Savitri on housing

I was watching an episode of “Vice” where a reporter was investigating acres of unfinished and unoccupied apartment complexes in China. These building projects, designed to generate revenue through real estate, are abandoned because they are expensive and located in areas far from work. They were built over farmlands, effectively displacing thousands of farmers and as one woman bemoaned “turned them into beggars”. Contrast that with the surplus of informal settlements and backyard dwellings that I see in Cape Town it is not hard to see that humans are doing things inefficiently. The problem is, how do you fix something so complicated and far along?

Empty apartments in Chenggong, China (source)

Informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa

I don’t pretend to have the answers nor do I think the answer is so simple that it could be explained in a blog post. I think one thing that has to happen, however, is a consciousness of this problem. Maybe you don’t know what to do about it but maybe someone you tell does or maybe someone they know will have an inkling of innovation. But just as importantly, I think, there must be consciousness of all the parts to the problem. Why can’t we just build housing structures anywhere for all the people who need homes to live in? For one, it would be unfair to move people away from their place of work and family and social community and resources. For another, we need to make sure that the area those houses or apartments are being built are suitable not only for the people who going to be living there but for any people who are living there already. It is not fair to interrupt other people’s environments either.

This dilemma reminds me of my first few weeks in Cape Town. Marita was telling us about an area in Khayelitsha that had suffered a terrible fire and people were currently discussing whether they wanted to rebuild the community with roads that would permit easy access for fire safety vehicles but that would displace approximately 30% of the community. I wondered, why not build multi-level apartments so that the same number of people could live there and still access emergency care when they need it? But then, what would happen to these people while they waited for such a building to be constructed? There always seems to be a “but” and so often short term solutions seem to negate or complicate long term goals. How do you integrate the two and how do you address the “but”s? Maybe someone who reads this will know.

Andrew's closing reflections

I think it’s going to be hard going back home (even though I’m not flying home for another month).  It’s going to be hard to explain to people what I’ve seen here because it’s unlike anyplace in the world.  

These are only a few things of what I’m going to miss:

• ·      Waking up to table mountain every day
• ·      Having the amazing group of co-educators and professors to be inspired by, learn from, and always bounce ideas off of to help me become a better person
• ·      Always feeling challenged about our ways back home
• ·      Seeing people with so little giving so much—it strikes me somewhere deep down in my heart
• ·      Seeing how generations of people are recovering and transforming from very trying years

Andrew (in green) with some of his co-educators

Over the past few months I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with Professor Rode in the burns unit.  He has been a great inspiration to me.  The most important thing that I learned from him is that I need to back up what I preach.  He told me that there are a few professors who have been touting the need to give patients (mostly the poor black and colored people) access to quality health care, predominantly in the form of the National Health Insurance.  However, when he asked them to come to Khayelitsha to work with him at the clinic he goes to, they always made up some type of excuse.  I want to be involved in health policy to make sure that people can get the best care and Prof set the best example for me because I know that I will never let myself not take real action—I must be “in the trenches”—with whatever I do.  Another one of Prof Rode’s greatest pieces of advice is that I have to be happy with the life decisions I make and make the best of it and don’t plan too far ahead in the future.  He told me this when I asked him how I really want to live in back here in Cape Town for a longer time (at least about a year) and I told him how the next time I can come back is most likely after medical school, but by that time I will be too much in debt and I’ll probably have a family that I’ll have to worry about.   What he said struck home because I can’t plan my life so far in advance that I’m too worried about it…I just have to live and decide what I want to do and then deal with the what life brings (in terms of financial and family situations).

Savitri on falling in love

What I will miss most about Cape Town are the people that I have become friends with. I am forever grateful for the chances that I had to meet awesome people and have awesome conversations. Our interactions allowed me to experience Cape Town in so many different ways, not just as a tourist and not just as a student. Luckily, I will get to see some of these friends in person in the U.S. Maybe I’ll get to see all my other friends someday in the future.

Is it possible to fall in love with so many souls?

Savitri and Vernon

Rasaad

Marita

Sisters at Tafelsig Clinic

Morning bus ride with co-educators

Tekawa & Elise 

Savitri and Sister Castle

Apparently it is!

Sharon's stroll and reflections on Table Mountain

I finally took a trip to the top of Table Mountain. It was a beautiful day, the skies were clear and the sun was warm. I decided to take a solo trip to Table because during my 3.5 months stay in South Africa, I have never gone to the top and how can I go back to the States without journeying to one of the new Seven Wonders of Nature? The cable car ride up was pretty awesome and the view was breathtakingly beautiful—I felt like I could see the whole world from the top. The ocean seemed to go one forever-- I didn’t know when the ocean ended and horizon line started.

            

While I strolled along the path, I had a chance to reflect on my time here in Cape Town and write my thoughts in my journal. This experience is indescribable. Throughout the whole week, I have been preparing myself to go home, but I am not ready to leave this beautiful country. I am going to miss taking classes at University of Cape Town, hanging out at Loch Rd, interning at Cape Town Refugee Center and even the bumpy and nauseating ride of the morning commute to work. Most importantly, I will miss the unique community and the spirit of Ubuntu of South Africa.

           

 When I graduated from High School, I remember I needed to write a quote underneath my senior picture for the yearbook. I wanted to write something profound so I picked a quote my Mohamed Gandhi, “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Because I chose the quote haphazardly, it did not really mean anything to me at that time. However, now, after my study abroad experience and learning about Mohamed Gandhi and his individual role not only in South Africa but globally, the quote really resonates with me. The power of one individual is significant. As I move on in life and graduate from UConn this upcoming December, I want to dedicate my life to a career for the greater good.

Anna on the power of one

Anna walking through the library her vision and hard work helped to build.

Last night, most of the pool house was piled on my bed looking through the 3,500 pictures I have taken since being in Cape Town, reminiscing over the past four months. My camera has easily become my most valuable possession. Through it, I have been able to capture times and memories on film that others may capture through their journals. The past four months have been dream like, so much so, that I'm afraid when we step off the plane and say goodbye that they won't actually seem real, because, how can they be? We laughed and joked about even how physically different we all looked, hair longer, making most of us look older. When we leave here, this entire experience will simply be a memory. I'd like to think that we have left our mark on Cape Town, but more accurately, Cape Town has left its mark on us. One of the biggest landmarks of passing time for me, has been the library. When looking through the pictures it was the first time that I really looked at the two states of the room side by side. What it was on our first day at Sithembele Matiso and what it looks like now and all of the steps that we had to take, obstacles that we have overcome and hours we spent working to make the room what is now. We finally finished on Friday, and were able to bring in local book donations that we received.  As this project progressed, at times even I questioned whether or not it would actually come to fruition, would it work out, or were we making Joseph and the school false promises that we wouldn't be able to keep.  Somehow as everything seems to in this magical place, everything did. We just heard from UPS that they have completed the process of the donation of shipment and 1.5 tons of books will be headed in Nyanga's direction in the next few days. It's hard to dispute that someone or something whether it be karma, luck, or fate, is on our side. We covered the walls in inspirational quotes, as you walk in the door, the first thing that you see are the words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible, until it is done.” Very fitting. The walls are covered with the words of Albert Einstein, JK Rowling, Dr. Seuss and others. Patrick painted a beautiful tribute to the victims of the Newtown shooting and Sharon a mural of Table mountain. Each person who contributed to this project made a world of a difference. I don't mean just Allie, Patrick, Sharon, Liz, and Kelsey, but every person who donated, told a friend, or offered words of support. The completion of the library would not have been possible without every single contribution, proving first hand evidence of, the power of one. 

The group at Sithembele Matiso High Library under mural painted by Sharon.

Avery's final day

On the last full day in Cape Town, I was a wreck. All around me was still unexplored beauty- a cityscape with stores un-shopped, a bay left un-laid out on, a mountain left un-revisited. I woke up and realizing the predicament of time running out began to cry. I needed to do something with the day that would somehow wrap up everything- tie up this trip with a beautiful bow so that I could get on the plane and look over my shoulder with peaceful content rather than heart strangled anguish in leaving. So, without too much thought involved I followed Patrick, Anna, Allie, Kelsey and Sharon to Nyanga to go officially open the Library that they have taken all semester to build.

Maria, Avery, Lindsay, Wylie, & Kelsey share in the joy of the dedication
of the library at Sithembele Matiso High in Nyanga

 When we arrived it was with the expectation that the walls would be painted, and the shelves would be built but empty, as the shipment of donated books from the USA supposedly wouldn’t arrive until after we had left. What the group found as the doors were pushed open was a library stocked with books- a donation from the Cape Town Library. Anna’s tears of joy permeated my very soul. It was like living in an episode of Extreme Make-Over Home Edition. The group of people who helped to build this beautiful place was all teary eyed and running their hands along the mystical spines of books that appeared in their library. I couldn’t help but weep. In life, we have many opportunities to empathize with someone’s pain- but the moments where we may experience another persons pure joy are much rarer- more sacred, and particularly poignant.

Joseph (the inspiration for the library project with other grade 8-12 learners

The school children from grades 8-12 began to filter into the library for the opening ceremony. The principal came to give an opening speech where he declared his initial skepticism of the project. He explained how it is often that touring groups of students may come through the area- point their fingers at an old standing issue, and then leave never getting their hands dirty in actually solving the problem. He commended then Anna, Patrick and Allie’s group for plunging their hands deep into paint and pulling out a library for the underfunded school. Truly their work is more than just a gift to the community, more than an investment in the future of those students- it is an inspiration to us all.

Kelsey, Patrick, Anna, Liz, and Allie receive thanks for all their hard work.

 Patrick said during the end of the ceremony, “having the idea isn’t hard, the work is hard.” If everyone could in their lifetime focus in on just one social issue- focus on it, hold it dear to their hearts and then go one step further just to think of a valid way to attempt to dispel that issue from the earth- I believe we would find that many more people would then be inclined to act on their ideas. Isn’t that the scariest step after all? That very first one- that one where in taking it you assign your name to a cause, you take up the responsibility because you have now paid attention to it- you are now accountable for working to make a change under this new enlightenment. Damn straight that’s scary-which is why many people allow these wonderful ideas to come into mind and then never fully seek out a way to make their musings take shape. I hope that this sort of story serves as an inspiration to those who come across it. I know that within our group we have each taken up the struggle of something, we are leaving this trip knowing that individually we each have a cause, and that as a group we can call upon any one within us to help make a change. 

Sharon, Anna, KelseyMs Maloka (teacher) Patrick, Allie, and Liz in the beautiful library.
They imagined it and then worked hard to make their dream a reality!