Greetings from Durban

Greetings from Durban!
As I sit writing this I can look out my hotel room window and see the Indian Ocean. Just a little bit of luxury in what has been (and will be) a not so luxurious trip. We arrived in Durban Wednesday and spent yesterday driving out to the country side which served as the setting for a novel we read called, "And they didn't die." We had the opportunity to hear a lecture from the author in the morning and then travel to her homeland, about 2.5 hours into the mountains from Durban. We were greeted at her former school by rounds of children who sang for us. This is the heart of Zulu-land so there were the requisite spears and foot pounding (see attached photo "boys with spears"). Unfortunately, we rushed back to meet a speaker who was suppose to present at 6:30 PM but failed to show up (ugh!). He's rescheduled for tonight so we'll see if he makes it. I've just confirmed via SMS (text message) and he says he'll be here at 6:55).

This morning we traveled to a muthi market. Muthi is a type of "herbal/animal/spiritual" healing that is used in much of Africa. There were all sorts of things for sale from bark, roots and berries to poop, ostrich heads and snake skins (see attached photo "muthi madness"). It was quite interesting. From there we did a little tour of the city and then set the students free for half the day to enjoy the sun and surf.

Tomorrow we head to Pietermeritzburg, about an hour and half from here. We'll be hearing lectures on Zulu-nationalism and more about the religion in this area. Today we visited the biggest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere and tomorrow we'll go to some Hindu Temples. This area of the country has a large Indian population (about 22% of Durban). Lunch tomorrow is slated to be at a fabulous Indian restaurant...where are my spicy food tasters when I need them?

I'll write more when I can.
Cheers,
Kristy

headed to Durban

Just a quick note on our final day in Cape Town. Not sure when I wrote last. Did I tell you about hiking Table Mountain, going out to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner for 27 years), biking through the Stellenbosch region and stopping to taste wine at 4 wineries? It was an action packed weekend and one of the prettiest cities I think I've ever traveled to. We also went to a play one night and will eat at the fabulous African Cafe tonight. Lest you think we're not working we spent the day today at a self-help community in a coloured township (meaning mixed race), had lunch at a Bed and Breakfast set up by a woman in a black township and then stopped at a center promoting child health and nutrition. Needless to say...we are staying busy.

Tomorrow we head to Durban. We'll be flying out in the afternoon. Our CGE (Center for Global Education) coordinator, Evan, will be leaving us. Sad...he's been great at managing all the little details. Now it will be on me and Peter (a tour operator we have worked with before).

I'm looking forward to a room with a bathroom in it ;o) but really the guest house here was well located and the rotating shower schedule was not too bad... but you can hear everything in the house and these college students stay up much later than I do these days. (and thanks Kevy Jo for the offer to help supervise the sorority house!).

I'll write more from Durban when I can. Hope all is well with you all.
Cheers,
Kristy

Greetings from Capetown

Greetings from Cape Town!
We arrived safely on Wednesday to Cape Town. No problems flying. Even arrived a little early. We had a minor crisis first thing in the morning when our assistant from the Center for Global Education, Evan, informed me that he didn't think he was going to be able to travel with us to Cape Town and assist us for the next week because he had an expired work visa that he thought would be renewed by the time we had to depart but the consulting firm he hired to handled it had somehow lost the approval of his renewal form! (At least it is not only Botswana that has difficulties with visas.) Why he didn't tell me this before we were just about to leave, which resulted in a crazed bus ride in which he attempted to dump the entire contents of his brain into mine while we drove to the airport, is beyond me. In addition to this, when he told me about the room assignments for the next week he had me rooming with the other faculty person (not really acceptable... at this point in my life, after traveling for 3 weeks already with 20 students...I need just a wee bit more personal space than that). When we actually arrived at the guest house I learned that there were only 5 communal bathrooms for the 22 of us...cranky would probably be the best word to describe me.

Fortunately, I sucked it up and in good African style...made a plan! Evan actually arrived later in the day on a later flight. Phew! I got switched into a single (a windowless single but a single none-the-less). And in terms of the shower...it ran pretty smoothly this morning so I just have to live with the dorm style living for the next week. I feel like the sorority mom in a big sorority house (plus the 4 male students... that many would probably sneak into a real sorority house anyway, right?)

We spent our first full day meeting some interesting people - first a white Afrikaner Christian who fought for liberation (made us all raise our hands identifying what faith we were...that was interesting!). Next a Muslim woman who showed us around the Bo-Kaap area which is the Muslim area of town (I actually went into my first mosque ever...had to take off my shoes and go upstairs to the area for women - you know how we have to avoid "distracting the men" -- don't get me started). In the afternoon, we went to a black township to visit a Christian organization supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transexual persons. Quite the diverse day if I do say so myself.

Tomorrow depending on the weather we will either hike up Table Mountain or head out to Cape Point to see the penguins in the morning. In the afternoon we have tickets to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held in prison for 27 years.

Hoping all is well on your end as well. I'll write more when I can. Still having limited e-mail access.

Cheers,
Kristy

Greetings from Swakopmund

Just a quick note of greetings from Swakupmond, a German influenced resort
town on the coast of Namibia. We arrived this afternoon after a full days
drive from Khorixas where the students were having their rural homestays.
It was a hot drive through the Namib desert but we have arrived safely.

The students enjoyed their rural homestays. They spent 3 days and nights in traditional mud and dung huts out in very remote rural homesteads. Most were in quite rustic conditions with no running water, toilet, electricity, etc. For some it
was their first experience in conditions like this and all seemed to manage (although a few are worried a bit about our extended camping coming
up in Botswana... but most of the time there we will have access to
running water and toilets...most of the time anyway). Some got to milk
cows or goats. Others went on donkey rides to run errands. Most helped prepare their food over the fire. One pair participated in the killing of a chicken and goat for their dinner! Most of them were shocked by how many hours there are in the day there are when you your life isn't run by your day planner.

We will spend the next 5 nights in Swakupmond. We've got a tour of the city
tomorrow and visits scheduled to both their public hospital and a private
clinic. Should be an interesting contrast for the students as we talk
about global health issues. Paul comes in Friday night for the weekend (after a 13 hour drive from Maun) and we've set asidethe weekend for a little R&R for the students (sandwiched between a history exam on Friday and a Sociology exam on Tuesday). Several of them have elected to partake in some of the local activities -
"boarding" on the sand dunes (a couple of options here - one
like snow boarding the other like sledding), kayaking in Walvis Bay with
the seals and famingos, horse back riding, etc. One is thinking of sky
diving but I think Paul might be the only other interested party! And NO,
I will not do that!

On Wednesday we head for South Africa. Hope to have better internet access
there. Hopefully I'll be able to write back to each of you who have sent me individual e-mails.

When I get my South African cell phone set up, I'll send the number
in case you need to contact me in an emergency (or just to chat).
Hope all is well on your end of the world.
I'm off to dinner at the Lighthouse Restaurant.
Cheers,
Kristy

leaving Windhoek

Well tomorrow is our last day in Windhoek. I can't say I'm particularly sad to go as there seems to be an increasing amount of street crime that has us largely trapped in our guest house at night or arranging transport for students via van or taxi. We had an incident a couple of nights ago where Ching (the other professor) and I were walking down the street 1 1/2 blocks to our guest house at 10:15 at night and were assaulted by 3 street kids (late teens/early 20s). All is fine - nothing stolen, no one hurt, but it was a little disconcerting to say the least. If I can't walk down the street at 10:15 at night with a 6 foot 5 inch male, then it really isn't safe to go out. Oddly they went after him (and not me). Put hands on him, pulled a pen out of his pocket (but nothing else). Fortunately they didn't come after me with my bag and wallet, camera, etc. We've basically put the students in lock down until we leave the city. Tonight we've made arrangements to go out to a music venue for a show so we are trying to get out at least.

Tomorrow we spend the whole day with the orphans from Megameno home. Some of you probably remember me talking about this from the last trip in 2007. This woman, Maria, basically got sick of seeing all these AIDS orphans on the street so she took them into her tiny 2 bedroom house in a poor area of Windhoek. When I say she took "them" in...I'm meaning 26 kids! I'm not sure how she did (or does) it. When we were here in 2007 there were at least 6-8 kids still in diapers. Since that time through the efforts of a variety of people, including Furman students, she's gotten NGO status (meaning she can receive donations), had funds donated to build a dormitory style house and class room and seems to be surviving much better than last time we saw her. Last night I was looking at pictures on my computer from the 2007 trip and marveling at how much improvement had been made. One child that I played with yesterday, in particular, showed remarkable improvement. The pictures from 2007 show him with big sad eyes (like ET)and a bloated stomach from hunger or malnuitrition. Yesterday he was belly laughing in my arms as I tickled him. It's amazing what a little effort to secure the basics (food, shelter, clothing) can do for a child. It has been one of the high lights of the trip to see the progress made.

On Sunday we head north so the students can have 3 days of homestays in rural areas, then off to the coast to spend a few more days in Swakupmond. Ching leaves a few days early next week so I'll be without a travel companion until Paul arrives for a weekend visit on the 13th. We head off to South Africa on the 18th.

Again, apologies for not having greater e-mail access to be in touch with each of you individually. Please see below for a few individual responses.
Hope all is well on your end.
Cheers,
Kristy

Adam - happy birthday...did the ground hog see his shadow?
Kelley - Finnegan is too cute for words. Can't wait to meet him in person
Kathy - haven't had a chance to look at the blog spot. thanks for making it. may have to wait until next trip
Angelica - thanks for sending the picture link, hope to have time soon to look at them.
Kevy Jo - you know you want to come to Windhoek and be harassed on the street
Carmela - hope you're having fun with dumb and dumber!
Steve - definitely feeling better after the bout of malaria...only problem now is I seem to be being eaten by bed bugs!

on our way to Gobabeb

Hi all, I've got an opportunity to fill you in a bit more on how things have been in Namibia. A few extra minutes at the internet cafe before we run off to lunch. It's hard to believe that almost a week has gone by since the students arrived. We have kept them quite busy from the minute they hit the ground and they have been real troopers about it. They arrived late last Tuesday night in the down pouring rain to our first housing option. We stayed at a placed called "Penduka" which means "make up" and is an organization designed to empower women through the sales of hand made crafts. It is located on the outskirts of town and is being renovated (so it is a bit shaby but will improve in the future). Despite the "improving" conditions and high density of students in the dorm style rooms...we heard no complaints.

We quickly jumped in the next morning with a visit to a TB control programme...right up my alley as the course I am teaching focuses on global health issues. We've also had a tour of the city and the students have spent some time with Namibians their age visiting one of the poorer areas and touring a market (where they ate mopani worms and drank sorgum beer).

Since that time we have had the opportunity to have several guest speakers in talking about the political situation in Namibia - both its fight for independence and continuing issues related to the high levels of economic inequality in society. On one side of the political struggle we heard from one of the founding leaders of SWAPO (South West African People's Organization - the party that lead the country to independence) who told us amazing stories about traveling to the USA at 19 years of age with a petition sewn into his underwear to the UN to hear about the human rights violations occuring in his country (the censureship was high so the message had to hidden on his person in order to be delivered to the UN in DC). In contrast, today we heard the story of a woman who was imprisoned by SWAPO for being an "enemy agent". She spent 3 long years in a dungeon, was tortured and beaten until she admitted being an "agent" (which she was not), and told a heart wrenching story of having to 'steal' her then 5 year old child back once she was released from prison. Her child did not even recognize her.

The students returned this morning for 3 nights of homestays with families in the Katutura area. While we had some concerns that it might be too long for a homestay (last time it was one night), they all enthusiastically talked about how much the learned from their host families and had wished it was longer. Their extended stay allowed us the opportunity to go down to Gobabeb, the research center in the Namib desert that Paul managed for a couple of years. So Erik, Paul and I headed off Saturday morning to make the drive through the very scenic terrain to Gobabeb. We had a nice overnight stay in this very remote area of the Namib desert. Quite fun. Well time is running out. Got to run. I'll write more when I can.
Kristy