Addo-Scotia

Good day readers,

Africa can be many things.  Typically it is romanticized as a wild savannah filled with dangerous animals that roam through the bush.  It is a continent which is believed to be the beginning of mankind.  There are movies such as The Lion King or Discovery Channel documentaries that give us a mythical image of the Africa continent.  Until Friday though, I had not seen this legendary land that has inspired so many people.  Nelson Mandela himself talks about this feeling as well in his autobiography when he leaves South Africa for the first time to go to Botswana and see the land from a different view.  He is overwhelmed with this fabled atmosphere.

Elephant eating some lunch.

As I mentioned in the last post, I took a safari on Friday.  It did not disappoint.  It was probably the best day here so far.  Our group left at eight in the morning to go to Addo Elephant Park which is about 45 minutes out of the city.  One thing that is noticeable about the landscape here are the mountains.  There seems to always be a mountain off in the distance which loams over the land.  The African handshake starts with a normal business handshake, but then the hand rotates up using the thumb as a pivot point and then back to the business shake.  The reasoning behind this is to show respect to the ancestors.  I feel part of this is due to the mountains everywhere.  There is always a reassuring feeling of being looked after from the mountains which is why I think the tribal traditions have a large focus on ancestors.  I digress.  We drove around Addo all morning watching elephants along with warthogs and kudu (basically a large antelope) along with one of the big 5 animals a water buffalo.  Elephants are massive animals and are truly a delight to watch carry out with their daily life. 

Scotia Game Park

Around 2 o’clock we went about 30 minutes to the Scotia Game Park where we took a safari through lion filled fields.  This was a rush.  We were able to see so many animals here, everything from lions to wildebeest to hippopotamus and rhinos.  Driving around in a large jeep-like vehicle with no sides was great.  While driving up to a pride of lions I could feel my heart pounding.  Lions are actually very social animals and we were able to see them interact with some young cubs.  We dropped a blanket on the ground and a lion came and snatched it up and used it as a chew toy.  I was in the back seat and the lion literally came right under me to get the blanket.  I turned to see if I could see the blanket, but found a lion instead.  It got the blood going to say the least.  The lion was too preoccupied with the blanket, so that was a relief.  After dinner we drove back in the dark to the entrance.  Dinner by the way was fantastic.  We ate ostrich along with some mashed potatoes and rice.  There were also some fresh beans and some other side dish.  To top it off there was a traditional South African dessert called malva which was delicious.  Now back to the drive after dinner.  We were able to see some hippopotamus out of the water which was pretty lucky I guess.  Hippos need to stay in the water all day because their skin can’t tolerate the heat of the sun.  They seem to disappear at night however and go anywhere.  It was just a great day all in all.

Lions using our blanket as a chew toy.

Saturday there was an activity fair on campus which a group of us checked out.  We found the basketball court where there was a pick-up basketball tourney.  My team got third, but it was fun none-the-less.  I talked to the coach and he knew Blake Elliot (St. John’s receiver on the last national championship team) from when Blake came down here.  He said he would love if I came and practiced with them, so I am going to join them on Tuesday.  I am probably too busy with everything else to commit full time, but it should be great to practice and play with some South Africans. 

Me riding on the tracker seat up front.

Thanks for reading yet again.  Also, happy birthday John.  Cheers!

Bobby

Bonus photo by request

A vervet monkey on campus

History Lesson

Hello All,

Another week here in Port Elizabeth and another week of experiences.  I will start out by mentioning the weight room here which I have been using to stay in shape in the off-season.  There are some definite differences between the weight room here at NMMU and a weight room back in the States.  The size is smaller than that of St. John’s and there are fewer benches.  There is also one squat rack that I have yet to see a non-American use for squats.  I also noticed that apparently short-shorts never went out of style.  I have been going with Matt and Isaak and we stick out (like everywhere here) because we wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt or cut-off.  There are also quite a bit of jump suit pants.  I have no idea how someone can wear them while working out in a hot room with no air conditioning.  The body types are quite different as well.  There are no “lineman” type bodies and all the work outs are very top heavy.  This is due to rugby.  Unlike football where you can have a 180 pound cornerback all the way up to a 325 pound tackle on the field at the same time, the range is much smaller.  The rugby players all seem to be in the linebacker range.  The athletic ones would be on the outside while the larger ones are more on the inside.  Just interesting I thought.

On Monday while lifting, Matt asked a guy working out when it isn’t busy because it is typically packed when we go.  He said it is always busy and that, “all these kaffirs just mess around.”  That is the equivalent to the n-word in America.  It was an abrupt moment.  Since we have been here, we have seen some separation between white and black; but not any tension like this.  It was a matter of time as I am sure there is more of it around.  I will be on the look for more of this.

I will give some quick background information on what South Africa has dealt with just to make sure all readers are informed.  The Dutch first settled in Cape Town in the Western Cape as a halfway point between India for trading in the 1650’s.  They have become known as the Afrikaners.  The British later settled on the Eastern Cape where I am living.  Those two groups had all the power (guns) and money.  They were in the South African War (the neutral term for what many call the Anglo-Boer War named by the victorious British) in the turn of the 20^th Century which the British won.  The British were interested in the natural resources and colonizing the area.  The ideal British South Africa in that time was a “white run society with a justly treated black work force.”  The Afrikaners believed they were somehow chosen to be there. 

Apartheid did not officially start until 1948, but the ideas were in place before that.  The Land Act of 1913 is in my opinion the most detrimental act that was created... and 35 years before Apartheid.  This Act was the first of the land shuffling.  It took 87% of the land and gave it to the vastly minority whites while about 90% of the population was pushed to the remaining 13%.  This was increased during Apartheid with the Group Areas Act where each race was designated a “homeland.”  The non-whites were used as cheap labor and therefore could not be too far away which is why the townships are like suburbs to the city.  The whites did not want the non-whites, but needed their cheap labor.  Obviously everyone can tell that is both inhumane and how contradicting that is.  I don’t think I need to mention too much about the conflicts that ensue as tension rises as many of my readers were alive during this time period. 

The reason I think thus far in my research that the Land Act is the worst act for South Africa is because it was the beginning of creating the townships.  When driving through the city and area, there are clear lines still today of where you cross from one neighborhood to another.  That creates unnecessary distances for people to travel.  Unlike the States where most of the poverty is in the inner city because of proximity to everything, the poverty is spread across a large area.  Many people need to travel into the city to work and therefore spend money that is not in their budget.  There are no “projects” or large apartment complexes.  This means that when driving through the townships, there thousands of people walking long distances.  Obviously large issues to solve and not an easy fix as the government is doing what it can. 

Another week of volunteering and I can tell that I will become very attached with the students in my class.  I am learning some of the names such as Zuko, Ayabonga, and Busiso.  I am much more of a face person and their Xhosa names don’t make it easy.  I mainly work on math with them, and we are working on adding large numbers right now.  I am getting better at using actions to speak because although they speak English my accent and is tough for them to understand.  I feel my biggest asset to them will be in the projects I work on outside the classroom however.  There is a bottle program that we are working at implementing along with fixing up the library and getting them to use that. 

Classes this week were interesting as usual.  A lot of history which I gave you just a taste of in this post (which has made it longer than usual, I commend those still reading).  One thing that we are starting to work on is the Nobel Peace Prize forum which is being held in Minneapolis.  I believe at Augsburg.  The focus this year is on South Africa and the four Laureates (Chief Albert Luthuli-1960, Archbishop Desmond Tutu-1984, President Nelson Mandela-1993, President F.W. deKlerk-1993) that have come from here.  Our study abroad program will be working with a group of honors students from NMMU to act as ambassadors for the forum.  We will be blogging and interviewing for the forum that will be used from the forum in North America to Europe to Asia.  We get to work with more students from here which is great as a flaw of this program is that we don’t get to interact with NMMU student greatly with our adjusted classes. 

Tomorrow we head to Addo Elephant Park outside of PE for a safari.  I am really looking forward to this as a safari is on many people’s bucket list with myself being one of those people.  I will be able to see the mythical Africa that has inspired so many to travel, write, and dream about this continent.

I thank you all for making this far in this long post.  Cheers!

Bobby

A few pictures from campus today for your enjoyment.

 An African Style Tree (no monkeys in it though)

 View from the Politics Classroom

Walk up to the Main

Mpendulo Project Weekend

Hello again,

As I write this on Sunday afternoon, there is a rescue type boat accompanied by a few jet skis that my flat mates and I are assuming searching for something at the beach across from our place.  Hopefully it is not a body.  The rip tides on the beach are very strong sometimes, and this morning they were particularly strong when I went with a group.  There are lifeguards on duty and designated areas that we also go to as a group, so don’t worry too much Mom.

Me and Isaak in front of Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. 

Moving on to some more exciting topics, I must mention going to a soccer game last Wednesday night at the World Cup soccer stadium here in PE.  It was a lively event that had great atmosphere.  It was a between the Kaizer Chiefs and the Jomo Cosmos.  The Chiefs had about 90% of the fans even though they hail from Johannesburg.  There were plenty of vuvuzelas being used along with supportive fans.  It was great and the stadium was stunning.  It was smaller than I expected as it only holds about 40,000 people.  The architecture was very impressive though and it is truly an icon of the city.

On Friday, I went to Jeffrey’s Bay as I mentioned to work with the Mpendulo Project.  I was accompanied by two others that had shown some interest in the program.  We met with Jill who is a St. Ben’s graduate that has been living in Africa since she graduated about 30 years ago.  She has called South Africa her home for the past eight years.  She is a passionate person that has lived an inspiring life.  It is easier for her to name the countries in Africa that she has not been to (she was only able to name 2 off the top of her head).  As far as the project goes, it is a micro-savings project as opposed to some of the bigger micro-loan programs that are around.  The project gets groups together and really just teaches them how to save.  Group members save their own money through the project.  Each group is made up of 6-20 people and they are given supplies such as a calculator, record books, and a lock box with three locks.  The lock box is held by a group member and each key to the locks a different person for security.  A training officer from Mpendulo helps the group set up rules and hold meetings. 

I really like this type of project compared to the micro-loan programs because it reinforces good budgeting techniques.  After talking to some members, they seem to have a good idea of the need for saving to accomplish tasks and for the use of emergencies.  During Friday and Saturday we were talking to group members about their experiences along with going to Humansdorp (nearby J-Bay) to try and persuade a few people on the fence about the program.  In the future I will help the training officers with teaching better budgeting techniques for long-term.  The program is set-up to work on a yearly basis.  The members I talked to knew that saving was important, but didn’t understand the total effect of interest or even saving for the long-term such as saving for a child to go to school or something like that.  The member that have “graduated” and have been saving for 3 or 4 years had plans for what they wanted to do with their lump sum that they get at the end of the year as opposed to new members who are just saving because they have heard it helps.  I will also help set up some basic budgeting ideas for a daily basis. 

Backyard of the backpacker house I stayed at in J-Bay.

I also need to mention the backpacker’s house that we stayed at for the night.  It was quite the experience in itself.  J-Bay is a HUGE surfing town with about 10 surf shops on the small main drag, and this house embodied every bit of that.  The lingo, the decoration, and the style of living were all about the free flowing hippy nature of a surfer.  There were walls full of pictures of waves that one could admire while music like Bob Marley serenaded the viewer.  The people there were very nice though and I met a couple people from Switzerland that had been there for a few days.  Many people stay for a long time, and one of the people I talked to was a bit surprised that I was only staying for one night.  Just the total mentality and what you would expect from a place like that I guess. 

I must get going now as we are cooking up some pasta for dinner that I should help with making.  There is more volunteering and classes in the upcoming days.  I look forward to each day as it comes because there is always something that I know will be something to remember.  Thanks for reading as always.  Much appreciated.

Cheers!

Bobby

On a side note, this is a picture of the rugby stadium at NMMU.  It is no Clemen's Stadium, but very cool none the less.

More Firsts

Molweni,

As always, there has been something new and different every day since my last blog post.  My greeting to you in this post by the way is a Xhosa word for greeting a group.  Xhosa is one of the tribes that are present in South Africa, and it is where most of the black people in Port Elizabeth call their mother tongue. 

On Friday we were at a leadership session to top off orientation week at NMMU.  It was a Nelson Mandela “The Champion Within” conference and we were there from 8am to 5pm learning to be like Madiba(Mandela’s clan name, used as a term of respect) himself.  The entire day was very long and boring at times, but the locals at my table agreed with me.  We learned some great facts about Mandela, but overall it was a difficult at times to really focus.  The main speaker tried to keep us going in the later hours by saying “If Madiba could spend 27 years in jail, you can last another hour.”  I thought it was funny that he compared his conference to jail.  We did receive Nelson Mandela: Conversations with Myself for our participation in the activities.  A great book that follows up on Madiba’s autobiography A Long Walk To Freedom which I read before my travels.  Now, Nelson Mandela gave PE exclusive rights to use his name, so PE is also referred to as the Nelson Mandela Bay.  I feel though that the area, and groups such as the one we were with last Friday, are abusing his name.  The area throws Mandela on anything for either publicity or just recognition.  Now Madiba was obviously a great man, but I have talked with Anga, a chap that lives a few blocks away and our group has come to enjoy and hang out with in our free time, about this ongoing overuse; he agrees as well.  Just something interesting I have noticed around here.

During the weekend we had a couple group meetings as we are still figuring out logistics for our time here.  Sunday night was very cool.  I went to a nearby bar/café with Chris, Britt, Kelsey, and Trang.  There was a great group called Mojazz.  After we had eaten and watched for a while, they took a break for a while.  Chris and I decided to go compliment and talk to the group that was sitting nearby.  They were a group that grew up together and play all around the country.  They are waiting to hear back on whether they will be at the International Jazz Festival that our group will be going to in early April.  That should be great as Cape Town is full of life and certainly should be buzzing during the festival.

This week was the first day of our volunteering.  I will be going to Pendla Primary School.  The first two days were an adventure.  The school has students from grade R (like kindergarten) up to grade 7.  There are about 25-30 students in each class with usually two classes per grade.  The faculty is composed of a principle along with one teacher per class.  The teachers are responsible for everything, which includes doing their own books, supervising recess, and organizing everything at the school.  On Monday I was in a 3^rd grade class where I taught Math and English along with joining them for some soccer at recess.  I was accompanied by Shaz in the room as well.  The teacher just left after we had been there shortly, so we went through an English lesson.  Talk about getting thrown into the fire.  Also, when a teacher is sick or gone for whatever reason, that class has to join another class.  A different room was filled with close to 60 students as this was the case that day.  On Tuesday I worked with Ryan and we were able to mix and match different parts of old computers to get two working computers for them.  They run Windows 98, and are in no way useful as they have no internet access or the capacity to stay up to date.  It will be huge for the students however to just get a feel for using a computer.  This way they will be able to get comfortable turning a computer on, logging on, and opening a program.  This will be the extent of their knowledge, but it will go a long way if they are to run across a computer in the future.

The pictures below are of me on my first day of school, the library(Mom and Dad), and then just a few pics from around campus.

We have also begun classes this week as well.  Yeah, I am here for school.  I have one class a day for three hours Monday through Thursday.  I have South African Music and Jazz on Monday, Ethics Seminar on Tuesday, South African Literature on Wednesday, and South African Politics on Thursday.  I have had music, ethics, and literature thus far.  Three hours in a hot room can be a lot, but the format allows for some great discussions with really no time limit.  I also will be working with the Mpendulo Savings Project at Jeffrey’s Bay.  Here is a link to their website if anyone wants to check it out http://mpendulosavings.co.za/.  I have a management class where I will be reporting my finding there amongst my accounting background.  My first experience with that will be Friday.  Jeffrey’s Bay is about an hour away, so I will leave Friday morning and get introduced and check things out.  I will then stay at a backpackers hostile nearby.  I will then work on Saturday as well before returning.  From there I will have to coordinate with them things I will do from my computer along with my return visits.

Friday is also my grandpa Robert Fischer’s birthday.  He is the II and he turns 80, so happy birthday to him.  I was also able to see a picture of Mike’s baseball picture.  Good luck to him as the season approaches.  Steven keeps me updated on his basketball, and I am also hearing that he is playing with a little bit of fire and some D.  I like that. 

Thanks for reading.  Cheers.

Bobby

City Tour

Hey everyone,

 We toured the city today.  Finally seeing all of the city I currently call home.  I took too many photos, so I decided to post a few of my favorite ones.

What we consider downtown has some really beautiful English Victorian style buildings with just a cool feel to that area. 

 All of the people in the townships waved to us and were happy to see us.  The energy that the kids had was amazing.  I like the photo next to it because it shows how first world meets third world.

 A couple of kids entertaining themselves on the side of the road above.  To the right is a photo of me with a couple of kids that we met at a stop we made.  Our guide new an artist that has had artwork shown in Europe with the likes Van Gogh.  Very interesting.  Here is a talented artist living in the townships.  The entire day was full of shocking revelations like that.

 To the right is just a group of people in the townships during the day.

To the left is a plot in the townships.  The photo, like many of them, speaks for itself.  I do not know what this family has been through, but there is still emotion in the photo.

That is it for this post.  Not a lot of words this time, but a few pics for you to try and see what I am seeing.  We were able to visit our third volunteer site where our group will help out, Missionvale Care Center.  It is a place where people can come to get food among other things.  They need to help pick up trash or some other act in order to receive anything first.  They are trying to get people off the thought that the government will do it for them.  Try and instill a better work ethic in the people.

Thanks for reading.  Cheers,

Bobby

First Week

Hey Everybody,

This week we have been doing a lot of orientation type stuff at the university.  On Monday we had a welcome/information lecture in the morning followed by a dinner.  Since there were a few hours to kill in between, I walked around campus with Ryan and Andrew to check things out.  The campus is a beautiful place full of palm trees, cacti, and many other floras that are very different from that of Minnesota.  The campus was built in the 70’s and is mostly cement similar to much of St. John’s which is cool.  I must say one thing very different than St. John’s is seeing monkeys on campus.  Yes, monkeys on campus.  They are pretty small, and the South campus where we spend most our time is on a nature reserve.  I will have to put some pictures in a post coming up, so be looking for those. 

We have been able to see more of the city this week as well.  This morning we visited two of the sites where our group will be volunteering, Pendla Primary School and House of Resurrection.  Being at these sites was kind of surreal at first because that was one of the main reasons I chose to come here.  Some of the obvious things that jump out right away are the poor condition and the massive amounts of trash in the area.  I rode up front again and the driver was telling me and Isaak about the old lines of Apartheid.  He showed us where the Blacks lived, where the coloreds lived, and where the whites lived.  It is amazing that only 20 years ago they were going through such heavy segregation, and the driver lived through it as he has lived in PE his entire life.  I also want to sit up front as much as possible to talk and learn from the drivers as it is a great way to really find out how they live around here. 

The heat can be overwhelming, and there is no air conditioning.  It has been nice in the heat coming from Minnesota, but I can tell that being stuck in a hot class room in the middle of the afternoon will be a challenge at times.  I guess there could be worse things to worry about, and there is always a good breeze coming off the ocean.  The nights cool down to a reasonable temperature, so sleeping is quite comfortable. 

Thanks for reading and for all the comments. 

Cheers,

Bobby

Bush Camp

Hey Everybody,

Just got back from bush camp at Tsitsitkamma Falls about an hour and a half away from where we are staying in Port Elizabeth.  The area itself was very interesting because there was a line of mountains along the north side of where we slept.  It was very cool to see since I have never seen a mountain before this.  It is very humbling standing next to them.  The peculiar thing about this area was the pine trees to the south of us.  It was almost like Northern Minnesota, but there was a lot more fern and tropical underbrush.  The Dutch settlers brought them here when they were settling the area, and they are used for paper. 

Driving to this area was an adventure itself.  The highway turned to 2 lanes not long out of Port Elizabeth.  There is also not much of a shoulder.  Of course, the bus I was on got a flat tire and we had to stop on the side of the highway.  In the States, when someone is on the side of the road, people generally slow down as a courtesy to the passengers or just to see what is going on.  Not in South Africa.  The other drivers flew by, and didn’t even move over in the lane much.  After we got back on the road, it was not long until we had to stop for a family of baboons on the road.  That is Africa for you!

As for the activities, the first day we got there we had the afternoon open to check out the falls (where we would be zip lining the next day) or meet the other students at the orientation.  We had barbotie for dinner which was a traditional South African beef dish.  Later in the night we had a drum lesson which was fun.  I was one of the first in the circle.  Although none of us had played before, the instructor started us off easy and in no time we were creating a beat that was together.  We ended up playing for a few hours before mingling some more before sleeping.

The next day, we went zip lining over the falls, and some of the mountains.  They were exciting and obviously an adrenalin rush, but early in the morning we had an overview of South Africa’s history from a local that was outstanding.  He was classified as black during apartheid even though if you were to see him, you would probably call him white.  He explained many of the problems with the country and had some very interesting ideological views.  It was very cool, and I realized I was lucky to be getting this experience.  His name is Bradley, and we will be going on some culture trips with him.  I look forward to spending more time with him and a few of us talked with him separately.  Through his help we will see the true Africa. 

Thanks for reading.  Cheers

Bobby

Arrival

Hey Everybody,

The first night is in the books.  After travelling for 25 hours and losing 8 to the time difference, I arrived with much of the group in Port Elizabeth 33 hours later worn out.  We were very excited, and the airport in PE had a stairway for us to walk off the plane.  The picture below is the plane as I was walking away.  It kind of made me feel like a rock star since I have never done that before.  Unfortunately, my luggage did not make the flight with me, so I was left with only my carry-on.  My bag did make it on the next flight, and was delivered to the flat this morning.

It was a somewhat surreal feeling driving from the airport to the flat last night.  At last, I am finally in South Africa thousands of miles from home.  Something that I have been planning for so long and it was a reality.  I did not have anything to unpack last night, but my excitement was enough to keep me going.  I had a nice Skype session with my mom for a bit last night at midnight here.  She was still at work.  My Skype name for anyone who would like to chat sometime is bobby.fish.5 . 

As for today, the roommates and I walked to a nearby grocery store/ mall and got some groceries.  Most everyone got up early today, so the jet-lag may not have completely set in yet.  Tonight will be a good indication of that.  We live in a nice part of town.  It is pretty commercialized, and there are quite a few nice cars that drive around.  There are of course some things that jump out right away like the kombi’s similar to taxis in the US.  They drive around yelling out the window with packed vans of people.  Stop lights are called robots.  I thought that was really weird.  The thing that has been the most eye-popping is the amount of protection and security for the houses.  There are electric barb wire fencing on most of the apartments and houses.  They at least have fences with pointed arrows at the top.

This evening will be more getting familiar with the city.  The South African Rand is the currency, and the exchange rate is about $7.  All of the prices are way higher because of that, and I was shocked with some of the prices at first until I thought about it.  I had meal for lunch for about R 37 about 5 plus dollars or so, a good deal for a sit down place.  Tomorrow we head to bush camp for the weekend with all the international students at NMMU.  I am really looking forward to this as we will be camping and being able to really enjoy some different views of Africa.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers,

Bobby