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As part of my service learning class, I was required to volunteer for the 2009 Presidential elections. My job was to be an international observer, making sure everything went smoothly at the polls. Our group arrived at the Christian Council at 5:30 in the morning for violence briefing and training. We then got into groups, and headed to Imbali Township to oversee the polling station. Along the way were TONS of people out in the middle of the road, celebrating and cheering for their parties. There was even a whole ANC Float that went by, with people dancing in the back of the truck! The polling station was at a preschool, pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Everywhere you looked were police men with bullet proof jackets and machine guns guarding the entrances…. Not real comforting.
My job was to sit and take notes about anything that went wrong inside the polling station…. And I pretty much went through a whole notebook. It’s very unorganized, compared to the United States. For example, there is only suppose to be one person behind the booth at a time – but almost every time I looked over, there were groups of people hanging out and chatting. Not good.
I was also able to help people fill out the ballots. The first lady I helped was blind, and she told me which box to check. It was really cool to get to see the ballots. They’re a lot different than back home. There’s a coloured photo of the candidate, the party symbol, the party name, and a check box. It’s VERY simple.
Another funny thing about voting here is that before you vote, someone has to paint your thumb nail with ink so that you can't vote in more than one location. That was also one of my jobs for the day – and it turned out to be really fun. I actually got to chat with people instead of just sitting sadly in the corner with my little notebook.
After voting was done, the coordinators asked us if we wanted to stay around to count the ballots. We’d have to be locked in the room until about 4am, or until everything was counted. I decided against it – partly because I had a dawnie the next morning, and I also thought it was strange they asked me to do that. They didn’t do any background checks, and I really could have been anyone trying to mess up the elections. So I just ended up going back to varsity early.
On our way back, our driver from KZNCC took us to the site where Nelson Mandela gave his last speech before being sent to Robbin Island. It was SO cool to see that in person! It was a fun day overall, and it was cool to be part of South Africa's fourth democratic elections since the apartheid. It's a whole lot different than how things go in the US, that's for sure!
Last night, we had a fundraiser for the Ubuntu Orphanage. It was to raise money to buy food, beds, and toys for the kids. We had it downtown at the City Hall. We got there early to help set tables, prepare food and clean up, and then around 8pm, Magic and all the kids arrived. Earlier in the week, we had tried to gather people to come to the event – but the turnout was definitely not what it should have been.
The night consisted of a few singers, a speaker, and lots of dancing. The speaker that Magic got was a priest, so the whole service was a lot like being at church. We had a very good South African meal – which I unfortunately did not get to eat. I had one of the little girl’s from the orphanage curled up and asleep on my lap, so by the time I finally got up to get food, it was pretty much all gone. But it was well worth it :)
I’ve still been going to Ubuntu Crisis Center to play with the kids and help them with homework, about 2 times a week. This coming weekend we’re having a sleepover and on Saturday I’m finally going to finish painting the outside of the house. Last time I was there, the kids put on a Zulu dance for us, everyone took lots of pictures of the event. I’m still having trouble at the end of the day when I leave the orphanage. I haven’t pinpointed exactly why this is, but I just feel extreme turmoil over the photographing of the children living at these places as if they were a sight to see. These kids really enjoy having their picture taken and once they realize what’s going on and they automatically want to use your camera, and to my disagreement, many people hand the cameras right over to the kids and had them take pictures. I have just as big of problem with this, even though I know it probably isn’t that big of a deal. I guess I just have an ethical issue with it, that they only way to get these kids excited and to like you is to flash your $200 digital camera, rather than just playing with them and giving them old-fashioned attention. I understand it’s cute to have photos of them to show all your friends back home, but seriously, take a step back and realize what’s going on here. These kids will never see concentrated wealth like a digital camera represents so is that really the best way to spend an afternoon with them? I brought my camera to the orphanage for the first couple weeks, but I just can’t bring myself to do it anymore. I can’t pinpoint why… I just feel like it's unfair for them to see that division of wealth.
Moving on… Stephanie and I went out and bought paint today for this weekend. I’m hoping we can do more reparations with Ungogo’s house too – we’re nowhere near complete with that. I feel like my time here in running out and there’s still SO much to do.
One of the last things I thought I would ever need in South Africa was a pair of mittens. Seems pretty illogical right, needing gloves on the African continent? This type of thinking was proved to be wrong as I went to Pretoria for my last rowing regatta. We drove about 6 hours on Friday to the dam, which is right outside of Johannesburg. By the time we got there, it was dark out, so we set up out tents quickly and went to bed early so we were well rested for the next day’s races. I only got a couple hours of sleep that night because of the coldness – but luckily the sun was shinning bright the next day. Weather here is so crazy.
The next day, we raced in our Girls B 8 boat. Our timing was a little off, but it was still a fun race. My hands were bleeding and covered in blisters by the time it was over. Just as I was walking back to camp to get a bandage, I got called to race again. So I hopped into the boat, and was back in the water in about an hour. This time it was the Girls B 4, and surprisingly enough, we didn’t do that bad. We still came in dead last – but at least we didn’t capsize the boat.
The girls B crew are only allowed to race twice, so that meant I was complete with all my races by Saturday afternoon. So I had all day Sunday and Monday sit around and lay in the sun – which I definitely did not complain about. We ended up hanging around in the grass, cheering on the other races, and cooking lots of food. That night, we made s’mores by the campfire. The South African guys on our team had never had them before! It made me feel like I was home in Leeland again!
On Sunday night we drove to Johannesburg to spend the night because Monday is a public holiday and we didn’t have school. We had an after party at a sports club, and then got up early the next morning to return to pmb. I’ve had so much fun with rowing, and am so sad it’s the last regatta. Besides negative aspects such as getting up early and suffering through the cold, I’m really glad I did rowing. I met SO many cool people and travelled to lots of places I would have never gone before. I didn’t write about them on my blog – but the other weekend trips that we went on included: Albert Falls, Thunderkloof Dam and the Duzi. Maybe I’ll join the rowing team at MSU… it still definitely won’t be the same as it is here though.
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!
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.
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.
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.
I was also able to help people fill out the ballots. The first lady I helped was blind, and she told me which box to check. It was really cool to get to see the ballots. They’re a lot different than back home. There’s a coloured photo of the candidate, the party symbol, the party name, and a check box. It’s VERY simple.
On our way back, our driver from KZNCC took us to the site where Nelson Mandela gave his last speech before being sent to Robbin Island. It was SO cool to see that in person! It was a fun day overall, and it was cool to be part of South Africa's fourth democratic elections since the apartheid. It's a whole lot different than how things go in the US, that's for sure!
