Robin Island

For our last day in Cape Town, we went to Robin Island, which was probably the highlight of my whole trip. I had just finished reading Nelson Mandela’s biography right before I left for study abroad, so I was very anxious to see the jail in person. It was $20 total for the whole trip. We took a boat to the island and then we all got on a bus. The tour guide first took us to an old graveyard. In the 1840's and onward, lepers were isolated on the island. Family members would drop them off there, and they were housed in tiny cells. Mentally ill and blind people were also kept there. We then went to the prison area of the island. Our tour was led by an ex political prisoner during the time Nelson Mandela was there. He took us to his old jail cell, and then to Nelson Mandela's cell. It was a lot smaller than what I imagined it to be in the book. We also saw the old lime quarry where he worked all day crushing lime (for no reason at all - the lime served no purpose, it was just to demoralize the prisoners). It was so awesome to see that all after reading the book.




We also went out to eat at a restaurant called "Mama Africa" and Stephanie and I got our faces painted. We caught up on a little sleep, jumped on a plane, and made it back to Pietermaritzburg by 11am the next morning. The break was really wonderful overall, but it's nice to be back in my cozy bed again!

Wine, Baboons, and Penguins

Cape Town is famous for its vineyards. In Stellenbosch, about an hour away from Long Street where we were staying is where the majority of South Africa’s wine is produced. We stopped at a few different wineries to sample cheese, wines, and to see how it was produced. I definitely learned more about wine than I ever cared to in my life – but it was a very fun day overall.
The next day, we went to the Southern most point in Africa. It’s called “The Cape of Good Hope” and is the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. It was so cool to be able to actually see the junction of the two contrasting water masses.

After our hike to the tip of the cape, there were two baboons in the parking lot. They come up to about your waist, and are very dangerous, so we waited in the car until they ran down into the brush. We thought the coast was clear, so we opened up the car doors, and we hadn't even closed them when one of the baboons came running towards us. It immediately jumped into our car and started rooting around through our stuff. We had a cosmopolitan magazine in there, and it ripped all the pages out, then found my bag of cookies and ate them! It ended up running away with a bag of chips. So nothing too great was lost – and it was actually a pretty funny situation looking back.
After the baboon encounter, we went to “Boulder Bay”. It’s a beautiful little lagoon, and the water is about 20 different shades of turquoise and blue colors. The granite boulders are 540 million years old, and everywhere you looked were penguins sunbathing on top of them. It was so weird having the temperature be 90 degrees out, and then to see penguins swimming around! They were pretty use to people, and had no problem waltzing right up to you to steal your spot in the sun. I wanted to keep one as a pet – but I figured it would be tough taking one back home on the plane.

Cape Town - day two

Our first day in Cape Town, we ventured to the V & A Waterfront. It’s sorta like a mix between the Florida Keys and Mackinaw Island. There are lots of little shopping areas, places to eat, and tons of sailboats. The views here are absolutely breathtaking. Off in the distance are monstrous green mountains and cliffs, and then all around you are water and lovely buildings.
The only thing I didn’t like about Cape Town is seeing the wealth in contrast with the poverty in this area. You’ll see million dollar beachfront properties, and then 5 minutes down the road will be people living in cardboard boxes. When we went out at night, there were so many kids, as young as 5 years old, out on the street begging for money. It’s a tough situation, because you never know if it’s their parents that set them up for begging, or if they need it for themselves. We found the best thing to do was to give the kids food instead of money. It’s very heartbreaking to see such a drastic disparity of wealth – and I feel like a hypocrite for even talking about it, since I’m able to go on a vacation like this when these kids are suffering just to get money for a loaf of bread.

The next day, we decided to climb up Table Mountain. Most people take a cable car up – but I thought of my adventurous sister, and decided to follow in her steps to take the more scenic and less lazy route to the top. So, four other girls and I did the climb up Platteklip Gorge to the top of the mountain. It would have been a great hike, only we ran out of water part way up, and the heat was excruciating. We ended up taking lots of breaks in the shade, and made it up to the top in pretty good time. I attached some pictures, since they do a better job of explaining the beautiful view than I ever could.

Cape Town - the adventure begins!

For Easter Holiday, we MSU students decided to embark on a journey to Cape Town. We rented a car and left Friday evening for a 22 hour journey along the “Garden Route” which stretches along the eastern sea border of South Africa. The drive was gorgeous, but it was mostly spent driving through the dark. I was not quite comfortable with facing insane South African driving, or driving on the left side of the road – so my job was to keep the driver awake throughout the night. Luckily, we faced no problems and arrived at our “Titsikama Backpackers” destination safely the next day.
Titsikama is about 6 hours north of Cape Town. The backpackers we stayed at offers Treetop Canopy Tours, which we all did the next day. We left at about 3pm for safety training and to get harnessed up. The location of the tours is in one of South Africa’s few remaining indigenous rainforests, and the views were absolutely beautiful. We zip lined from tree to tree, attached by pulleys and carabineers.










Our next stop was in Plettenberg Bay, the home of the worlds highest bungee jump. It is 216 m high off a huge bridge underneath a highway. I was not having it. At first it sounded like a good idea, but after talking to a couple people about how they felt like they almost slipped out of their harnesses and one girl’s foot strap came off, I decided against the idea. Luckily, Stephanie decided not to go either, and the two of us went to curios and took pictures of the other jumpers, which was a lot of fun – and we also saved some money.
The same day, we finished the remaining 6 hours of our drive to Cape Town. Along the way, we stopped at three beaches to relax on the rocks. At one stop, we were able to see dolphins, and they put on a little show for us, doing flips above the water. The backpackers we stayed at in Cape Town, “Deco” was by far my favorite of all the hostels. Every room was painted in a bright, vibrant color – and we had a hammock, a pool, and lots of dogs and cats to play with.

Umbatu Crisis Center

Today was my second time visiting the orphanage. We had a hula-hoop contest, drew with chalk, braided each others hair, and had an intense game of soccer. Two of the older girls are also teaching me Zulu! “Saulbona” means “hello!” and “Sharp Sharp” means “good”, (just in case you ever needed to know) : ).

Most of the girls at the orphanage speak Zulu, and very little English. For some reason though, it’s not difficult to communicate with them. When you’re playing games or drawing with chalk, you use signs so easily to get a point across. It’s also amazing how universal smiles and laughs are. It makes me happy.

Moving on – after we were done playing around, we went on a walk to meet an acquaintance of Magic’s. She lives in a mud and cow dung built home, which was barely standing. The walls were falling down, and the roof was almost all caved-in. The lady (Ungogo) who we met was born in 1913. Her health is failing and she’s unable to repair her home. She has a son who goes to town everyday just to scrounge up enough money to buy the two of them food. He’s in a wheelchair and cannot repair their home either. Ungogo explained to us that she sleeps outside some nights when her son doesn’t make it home. Since she’s almost blind, she’s too scared to walk in by herself at night. Her biggest fear is the roof caving in on her while she sleeps (which it’s JUST about to do). So, Magic asked us for our help in rebuilding the home (and yes, we are going to be using cow dung – not lumber). We walked in the house and discussed how we were going to go about reparations. When we came back outside, the girls from the orphanage were standing around Ungogo singing a prayer. It was absolutely beautiful. After the song, they started praying out loud, crying, yelling, and throwing their arms up to the sky asking for God’s help. Ungogo was very appreciative of this, and thanked us all individually before we left.

Today was such an amazing day. It was one on those things you read about in school – but never actually see. I know people live in those circumstances, but I’ve never experienced it to that extent before. I’m definitely way excited about repairing her home. We start on Friday.

Later that day, Magic pulled me aside for a talk. Earlier, I had told him that I was an Art Education major. He said that for a long time he considered painting the outside of the orphanage. Right now, the walls are just a plain orange color, and he wants me to paint animals or flowers or people on the outside. I am SOOO excited about this! I told him that I’d start ASAP. I’m thinking of having them all make handprints on the outside edges of the house. Let me know if you’re reading this and have any ideas!!!

I’ve also been thinking about fundraising for the orphanage when I go home. Today when we did the chalk art, the kids were SO talented in their drawings. I was thinking about bringing really nice drawing paper to the orphanage next time, and having the kids paint. Then I can take their artwork back home, and sell it. There are art shows at Kresgee ALL the time – and I’m sure that people would be willing to spend $10 or $20 for a really cool picture drawn by a South African kid. Then I could send the money back to Magic to help pay for bunk beds or food. It’s just an idea, but I feel like I really have to do something to help out.

Rowing!

I fully acknowledge that I am NOT a morning person. However, there is something very refreshing and satisfying about being awake when the sun rises. I’ve found that I get more done in my days, and also feel a lot healthier.

Today marks my fourth attempt at rowing. So far, I’ve actually been enjoying it a lot. Practices start at 4:30 am, about 3 days a week. We drive out to the river, pull out our 8 person boat, and begin rowing right when the sun is rising. It’s so peaceful to be on the river at that time. The air is crisp and it’s not yet blistering hot out.

This Saturday is our first big race against Westville campus in Durban. I’m excited about it, but I feel NO WHERE comfortable with my stroke yet to be in a race. I guess we’ll just see how it goes!

All I’m hoping is that it doesn’t start at 4:30am……

Umbatu Crisis Center

As part of my service learning class, I’m required to spend at least 60 hours volunteering around Pietermaritzburg. The site I’m working at now is the Ubantu Crisis Center in Edendale. It’s an orphanage for about 40 girls ages 4 to 17. Almost every girl there is infected with HIV or AIDS. The girls were brought to the center because they’ve been raped, abandoned, abused at home, or have parents in prison. There’s also a group of 4 girls and 3 boys there whose mom was stabbed to death, and had nowhere to go.

Words cannot do justice for the experience of visiting a place like this. It fills you with about 50 different emotions of sadness, love, frustration, happiness – just everything all at once. When we first arrived, all the girls came running out of the house to our khombi. As soon as we stepped out, we were swarmed with hugs, kisses, and I had one tiny girl trying to climb on my back for a piggyback ride. It was the most amazing and warmest welcoming I’ve ever received in my life.

We then went inside the orphanage for some refreshments, and to meet “Magic”, the guy who runs the center. He’s basically the coolest person I’ve ever met in my life. He explained to us that he was horribly abused when he was a child, and he didn’t want any other child to ever experience what he went through. So he takes in these girls, and gives them proper education, healthcare, and love. Magic spends hours every night doing homework with the girls, plays soccer with them, and sees that every cent of his and his wife’s paychecks goes to them. Even spending 5 hours there today was overwhelming for me - I have no idea how he does it.

Magic split us all up into groups of 10, so we could get to know the girls individually. We played a name game; duck duck goose, and did a Zulu dance. We also got a tour of the orphanage. There are 2 big bedrooms with old ripped up mattresses on the ground. Each single sized mattress sleeps 2 to 3 girls. I definitely need to do some fundraising when I get home to help Magic out and maybe buy him bunk beds. He can barely afford food for the girls. They get bread for lunch and rice for dinner. Everyday, he spends only $1 per girl to feed her 3 meals a day.

After the tour, we went on a walk up a small mountain. The walk up really wouldn’t have been so bad, but I had one girl who insisted that I carry her almost all the way up, so I was huffing and puffing by the time we reached the top. On the top of the mountain was a large cement platform. Every Sunday the girls have church service there.

When we finished our walk, we played a few more games, and then it was time for us to leave. It was so difficult and heartbreaking to go. One little girl, Mbali (which means “flower” in Zulu), who I had been giving a piggyback ride to for most of the day, did NOT want me to go and clung onto my waste until Magic had to pull her off. I am looking foreword to going again next week, and I’m thinking I’ll bring some toys, and DEFINITELY art supplies. I asked the girls if they’ve ever drawn or painted before, and none of them ever had. So crayons, hula-hoops, markers, and paper are for sure on my shopping list for the week.