I'm a big kid now!

The past week has been pretty intense as I have begun my internship at the Cape Town Refugee Centre. It blows my mind at what they do at the office, and I quickly realized how unqualified I am for this position. Monday started off with a meeting with my boss, Christina Henda, Director of the CTRC. We agreed that I would shadow a member of each of the three branches of the program: Psycho-Social Intervention (when she started throwing this word about as my specialty I almost shit my pants), Empowerment/Self-Reliance, and Education. After a getting an overview of each program I will pick my specialty, a single branch to work with for the next 10 weeks.

Three days a week the office is open to refugees to come in an make a case for receiving help with rent, food, courses, small business ventures, etc. As an introduction to the Psycho-Social Intervention branch I sat in on her interviews with the more problematic of the cases. I’ve been telling people that I’d be doing intake interviews as part of my internship but I never really understood what that would mean, it was just a term to throw about to pretend like I knew what I would be doing. My first day I got to experience them. They were absolutely crazy! Listening to people’s situations, what they need in terms of assistance, trying to figure out a plan with them, I mean, there is just so much to it. Not to mention that in the few days I have been there I have spoken with people from Zimbabwe, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Angola. Holy shit, this is a dream come true.

My third day I arrived at the office via train (all by myself, I’m a big kid now) and was immediately told that I was leaving. Where? The Haven Night Shelter in Green Point. For what? To put on a presentation about refugee rights… ok… This turned out to be an amazing experience, quite eye-opening really. Instead of presenting we opened it up as a forum for people to share what problems they experienced in the shelter, with refugees, in everyday life, etc. The residents weren’t all refugees but South Africans of all gender, color, religion, you name it. Xenophobia has been a big issue in recent history in South Africa. Some of our clients are victims of xenophobia in Cape Town. This was a big issue brought up in the forum, one which my boss would like me to focus on: holding workshops in this particular shelter to combat xenophobia. How? Not quite sure but I feel up for the task. That same day my new roommate arrived in Cape Town. Not only are we living together but she is working at the CTRC with me. We spent our night brainstorming sustainable programs to start at the CTRC. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night, working to change the world.

On a side note, it has become a running joke that the refugees think that I am in charge of the Centre… This arose during my first day, during one of the interviews one of the men would only speak to me though it was Christina asking the questions. At the forum Wednesday, we met one of our clients that I had spoken with the day before. She greeted me, completely ignoring my boss. Luckily Christina found this funny rather than rude, thus the joke began.

This past Thursday was Heritage Day, a public holiday celebrated across South Africa. I’m sure there is a more thorough explanation for it’s origination but for me, it meant a day to sleep in, dine with the other interns, and generally recover from my first few days at work. Supposedly Heritage Day is a day where everyone has a braai (bbq). We passed one on our way to coffee in the morning but alas, my South African roommates did not braai for us. Though a braai for me would typically be sad and depressing as I do not eat meat, I think I would try it at least once here. I mean, it’s not like I can make it to South Africa on a whim so for the chance to say I’ve tried it, why not? Speaking of roommates… After I challenged myself to get to know my South African roommates, the plan nose-dived.That is putting it lightly. One disappeared for a time and the other refused to acknowledge my presence. It was a complicated situation made weirder by the fact that we had never really been introduced… But, I am delighted to say that things are on the mend. Khaliso returned, and Pamusa spoke to me for the first time the other day sans glaring! Life is good again!

I would like to say that I have begun exploring Cape Town. Though the means by which I began were, how shall I put it, less than comforting, I have begun! On Saturday morning, me and Samantha set off on an adventure to Signal Hill and Lion’s Head despite some rough weather advisories. We’re both from the Pacific Northwest, we can handle some rain! We decided to do this the most inexpensive way we could: train then walking. We got down town on the train, took the first road we came to that headed straight, got to the base of the hill and began trekking up it. For a brief period we were followed by a strange man. Occasionally we would look back and see him sitting down in the tall grass, only his hat exposed. We followed a network of trails until we reached a barbed-wire fence which announced the presence of the noon gun! It was such a treat to come across it when we had only expected to see Signal Hill. The canon is fired everyday at noon from a now defunct military installation and luckily we were able to hear much farther down the trail.

After taking some pictures and getting glares from a 10 year old, we set out again up the hill. An old service road offered us a sheltered path up most of Signal Hill though we were fairly isolated from any human contact. I’ll try to describe those moments: Two girls dressed in hiking attire. Gravel road heading uphill into the forest. Beautiful wild flowers surrounding the road. Foreign trees. Being in nature, in the middle of a an industrialized city. Having to remind ourselves that we are in Africa! By the time we reached the top of Signal Hill the weather had severely picked up. We found ourselves in the midst of quickly passing clouds wrecking havoc on the city and coastline below. Lion’s Head and Table Mountain were completely out of sight. The wind was so intense that standing on the ledge overlooking the Atlantic, me and Samantha had to yell at each other though we were standing a foot apart. It seems almost wrong to scream at someone how beautiful the scenery is when the wind is absolutely howling and you’d rather be away from the ledge. We scrapped our plans for climbing Lion’s Head as it would be pretty dangerous, apparently there are chains and ladders involved in the hike, not something you want to do when you can’t see anything but clouds. Thus we descended the hill, all the while listening to the call to prayer from the city mingling with the rustling trees. I must say, I absolutely love life in Cape Town so far!

First days.

I have made it safely to my house in Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa after 3 horrendously long flights and one extremely abrasive and racist man who unfortunately gave me my first impression of Cape Town. I don’t think I’ve met a more eclectic group of people than I did on my flight to Amsterdam, it was truly a who’s who of world travelers. A surprising number of them were going to Africa, including my seat mate, a Yemeni-Afghan man going home to Kenya. My window seat on my flight to Cape Town offered me a spectacular view of the entire continent. Though I slept intermittently, I got to see the coast of Algeria, sand dunes that resemble ripples in a lake from 35,000 feet that make up the Sahara desert, the coast of Ghana, and the darkness that overtook southern Africa as night fell. When you fly over the States at night you can often see the lights of towns, cities, and the interstates that connect them. Southern Africa was an ocean of darkness that didn’t let up until Cape Town. We flew directly over the city center so I was able to make out Robben Island and the sparkling new football (soccer) stadium built for the 2010 World Cup. I was confused trying to figure out what the dark patches that intersected the city were. At night I would never be able to figure out this conundrum but by the light of day the massive rock faces of Devil’s Peak, Table Mountain, Lion’s Head, and Signal Hill dominate every view. I couldn’t believe that these peaks are RIGHT THERE(!!!) when I walked out of the hostel in the morning. I hope to be always be amazed by this view during my stay here.

My first day in Cape Town was extremely eventful. I was picked up at the hostel by my local director Jon who is a self-proclaimed wild boy, police reservist who despite some psychological problems, now gets to have whichever gun he wants. This might normally be a little disconcerting but I find it quite comforting. He has assured me that if I ever feel unsafe to call him and he will be on his way to come pick me up, and that if for some reason he can’t get there quick enough, he will call his cop buddies to come get me. After moving into my house and a trip to the VAC office for orientation, Jon took me to the waterfront, put me on a hop-on hop-off tour bus, and said call me when you’re done. I was driven all over the city and was able to moderately orient myself within the city. Unfortunately when I tried quizzing myself later as I passed a familiar building (Castle of Good Hope), instead of pointing to the waterfront as I expected, I was in fact pointing to Table Mountain. Hopefully I will get better at this. After the tour, Jon took me on an impromptu drive out to Hout Bay to run a work errand, thus I got to see more beautiful resort towns that line the Cape southward. On the way back, we took the inland route and drove by vineyard after vineyard making it the perfect drive, as well as introduction to Cape Town.

Later that night I met most of the other interns for dinner and drinks in the neighborhood. This group of people is pretty close-knit so by the first day I discovered that I had inherited a large number of friends who are constantly planning excursions, dinners, holidays (my Halloween and Thanksgiving are already planned), and shopping trips into the city. I definitely didn’t expect this. I will have to make sure that I am making an effort to meet South Africans. That was a problem for me in Jordan as I hung out almost exclusively with people from my program. The Jordanians that I did meet and befriend were definitely from a specific grouping and in my opinion, didn’t represent the majority of their age-group. Here, I have two South African roommates who I occasionally run into but there doesn’t seem to be the same bond as I have with the interns, granted this is only like my 3rd or 4th day. I will make more of an effort and do better, though when they have their friends over at 4 AM I can’t make any promises.

The last two days have been made up of wine tasting and adventures with the interns. Friday was wine tasting at Constantia Uitsig and Constantia Groot. Constantia is the name of the valley where these vineyards are located and are literally 20 minutes from my house. These were extremely classy tastings and if our driver hadn’t have been late, and thus forced us to pull up to these tastings, all of us piled into the bed of the program director’s truck, I might have felt like an actual grown-up. No matter what it was still a chance for me to explore the valley as well as meet the program employees. Like I said earlier, I just can’t get over the backdrop of the entire area. These vineyards lay on the slopes of Table Mountain and the other peaks that stretch down the cape. The views are absolutely amazing and worthy of a better description than I could possibly write.

The next morning my big adventure started. Several of us joined a tour led by downhill adventures which took us on a driving tour down through Hout Bay, back through the Constantia Valley, and down to False Bay via Muizenburg. If I go surfing while I’m here it will most likely be at Muizenburg. The area is experiencing its Whale Fest at the moment. From the shore we were able to see about 5 Southern Right Whales in the shallows about 300 yards out from the surfers. Amazing. From Muizenburg we drove south to Fishhoek (pronounced like a fish hook), then to Simon’s Town for some penguin watching at Boulder’s Beach, before heading to the Cape of Good Hope Park. Upon entering the park our guides set us up on some rickety mountain bikes, told us it was an easy 5k, and he’ll see us at the end. The ride was amazing… minus being stuck in 1st gear, my seat collapsing, and the huge hills. Not even those minor details could detract from the amazing views that surrounded us, yes not even the baboons that ran at me could phase me. Ok, they did. I screamed. But I kept right on going and that’s the important part! From the lighthouse at the Cape Point we could see where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic and the beautiful blues of the waves as they crashed on the rocks far below. Our next stop was at the bottom of the peak to visit the most South-Western point of Africa: The Cape of Good Hope. There we were greeted by several ostriches sun-bathing on the side of the road and lots of Korean tourists. TIA. This is Africa.

After a spot of wine tasting at Groot Constantia (they are getting to really know us there) we were headed home to celebrate my roommate’s birthday. We went to Khaya Nyama on Long St. for some game. Yes, game. While the waiter gave me a disappointing sigh for ordering the veggie lasagna (terrible, but then again who orders lasagna when zebra is on the menu?) the other interns ordered kudu, warthog, and various other game meats. I tried the kudu, it tastes like steak. Meanwhile, the heads of all of our counterparts who lent their bodies to our meals adorned the walls. I hope to be able to try the traditional Cape Malay food but so far it has been sandwiches, pizza, French toast, and lasagna for me. It is really hard to find traditional food in an area that is so cultural that American, Halaal, and French food places line the streets.

So in the span of just a few days I have been able to cross of many of the things on my to-do list for Cape Town. Before arriving I had been hoping to do a side trip to Botswana. Although there is still a chance of that, a trip to Mozambique has started to look better and better. I don’t think I’d see the side of Mozambique that Katie has seen, this would be more of a beachfront vacation with other interns, including snorkeling, sunbathing, and general bumming about. We shall see. Tomorrow is a new day. I start my internship tomorrow. I’m sure it will provide me with a lot of new opportunities and I’m sure my plans will change along with it. So here’s to tomorrow.

15 Hours and counting.

In 15 hours I depart for Cape Town, South Africa. My stay there will be relatively short (2.5 months) but to better keep in contact with friends and family I have created this blog. I will update it periodically with goings-on, photos, and descriptions of life in Cape Town as well as my internship.

The reason for my trip to South Africa is to gain some field/work experience in the form of an internship at the Cape Town Refugee Centre. To me, this is the dream internship. I spent 5 stressful, wonderful, amazing, hard, and worthwhile months living in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. While I was there I lived among a refugee population of millions. It was there that I saw the Israel-Palestinian conflict from three very different angles: the Jordanians, forced to take in and support their brothers who remain a people apart, the Palestinians, struggling between assimilation and seemingly hopeless nationalism, and finally the Israelis, playing both bully and victim yet still facing a very real security threat everyday. This fascinated me during my stay and surprisingly stayed with me as I returned to my senior year at WWU.

In February as I pondered my entrance in the "real world", this internship fell into my lap. Working with refugees was the dominating factor in why I chose this particular internship over others in different locations offered by the same program. I will admit that the other options apart from any internship I had been considering were joining the Sea Shepard crew aboard the Steve Irwin as documented on the television show Whale Wars, or flying to Israel to join ICAHD and protest house demolitions in the West Bank. This would most likely be achieved by chaining myself to said homes. Working at the Refugee Centre appeared to be the sanest choice and here I sit counting down the hours until my flight departs!

I'll try to best describe life in Cape Town but if there is anything you'd like to know, please leave me a comment and I'll answer it if I can. If you're searching for more information on my home country for the next few months the CIA world factbook gives some pretty black and white information on it.