White consciousness?

So, (as you know...) this past weekend was our homestays. I ended up having to stay with a different family because the original one had to go to a funeral and couldn't take me. So they put me in a family with another girl in our program. At first I was really disappointed that I'd have to share a family but being with her ended up being one of the best things about the weekend. We actually had kind of a weird experience there though. The two adults in the family weren't very enthusiastic about us being there, and the mom kept leaving us alone with the kids. I guess we were free babysitters, after all! So mostly we just watched TV and American movies or played with the kids, who were awesome. No complaining about the "babysitting". It was a 6 year old girl and a 9 year old boy. The first night that I was there, I gave them the cards that I'd brought from home and they absolutely loved them. And then I did a card trick, which I ended up repeating about 20 times throughout the course of the weekend, and every time they were just as amazed as the first. It is a pretty good trick though. :) So basically, my weekend was spent playing “crazy ate” (like crazy eights but morphed just enough so it barely has anything in common), making forts, and carrying the kids around the house on my shoulders. I did get to know the other girl in my program a lot better though, which was fun because she's not in my house or any of my classes so I don't get to see her that often. On Saturday though, we got to leave the house for a little while because another one of the students' family was having a braai (just a huge barbecue) for lunch. They had so much food, and I think over 50 people were inside the tiny house. I had samp, which is a basic traditional South African food, kind of like corn, but also sort of potato-y and a little bit like rice. But it tastes wonderful. Then I walked to the store with a few of the girls. It was really bizarre being the only white person in site. It might sound weird, and I never thought it would make me feel that way. It was uncomfortable, but it was good because it was so eye-opening. I just felt so conscious of my skin. I feel kind of silly pointing it out. Even right now I'm thinking, "of course you look different, no big deal". But it sure seemed like a big deal. Like I didn't fit in, which I didn't, and like everyone in the store was looking me, which they were. White consciousness I guess? It was strange, but was a good thing. Actually, the kids kept bringing it up too, asking what that blue was on my wrist (vein) and why I had a Pinocchio nose! And the little girl was completely obsessed with my hair. She was almost constantly brushing it or “making a hairstyle,” and I let her help me wash it and then dry it with the hairdryer one night and she was thrilled. So I guess the kids were the best part about our homestay. We were the only family that had kids, except for one other that had two little ones. All of the other students had families who took them around either Langa or the city, and had things planned for them, but I was just really grateful that I wasn't the only student staying with my family! And we gave our numbers to our home-mother, in case she wants to drop the kids by sometime when she's in town. We have hers too, so we're definitely going to call sometime to see them again. So the homestay definitely wasn't what I expected, but all in all, it turned out to be a pretty good experience. :)

Homestays!

Our homestays are this weekend, which is where we go stay individually with a South African family for two nights. We'll all be staying in Langa with different families, which is the township that we took a tour of. I'm a little bit nervous about it, especially if it ends up being cold and rainy this weekend, but I think it's going to be really amazing. One of the program directors told me that he put me with the woman that asked for a girl. Apparently she said that she wanted a girl, please. And for some reason he thought, Alex! And he assigned me to that family. I'm not sure if there will be kids, which I really wanted initially, but I'm ok either way now. He said that the woman already has things planned for us to do and that she's going to take me around everywhere and show me a lot. So I'm really excited about that and I think it's going to be a great experience. And it will definitely give me something to blog about!

Place of Hope

Yesterday I went with one of my classmates to visit the place where I'll be volunteering for the semester. It's called the Place of Hope and it's a shelter for mothers and children who are victims of domestic violence. Its mission is to “restore and empower abused women and their children in crisis to be socially responsible and economically self-sufficient” and the center manager is amazing. She wasn't at the shelter when we went to meet her, but some of the people working said that she wouldn't be long, she'd be back soon. We weren't thinking in South African time, so we thought maybe we'd wait 30 minutes at the most. We ended up waiting an hour and a half, but it was worth it. She talked to us a lot about things that we could do to help around the shelter. Since I said I wanted to work with the littler kids, I'm going to be working in the nursery. I'll be getting there in the middle of naptime so for that time she's going to put me in charge of the four- and five-year olds (who she calls the “seniors” of the nursery), which could mean anything from teaching them simple board games, reading and acting out a story, or just kicking around a ball. She stressed that if we see anywhere that we think we could help, or have any creative ideas, just to let her know and she'll pretty much let us do anything fun with the kids. Mostly they just need attention and someone to show that they care about them. Since they're all from homes that were very violent, most of them aren't used to having a lot of positive attention because (this is what the manager pointed out) their moms had to spend a lot of focus and time on trying to protect them and herself, which didn't leave much time to just relax and spend quality time with the kids. And because keeping the kids safe was more of a priority than playing with them, also a lot of the moms don't really know how to or feel comfortable with just playing with their kids. So the manager said that occasionally a mom or two (who isn't working at the time) will come in with the “senior nursery” group and just play with us. That will be really great also because I know I'll get to meet some really interesting people and also be someone that the women can talk to if they want or need that.

And then the rest of the time when all the littler ones are awake, I think I'll be helping out in the nursery. Right now there are two workers taking care of 26 kids ranging in age from a few months to five years. So I know they really need the extra hands. It's not that many kids all the time though because most of the women at the shelter, when they're not working, help out with the nursery kids and will carry around a baby or sit with a group while they play outside. There seems to be a very strong community there, between all the women that stay there and including the staff as well. So hopefully I can become a little part of that community. I know it's going to be a really good experience, and I think it will end up being one of the most memorable things that I'll do here.

Devil's Peak

Yesterday a group of us climbed part of Devil's peak, which is the mountain that goes right up from the UCT campus. To start, we took a Jammie shuttle to upper campus, then hiked to Rhodes Memorial, and then got on the trail from there. We didn't get to the very top because it started to get too dark, but the views from where we did get were amazing. It was a really tough hike, mostly because it was so steep. There wasn't much winding around the mountain, more like going almost straight up it. We were going for a little over four hours total, and at parts we were literally climbing up rock faces, concentrating only on not looking down at the drop! We were a little worried going up because all of the South Africans were on their way down already and we were the only people actually heading up...they kept telling us that we were too late and that it was going to get dark, but we were just going to go as far as we thought we could with still having enough time to get down. We ended up making it past the dangerous parts as the sun was setting, and only had to walk about 20 minutes in the very dark. When we were getting back to upper campus, which is about a 30 minute walk from our house, it was very dark, and we weren't too excited about walking all the way home. We didn't know the schedule of the Jammie shuttles so didn't think we'd be able to wait for one. But just as we got to the end of the trail we saw one, and we all ran after it, and it actually stopped! I think driver must have sensed our desperation. Either that or he realized we weren't going to stop running until we caught up. :)



A view of some of the city from a little ways up the mountain...