Freedom Day

Easing back into school life was difficult in the first week after the break. Zulu was frustrating as always and deadlines for assignments and exams crept up quickly. Just about everyone was going through some sort of Cape Town withdrawal. To get ourselves through the week, Lauren, Mani, Jessi, and I planned an 80s party for the weekend. Even the preparation for the party was fun since we had to find period costumes which were readily available at the Hospice Charity Shop next to Checkers. The shop is like a mini-Salvation Army, so just about all of the clothes are perfect for 80s outlandishness. There is also an accessory shop in Scottsville with lots of cheap costume jewelry where I found big purple plastic hoops for less than $1. We went all out with 80s-themed snacks (or snacks from our childhood), decorations, and Twister. At the end of the week a few of us met with Giulia, my hair stylist, to talk about Mozambique and Swaziland. She had some good tips, but had just been in a car accident the day before and her notes had been in the car. She had some kind of rare 60s sports car (hers was one of 12 in the country) and she had saved for two years just to ship it here from Italy--quite a bummer, especially considering it was the other guy's fault. Anyway, as it turns out we have decided not to go to Mozi/Swazi for the long weekend (there are public holidays today and Tuesday so we're skipping Monday) because we are still burnt out from the last road trip and getting around those places (especially Mozambique) is not easy. For instance, in our conversation with Giulia we learned that you need a 4x4 to get around Mozambique because the country has sand roads, not tarred roads. Plus, there are no street signs, so you really need to go with a local or get picked up at the border. There is a dolphin research place that we want to go to where they take you out to go swimming with the dolphins and they will pick you up at the border, but they were full so we will try to go in June around final exam time. Instead, this weekend I am going up to the northern Drakensberg with Mani, Jessi, and Lauren for a few days. Should be relaxing as the 'Bergs always are.

Last weekend, Mani and I went with Sibambisene to the rural community center again to work with the kids. On this day we drove past two funerals--one in the morning going there, and another in the afternoon when going home. The small cemetery is just a couple minutes down the road from the community center, and it seemed relatively new as the twenty or so burial mounds had not settled yet. On this day, Cindy from Rutgers had planned science-themed activities for the kids. So we made "oobleck"--a kind of silly putty that looks liquid but feels solid--out of water, corn starch, and food coloring. A local classmate, Penwell, came along and translated for us which was enormously helpful. The kids are generally well-behaved and receptive, but it's hard to give directions when they don't understand them. After making oobleck, we had them do crayon leaf rubbings. The biggest hit of the day was the water relay race. This was a sort of water conservation activity where each of the two teams had a bucket of water, a sponge, and a bottle about 25 ft away that they had to fill as quickly as possible. Some of the kids were very gentle and careful with the sponge, trying to squeeze every last bit of water into the bottle, while others ran as fast as they could to pass off the sponge to the next kid in line. We must have played at least ten rounds of this game, and the kids did not get tired of it. Every time a team won every kid would jump, scream, clap, and dance with just as much enthusiasm as the round before--it was adorable. We finally had to end it because it was time for us to clean up and get going. The day went very well, but it was not without its difficulties. The most heartbreaking thing was a little girl named Mbali, probably four or five years old, who kept throwing up. Unlike all the other kids she had very little energy and hardly smiled. Back in the US, seeing a kid in her condition wouldn't worry you much because you can pretty safely assume that she just has a cold or the stomach flu and will be better in a few days. But in South Africa, you can't assume that, especially not when most (if not all) of these kids are AIDS orphans. I don't have much information on the background of these kids, but I saw one of the older women working at the center wearing a shirt that said "Noah," and as we were leaving I noticed a sign on a fence surrounding a garden that indicated that Noah is a program whose name stands for Nurturing Orphans of AIDS for Humanity. This is what makes me think that perhaps all of the kids who come to this center are orphans. The woman wearing the Noah shirt was one of a few women providing lunch for the kids, which from what I hear is all the food that many of them get for the day. The kids were being served phuthu (pronounced poo-too) which is a type of corn meal porridge made with water and sour milk. The government subsidizes corn meal and mandates that vitamins be added during processing since so many poor people survive on it. Shameless plug: If you are interested in donating to Sibambisene (the organization has a PayPal account) or would like more information, check out http://www.geocities.com/sibambisenekids/index.html.

On a lighter note, the combination of good music, crazy outfits, tasty snacks, and fun people made the 80s party a big success. A good mix of international students and South Africans showed up and everyone agreed that they had a great time. Suffice to say, the girls and I now have a bit of a reputation around Denison for throwing great parties. Unfortunately, the combination of playing with germy kids and staying up late was bad news for my immune system and I have been sick most of this week. I am slowly getting better, hopefully fast enough to enjoy our trip to the Drakensberg this weekend.

And in other news, today is Freedom Day which commemorates the first democratic elections held in South Africa after apartheid in 1994 in which Nelson Mandela was elected president. To celebrate Freedom Day, I am working on my Politics paper on whether it is in the interest of the working class for the Tripartite Alliance between the dominant neo-liberal ANC, and more socialist COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) and SACP (South African Communist Party) to continue. Writing such a paper emphasizes the difficulties of being a foreign student because, while doable, it requires a significant amount of work on my part since I have virtually no background knowledge of South African politics. Fun stuff!