Scotty Doesn't Know

Okay, well it’s been a super long time since I’ve blogged and I don’t even know where to begin. Wow, it’s been over a month since I’ve blogged and I have less than a month left here. Time flies. I’ve been pretty busy, but right now I am home sick and watching EuroTrip for the fourth time in three days. Hmm, I guess I’ll just start out with a quick summery of the last month of my life…

I have been having some pretty spectacular times in South Africa lately. The final installment of the Harry Potter movies came out. It was released two days earlier here than in the US and it was magical. I’ve visited a couple of museums and we’ve also been going to the beach pretty frequently. One night there was a full moon, so a few of us went on the full moon hike up Lion’s Head. It was awesome. Brittany, Laura, my roommate Gina and I watched the sun set and the full moon rise over Cape Town. Hiking back down in the dark was somewhat of a struggle though. Especially considering that we had been drinking champagne the whole time. Totally safe. I’ve also been working a lot in the gardens and in the office.

Lately at work I have been going on trips to a bunch of the different gardens with one of the other volunteers to help her conduct interviews for the research project she is working on. Last week we were riding in the back of the Bakkie (or “truck” as it is known in America… and yes, I plan on being that douche who uses South African slang when I get back) on the way to a garden and we got caught in a riot. I love the experiences I’m having here. I still can’t believe I’m in South Africa sometimes.

Anyway, the project she is working on has to do with the Sustainability Index surveys of the gardens. The SI surveys are conducted at each garden in order to better understand why or why not the gardens are successfully maintaining their sustainability. They are a series of questions about techniques used in the gardens and about the record keeping. The goal is to figure out how educated the farmers are in various techniques and how that is impacting their garden’s success. We interview people to figure out if these SI surveys are impacting the farmers’ techniques or changing any of their processes in the fields or record keeping. We want to test the theory that there is a boundary between the people with knowledge and the farmers.

Work can be frustrating because the farmers do not like to change their ways or try new things. They won’t try mulching techniques and don’t report problems like when their water stops working. Some of the gardens are pretty neglected because the farmers just don’t care enough. And they blame other factors for their crop losses. It’s hard to help people who don’t want to help themselves. Many of the farmers are old women. Most of them are still supporting all of their children and grandchildren. They complain about their children being lazy and not wanting to work. I don’t know if they don’t want to work, or if their just aren’t many available jobs, but it makes me realize how messed up things are here. Between the race struggles and class struggles, there are a lot of social and economic issues.

Working in South Africa makes me feel like all of the problems back in the States aren’t that bad. There is an unemployment rate of over 50% in the area where I volunteer.

Okay, some last minute things I wanted to write down so I remember to put it in my final reflection paper: Cape Town is such a unique place. I mean this in that it is a pretty Westernized City, but there are still a lot of African influences, especially from the Xhosa people in the townships. Women carry things on their heads, but instead of like jugs of water or whatever like in The Jungle Book (I realize that took place in India, whateva) they are balancing, like, microwaves on their heads. There are also people here from all over America, Africa, and Europe. I have never been in a place with so many different languages and accents and cultural traditions. Everyday is like a Comparative Cultures and Politics class.

Uhh, sorry this is so scattered, but like I said, I am watching EuroTrip. And I just had to write some stuff down so I would have it for my 10 page reflection paper and possibly for my 25 page paper.