Cape Town will be like. Jacob Zuma (the head of the ANC) will almost certainly be the next president, which is quite distressing. Not only was he indicted and taken to court for dirty arms dealing, but he has also allegedly raped a woman who was HIV positive. When asked about that, he said he took a shower afterwards so that the virus wouldn't be transmitted. I cannot believe that this man is going to be the next head of South Africa, such a beautiful and promising country, and usually a model to other African nations. 

The weather is still perfect here, cooling off only slightly, which means there will probably be hiking and a beach day this weekend. It was definitely a little bizarre celebrating Easter in the fall, though! Highlights of this past week involved a beautiful piano recital at Baxter Theater, a speech at UCT given by the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema, and a fabulous girls' night out yesterday with my two best friends on the trip. Now it's time for an early night after this massive update. From Cape Town with love!

Ughhh

Unfortunately, I just spent over an hour writing an amazing blog entry about my spring break complete with pictures and a video, and then it somehow got deleted in the process of publishing it. I don't have the energy to try and rewrite everything, so for now let me just say that I had one of the most amazing trips of my life. I met lots of interesting and fun people, I saw TWO whale sharks, and I got my advanced scuba certification. Here are a few pics:

Linda, me, Emily (lower right), and Claudette (upper right). Claudette was our instructor, and Linda and Emily got their advanced certifications with me!

The monkey who lived outside my tent and helped with my 5:30 AM wake up calls by scampering about in the early morning.

Me, Emily, and Linda about to go out on a dive.

I didn't know it at the time of taking this picture, but this was the boat we would be in when we saw our whale sharks!

The tents where we slept.

The pool / dining / recreation area of Coral Divers.

An aerial view of Sodwana Bay stolen from the Coral Divers website.

When I get over the disappointment of losing my last blog entry, I have a lot of new insights about South African politics that I want to write about soon. Meeting and interacting with so many white South Africans on this trip really gave me a different perspective on things, and I definitely learned a lot from my new friends.

Please ask me more about my trip! I'm dying to tell everyone about it, but I am just so bummed that my perfect update entry got deleted :(