High-C Weekend Festivities!

During the last weekend in September, the ladies of High-C spent nearly every single one of our waking (and some sleeping) hours together. The Friday night sha-bang included a packed taxi ride to the Old Biscuit Mill for the “We Love Real Beer” Festival where the some of the best South African brewers cater a night of beer and music. With similarities to Europe’s Octoberfest, people from across Cape Town gather to welcome in the beginnings of fall and eat and drink some of the most renowned beverages in the country. Stands with delicious flatbread pizzas, warm homemade falafel, mouthwatering dips and spreads, and incredible sandwiches line the edges of the white tent, setting an unmatched backdrop for a good time in the Cape.
Saturday morning and afternoon were spent on Imhoff Farm in Nordhoek where we rode horses on the beach, shared a celebratory birthday lunch for one of our housemates, and saw camels on our way home! Prancing down the coast on top of a gorgeous sandy horse named Indie, I felt as though I was living in a movie. After a 30-minute cab ride home, we took a couple hour power-nap before getting dressed for an African drumming lesson and dinner at the Gold Restaurant. The evening was entertaining and filling to say the least—consisting of 13 dishes of traditional South African food—and the perfect way to top off a nearly perfect day.

HIGH-C. And The Kitchen Table.

I LOVE my housemates who live at 8 Highstead Road (House-C), otherwise known as “High-C.” With 7 girls and 2 guys from all different walks of life in the United States, our gang makes for quite an interesting mix of people. Our days and nights as a house are marked by outings around Cape Town, studying/ napping/ movie-watching nights on the floor in one of our rooms, cooking house meals that last for hours with the ongoing story-telling that is typical of nearly every dinner. The Kitchen Table has become our gathering place, and it has held a lot more than just food over the past few months: nail polish, mugs with wax, magazines and collage cut-outs, pictures, laptops, class assignments (on rare occasion)…the table has supported our hands with glasses filled with fine wine, our banging fists from belly aching laughs, and our elbows clutching faces to wipe away tears. The table has been a space and a place for the sharing of food and sharing of life, not just with High-C dwellers, but other people as well. Our house has frequent visitors who come for dinner, to hang out, to celebrate a birthday or holiday, or just for a hug and a good laugh.

Vac! (a.k.a. "Spring Break!)

Sept 3-Sept 18th: (UCT break ended Sept 11, but I skipped a week of school. Whoops!)

Spring break, known as “vac” with all the University of Cape Town students, came at just the right time. I spent the first few days with Elin, adventuring our way around the city. One day, we decided to hike Lion’s Head for the second time since our arrival in this country, we were guided by a guy from UCT. The three of us curved up the peak through back trials lined with thick brush, occasionally forging our own path in the wild undergrowth and tall grass. About half way to the top, Daniel suggested that we take a break and pointed to a pile of rocks that overlooked the bay as a stopping point. Elin and I enthusiastically responded, “Sure, that’s great!” not realizing that we had just commmited ourselves to bouldering across a jagged rock face, clinging to ledges and teetering on the slanted slope that dropped to the beach below. Sweating but safe, we nervously laughed and glanced at each other with “I-can’t-believe-we-just-did-that” looks before stopping to enjoy the view. Thankfully, the rest of the hike went smoothly, even the spots where crawling and climbing on all fours was required! As the three musketeers, we celebrated our feat with oranges and granola bars as we watched the sun dip below the horizon over the Atlantic Ocean.

Sunsets in Cape Town are AWEsome—filling viewers with overwhelming awe and a peculiarly powerful peace…watching the sun dip below the seemingly endless water is soothing and empowering at the same time. Upon reflecting on these evocative emotions, I think that for me, they spawn from the visual reminder and reassurance that the world does not revolve around me. No matter what I do or how hard I try, I could never stop the sun from setting and rising, or the earth from spinning and turning. I am powerless against these patterns of nature, and so as I watch the sun continue sink out of sight, stripped of authority over my surroundings, I am strangely liberated by this process. Forced to surrender to the Truth of a Power far greater than anything I can even imagine, I am freed by my inability to control, to manipulate, to plan, to organize my circumstances—freed to accept and appreciate the beauty of the way today will always become yesterday and that tomorrow will surely become today, and stand in awe of the One who made it all.

Inspired by this emotional experience yet again, Elin and I trekked down the trails of Lion’s Head with only the stars lighting our way, bode our friend farewell, and walked aimlessly through the streets of Cape Town until we happened upon a charming outdoor restaurant with bonfires glimmering around the candle-lit tables. Yes please. After sharing salads and the “line of the day” (salmon seared so perfectly it melted in our mouths), we continued our conversations about our reflections of the past couple months and our hopes for the next weeks over steaming pomegranate tea.

The rest of my time with Elin included some more meandering around Rondebosch, the neighborhood where we live, visiting Cocoa Wah Wah to catch up with our “friends” there—a.k.a. the waiters that have become our friends through our daily—sometimes more than once a day—stops at the café, resting by the water at Camps Bay, and more. Spending time with Elin is always a gift, given that she never fails to find a way to love me in the exact way I need…we laugh, we cry, we sing, we dance, we eat, we serve, we chat, we whisper, we share, we draw, we nap, we study (well sometimes we try to study but usually we just get distracted), but most of the time, we dream. We dream dreams for ourselves, for our families, our friends, our communities, our world—dreaming about the possibilities and potentials that dreams can have, if only we would follow our own and make it our passion to inspire others to pursue their dreams too.

Combining the remaining few days of “vac” with the following week of school, I flew to Nairobi, Kenya and met up with my dad to do medical work in a rural hospital. We also visited a school for disabled children in Joytown as well as Kijabe hospital, the home of an organization called Bethany Kids. I loved every second of being with my dad…whether we were bouncing up and down in the backseat of a truck that was flying over the potholes of unpaved Kenyan roads, discussing international politics and the situation of the global economy, getting caught up on what’s been happening at home while I’ve been gone, communicating across an operating table about different surgical tools and sutures, or pushing children in wheelchairs across a school campus. He is one of my heroes, and getting to spend spring break with my hero was a memorable and meaningful experience.

A transformation: Volunteer->Tutor->Teacher->Friend.

Since the beginning of August, I volunteer with SHAWCO, a student run organization at UCT that facilitates tutoring for elementary, middle, and high school students in townships around Cape Town. I work with eighth graders, teaching a group of 6-8 students through a “Life Orientation Skills” curriculum on a weekly basis. Without a doubt, my Thursday afternoons with Onwaba, Sizwe, Luvo, Lisa, Bubele, and Nkosinathi are the highlight of each week, and my time with them has been transformative. One thing is for sure--through this whole experience, my respect and appreciation for teachers has deepened tremendously!

For first tutoring sessions, I came prepared with lessons straight from the “Life Skills” curriculum that SHAWCO provided, and I attempted to direct our conversations in light of the detailed plan that I had created for the topic. However, a couple weeks after I started working with the students, I decided to try something different—I would let the students lead the direction of the lesson so that I could not only learn more about them, but they would feel more like partners and friends instead of tutorees in this situation.

So the next week, after we had settled down at table in the community center, I asked each one of them to tell me about what they were passionate about. “What are you excited about? What are you interested in? What do you care about?” Eight blank faces stared back at me. In silence. Hmm. Okay. Attempt number two: “What is your favorite subject in school? What are some of your hobbies or extracurricular activities? What kind of music do you like? What sports do you play? What do you like to do with your friends?” Mostly silence…besides a few “I like rap and play soccer with my friends” responses. Alrighty. I’m not asking the right questions. Something more concrete to get conversation flowing. How about… “Tell me about your families. How many brothers and sisters do you have? Do you live with one or both of your parents?” A few responded about the number of siblings they have…and one student said they he didn’t live with either one of his parents—just his grandma… but that was the extent of the replies.

I decided to try something else. I pulled out my laptop and began to show the students pictures of my family members, my boyfriend, and my friends, explaining why each person in the pictures I showed them was important to me. They had LOTS of questions—and wanted to know everything from the ages of each person in my family to why my boyfriend is so much bigger than me and what my dog’s name is (which happens to be Gracie)…Nkosinathi even said that he wanted to be Gracie’s veterinarian some day! This led to the other students talking about what they want to be when they grow up: a social worker, scientist, meteorologist, historian, journalist, and more! Siwe asked me if I could find out how he could become a meteorologist, which sparked the rest of the students to ask for help in achieving their career dreams as well. Thus, for the subsequent lessons, I brought each one of them an article of choice: each student could chose one topic that they wanted more information about, and I would print out an article or online information and bring it to them each Thursday. In the more recent lessons, I’ve continued to step out of the “tutor/teacher role” let the students be the facilitators of the dialogue and learning—bringing a set of questions to get them going, but then letting each of them have a space to express what is on their minds. Thursday afternoons have transformed into a time and space of mutual sharing and learning, where all nine of us around the table share our thoughts on both the positive and negative realities of the world that we live in. I am AMAZED by all the students that I now call my friends—challenged by their heartfelt questions and stories, inspired by their revelations and ideas. I cherish my afternoons with my friends in Khayelitscha, and my heart is already beginning to ache about leaving them in a few weeks!!

P.S. A few weeks ago, I decided to give the “What issues are you passionate about? What do you care about?” questions another try, and this time, I couldn’t write down their responses fast enough:

the environment, human rights, education, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS prevention, political corruption, drug and alcohol abuse, health, and more!

It has been beautiful to watch each boy and girl explore their own passions over the past several weeks, to talk about the ways that their interests intersect with their desired careers, to see them challenge each other’s opinions, to share pieces of my life with them while hearing parts of theirs, and to encourage each one of them to pursue the dreams that they have for the future.

More pictures with friends at the wedding!

South African Wedding, (August 13th, 2011)

During one casual conversation over afternoon coffee, Ru and I were talking about weddings. She explained how the marriage process works in Zimbabwe, the presenting of gifts (giving of cattle and the like), mesmerizing me with the elaborate efforts and traditions involved in Zimbabwean weddings. Pausing after her description, she exclaimed, “Em! Pam, my mentor, is getting married on Saturday, August 13th. You should come!” Surprised and excited about her proposition, I gladly accepted, not sure if Ru was actually serious or not. Well, the week of Pam’s wedding, Ru sent me a text reminding me to be dressed and ready to head to the church at 11:45am on Saturday and that I should expect to return to campus around 5pm. A 5 HOUR WEDDING?!?! Confession: I haven’t been to a wedding—in the United States or any other country for that matter—since I was four years old. Thus, I had NO IDEA what to expect, and while a five hour wedding ceremony sounded a little long, I had nothing to compare it to. So after being dressed up by my housemates (they are waayyyy more fashionable than I am, and so they kindly took the liberty of getting me ready for the wedding), I met Ru at her dorm, and we carpooled with 3 others to the church.

The pews of the church were filled with a vibrant and beautiful sea of people… men, women, and children from different countries and backgrounds, various ages and races, all smushed together in a small city church to celebrate a profound day in the life of their friends. The groom, Chris, beamed as his stunning wife-to-be glided down the isle in a simple yet elegant long dress, and he gently took her hand in his as they turned to face the priest. During the rest of the ceremony, songs were sung—in English and Xhosa, vows were taken, cheers were made, and love was shared. The spirit of celebration was contagious, spreading throughout the crowd and inspiring many to dance, sing, cat-call, cheer, and story-tell into the late afternoon hours. At one point, a group of black girls starting dancing to a choreographed song, and Ru convinced me to join in…as you can imagine, the awkward white girl stood out just a tad among the talented and charismatic dancers, and I felt the stares of quite a few people in the crowd. But hey, bru, it was a hectic wedding and lekher time, (Translation: “But hey, dude, it was a crazy/good wedding and an awesome time”), and one of my favorite afternoons here in the Western Cape.





Pam and Chris!

RU :)

One of the first weeks I was in Cape Town, I travelled to a nearby mall to buy some bedding for my room. It was FREEZING outside—the wind was whipping around all the students at the Jammie Stop (the Jammie is the University of Cape Town shuttle that drives around Cape Town), waiting for the bus to arrive. The mammoth light blue shuttle finally pulled up to the curb, and the passengers began to unload onto the sidewalk. People piled out from the bus, one at a time, and the steady stream of students was actually never-ending! Literally minutes went by as people got off—every few seconds the doorway to the bus would be empty, and the shivering crowd would all step towards the shuttle and then retreat as another student would step out from the bus. As I stood there shivering in the cold, I noticed a girl to my right was shaking her head with her hands crossed on her chest, a huge smile across her face. “Goodness! How many people can fit on a Jammie???!! This is so crazy!” she said as she laughed to herself. After the stampede of unloading students stopped, we filed onto the shuttle and I sat next to the smiling girl. I soon found out her name was Ru, and after a few minutes of conversation, I discovered that she was in one of my classes! So the next day at school, I looked around my classroom and sure enough, there was the bubbly and glowing Ru that I had met the day before. After class, she introduced me to a couple of her friends and then walked me down from campus to the Main Road. Pausing at the street corner she asked, “Where do you live? Can I walk you there?” As we continued to walk and talk, Ru told me about her home in Zimbabwe, her family and friends, her faith and social work, and other random facts about herself. When she dropped me off at my house on Highstead Road, I couldn’t help but laugh about how crazy and wonderful and precious my new friend was, and how excited I was to see where our friendship would go.

Since that rainy day at the mall, our friendship has blossomed into one of my favorite parts of being in Cape Town. Ru and I have breakfast once a week, eat ice cream on sunny afternoons (and coffee on rainy ones), walk around campus, tell jokes, discuss life goals, dream about our futures, whisper our secrets, and share our faiths. She brings so much sunshine into my life, and every time I bump into her in the halls of UCT or get to sit across from her at a restaurant, my heart is so thankful. More Ru and Emily adventures are sure to be in store…