Final Posting

As they say, all good things must come to an end. And in the next 48 hours, this journey will be complete. I don't know that I'll ever fully be able to measure the impact of this trip on my life. But I do know that I am coming back to NYC (I hope) a little wiser, a little more aware of the world around me, and a whole lot more thankful for all of my blessings.

Saying goodbye to the people I've met has been difficult. But I do so hoping that I was able to make just a small difference here in South Africa. At Sibanye, I was so lucky to find a friend in Jo-lene and the rest of the staff. And through my work on funding proposals (we were able to finalize a template for grants and sent out 4 in the past six weeks), developing a vision statement, and revising and enhancing many of the online and offline marketing materials, I've found that my skill set has grown. Who knew that would come from this? I think I may have gotten back more than I gave--including a very sweet going away party on Tuesday night at a restaurant in Stellenbosch (wine country) called Moyo which included Jo-lene and her husband Patrick, 3 of the other volunteers at Sibanye (Marcy, Sallie, and Stephanie), and Brian and myself. It was a wonderful way to celebrate this crazy and wonderful couple of months.

As for the CCS volunteers, I was a little surprised at how sad it is to leave the house. While I will not miss any of the following...:
1 - 1 1/2 hour long van rides to and from work every day
2 - Standing in approximately 5 inches of water while showering at all times
3 - Trying to be a good sport about the mystery meat and fish I'm ingesting ("Remember Carol, this is a learning experience for you...")
4 - Hearing the Vicki's talk about their latest booze soaked evening (OK, well maybe I'll miss that one a little)

...I will miss living with a group of people who have enough heart and enough awarenessto take a break from their everyday lives (mothers, students, working professionals) and try to make a difference in a place where they will not reap any direct benefit. That is, if you don't count the extreme gratification that comes from volunteering in this way.

So besides all the sappy stuff, the last week has been hectic but a whole lot of fun. While finishing up work, I've given Brian the 4-day tour of Cape Town. We've seen Table Mountain at sunset, Camps Bay, drove to Cape Point and back, went wine tasting in Stellenbosch, hung out at the waterfront. On Thursday, we took off for a 4 day Safari to Kruger National Park. And we saw the big five, the small five, and the ugly five (anyone who's seen a warthog or hyiena knows what I'm talking about). I won't even try to put into words the extreme beauty and peacefulness of the game lodge that we stayed at. While on our first game drive (5:30-8:30am every morning and 4:30-7:30pm every evening), we met a great couple name Jill and Jeff from where else but NYC. All in all, a fantastic trip!

Today, we spend one last night in Cape Town. It's definitely bittersweet but I am looking forward to coming home.

Thank you all for keeping up with this trip and showing your support through this blog and emails. It has meant the world to me. Hope to see you all soon!

Much Love,
C

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope all is going well.

Things are still moving along here in Cape Town. It's almost the end of my 5th week. Next week is the end of the road which I can't believe. I end my placement next Wednesday, the 20th and then Brian and I are heading on Safari to Kruger National Park. I can't wait--it should be pretty amazing to be at a private game reserve for 4 days.

On Tuesday night, we're having a going away dinner with the staff from Sibanye. Jo-lene and Sallie put a dinner party together at Spier in Stellenbosch--which is in the middle of wine country. Should be fantastic and i'm guessing we'll all have a little buzz (understatement) by the end of the night...

Today, I had a very romantic valentine's day with 5 of the ladies at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. We made reservations for high tea and had a fantastic time. It was a beautiful afternoon and the hotel is gorgeous. We ate ourselves silly...and we all drank with our little pinky's in the air! Very classy.

This week was a bit more challenging from a work perspective. It's the first week that frustration set in. I will no longer yell at the printer and photocopier at work in NYC, as it is much more coopertive and helpful than the one here in south africa. We also work on dial up internet (which hopefully will change as we get more funding) and I don't believe I've had to deal with that on a regular basis since 1998. Also, the work pace is very different here. It's definitely slower which I was expecting, but when you are up against deadlines, it's tough to be on an african's timeline for getting you information you need. For example, we needed 2 letters of reference for a funding proposal and I can't tell you how many reminders we needed to provide in the form of phone calls, emails, faxes, and sky writing. Being the intensely patient person that I am, this was not at all frustrating... :-) But as I'm trying to grow as a person here in africa, I took some deep breaths and all was well in the world!

Well, that's it for now. Brian gets here on Saturday night which is going to be great. We have four days in cape town, 4 days in kruger, and then one more day in cape town. Between showing him the city, trying to finish up work, and saying goodbye to the girls, it's going to be a bit crazy over the next week and a half.

For those who were intrigued by the ostrich riding, here's some fun video of all the girls (including myself)...

http://gallery.mac.com/stephaniebull#100240

Enjoy!

C

Fear is temporary, Regret is forever…

…reads the wise and profound saying on my t-shirt. “What t-shirt?” you ask. The t-shirt that I bought after I bungee jumped off the Bloukrans bridge--incidentally, the highest bungee jump in the world… (Mom and Dad, I decided to save these plans until after I jumped and was still alive.) “What?” You ask. “Are you for real? The Carol I know would never do that.” Well, I thought that too but I have photographic proof… (Oh, and by the way, there’s a very funny video that you’ll all get to see when I get home)

And it doesn’t end there…Here’s the play-by-play of our weekend on the garden route.

We took a 7 hour drive from Cape Town for the adventure weekend of a lifetime:

Friday 2pm – 9 of us leave for 6 hour drive to Wilderness, a town about 320 miles from Cape Town. Trip includes: Me, Stephanie, Malory, Heidi, Danielle, Kaitlin, Alana, and Amy

Friday 9pm – Check into the African Sun Hotel

Friday 9:30pm – The ladies hit the bar

Friday 9:31pm – Stephanie, my roommate at home and for the night leaves the bar because she thinks she might be sick (the CCS stomach flu)

Friday 11pm – Carol walks into her room and Stephanie is not in good shape. But we do have a very comfy King Size Bed

Saturday 12am, 2am, 4am – Carol awakes to the sweet sounds of Stephanie in the bathroom

Saturday 7am: Stephanie’s made it to bed for 45 minutes. We need to get up. And she’s determined to bungee…And she does (She’s my hero)

Saturday 7:01 am – Carol is losing her mind. She doesn’t like heights, she thinks it’s silly to purposely throw yourself a bridge unless…
A – It’s already falling and you don’t have any alternative but to jump
B – Someone’s about to shoot you and your only choice at the time to get out of the way of the bullet is to jump
C – You actually want to kill yourself

Saturday 8am – We’re on the road heading for the Bloukrans Bridge in Tsitsikamma (it’s in the Eastern Cape)

Saturday 8:01 – 9:59pm – I’m feeling vomitous

Saturday 10am – Oh Christ! We’re here.

Saturday 10:01-12:45—sheer torture. A 2 hour and 45 minute wait including getting suited up and having to be the 3rd to last to jump. They do the jumping in weight order. In this case it was NOT awesome to be the 3rd lightest…

12:46pm – I’m doing a weird jig (wait ‘til you see the video) before I’m about to jump. I am not sure if it was to keep me warm (it was freezing on the bridge), to keep me from thinking about the jump, or to keep me from passing out

12:48 – 5-4-3-2-1 JUMP!

12:49 – This is the coolest thing (hanging upside down)

12:50pm – Someone please get me down. Now!

12:52pm – Pulled up…and safely on top of the bridge again. It was awesome! (but I NEVER need to do it again…unless someone decides to build a higher bridge that people can jump from)

After bungee….a frenzy of oh my gods and can’t believe its. 7 of us (Me, Malory, Steph, Heidi, Danielle, Haley, Kaitlin) jumped and there are no words for how fun, scary, crazy and silly it was.

2pm – 5pm - We hit the canopy tours---essentially 10 zip lines from the top of trees 200 meters high. For a girl who HATES heights, it was a trying day. Of course, my fear makes me a total spaz. Zip lining is no problem…I feel very safe on the actual line. Standing on the platform 200 meters up from the ground waiting for 8 other people to get on to the platform…not cool.

9pm - We get to the hotel in Outsdhoorn and passed out… (another 2 hour drive)

Sunday 7am – another early wake up call

Sunday 7am – 9am – Still buzzing about jumping off of the world’s highest bungee jump (still am buzzing if I’m honest)

9:15am – Arrive at Cango Caves for Caving Adventure Tour…a real tour through the caves with spaces no more than 27 centimeters and spaces called “the chimney”, “the coffin”, “the letterbox”

9:30 – 11am – Take the most amazing tour through these caves and fit through spaces that you never, ever thought you’d get through…

…On top of that, you need some upper body strength to pull yourself up through crevices that you have no room to maneuver in

11am—Take off for ostrich riding. Ostrich riding you say? Sounds awkward, dirty, and uncomfortable…it was all those things and I have some video to prove it....hilarious video to come--our wireless connection is not cooperating right now.

12pm – Leave ostrich riding and head to Kango Wildlife reserve. As you all know, I’m a HUGE animal lover (that’s sarcasm)…so seeing a white tiger and pygme hippo weren’t all that exciting for yours truly

2pm – on the road home (another 5 hour drive)

7pm – Drop Danielle off at the airport. It’s very sad…she and Steph are two of my favorites in Africa.

7:30pm – Put on my game face to face a whole new set of “the Vicki’s” (sorry Vic). 14 new volunteers have joined us and I fear it may be too much for me to take…

In conclusion, it was an amazing and fantastic weekend.

Only 2 weeks left here…I am equal parts sad and happy about that. Definitely missing the creature comforts and of course all of you. But I think this is a once in a lifetime experience and in that way, I never want it to end…

Hope you are all well!

Love,C

Since we last talked...

hi guys, hope all is well. Just a quick update on the goings on here in cape town. We've been busy still, but trying to take it easy the last few days. About 4 or 5 people here have gotten sick including yours truly...there's a stomach thing going around and I think I got pretty lucky in that I had the best of it. Just been feeling queasy and really tired. Some people have had a full on stomach bug. I'm starting to feel much better now which is good. At the beginning of the trip, they said people start getting sick around week 3...and it seems they were right.

Speaking of week three, I'm about halfway through this trip. I can't believe it! I will be ready to come back to new york--where i have my very cute, very quiet, very clean apartment. Living dorm style takes some effort some days.

Here's the update from my week:

We went to the Kirstenbosch gardens on Thursday afternoon. These are absolutely gorgeous botannical gardens with Table Moutain as a backdrop (what else is new...Table Mountain is the backdrop for everything here in Cape Town). It's become a running joke that all of our pictures, whether taken at a tourist attraction, the house, or at the townships, have table mountain in the background. Anyway, it was good to go and explore a bit. It's a beautiful hike and they were setting up a private area of the gardens for a wedding. It looked absolutely amazing.

On Friday, I had to work a full day (I know, poor me). We had a group of students who are doing a volunteer/study abroad program from Marquette University come to Sibanye and we needed to cater the event and host a program for these students about the Xhosa culture. The nice thing is that they spent their american $$ on some very beautiful things. So, that's always a win for us.
That night, we had a going away dinner for the first group to leave CCS--the 3 weekers. Everyone who participates in the program can stay a minimum of 3 weeks and a maximum of 12 weeks. 3 girls stayed 3 weeks and we had a little going away party for them. Although dinner was at 4:30--I feel old enough here without going to dinner for the early bird special. At about 9pm that night, we felt the effects of the continuing power crisis as our lights went out without warning for 5 hours. So, like the old lady i am, i went to bed at 9:15 :-)

On Saturday, we braved Table Mountain. Check out the pictures. Imagine climbing stairs for 2 hours straight...that's what our ascent was like. It was a little nuts but very fun and very satisfying to get to the top. Then, we took the cable car down. That night, we went to dinner for Steph's birthday--it was the big 27 for her. I was feeling a little under the weather so I didn't quite party like everyone else. But, it seems that they had enough fun for me so it all worked out!

On Sunday, we laid low. Went to the movies and to dinner. Here's an interesting fact, in Cape Town, you reserve your seats in the movie theater. You actually have assigned seats and you purchase them when you get your tickets. I quite like this system and think we should adopt it in the US.

Today, Danielle and I went out after placement and took a crazy walk from the middle to cape town to camps bay. It was probably a 7 mile walk up and over table mountain. We rewarded ourselves with a pitcher of "sundowners" (a cape town tradition) at a great little cafe on victoria street called Cafe de mer. We watched a beautiful sunset and had a lovely dinner. Not a bad way to end a day!

At work, I'm working on finishing up a funding proposal for Pick 'N Pay -- a huge food store (like a Giant) here in Cape Town. I've also been working with the board of directors on vision statements for the organization. We are landing somewhere around "Crafting a better future for South Africa"--get it, get it. That's a Carol Capece special.

Well, I hope you are all well. Enjoy the new pics and my ever-darkening tan.

Love
C

Two Quick Things

If you want to see what it's like for me to drive through the townships to work every morning, check this link out.
http://gallery.mac.com/stephaniebull#100148
My roommate and I took video of our drive (excuse the cuts and the music--we are not professionals). Here's just one minute of what we see every day.

Also, there was a great article in the NY Times about the power outages here in South Africa. They started upon our arrival (3 weeks ago) and it looks like they are going to continue. It affects us at Sibanye almost daily and at the house. This is doing major damage to the economy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/world/africa/31safrica.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Some History

Greetings from Cape Town! We've had another busy few days. It's been great having a bit more free time to explore the city, although we've also had a number of CCS programs as well.

There have been a couple of requests for some more township pictures so I took some video and pics. I'll post them today so you can get a better sense of the living conditions here. In some ways, they are making strides. They are working on transforming the townships from all shacks to what we would consider low income development housing.

That said, I'd say maybe 5-10% have been moved to date. I believe the government's goal is to have these new developments built and inhabited in the next few years. We'll see what happens--I don't know that it is realistic or achievable goal. But they're up against the wall since Cape Town will be home to the 2010 World Cup.

We've learned a lot more over the last few days about how the townships came to be. Yesterday, we had a wonderful tour of the District Six museum. This is really the time to come to cape town and learn about the impact of apartheid, because the people recounting the history lived on both sides of it. They can give you insight that will be lost in 40 or 50 years time. In that way, we are so lucky to be here now.

Also, our staff at the house has been fantastic. We had a talk today during lunch where they discussed their heritage (clan name (if Xhosa), ethnic background, whether or not they were initiated (for men, this is a process by which they become men including circumcision in the late teens, early 20s....I'm pretty sure I've made a number of you males uncomfortable just now). Unknowingly, they recount such personal stories that give more information and a greater sense of what it was to live in apartheid than any text book possible could.

Side note: I'm reading Nelson Mandela's (aka Madiba [as he's known in cape town]) "A long walk to freedom". It's the best autobiography I have ever read. It's very well written, fast, and very informative. If you're looking for a great read, pick it up. You'll learn something and really enjoy it. I promise!

Side note 2: They have "Madiba is my homeboy" t-shirts with a huge pic of Mandela's head all over Cape Town. They're hilarious. Some of you are getting very special presents when I return...

Back to the important stuff:

District Six was a thriving, integrated area of Cape Town that was home to blacks, colored, Jews, whites, and Malay people. This area of Cape Town was harmoniously integrated--it seems to be a model which would benefit all of us today. Our tour guide yesterday grew up in district six and told a story of his parent's telling him to come inside and stop playing at certain times in the day because the Muslim families were praying. From the sounds of it, there was more than on great "melting pot."


Well, when the apartheid government took over and the 4 separation acts were put into place, which essentially divided ALL races from interacting, not just white and black, all non-whites were displaced. This happened from 1964-66. In the museum, they have testimonials of people from district six detailing the police showing up at their houses and telling them that today was their day to move and the government would be putting them in a specified location.

Here are the race distinctions as defined by the apartheid government. These distinctions were etched in the walls of the District Six museum:

Europeans:
Are regarded as persons of pure European descent. The offspring of all mix marriages which are of the parties not of European are to be regarded as coloured.

Asiatic:
The chief asiatic nation's represented in South Africa are Indiance, Chinese, Japanese, and Burmese.

Coulored persons:
This embraces all people of mix race and the census classification includes amongst others Hottentots, Bushmen, Cape Malays, Oriouas, Korawnas, Negroes, St hellenians, and Cape Couloured

I guess everyone else was black... (there is no description for that group).

For the first time, I realized that the apartheid system was as bad, actually worse (if that's possible), than the Nazi system.

The black population, which was the largest displaced population, was relocated to the Cape Flats which is where the townships are located to this day. The first township, called Langa (meaning sun) was created and from there additional townships came to be (including Khayelitsha which is where I work today and is comprised of over 1 million blacks alone). All of the townships were comprised of people of 'like' black backgrounds - Xhosa, Korisan, etc.

This huge upheaval led to financial hardship--increased costs to get to work everyday and fewer jobs for a black or coloured man which meant women needed to start working. This resulted in a lack of supervision in the townships that gave rise to gangs and the associated gang violence. Today, Cape Town is the most violent city in the world for this very reason. (You should see where we live and go to work. Our volunteer house is like fort knox and each house in and out of the townships has armed response security. It's a way different world here!) Also, when you put so many "unsupervised" young people in one place, it leads to increased sexual activity and drug use. Unfortunately, the AIDS epidemic began at the height of apartheid and therefore you have not only the issues of violence and poverty, but a health crisis that is unfathomable.

As a local South African, you ASSUME that every person you come into contact with has HIV or AIDS, and you treat them as such (physically, I mean). If you have a cut or open wound, you are extra careful. And if someone else is bleeding, you take plenty of precautions. It's a pervasive issue that has had me and many of my fellow volunteers checking out our hands for cuts or wounds we would never even think about back in the states.

I heard a great quote today from a speaker we had today named Themba who is a musician and humanitarian here in South Africa. He works for the Institute for Healing of Memories.

"Poverty is damaging because you lose self respect. And the moment you lose self respect, you lose respect for other people."

And that's what is fantastic about what we've been doing at Sibanye. We're giving people the opportunity to find ways to support themselves and their families financially...and that security leads to increased self-worth and humanity. Well, it may just be impacting a few right now, but it's certainly better than nothing.

Hope you're all well!

Love,
C

“Good Friends, Good Wine, Good Music”

Lots to update you on over the last few days. Things are going well in Cape Town. The weather is beautiful and we’re trying to fit everything in which means we’re constantly on the go. We finally figured out the secret to truly loving a CCS program—eating out! You will see lots of new pics of me (and the girls) eating. Really good food is VERY affordable (e.g. I had an entire filet entrée—with veggies and sides—for $15), and as I keep repeating, so is the wine!

Here’s the update:
Thursday:

We had a CCS “program” after our volunteer placements which included a trip to Bo Kaap for lunch and a museum tour. Bo Kaap is an area of Cape Town which is populated with a largely Muslim population. The Malay people living there now are descendants of the Muslim’s brought to Cape Town as slaves back in the 1600s and 1700s. Really beautiful architecture—very much Dutch inspired (which is interesting because these people were largely Indian/Asian).

After that, we walked around downtown Cape Town (Long Street, waterfront), and Stephanie and I had a great meal at The Green Dragon in the waterfront. I had prawns and crayfish (lobster)—both were huge, delicious, and had their eyes. The food was fantastic! But it was tourist central so a bit more expensive than usual…

Friday:

Had a great day at work. I was asked to attend the board of directors meeting for Sibanye. We were developing vision statements for the organization and developed a pretty detailed SWOT analysis. It was great to meet the board—very, very intelligent people who are involved in numerous NGOs across South Africa. What’s difficult to see, though, is that these board members are so stretched that there is very little day-to-day support for the organization. And it’s needed. That said, they are very serious and committed to making this organization a success.

After that, we hit the beach at Kalk Bay down on the Indian Ocean (in False Bay). After searching out the sun, we were able to lay out for a while (the weather in cape town at the beach is so odd—every quarter mile can have completely different temperature, cloud cover, wind, etc.). After the beach, 6 of us hit a South African tapas restaurant called Fork on Long Street. The food was fantastic and I tried Ostrich for the very first time. It was really well prepared—although I do feel a little funny about eating an ostrich so I’m not sure that will become a regular part of my South African diet.

Saturday:

Jo-lene, the director of Sibanye, came and picked us up and took us to an organic market in Woodstock (funny, right?). There was amazing food and really talented local artists selling glass, furniture, art, pottery, etc. I did a little damage at that market…

In the afternoon, we attended the J&B Met horse race, a huge annual event in Cape Town. I was the BIG WINNER here. I bet on lucky number 14, “Our Giant” in the big race and won 145 rand (about $20). Our Giant was chosen in hopes that Eli Manning and the NY Giants won’t have a horrendously sad game against the Patriots. Based on my winnings, I’d say we have a shot…

It was a lot of fun. It’s the most dressed I’ve been since I’ve gotten here – putting on a dress was really kinda nice…

Sunday:

WINE TASTING!!!! So fun. We left around 9am—our regular tour guide Farid, who also drove us last week to Cape Point, continued his reign as the best tour guide in South Africa. We hit the 3 primary wine regions in the western cape: Paarl, Franscheok, and Stellenbosch. All three were beautiful. We made it to 3 vineyards: here’s my analysis of the South African wines we tasted. (feel free to take this or leave this)

Location: Paarl: “Good Friends, Good Wine, Good Music” is their motto in this region

Vineyard 1: KWV

Tastings:
1 – KWV Chenin Blanc – very dry white. Didn’t do much for me. A little too fruity.
2 – KWV Reserve Sauvignon Blanc – also too fruity (hate fruity wines)
3 – Café Culture Pinotage – Pinotage is a type of wine native to South Africa. I don’t love them but I did like one or two. This one was more like a desert wine—heavy banana and chocolate flavors. It’s a new wine so it may mature over time (only been out for 5 months). For a desert wine, it would be great. But, you wouldn’t want to drink this with dinner.
4 – Cathedral Cellar Shiraz – Very strong with a lot of bite. I love Shiraz but didn’t love this one.
5 – KWV Tawny Port – Very sweet but I enjoyed it. And I typically don’t like port.
6 – KWV 10 year old brandy – what do you think???

Location: Franscheok

Vineyard 2: Chamonix

Had lunch here at the cutest outdoor restaurant. It was picturesque and I had a huge filet (much needed red meat) with asparagus and potatoes. For desert (because I’m currently binging on food), I ordered the chocolate mélange—chocolate cake with raspberry sauce, white chocolate mousse, and chocolate sorbet. Very, very chocolaty and just what the doctor ordered!

For wine, we had a bottle of 2005 Pinotage. Really good with a very smooth finish.

Vineyard 3: Solms Delta

Tastings:
1 – Vastrap – a “cape” blend of Chenin Blanc, Cloiretto Blanche, Semillon. Didn’t love this—too fruity.
2 – Solms Lekkerwijn – Rose. It was very tasty.
3 – Solms Amalie – a great, dry white. Bought a bottle.
4 – Hiervardaan – Shiraz. Very smooth with a great finish. Bought a bottle.
5 – Africana – Shiraz. Also great. Stronger flavor than the Hiervardaan with a very smooth finish. Bought a bottle.
6 – Koloni – Muscatel. Good if you’re eating spicy foods. Acts as a neutralizer.

Other random points of interest:

-Saw the prison which Nelson Mandela was released from

-Saw the Unisys South African headquarters on the way to the vineyards

-No one mans the train station office most of the weekdays and weekends so the city of Cape Town is losing millions of Rands because they are not charging people to ride their trains

-I now know how to say hi, how are you, and what is your name in Xhosa. There are 3 kinds of clicks and I sound "special" when I try to speak the language

So, that’s my update. It’s been busy and really fun, but back to work tomorrow.

Hope all is well!

Love,

C