Jan 29th
Today was our first day at our internships. 12 of us, including myself and the other TAC interns, will be transported to our internships daily in a small van. While most of the folks on the trip will be using public transit to reach their internships, for us there is no convenient way to use the train or minibus taxi. Our internship with TAC will be based out of the Khayelitsha office. For those unfamiliar with the geography of the Cape Town region, Khayelitsha is the Western Cape’s largest township, and is located far to the southeast of the city, where it stretches for miles along the highway and ultimately down to the ocean at False Bay. While Khayelitsha is serviced by bus, taxi, and train, I have been told that none of those routes are accessible from Rondebosch without multiple transfers, and I’m inclined to believe it.
We arrived at the TAC office at Nonqubela, but were soon after transported to Lookout Hill, a tourist destination on the boundaries of Khayelitsha. This venue is the location of the Khayelitsha Commision, a highly anticipated government inquiry into the state of policing within Khayelitsha. TAC was one of the community groups that have been agitating and organizing for this inquiry, and we were there to take notes and listen in. There were many people there, including press, activists, and dozens of concerned community members. The testimony on that first day, from a well-spoken medical doctor who was the head of Khayelitsha’s comprehensive rape response center, was at times riveting, disturbing, and horrific. Sexual violence, including in the form of child rape, is highly prevalent in South Africa, and this woman’s testimony gave some insight into the police’s failure to conduct their duties and respond adequately to this crisis. It was definitely a tough day.
Jan 30th
Today was our first day of classes at The University of Cape Town, or UCT. Of our three classes, we’ll be having two each day at UCT, with Vernon Rose and Vincent Williams. While we’re international students, we’re not registered in classes at UCT; we’re really just making use of the facilities, including classrooms, the library, gym, etc. Our first class, with Vernon, is about the workings of non-profits in South Africa, and corresponds with our internship experiences. Our second class, with Vincent, is about the history and politics of South Africa.
I live in Rondebosch, the suburb within which UCT is located. Here’s the thing though: UCT is on the slopes of Devil’s Peak, a pretty damn big mountain. So UCT is at least a couple hundred feet up there on the side of the mountain, looking over the Southern Suburbs and Cape Flats. All of my fellow UConn students called taxis for this first day, sparing them the lengthy climb up to Upper Campus. I, however, decided I preferred the adventure and accomplishment of walking, so I set out an hour before class on my journey. I’ve been scoping out the neighborhood while jogging, so I knew the best way to get across the rail lines and to Main Road, and how to get on the main walking path up to Upper Campus. So, on a bright and sunny morning at 8:30, I set out for UCT. The walk was lovely and peaceful, the neighborhoods quiet. I crossed under the rail lines and walked to Main Road without breaking much of a sweat. From there, the climb up to Upper Campus began. And it was a climb… with a lot of stairs, as well as ramps. From Lower Campus to Middle, and from Middle to Upper, I didn’t realize how sweaty I had became. I lost track of the path for a minute and ended up taking a side route that took me under the M3 and up to Upper Campus from the side. This process essentially involved walking up stairs which led to a inclined path, which turned into an elevated ramp when I passed the Sports Centre. That ramp just kept going. And then I was below the main plaza, and only had 40 or so stairs to climb before reaching the general area of my goal. When I turned around at the top, I won’t lie- it felt great.
However, I was drenched with sweat, my hair all blown all over the place, my shirt pasted to my back, and the spots where my backpack straps come over my shoulders similarly soaked. Thank gourd I was 15 minutes early for class, so I had a few minutes to try to dry myself in the bathroom, though I got plenty of stares while walking across campus. I’m still glad I did it, though! I’ll try running up one of these days.
Jan 31st, Feb 1st and Feb 2nd
Today was Friday, my first full free weekend in Cape Town. Must have been a fun-filled awesome time, right? Not exactly. And most of that is my own fault. See, I had this little thing called an “Incomplete” still on my transcript from Fall 2013, and I had not yet addressed it. This incomplete (for a whopping 5 credits) was for the paper associated with my research internship at ICR this past fall. I felt I was too busy during the final weeks of the semester with other assignments to write the 15-page essay for this course, so I arranged with the professor to be able to write it over winter break. Of course, that did not exactly happen, though I was doing other work with that internship that necessary for writing the paper.
So, as you can probably imagine, I spent much of this 3-day weekend writing that 15-page paper. It wasn’t as bad as that sounds though, because (conveniently), I was also having GI issues. That was perhaps the most interesting part of my weekend, because I was determined to figure out what I was eating that was making me ill. At first, I thought it was because I used expired yogurt in my first Cape Town smoothie. That smoothie alone could have made me ill because it was far too much fruit for one human to consume in one sitting. It’s contents included: one whole mango, an entire banana, a nectarine, several grapes, yogurt, an entire orange, and a significant amount of peanut butter. That alone was probably too much, but I figured the yogurt made me sick so I cut my losses and tossed it. The yoghurt was not the culprit, however, so it took me several days to eliminate the tainted food from my diet: it was expired cheese. What a tragedy.
I also finished my essay, thank gourd. Sent it in on Tuesday afternoon after revising for the professor and got my grade back via email: an A. With my incomplete resolved, that brings my final total for Fall 2013 to 18 credits and 6 A’s: simultaneously my highest credit load and my first 4.0 at UConn to date. While I was beating myself up for missing an entire weekend of fun and adventure, that accomplishment is worth it. Add to the fact that my major GPA remained a 4.0 and I only have 1 graded class remaining to take for my major in Fall 2014, I am within reach of a perfect GPA for my college major. I will drink (R30 wine) to that.
What David Does 