Today I gave a power point presentation about the carbon footprint, environment, health, etc at a grade school in one of the nicer suburban areas of Cape Town. When I got to the school, I went into the “recital room” to set up. To my surprise, there was some sort of music or dance class going on. Did I mention that this was at an all boys school? Please just imagine walking in on a middle aged teacher directing about 14 nine years old boys who were dancing the grape vine to the song Hotel Room by Pitbull. Now add their uniforms into the mix… navy blue shorts, knee socks, blazers, and ties. It was difficult to keep a straight face, to say the least.
Since the school was celebrating Eco Week, there were other people giving presentations. I looked around at the other booths that were set up in the entrance hall. There was a guy there with water saving showerheads, some lady with organic skin care and make up (I don’t know why they thought that the boys would be interested in this), and a lady with these chemical free cleaning techniques. The lady from my internship that I was there with was talking to some kids about how they should buy vegetables that are in season and that are locally grown to avoid the negative effects of importing food. When she was done I asked her what she thought we should do in snowy areas like Michigan where we can’t grow crops in the winter. She didn’t realize that this was an issue. It’s interesting to me that this issue wouldn’t even cross the mind of someone who lives in a snow-free area.
I was happy to see that the boys were actually fairly interested in the presentation. None of them knew about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I hope that I inspired a few Marshall Eriksons (this is a how I met your mother reference, specifically the episode called “life among the gorillas”). Side note: There is an estimation that the size of Garbage Island is twice the size of Texas. One of the guys who was helping set up the projector and sound mentioned that it was “the size of one of the provinces in America, specifically, Rhode Island.” Not that I expect everyone to know the geography of the United States, but I thought this was amusing considering the size differences between these two states.
Anyway, after the presentation one of the teachers held up some of the vegetables we had brought and asked the boys to name them in Afrikaans. The teacher held up a potato and no one knew the correct word, so one of the boys asked me for help and when I told him I didn’t speak Afrikaans, he asked how to say it in French, but I don’t speak French either. He then proceeded to ask why Americans don’t learn other languages. I told him I knew Spanish and Swahili (quite an exaggeration) and told him how to say some of the vegetables names in these languages. He seemed impressed that I knew such exotic languages.
One boy came up after to ask questions. His teacher said that the previous week he had requested a meeting with the principal about how the school could build the new pavilion in an eco-friendly way. It’s incredible to see children caring about these things; I feel a little less cynical about the future.
Earlier this week, I spent some time at the schools in the flats (the poor areas). It was pretty depressing. I didn’t actually interact with the students here because I was there to check on the gardens. (Many of the gardens used by the members of Abalimi are set up on school grounds.) I really have never seen such poor people in real life. It was a sad sight. The most disturbing thing I was a group of children playing with dead rats and cinderblocks in the street outside the school. I don’t know why they weren’t in class.
My first reaction is to compare and contrast the schools in the suburbs and the schools in the flats. The schools in the flats consisted of 100% black children. They did not seem well cared for; the words that come to mind to describe them are words like shabby and ragged. The students at the school that I went to today were mostly white. There were a few colored students (this is the term for races other than black or white that is used here- I realize that this wouldn’t fly in the States) and even fewer black students. They looked a lot better off than the kids fro the flats. Another thing I noticed is that the schools here all get out around 1:00pm (or should I say 13:00?). However, while students in the nicer schools all have an hour two of after school activities like computer club, sports, or musical instrument lessons, students in the flats don’t have the luxury of participating in these activities, as there is no money to put into these programs. Thus, they are left to wander the streets for the rest of the day.
I wish I could describe the streets of the flats too you. The shacks are built shoulder to shoulder and are super close to the road. The other day I drove home next to a horse drawn carriage. There are goats eating the leaves off of trees in the middle of the parkway. There are women pouring buckets of dirty water from their homes down the sewers. Beat up looking stray dogs are running everywhere. There is an area where sheep are slaughtered right on the side of the road. Pedestrians cross anywhere they please. There are open fires where people cook food. And there are small children wandering these streets when they’re not in school. Talk about Social Inequality being linked to Racial Inequality, bro. Social inequality refers to a situation in which individual groups in a society do not have equal social status. Areas of potential social inequality include voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, the extent of property rights and ACCESS TO EDUCATION, health care, quality housing and other social goods. Social inequality is different from economic inequality, though the two are linked. Economic inequality refers to disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. While economic inequality is caused by the unequal accumulation of wealth, social inequality exists because the lack of wealth in certain areas prohibits these people from obtaining the same housing, health care, etc. as the wealthy, in societies where access to these social goods depends on wealth.
I’m going to back track a little to a lighter subject.
Last Thursday through Sunday, I went on a road trip with 8 other people. Road Trips… they can either way. They can be awesome or completely terrible. This one was INCREDIBLE. We traveled up the Garden Route. I made some CDs, we packed up the cars and rolled out.
The first stop on our road trip was to an ostrich farm. Ostriches are the freakiest looking animals I have ever seen. And their eyes are larger than their brain. This means that they are really dumb and if you put a bag over their head they think that you can’t see them because they can’t see you. This is how you calm them down to mount them and ride… yes, we rode ostriches. It was strange.
After we were done with the ostriches, we drove for a few more hours and it was dark by the time we reached the backpack hostel that we would be staying at for the next two nights. We drove up a long dirt road with menacing looking trees on each side. It looked scary. The hostel was called the Wild Spirit Lodge, and it actually turned out to be totally awesome and not creepy at all. It was such a great place to hang out. It was run by complete hippies who fire danced and played music like Mumford and Sons and Kings of Leon. There were also pet cats and dogs everywhere.
We woke up early the next morning to go BUNGEE JUMPING. I was surprisingly calm compared to everyone else. Well, I wasn’t calm; I was just really excited whereas mostly everyone else was super nervous. Now everyone makes jokes about me being emotionless. It’s so interesting how other people view you. It’s strange to think that other people can define how they see you without actually taking the way you identify yourself into account. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. So CCP. Identity is such a James Madison topic to think about, but I’ve never thought about it, or confronted it on this personal of a level before. It seems like we have studied identity a lot in relation to how a dominant group pushes an identity on another group, or how identities effect individuals on a racial or gender based level. But I haven't thought about how others identify me. I feel like I have a very different relationship with everyone I have met here than I have with anyone at home. And I believe that this has to do with the fact that I have never come into an entirely new group of people like this before. There were absolutely no prior social placements among us; there is no one here that was a part of my identity already. No one here knows how I identify myself. They took what they saw and placed an identity on me. I never saw myself the way that they do. I don’t know if any of this makes sense, but I over-think everything so that’s probably why it doesn’t.
Anyway, bungee jumping was nuts and it was such an adrenaline rush. I think I’m going to sky dive before the summer is over. After bungee jumping, we went on a zipline tour through the forest canopy. It was relatively calm after jumping off of a bridge.
We went back to the hostel. I ate the best meal I have ever consumed. Most of the other people I was travelling with stayed outside and played waterfall with some Germans, but I went back to the room and read The Fountainhead. I know it’s lame, but I was so tired (probably due to the snorers and sleep talkers in our group who prevented me from sleeping the previous night).
The next day we went to see some elephants! It was so cool. We got to walk with them and learned a lot about them. Did you know that elephants never stop growing? And they die of starvation because their teeth fall out around age 70? And their gestation period is 22 months but labor only lasts 30 seconds?
After visiting the elephants, we got back on the road. A couple hundred kilometers later we made an impromptu pit stop at a beach to watch the sun set. It was the first time I touched the Indian Ocean. It was awesome. I may be over using the adjective “awesome” but everything on this road trip was seriously so awesome. I touched the Indian Ocean for the first time. Contrary to popular belief, the water did not taste like Indian food. But we all still had a great time anyway. We splashed around in the water and played in the sand and then headed back to the car and changed clothes on the shoulder of the highway. We got sand all over the inside of my car; I loved it. It reminded me of summer.
A bit later, we arrived at the hostel, showered, and went out for dinner.
In the morning we woke up bright and early and watched Sunday morning cartons for a while. Captain Planet was on. It was the South African version so naturally it was about HIV/AIDS. It was interesting to see and to be honest I was really impressed. I’m happy that people are trying to get the information out there to the youth of South Africa. This episode featured a high school basketball star who contracted HIV and was upset because he wouldn’t be able to play in “the big game.” Eventually Captain Planet and the Planeteers defeated the villains, who were rat people dressed in trench coats who represented ignorance and prejudice. Pretty corny. But entertaining.
That afternoon, we went on a safari. We saw lions, cheetahs, rhinos, zebras, and various other animals. We were so close to the animals it was ridiculous. Even the tour guide was talking pictures, that’s how awesome it was. I really can’t describe it, so I’m not going to try. But if you get a chance to go on a safari in Africa, DO IT.
After the safari, we drove the rest of the way home. It was such a good weekend.
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