UW in South Africa. September 12 2017

Molweni –

So, last night, after a really grueling day with students having health issues, personal problems, etc…. Some of the challenges are the students’ desire to try to fix things in South Africa and to handle some of the extremely strong emotions they are feeling as they hear about township people’s lives: witnessing murders, being carjacked, not having enough food, spending hours commuting on the cumbi buses to get to work, living in little shacks without water, etc. This part has been very stressful, and it’s hard to get them to focus on the positives, the resiliency of the people, and the people’s efforts to bring about changes on their own. They see the protests and sort of get it, but it all becomes pretty personal for the undergrads. Graduate students seem to have a better capacity to take it all in and do a bigger and broader analysis. They also realize that the answer is not “saving one life” – but rather understanding and trying to impact bigger systems and to work to empower people as they continue to build on the strengths of earlier movements and build new ones.

The current ANC government is extremely corrupt and people are angry. They want the ANC to succeed but feel helpless as a result of the current administration. Elections will be held in 2018 and the range of candidates and how they build coalitions will determine the outcome.

Chris and I decided the easiest dinner was to head back to Marcos (which is only a block away) and to eat in the bar which is quiet. We feasted on a carpaccio platter that included kudu, alligator tail, and impala… and then for the cooked main course opted for barbecued lamb chops.. Just what the doctor ordered, especially the homemade cheesecake for dessert. Once we had a glass of wine, the troubles of the day seemed to disappear – at least for a short time.

I then worked until pretty late on office projects and a little time on my Thursday presentation at the University of Cape Town…

This morning I started my day with my usual 5 block walk to the Batavia Café, for homemade scones and my chai latte. They know me now and the order is practically ready when I walk in the door. Then I headed to 91 Loop to meet the van and the students. As I mentioned earlier, I think, Chris starts out earlier (around 7 am to pick up and drive the three students who are working at the high school where classes begin at 8 am). He picks those students up at 3 and I am in Philippi until 4:30 or 5:00 when the other programs let out.

Today was complicated from a logistical standpoint.

I went with three students to hear what SAEP’s Impact Center is all about, so that left the remaining students on the van with Zain, the driver (who by now knows the students and is probably more focused on individual student safety than me!) So, the other students headed to their organizations with Zain, who later picked me up to meet up with students in Philippi. By now, students have figured out the best lunch places in town and Grace is definitely the favorite. She prides herself on sourcing organics and on creating interesting recipes. She operates out of one of the corrugated metal shipping containers (probably only half or one third size).. the space is about 9’ x 15’ and it’s all work area and a counter for ordering. She’s only got two top burners, a frig, a sink, a blender, a few pots and frying pans, and one helper – Linda. They are cooking and constantly cleaning utensils and work feverishly from early morning until late in the day. And Grace is always happy.. with a huge smile. Today she showed me pictures of the 7-year old birthday she cooked for (a friend’s child). She makes my day. Only problem is that the portions are huge and she’s totally insulted if you don’t eat every morsel. Today, I asked for a half order (and said I’d pay for the whole) but she doesn’t know how to do that, since she loves cooking the food and serving it. You eat outside on a plastic table that is too high for the supposedly matching plastic chairs. Today, because I was meeting with students, I paid for their meals.. so we had three orders of the mutton, each came with four chops, potato wedges, creamed spinach, and rice. We also ordered her fantastic smoothies.. two banana mango smoothies. The bill was about $15 (US).

Students were everywhere today so coordinating drop off and movement as well as pick up was a full time job. I sat in on a “coalition meeting” which pointed to the efforts at professionalism and the challenges therein… The meeting was held in one of the corrugated metal buildings in the township. They showed a PowerPoint that was barely visible because they needed to tilt up some sides of the “room” for air which then made the PowerPoint barely visible with so much sunlight streaming in; The PowerPoint was flashed onto a white paper that was blowing from wind; The PowerPoint had about 300 words to a slide!

From the meeting we all dashed out and headed to see the new play written by students at University of Cape Town (UCT) and directed by a young woman, recent graduate of UCT who was at the conference we attended on Friday. The play “The Fall” is about the Fees Must Fall and Rhodes Must Fall movement that has shuttered the campuses of all universities in Cape Town and beyond on and off for the past two years. Essentially, 7 students share their experiences of #Rhodesmustfall… It’s a very frank and earnest play, and the production quality was incredible. It’s a great piece about student-led movements, inequality in education and society, cultural representation, racism, and more. They delve into categorization about race and gender and also patriarchy and sexism, trying to unpack racism and discrimination at a multitude of levels. It’s based on compilations of the feelings of real students during this recent and current controversy. The Rhodes Must Fall movement is about taking down the statues of Cecil Rhodes on campus and beyond.. and the Feed Must Fall movement focuses on lowering or making tuition free at university campuses – in order to address the inequities that tuition brings.  The play is credited with forcing the administration to remove the Rhodes statue…. But as of now, tuition remains. The play was moving and insightful and students loved it.

The Baxter Theater on the UCT campus is quite lovely and we all had dinner prior to the show in the theater building where they have a great vegetarian Indian buffet – for about $6… three main dishes, appetizers, and side vegetables, chutneys, and samosas.

Report on September 13 to follow…

Fern