Hello!!
I have been having serious issues uploading photos to this blog and to facebook because of how slow the Internet is here. But I have created a web that will hopefully work. The website is http://picasaweb.google.com/kristinannehubbard/JoBurg I hope you will be able view my first week in Jo'Burg and to see the people I am spending the semester with.
My first 2 days in Windhoek have been great! It truly is a beautiful city that has a lot to offer. We went to an open market on Thursday and I ATE A WORM!! Yes, I ate a fried/dried worm that tasted like leaves and had the texture of sandpaper. The entire time it was stuck on my tongue all I could think was, "Holy Cow there is a WORM in my mouth!". Needless to say, it was not one of my better moments. The concept of the open markets in Windhoek is to allow vendors a safe, communal, and central location to sell goods. You are able to find much more traditional foods here along with dressmakers and hairdressers. It is a valuable source of income for rural people and allows more local goods to be sold and produced.
The house is a little crazy! With 24 people there is no place you can go for peace and quite. Most people are being very respectful but, as always, with that many people conflicts are bound to arise. The mornings are CRAZY with 24 people trying to get dressed in 2 bathrooms that include only 2 toilets and 4 showers. Today, I laid out by the little pool and enjoyed the gorgeous views of Windhoek. All our meals are prepared for us by Sarah and Eveline. They make amazing food for us, including, homemade bread that could become addicting.
Tomorrow is the first day we have been able to sleep past 7am and I can not wait to sleep in and have a lazy morning! Our classes will start next Thursday but until then we will continue our orientation to Windhoek and start our internships on Monday. My internship is with the Electoral Commission of Namibia. I will know more about what I will be doing after Monday afternoon but I expect to be helping with voter education and polling official training for an election this fall. It was my dream internship and I can not wait to get started!
I hope you enjoy the pictures!!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Finally in Windhoek!
We arrived in Windhoek today!! The city is gorgeous! It is situated in a valley and the mountains surrounding it remind me of Santa Fe. The CGE house is great. It is a lot larger than I was lead to believe and the room I am sharing with 5 (yes 5) other women is not too small. I doubt we have enough closet space but we will cope. Tonight is the first night I have been super tired. We have kept a gruelling schedule the past 10 days in order to see everything in Jo'Burg. I enjoyed Jo'Burg but I was happy to leave today. The city is HUGE and has a ton of pollution. While the educational opportunities are limitless in Johannesburg it is not the tourist hub of South Africa.
This past weekend we all completed a home stay with a family in or around Soweto. My family lived just outside Soweto in a semi-suburb. In South Africa you either live in a township, semi-suburb, the city, or a suburb. My family had 2 little boys who were very laid back and quite. The Mom was ill while we were there and we did not do very much at all. Luckily, the family next door was also hosting and Adela and I played over there a lot. We were able to walk to the stadium where the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be held. The whole city is preparing for those 2 weeks. We also attended church with our family. It was different to be the only white person in a crowd of ~3,000. We also ate a lot of pap this weekend. Pap is a very traditional porridge type dish that is served with sauce. It looks a lot like mashed potatoes.
The people on my trip are great! I am having a blast getting to know them and spending an insane amount of time together. Last night, we went out to dinner at Black. It is a very nice restaurant in downtown Jo'Burg and is currently the only place in downtown open for dinner. Since 1994 very few business owners have moved back into downtown for fear of violence. However, that is rapidly changing. The meal was fabulous and it was great to get dressed up!
I will have more regular access to Internet now and I will hopefully figure out how to post pictures soon. I can not thank you all enough for leaving comments and making me feel connected to home. I am having a great time and I can not wait to start my internship next week and get started exploring Windhoek tomorrow!
This past weekend we all completed a home stay with a family in or around Soweto. My family lived just outside Soweto in a semi-suburb. In South Africa you either live in a township, semi-suburb, the city, or a suburb. My family had 2 little boys who were very laid back and quite. The Mom was ill while we were there and we did not do very much at all. Luckily, the family next door was also hosting and Adela and I played over there a lot. We were able to walk to the stadium where the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be held. The whole city is preparing for those 2 weeks. We also attended church with our family. It was different to be the only white person in a crowd of ~3,000. We also ate a lot of pap this weekend. Pap is a very traditional porridge type dish that is served with sauce. It looks a lot like mashed potatoes.
The people on my trip are great! I am having a blast getting to know them and spending an insane amount of time together. Last night, we went out to dinner at Black. It is a very nice restaurant in downtown Jo'Burg and is currently the only place in downtown open for dinner. Since 1994 very few business owners have moved back into downtown for fear of violence. However, that is rapidly changing. The meal was fabulous and it was great to get dressed up!
I will have more regular access to Internet now and I will hopefully figure out how to post pictures soon. I can not thank you all enough for leaving comments and making me feel connected to home. I am having a great time and I can not wait to start my internship next week and get started exploring Windhoek tomorrow!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Soweto
Good Afternoon!
I am once again writing from an Internet cafe in Jo'Burg! Today is the first nice day we have had and we are relishing the sun. This week has been jam packed with speakers, field trips, and visits to various museums. On Monday we spent the day touring Soweto. Soweto is the largest township in South Africa. It consists of 3-4 million people and is home to a variety of people and classes. We first toured the wealthy part of Soweto. This section was used by the Apartheid government to show the world that blacks were not living poorly during apartheid. However, mere blocks from this area are shacks, hostels, and absolute poverty.
We started our tour of Kliptown ( one of the various neighborhoods that make up Soweto) at the field where the freedom charter was written. This document was written by black activists and demanded equal rights for all South Africans. Many who wrote this document were imprisoned for treason but the ideas of the freedom charter continue to guide the ANC today. The memorial at this field is beautiful and there is a 5 star Holiday Inn surrounding it. However, we were given the opportunity to walk through Kliptown by some residents. The people in Kliptown live in shacks that are built by sheet metal. There is no running water, electricity, or sanitation. Around 50-80 people share one toilet and it is not safe for women to go to the bathroom at night. Approximately, 80% of the population is unemployed. The children's swimming 'pool' is open sewage that spills into the area from a northern white suburb. I can not even begin to describe what I witnessed. I have studied poverty and development theory but until Monday I did not understand what extreme poverty meant. However, the young children represented hope as they swarmed around us and proudly held the hands of the 'loon', or white people.
One child, Teo, became attached to me during our tour. When I told him my name he laughed and just kept shouting it. He played with my hair and sunglasses and truly was awed by my camera. None of the children had ever seen one before and when I sat on the ground to show them pictures of themselves they swarmed me. As we left Kliptown and walked back towards the memorioal ( no more than 100yds away) a few of us needed to use the restrooms. We were given the key by a guard to the tourist bathrooms. These facilities were pristine and very nice. It was very difficult to understand why I deserved the use of this bathroom while not 100 yds away 80 people had to share a single outhouse. It is the stark contrast between wealth and poverty that has really struck me about South Africa so far.
We have also been given the privilege of meeting political acitivists who were imprisioned at Robben Island, the same place as Mandella. It is the living and breathing history of this country that has made the past few days powerful.
My group is wonderful! I truly enjoy the people and I can not wait to experience this semester with them. The food has been average. At breakfast it is not unusual to see fish sticks or hotdogs served!! My only complaint so far is the lack of coffee...they only serve the instant variety! I have yet to see a pixie stick Dave and Ifear I would still not know how to open one since I have no keys with me. Its bizarre to not have a cell phone but I truly appreciate all the responses I recived on my last post.
I hope you are all doing well and I will post pictures soon!
I am once again writing from an Internet cafe in Jo'Burg! Today is the first nice day we have had and we are relishing the sun. This week has been jam packed with speakers, field trips, and visits to various museums. On Monday we spent the day touring Soweto. Soweto is the largest township in South Africa. It consists of 3-4 million people and is home to a variety of people and classes. We first toured the wealthy part of Soweto. This section was used by the Apartheid government to show the world that blacks were not living poorly during apartheid. However, mere blocks from this area are shacks, hostels, and absolute poverty.
We started our tour of Kliptown ( one of the various neighborhoods that make up Soweto) at the field where the freedom charter was written. This document was written by black activists and demanded equal rights for all South Africans. Many who wrote this document were imprisoned for treason but the ideas of the freedom charter continue to guide the ANC today. The memorial at this field is beautiful and there is a 5 star Holiday Inn surrounding it. However, we were given the opportunity to walk through Kliptown by some residents. The people in Kliptown live in shacks that are built by sheet metal. There is no running water, electricity, or sanitation. Around 50-80 people share one toilet and it is not safe for women to go to the bathroom at night. Approximately, 80% of the population is unemployed. The children's swimming 'pool' is open sewage that spills into the area from a northern white suburb. I can not even begin to describe what I witnessed. I have studied poverty and development theory but until Monday I did not understand what extreme poverty meant. However, the young children represented hope as they swarmed around us and proudly held the hands of the 'loon', or white people.
One child, Teo, became attached to me during our tour. When I told him my name he laughed and just kept shouting it. He played with my hair and sunglasses and truly was awed by my camera. None of the children had ever seen one before and when I sat on the ground to show them pictures of themselves they swarmed me. As we left Kliptown and walked back towards the memorioal ( no more than 100yds away) a few of us needed to use the restrooms. We were given the key by a guard to the tourist bathrooms. These facilities were pristine and very nice. It was very difficult to understand why I deserved the use of this bathroom while not 100 yds away 80 people had to share a single outhouse. It is the stark contrast between wealth and poverty that has really struck me about South Africa so far.
We have also been given the privilege of meeting political acitivists who were imprisioned at Robben Island, the same place as Mandella. It is the living and breathing history of this country that has made the past few days powerful.
My group is wonderful! I truly enjoy the people and I can not wait to experience this semester with them. The food has been average. At breakfast it is not unusual to see fish sticks or hotdogs served!! My only complaint so far is the lack of coffee...they only serve the instant variety! I have yet to see a pixie stick Dave and Ifear I would still not know how to open one since I have no keys with me. Its bizarre to not have a cell phone but I truly appreciate all the responses I recived on my last post.
I hope you are all doing well and I will post pictures soon!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Safe and Sound in Jo'Burg
I arrived in Jo'burg late last night. The flight here was uneventful and long but it was much better than I expected! I only have 1 minute left of internet access but I wanted to write to tell you I am safe and enjoying meeting the others in my program. We will spend the next week in Johannessburg studying apartheid and its legacy today. Its quite cold here!!! 40*! The landscape reminds me of the western slope of Colorado. I will write more soon! Have a great day!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
