3/11/2018 2 Comments Kruger national park!!This weekend we drove 15 hours round-trip to Klaserie Nature Reserve (private land connected to Kruger National Park) to meet the Provost of Fordham, the Dean of Fordham College Rose Hill, and the Assistant Vice Principal, went on 4 game drives that were 3 hours each, went on a 1 hour bush walk, laid on the ground in the reserve to take in the stars, ate our meals at the lodge as monkeys and elephants and warthogs and antelope and hyenas walked past, and saw more animals than I could have dreamed of seeing in three days! Before I share all the photos I took that keep me in awe of what we experienced, I want to try to describe the feeling of being the visitors in an environment, something that we rarely do as humans. Beginning at the smallest level of coexistence I witnessed, we were able to watch the interactions of the animals in groups and see just how social they are. Usually we think of being social as a human trait but this weekend we saw how untrue this is. Elephants are fiercely protective of their calves who are rarely far from their side. We were lucky to observe a lion pride. First the eight females and young males lounging around together in a manner that moved between cuddling and playing. The next day we happened across the two alpha males walking together marking their territory. To see an entire pride of lions and hear the guides easily identify the pride by the number of lions emphasized how important the social groups are to them when usually lions are simply thought of as fierce hunters. Similar to the lions were the African wild dogs. We were told they were a rare sight but we somehow managed to see the pack on each of our game drives. Although they were often just laying around we also saw them marking territory and play fighting. As explained to us by the provost, Dr. Freedman, the process of play is just as important to these animals learning as it is to humans. Beyond the coexistence within a species, we were also able to see many examples of coexistence between species. Our first experience was when we were watching the wild dogs and a giraffe peacefully walks maybe 50 feet behind them. This was so special as we are so conditioned to imagine animals as we see them in the zoo: separated by fences. Later as we were reflecting at the lodge we caught a special moment of elephants, antelope, and monkeys all near a small watering hole at the same time. Once again, seeing animals that are usually characterized by their predator-prey role so easily being near each other really shifted my perspective. This level of coexistence also includes the plants and insects I would usually not give a second thought to but all prove to be fascinating when you take the time to look at them. The most important part of my new understanding was reflecting on how we were also coexisting within the ecosystem. When we were on drives the animals were surprisingly calm around the vehicle; the guides explained that the animals were raised with the vehicles around and simply viewed it like another harmless animal. When we went on our walk (accompanied by three guides with rifles) the animals such as impalas seemed more frightened of us. Most likely because we, just by walking without even talking, made more noise than any other animal group in the park. Being on the same physical level showed that it is not impossible for us to coexist as well. This makes sense as, Dr. Freedman explained, we evolved to our current species in this exact environment.
The cherry on top was having clear skies on our second night and being able to see so many stars and feel human smallness even more than watching the grace and social nature of the animals by seeing our place in the universe. Okay, now for the fun part...
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3/8/2018 0 Comments Feeling 50/50As we finish our fourth week of community work, I'm feeling very "fifty-fifty" since at one of my sites we have been able to make rewarding progress where as at the other we are still stuck in square one. At Soshanguve Secondary School, as a result of miscommunication, there has been confusion as to what we are doing there and who is our contact person. We had spent 3 weeks trying clean up the library even though it was obvious that, as space at the school is limited and the library is being used as a staff room, students were not able to access it. After finally talking to the deputy principal last week we learned that a current need of the school was assisting in a grade 8 English class that had been without a teacher for 3 weeks. We decided that this was an area we could help in and, even though we are not certified teachers, we are better than no teacher. After a weekend of brainstorming what we could do to engage 60 eighth graders, we arrived on Tuesday to learn that they had finally found a replacement teacher the day before. Although we are glad that the class now has a permanent teacher, it sent us back to the beginning in regards to planning a meaningful project. This week we talked with the vice principal for the first time who apparently is the usual contact person for Fordham students but we had not been aware of this. She explained that, in the past, Fordham students had designed an informational project to share in life orientation classes. Possibilities for this include health education, career counseling, or university application assistance. After learning this we wished we had been explained this option earlier as we know are pressed to brainstorm, plan, and implement an idea quickly. Obviously that is the frustrating part of my "fifty-fifty" sentiment. On the first day at the aftercare for primary school students, we were given a list of achievable projects: restarting the garden, painting a birthday chart, creating an application form, and helping the students with reading English. So far we have begun working in the garden as this is the most time sensitive project. The students have been amazing to spend time with. When we are working on the garden they are very eager to help with anything from weeding to planting to watering. We have planted carrots and beetroots so far and are hoping that, despite some unfavorable conditions, they sprout soon. Our long term plan is to help the students learn the life skills of planting a garden and leave them with instructions and seeds to start their own. While at the aftercare we also spend a lot of time helping the students with homework and encouraging them to read books. After a frustrating morning at the secondary school, I am always happy to sit with the students who are eager to read to me in English. I also enjoy seeing the older students willingness to help younger students with homework. The aftercare is a strong community with a positive atmosphere that I am grateful to be a part of.
Luckily, we were able to change our schedule to spend more time at the aftercare place and less at the secondary school so we feel that our time is being used better. Although sometimes I would like to drop the secondary school all together, I know that it presents an important learning curve and makes me appreciate my afternoons at the aftercare. One of my favorite parts about service-learning, especially from a Jesuit perspective, is that the emphasis is on you learning something rather than on simply entering a place to help them. I find this distinction important for two reasons. To begin, entering a place with the idea of simply "serving" them can result in a savior complex that damages the dignity of the community where you are working and creates a perception that they are unable to help themselves. Additionally, in short stints of service (yes, even 4 months can feel short), it can be hard to visibly see a difference in the community. Therefore, focusing on the learning aspect of service emphasizes that the biggest change accomplished is often a personal one. Unfortunately, service still comes with expectations both for us entering the communities and for the people we are working with in the communities.
This past week was our first week of service and, as we entered the community organizations in groups of two or three, we were immediately bombarded with questions showing just how big the expectations of these communities are. Upon meeting the principal at the secondary school where I will be spending most of my time, he asked what subjects I was able to teach. I immediately had to explain that I was not a student-teacher but was instead hoping to help improve the school in other ways (I used the example that past Ubuntu students had organized the library so that students were able to borrow books). As we shared our experiences, I learned that at other sites some of us had been directly asked for money or simply asked upon arrival "What are you going to do to help us?" Additionally, many of the sites were disappointed that only two of us would be coming twice a week, rather than all eleven of us everyday. I was lucky enough that at my second service site, an after-care program for grades 1 to 7, the social worker had a list of projects prepared that seem attainable. Many of the unrealistic expectations are easier to understand when you know that these townships rarely see "outsiders" coming in, especially from the United States. It was nice to hear from one of our South African mentors that, despite their large requests, the majority of the people in townships are happy to see us there as it gives them hope that someone is paying attention to their difficulties. I must be honest that, even though I knew my resources and capabilities going into service, my expectations were also dampened in the first week of service. The goal of our first week of service was to get to know the location and their needs; this meant that we were not jumping right into a meaningful project. I spent a few hours labelling textbooks at the secondary school tucked away into a very warm staff room. In retrospect, it was a good opportunity to talk with the teachers and learn some of their needs although I would have preferred to interact with more students. Hearing the staff members at the secondary school ask if we were able to help teach since their classes were overcrowded made me realize that many of the community sites need more than we can provide. Despite these challenges, we spent time talking to each other after service and were able to start brainstorming sustainable projects we could implement at each service site. Many of our ideas revolved around introducing things we take for granted in the United States into the communities, such as health education or more reading opportunities. I am excited to continue visiting the community sites so that we can discover a project that helps the communities that we can accomplish with our resources and limited time! Today marks the end of the first week of classes! We did not begin service this week so it was a relatively free week which was good as we adjusted to the University of Pretoria. Besides the fact that the campus and student body is WAY bigger than Fordham and many of us have never taken a class in a lecture hall with 100+ people there were many quirks to adapt to. For instance, each building has a different ground floor number (the humanities building is the 3rd floor and the IT building is the 2nd floor) and the classes do not follow as straight forward of a block schedule as Fordham (one of my classes meets Monday/Wednesday and the other Monday/Thursday, each meeting is at a different time, and one of my classes meets in different lecture halls on different days). Finally, I had to ask what the "tutorial" part of my anthropology class was and once I learned that it was a discussion, I was left wondering how that could be possible in a 100 person class in a lecture hall. Come Wednesday, I learned that it was possible and I even felt comfortable enough to participate! The two UP classes I am taking are International Political Economy and Anthropological Perspectives on Africa. I wanted to take these classes because I thought they would give a different perspective than the classes I take in the US (they also count towards my major but thats just a bonus). So far they have not disappointed! In anthropology we discussed rebelling against the Western approach to describing cultures in a much more serious and honest way than it would have been approached in the US. In IPE, the professor went over the most pressing risks of 2018 as outlined by the World Economic Forum by using examples in South Africa and the African continent with only a few mentions of the US. This was such a refreshing change from my International Politics class at Fordham last semester in which, although I learned a lot, we dedicated significant time to picking apart the actions of President Trump. On Friday, we had class as a group from 8:30am to 4:00pm with an hour break for lunch so it was a tiring day but will be our new normal. We began our Poverty and Community Development class by deciding where we would be doing our community site work. After some compromise and a lot of coordination, we landed on a weekly schedule; I will be at Soshanguve Secondary School and after school program all day on Tuesday and hopefully for a half day on Wednesday! Next up was small group reflection with Annmarie from the Jesuit Institute to help us process all of our new experiences. We finished out the day with a jam packed South African history lesson from Dr. Egan to kick off our Modern South African Stories class. Starting classes was an important step in settling into the routine of the next five months and feeling at home here. Although I still have moments where I think to myself "Wait, I'm in South Africa!!" 2/2/2018 0 Comments Visiting community sitesTo prepare for our semester long service-learning commitments, we went as a group today to visit all four locations that we can choose from. Many of the locations had evidence of past Ubuntu students' projects! We will not start service until the week of February 12th so over the next week we will work together to decide who will work at each location and to brainstorm possible project ideas. The first community we stopped at was Erasmus which has a community center, primary school, and early childhood development (ECD, serving students through about 5 years old). In the past, Ubuntu students have worked closely with the ECD to strength its teaching and to improve the building. In Soshanguve, we visited an after school program which mainly serves foster children and whose grounds include a library and garden that Ubuntu students have helped create and maintain. Nearby there is also a secondary school that would like help with organizing their library and implementing an after school program for 8th graders. The Funanani Community Project serves Soshanguve and Mamelodi with an ECD, a primary school, job training for 18 to 25 year olds, and support for mothers. For lunch, we stopped to get sphatlo, a South African sandwich that is stuffed with sausage, french fries, and anything else you want including cheese and eggs. Our fourth and final stop was at a creche (or ECD) in Pretoria West that serves a community without electricity or running water (the ECD has recently installed solar panels) and that has a high population of undocumented immigrants. While this ECD works hard to teach the students English for primary school, many of the students are unable to attend primary school in the end because they do not have papers. Initially, I was worried about taking pictures and being disrespectful. However, as soon as we arrived at Erasmus there was a man from the community taking pictures of our every move. Once we got to the ECD the teachers wanted pictures with us taken on their phones. Despite this, taking my own photos was still unsettling and I tried to think of what photos I would take at a school in the US or the photos that I took working at a summer camp and focus on capturing similar ones. Our only restriction was not to post photos of children in which they could be identified. Today was our first real exposure to the lower part of South Africa's unequal society. We drove out of our comfortable accommodations in the city to see one or two room houses and even tin shacks where entire families were living. The communities we visited were gracious hosts. Throughout the day we could tell that many people, especially the young children, were surprised to see us. We have been told that many of the whites in South Africa will go their entire life without entering a black township. It is definitely a lot to process but I am glad that it was not a "one and done" visit and that we will have the opportunity to return and work to make a sustainable change.
2/1/2018 0 Comments One week done!It is hard to believe that we have only been in South Africa for a week as we have already done so much! There has been lots of USA vs. SA comparisons, us trying to pronounce new words, and boot camps with Professor Themeli. Here are some of my highlights from our time in South Africa so far! After landing at 8am off of a 14.5 hour flight, Saturday was a day for trying not to fall asleep. Our mentors (local students many of whom have been to Fordham on an exchange program or plan to apply for their masters) greeted us at the airport and helped us settle into the Village at Hatfield where we will be staying for the next five months. That night we had a welcome braai (it's basically a barbecue but don't call it that in front of a South African) and were introduced to many of the people who will be involved in our semester abroad. We also got to try local food for the first time including delicious meat, perfectly ripe fruit, and pap (pronounced "pop", a dish made from cornmeal that looks like mashed potatoes but tastes completely unique). On Sunday, our driver for the semester K.G. gave us a tour of Pretoria. The highlights were the zebras on the side of the road and the Union Buildings with the statue of Nelson Mandela! On Monday we visited the US Embassy in Pretoria before leaving for our three day retreat run by the Jesuit Institute. On the retreat we learned more about the history and culture of South Africa including terminology (a favorite is that they call traffic lights "robots") and hearing stories from people who grew up under apartheid.
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