March 6th & 7th: Weekending

We had classes at the house this Thursday, so there was no reason to go to UCT. I believe in the afternoon I got out of the house and went shopping in Claremont, a nearby suburb. I traveled there via train, one of my favorite pastimes, though I realized minibus would have been a lot faster.

March 3rd – 5th: Uyafuna i-Condom?

We were back at the TAC offices this week, which (while lacking any film crews from Vogue), did give us the opportunity to build our relationships with the community workers at TAC and gain insight into the preparation for the coming patent law march. On Monday afternoon, we sat in on a meeting with the Khayelitsha branches where information about the march was disseminated and plans for transport were confirmed. This march, a week from Thursday, was intended to mobilize over 1,500 activists to march on Parliament to call for a change in South Africa’s patent laws and processes.  There was a lot of planning and mobilizing going on.

Feb 27th: Up Lion’s Head

Feb 27^th

This evening marked my first trip up Lion’s Head. We decided as a group to attempt a sunset hike, and left the house around 6pm and arrived at the trailhead at 6:30pm, not long before sunset. Already the sun was low in the sky, and we still had at least a hour’s hike ahead of us. Our lateness in arriving to the mountain resulted in us experiencing stunning sunset views while hiking up the mountain. The sunset is not visible from Rondebosch due to Table Mountain, so this was one of my first chances to see the sunset from the Atlantic side of the peninsula; I was able to get incredible photos.

Feb 24th – 26th: It Gets Weird

Feb 24^th

The Khayelitsha commission was on recess this week, so we found ourselves at the TAC offices for the first time. This would mark the week that our internship would get a hell of a lot more exciting. On Monday, we were able to join a meeting with Mike and his team of community mobilizers, whom we have since continued to get to know. After assigning ourselves to work with different mobilizers on different projects, Amelia, one of the leaders in the Khayelitsha office, came in and said there was going to be a meeting with some special guests. A few more organizers walked in at this point, so we organized chairs around the conference table and Amelia put out some TAC literature, and Emily, Lauren, Rachel, Sarah Jo, Mike and myself retreated to our chairs by the back wall, to respectfully sit in on the meeting.

Feb 17th – 21st: Why You Don’t Climb Devil’s Peak Alone

Feb 17^th – 19^th

This would prove to be our final week at the Khayelitsha commission, and by this point we were begging for a brief respite. In these past two weeks of the commission, higher level SAPS representatives were testifying, and this week saw the testimony of several SAPS station commanders. As high-level officials within SAPS in Khayelitsha, the questioning was extremely detailed and lengthy, often lasting more than a day for each witness. The exhausting scope of the questioning, along with the often lengthy and rambling responses of the witnesses, led to several painfully long days at the commission, lightened only by a few moments of levity and a handful of important revelations. I have the utmost respect for the commissioners, listening without missing a beat and always ready with a sharp fusillade of questions for the witnesses. We’ll see how things go when the commission reconvenes in a few weeks.

Feb 10th – 16th: To Oceanview

Feb 10^th – Feb 12^th

We were back at the Commission this week, which continued to work towards collecting testimony from SAPS witnesses and members of community policing forums. Several of the witnesses were very difficult to listen to, as it seemed like they couldn’t answer the questions concisely or directly. I did enjoy classes this week, especially Marita’s class, where we had a lengthy guest lecture from a Marxist economist. I can’t say I know much about Marxism besides some basics, but I found his talk compelling and he answered several of my questions afterwards. If I’m at all interested in Critical Medical Anthropology I will need to bone up on Marxist principles… we’ll see. We also received a presentation from Chantel, who coordinates the home stay program we’ll be participating in this weekend.

Also, this week is notable because at this time I was working overtime to complete internship and scholarship applications, which were a total drag. I encountered a couple of roadblocks (including our unreliable internet) that were enough to stress me out right through Thursday afternoon, when we departed for Oceanview. I am thoroughly pleased to be done with them, so can get back to living my Cape Town experience. The following content was posted on the UConn Cape Town blog describing my experiences in Oceanview.

Feb 13^th – 16^th

I spent the weekend in the colored township of Oceanview for a home stay experience. Located between rocky hills and shores on the Cape Peninsula, maybe ten miles south of the city, Oceanview was originally established when colored people were forcibly removed from the surrounding coastal towns during Apartheid. Suddenly, people were distanced from their livelihoods in these fishing towns and moved into the hills, where they had to make a new community amongst new neighbors. Many of the current homeowners are first generation Oceanview residents, including my host father.

In a home stay, students are placed in the homes of community members and are essentially welcomed into the home as family for the duration of the stay. Ryan and I were placed in a home with a host father, mother, sister, and our family had hosted students on multiple occasions before. There were also older children out of the home, and one of the young grandchildren spent the weekend with us.

We spent Friday working with young children at the crèche across the street, which is South Africa’s equivalent of a day care. We did a fun activity with the kids and then took them to a nearby petting zoo. I only had one child to look after, but even looking after one kid for a couple of hours was enough to completely exhaust me. I can’t even imagine it being my life. That evening my host sister took Ryan and I to see a Valentine’s Day beauty pageant / talent show at the local high school. It was a really extensive production, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more enthusiastic audience for any event.

My family spent the day at the beach on Saturday. We piled in my host brother’s car and made our way to Fish Hoek, a picturesque beach on the False Bay side of the peninsula. There was a really social vibe going on at the beach, as it was apparent that a lot of folks from Oceanview and friends were there for the day. We were there for hours, talking and swimming and exploring, and other host families joined us. My host parents had relatives who also lived in Oceanview, and they were at the beach with us, and were also hosting students from my program. That evening we came back home and hosted a Braii at our house, and welcomed a bunch of family members. There was great conversation, and the meat was delicious.

Sunday morning was devoted to church. My host father is a minister, so we attended his service, which is held in a classroom in the nearby primary school. The service was filled with rock music, complete with a drum set, and my entire host family participated, even the dog. After mass, we headed back home and had another delicious meal, before walking with our host parents back out of Oceanview and to the bus, where we said our goodbyes.

While I treasure my weekends in Cape Town as an opportunity to get out and enjoy my free time, I really valued my home stay experience. I don’t often get to spend time with other families, and really enjoyed the fact that so much of my experience felt familiar. The house, which my host father largely built, felt very similar to homes I’ve been in before in the US, albeit with a few rough edges here and there and fewer automatic comforts. When we laid back on the couch and watched a South African soap opera, it reminded me of the time I’ve spent kicked back on the couch in my dad’s house, with Brazilian soap operas on the TV. Really, I gained an appreciation for how familiar life was in this different home and community, that there were the same tasks and pleasures to be had: taking care of the granddaughter for the weekend, figuring out how to fit everyone in the car, wondering where the dog is, spending time with family.

I also bonded with the dog, Sasha. When we first came into Oceanview, I saw her out on the street and couldn’t tell whether she was a stray or belonged to someone, but she was very soft and friendly, and appreciated my scratching. Turned out she belonged to my host mother, and spent most of her time outside and about. When we left the crèche on Friday, she accompanied the whole train of volunteers and children as we winded through Oceanview, before apparently coming into another dog’s territory and getting chased out of there. She would follow family members to and from the house, and came with us to church, where she took up residence in the aisle during the service. My host mother told me all about how she has to navigate Oceanview according to the different dog territories, and how she’ll accompany Anne to the market, but have to take detours at certain places to avoid certain dogs. I formulated a sense of a separate dog community, another layer of social organization that existed in Oceanview. I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience it and grow.

Later on Sunday afternoon, after returning to the city, we went as a group to see Freshlyground perform at Kirstenbosch, part of the Sunday concert series. It was another wonderful afternoon of music, relaxation, and beautiful surroundings. Shout-out to Emily B for a great conversation and walk around the gardens.

Touching the Tablecloth: Feb 3rd – Feb 7th

Feb 3^{rd –} Feb 5th

This week contained a fair amount of challenging material at the commission. Compared to the doctor who spoke last week about the sexual assault response system in Khayelisha, the witnesses this week were focused on statistical and logistical matters, such as crime statistics, forensics procedures, and the role of community policing forums (CPFs) in the police structure. We also met a few other volunteers who were working with TAC, so we have more of a network and awareness of who else is there working at the commission with community groups. We’re still looking forward to getting a better opportunity to network and meet other people in the organization, hopefully in the next few weeks.