When things get busy, they sure get busy! Sorry for the delay, but I'm now out of Africa and looking back on some good times. My last week in South Africa was quite a memorable one.

My final trip out to De Doorns was jam-packed with festivities.

my De Doorns

Questions in the Cultural Diversity workshop
that the learners discussed and evaluated

On Friday (May 11) we left Cape Town quite early to arrive at the schools where our cultural diversity workshops were taking place. This was the 2nd workshop with this class, and a few of these learners were also involved in the mural workshops last weekend too.
Once this workshop started we were soon called over to the De Doorns Health Clinic where a documentary screening had been scheduled at the last minute by one of the members of our CBO. It was really impressive to see things come together with the group in this last week. They finally started to take charge and plan events without us having to step in and organize things. I'm so proud of the group, I have faith that they will do well on their own, especially as they know when to ask for help and how to prove their commitment to the group.

While the group was independent enough to organize, plan and facilitate the documentary screening, they did still need to use our equipment, as they do not yet have their own. So we headed to the Clinic to help set up the screen and audio equipment.

We screened a documentary to everyone in the clinic, some who were waiting for appointments, and others stayed to watch. The documentary focused on HIV/AIDS and mothers who were HIV positive. The film touched on some prevalent issues for the people at the clinic, and our facilitator from the CBO was well versed in the topic too, so was able to answer people's questions and refer them to the services at the clinic too.  There were about 50-75 people in the clinic, with about 15 fully giving their attention to the screening. It went well, and when audience participation was a bit slow our facilitator made sure to translate everything from Xhosa to Afrikaans, to hope to reach more viewers.  All in all the screening was a success, and the Clinic staff invited TDG to come back every Friday if they like to screen more related films! Knowing that the Clinic supports TDG's mission and is willing to help them facilitate screenings makes it a lot easier to leave the group, knowing they have at least some support in the community, that they wont be on their own.

After the screening we headed to the second high school of the day, Hex Vallei, where the cultural diversity workshops were also taking place. This one went well, as did the first, and the school was also quite helpful for TDG too! Hex Vallei agreed to let TDG run their grassroots soccer program (that teaches kids about HIV/AIDS through soccer skills) starting next week. Again, I was impressed with our CBO as they made contact with this school and organized a group of kids that would start the program next week.
Things seem to be falling into place for them!


After that school we re-grouped and I worked in the garden a little bit. There's always more weeds to pull! The garden was definitely a huge part of my time in De Doorns and I will miss working out there. Maybe I'll stay in one place long enough to have my own garden some day! Until then, I'll just have to appreciate how much work a big garden is, and will never forget this one in De Doorns!
They've promised to take good care of our seedlings and make sure to harvest the veggies in time!

 After some garden work we had a second mural workshop with the learners from Van Cutsem school. This workshop focused on the kids' ideas from last week. This week we worked on ways that their drawings and symbols could represent the ideas of Peace, Unity, and Humanity (the goals of the Unite campaign). Here are some of the ideas the students came up with: 

At the end of the workshop 

the students added all of their ideas together 

to make the plan for their mural:

After this Mural workshop, we had our normal Friday night meeting with Thol'ulwazi (TDG). The meeting went well, with great attendance. We discussed the past week and what a great job everyone had been doing in keeping up with their tasks and duties. Grassroots soccer had already been administered at one school and there was talk of a second round at the same school, along with the other schools. We discussed the screening, and plans for future screenings. Mainly we all decided that we need to be clear in our screenings that we are not the professionals giving advice, but that there are professionals at the clinic that do offer those services, as some of the topics of our documentaries can be quite heavy subjects.

Our final discussion topic was the garden and the need to harvest. As a group we decided that we should harvest some of the vegetables on Saturday, and that because there was interest from Scalabrini employees, we could sell this round of crops to Scalabrini members, and the next harvest would be donated. This was a great way to help people at Scalabrini feel more connected with De Doorns and at the same time, help secure the cost of seeds for the next season. Plus! That meant more harvesting for my last weekend, Woo! :) I love those veggies. 

Just before we adjourned the group turned a bit more sentimental. Starting with Sergio, everyone went around the table and thanked me for my contribution to the group and really helping them get their CBO started. A few mentioned how grateful they were for my organization skills, and others of how open-minded I was, coming into a new community.
I can definitely say that their words brought tears to my eyes, and I had a hard time talking with out happy tears.

 But I was able to thank everyone in their group for really accepting me into their community, especially Sabi who let me stay at her house every weekend for the past 5 months! I really felt welcomed and incorporated in the work in De Doorns, and I couldn't have imagined a group that was more friendly and inviting than these people. 

It was a sentimental night, but we all knew that we'd have one more day working together, so I decided not to let the sadness bring us all down. It was a cheerful night in the end. 

Thol'ulwazi Developmental Group!!!!!!! :)

The rest of the festivities came on Saturday: Mural, Screening, Harvesting, and Farewell Party!

Mural: The students finally put their money where their mouths were.. and made a beautiful Mural.
{Pictures  speak louder than words}:

 What a great mural! It took us 4 hours.. and a lot of organizing, a bit of a messy job, but we did it!!


After the Mural, the kids got to relax in side and watch a documentary, put on by TDG. While the Mural was being painted some of the veggies were being harvested by TDG too. Luckily they saved some for me to harvest too! So once the documentary started, I made my way to the garden and picked me some veggies!

 Aren't they beautiful!!?!! :) A good 5 months of work, totally worth it :)

We harvested beetroot, maize, carrots, rocket, and spinach. They made wonderful veggie baskets for the staff back in Cape Town, and the profits will definitely make sure the garden keeps running for the next batch of crops. And believe it or not the garden hardly looks like we harvested anything! So there's much more they'll be harvesting in the next few weeks. Gorgeous veggies!


So after the painting, documentary facilitating, harvesting, and basically a full day's work, it was time for good byes.

I said good-bye to my host family. They really took care of me and made me feel like a part of the family and community.

And then as a surprise the TDG group had a little going away party for me, with cake and presents, and we all thanked each other again for what a great few months its been.

Luckily it was such a long hard-working day, that I didn't feel too sad, and I was able to appreciate the bittersweet end to my time in De Doorns.


If ever there was a weekend to have felt like we'd made a difference, it was this one. With a visible mural and edible crops, I could see the work of our hands, and it felt so inspiring. We made a (at least a little) difference in the community--one that will keep growing with TDG.

It was such a real experience. I will never forget my time in De Doorns, and I hope that I can return to De Doorns and see the progress that TDG has been making on their own. Even more so I hope to come back and see the gang again! Plus! Sabi's baby is due in June, so I'll have to go back & meet the newest and youngest member of TDG!
For now I'll just have to send postcards, but they'll forever be in my heart!

Good-bye TDG!
Until next time!!!

We drove off into the distance... hoping to come back before too long!!!

 South Africa is such an interestingly wonderful place. I highly recommend that people at least visit, if not stay for a little while to get used to its diversity.

In coming back from South Africa I've found that its such a hard place to describe and even harder to summarize my time there. Its been a big learning experience. I've learned a lot about working with NGO's, working at the grassroots level, learning the ways of a new government in a new country, trying to understand the dynamics of every-day-life in multiple areas of South Africa... and the list goes on. I guess when people ask me about my time there I should refer them to this blog, as I feel I've been able to capture each experience as it happened. And to give a broad summary and overview of it all wouldn't do it justice.
South Africa is full of surprises, and I challenge everyone to go and find their own adventures there!
Africa is waiting!

Thank you all for following along!
Hope you've enjoyed my accounts of my time in South Africa. I hope to have further adventures abroad, so maybe the adventure blog will continue!


Lots of love,


Laura

2nd to last weekend...

A bit of sadness crept in this weekend, as I started to tell the group that next week is my last week here in De Doorns. It has gone by so fast! And I feel like I have so much more to give. But at the same time, I know that this group is trying to make it on their own, and Scalabrini is slowly withdrawing their presence. In that sense, I guess its good timing that I'm leaving now, just as the CBO is now running their own programs and Scalabrini will only be visiting once a month. Plus, next weekend I'll go out with a bang! We've planned a mural painting (for part of our Unite as One School project) AND we'll be having a big harvest! The maize, beetroot, spinach, and carrots are all ready to go! So I'm looking forward to that! It'll be a great final weekend, if not bittersweet.

Divine light reaches all places

This weekend was a good one though. We went out early Friday morning to continue with our School Project in 2 schools in De Doorns. This weekend we had Cultural Diversity workshops with our partner organization IHOM (institute for the healing of memories).Their work focuses on decreasing prejudice, and encourage cultural diversity and acceptance.

   I helped facilitate one of the workshops at the Afrikaans speaking school (I helped in English) and it was a great experience! The students really engaged and had fun making their posters and discussing these topics. Next weekend we'll continue with these workshops in both schools and after the 3rd workshop, the students will have another film screening to conclude our School program.

In the afternoon, after the school project, I decided to work in the garden. I did a bit of the usual, picking weeds, cleaning up rubbish, chasing chickens out of the garden. And this week, I was pleasantly surprised! The veggies were growing so nicely! Little green tomatoes and green peppers were finally visible! Other veggies were flowering and the garden finally looks happy and fruitful.
I also noticed the new addition: a sprinkler system!

With the new funds for their organization, the group bought and installed an irrigation system. The improvement was uncanny! The broccoli was finally growing and the plants looked so happy and hydrated! I was very proud to have worked in such a flourishing garden. All we needed was  a little love and a lot of water!

Later that night, we had our regular weekly meeting with the CBO group. This week we were focusing on planning their next documentary screening. (It was supposed to be Saturday, but lack of communication within the group led us to reschedule for next week).We set up the equipment and watched all of the new films we had, so they could pick the one they'd use next. The goal with their screenings is to inform the community of relevant social issues (HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, gangs, ect), so these were the themes of the documentaries we watched. The group decided on a few films that we'd narrow down next week before the screening. The group also decided that their target audience would be teenagers. So on Saturday they approached the students at our mural painting workshop.

Kids drawing their interpretation of Cultural Diversity topics

Saturday was another workshop with the high schoolers. From the cultural diversity workshop, some students, along with other artistic students, agreed to come to the church Saturday for a meeting to discuss and plan the mural. This workshop focused on cultural diversity themes too, but also helped the kids to think about how these themes could be displayed with images. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun working on these drawings. I'm excited for next weekend, when we'll see all their hard work pay off with the mural!

Our CBO also approached these kids and offered to screen a documentary for them after the mural, so it should be a long & fun-filled weekend next weekend!

I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about for next weekend. So sad. But it just means that a new chapter in my life is about to begin!


Lots of love,


Laura

What a month!!

Busy Busy Busy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! For the past two weeks I’ve been running around working on all sorts of projects!

De Doorns has been busy, but mostly the CBO has been planning their next moves. We’ve supplied them with the knowledge and tools, and now they’re busy planning when and where to implement their programs. And with their grant money now in the bank, they can finally start taking action on their own!

They’ve just started the HIV/AIDS awareness program (grassroots soccer) program in one school, and are planning to take the program to further schools in the area. This has been exciting to watch unfold, as our organization used to be the ones scheduling these programs, and now we can really see their CBO taking responsibility and empowering themselves :)

The group is also working on screening a documentary to the community, which should happen next week when we go out to visit. Again, they’re planning everything out, so there have been hiccups and a few delays, but it’s definitely a learning process for the young organization which will make a strong foundation for the years to come.

Checking the carrots' progress-- (early April), should be ready soon!

The garden is growing strong! A few things have been harvested (some more beetroot), but the carrots are getting there, and the maize too. But the tomatoes might still take some time! 

Hopefully everything decides to grow fast, as winter is quickly approaching! And in De Doorns, they get some snow on the mountains. Hopefully we can harvest most of it in the next few weeks.

Another more visible aspect of the progress is their new Windy House (/Tool Shed). The group decided to buy this shed to place in their garden for tools and equipment storage but to also use as meeting space of their own. With this shed they will become quite independent, not needing to wait on us to gain access of the church hall for their meetings, or to store their paperwork/equipment in our room at the church. I think this meeting place will really help the organization to grow, as it’s a visible symbol to the community too that they’re here to stay! The shed was delivered while we were away this weekend, but I’m excited to see it next weekend!

The main focus that has been keeping me crazy-busy these past few weeks is the Unite as One campaign—of which I’ve played a huge part in getting it off the ground. One of our partner organizations seemed like they were having trouble scheduling the start of our program (that was supposed to start early March), so we had to step in and make things happen. So for the past few weeks I’ve been calling tons of local schools, setting up meetings, and scheduling school visits. Alongside that, I also I’ve also been organizing my questionnaire and all of the paperwork needed for the campaign to come together, but it finally has.

Me & 3 facilitators at a screening at a school in the Langa township.

            The campaign has really taken off this month! In the past two weeks we have now started our School Project in 8 schools around the Cape Town area. Each school received a documentary screening to start the program. The documentary we used in partnership with STEPS organization, discussed the diversity and cultural division in a local school. It was filmed a few years ago by local high school students, interviewing their friends about their own opinions of the divisions and discrimination at their school. After each screening, our trained facilitators lead discussions in which, learners were able to brainstorm ways to decrease issues of division and embrace cultural diversity. Some of the facilitators were actually the girls that made the documentary, so it was pretty cool to have them involved. They were able to really bring these issues to the kids, and give examples of their own experiences as foreign nationals here in Cape Town. The screenings were a great way to introduce the campaign, and get the students thinking about our aims: PEACE, UNITY, and HUMANITY!

            The second step in the School Project is cultural diversity workshops, led by our partners the Institute of Healing of Memories (IHOM) has also started in a few of the schools.  These workshops have continued with the aims of peace, unity, and humanity. With an in depth workshop program, IHOM has been able to break the learners into small groups to discuss the positive aspects of cultural diversity at a deeper level. These first workshops have been well received by the learners, and over the next few weeks these schools will receive the rest of the 3 workshops.

            Another part of the School Project that will be starting soon is the mural creation. Three of the schools, and one in De Doorns (so far) will also take part in cultural diversity workshops which will result in a mural. These murals will be painted at each school, to encourage the rest of the school to embrace peace, unity, and humanity too! At these schools, a core group of ‘artists’ have been selected for this mural project and their workshops will begin in next week and continue throughout May.

            This month, the Unite as One campaign has also had the 2^nd filmmaking workshop over 2days last weekend, with our 12 youth from a nearby township. These students have been selected to realize short documentaries reflecting their own experiences with cultural diversity. At the second workshop, all 12 students pitched their story ideas to a panel of professional filmmaking judges. Of all the wonderful presentations, 4 stories were selected. The learners then formed 4 groups, and decided their different roles in the filmmaking process (directing, producing, camera, sound). 

Film making workshop

After lunch, one girl’s group-mates had to leave early, so I got to work with her. It was such a fun experience. As she was the director and creative mind, I was there to help take notes, and prompt her with questions that would further develop the “journey” that her documentary would take us on. So while I was there to assist the filmmaker who was teaching the workshop, I was also able to participate, and learn a lot about filmmaking!

For the second day of the workshop the students worked to develop their stories and will continue with this process until their next workshop. I am so very impressed with these kids and their stories. In some of the documentaries, the students will be sharing their own personal stories of discrimination and struggle or that of their close friends. Even just hearing them pitch their stories made me very emotional. These learners have been through so much, at only age 15-16, and have such strength to want to share their story to help educate others.  I am so proud of them!

Sadly though, their next workshop won’t be until June, so I won’t get the opportunity to watch the process unfold, but I look forward to hearing about it, and seeing the finished product. These stories will be very powerful documentaries and I am so thankful to have been part of this project.

            So with quite a few busy pas weeks, the campaign is right on track and has many more activities planned for the next few months! But unfortunately these exciting parts are all things I’m helping to plan, but won’t be around to see come to fruition. As my time winds down here, I’m finally starting to feel heavily invested in the community, and I know that it won’t be the end of my connection to Cape Town.

Cape Town-- view from on top of Lion's Head

            Aside from all of these busy projects I’m working on at Scalabrini, I’ve also been busy writing my research proposal and grant proposals for my PhD research. I’m planning to continue my invested interest here in South Africa, and research ways to reduce prejudice in the context of South Africa.  I will be continuing my Masters research, but in a new context, with an applied methodology. The only thing holding me back so far, is funding (hah as usual), so I’m busy writing research grant proposals and applying for scholarships too! Wish me luck!

Cape Town/Devil's Peak--view from on top of Lion's Head

While I’m starting to feel sad about leaving in a few weeks (only 2 more De Doorns trips left), I’m looking forward to being able to use my time here in a positive way. I hope the next time I come back I will be much more impactful!

I’ll write more soon!

For now if you’re also interested in following the Unite campaign on Facebook here’s a link: www.facebook.com/unite.as.one

Theres a pretty cool video about the campaign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjwxMoHWeGA

& pictures on the fbook page too!

Lots of love!

Laura

Back to work!

The past few weeks have been amazing! Getting to know South Africa better with Dan :)

This weekend in De Doorns was quite an amazing experience!

For the planning side, it seemed the weekend would turn out to be pretty ordinary. We organized a 2-day meeting for capacity building for the newly formed CBO. I would take notes for the meeting, but for the most part it would be mainly the members of the CBO deciding where they wanted the organization to go and discussing how they would get there.

Little did I know it would be such a fantastic weekend! When we arrived Friday afternoon I was shocked at how big the garden had grown! The Maize was much taller than me and even Dan! So for the garden, it was a quite exciting weekend. Dan and I spent Saturday morning harvesting some of the vegetables; our first harvest!

Some of the veggies (mainly the radish) had been neglected and should have been harvested last week, but we were able to save a few that hadn't been attacked by little bugs/creatures. But the main harvest was the beetroot! I've never seen so many large & lovely beetroot! We harvested a good 10 or so, and left the rest to grow a bit more.
We also harvested some of the rocket to thin it out a bit and make room for the other leaves to grow in full. After the harvesting, we spent some time weeding to make sure the rest of the veggies could grow in peace.
It was a proud day in the garden!

Other than the garden it was a very exciting weekend having Dan there. I'm still pulling for him to write down his own experiences (hint hint hint)... but I'll give you an overview for now.

Friday night at the meeting, it was a very focused on the internal development of the group, so not much outside help could be given (I was even only there to take notes mainly). This is a good thing for the group, helping them learn to self-sustain, however it did mean there wasn't much for us to do during the meetings. So while I stayed to take notes, Dan went off exploring in the township. He got to wander around and get to know the area a bit, and even found a pub to explore. He's said that was quite an experience in itself, (getting patted down at the door, everyone staring at him when he walked in, ect.. but I'll let him fill you in later ), but he definitely got a feel for the township-- unlike any experience I've had yet!

So far in my visits to De Doorns I haven't had much of a chance to spend time exploring the township (other than our meetings and staying with my host family), even my host family insists that I don't walk back to the Church by myself in the mornings. So on Saturday while our CBO had their development meeting, it was a really great opportunity for both Dan and I to take some time to explore the area together. We wandered around a bit, and I took Dan to meet the family I stay with. We chatted there for a bit and he got to know them, showing off his Afrikaans with them a bit.

Afterwards, we continued our walk around town, getting a lot of waves & smiles & "hi"s from the little kids. We walked around a bit and one family that was listening to music and standing in their yard invited us in to sit and chat. They were very friendly and we got to know them a little bit. One girl had just had a baby (3 weeks old! about the same age as my niece!), and I chatted to her a bit. What a cute little baby! Dan sat and chatted with the older gentleman, who explained that the little kids were his grandkids, and that he had a daughter that would be perfect for Dan! Sadly he declined, informing the man that we were dating, but they seemed okay about it.

It was a pretty cool experience, and it seems like the best way to get to know the community is to just explore and spend time getting to know the people that live there. I am so grateful that Dan could come this weekend because with out him I never would have had the chance to explore (as my project manager is usually quite busy, and I'm told that I shouldn't explore on my own). Hopefully I can incorporate more explorations in the future weekends to come, but I am so grateful for the experience this weekend. I feel like I know the town a little better, and feel like less of an outsider.

What a great weekend, with a great guy :)

I'll write more soon!

Laura

Campaign Approved!!

We just got our funding approved for the project! So we're officially announcing it in the community on March 20th. This is the pledge that supports our campaign, but the main part will be the activities that I listed in the last post :)

The campaign was originally started in 2010 as a response to all of the threats of xenophobia that our clients (refugees/asylum seekers) at the Scalabrini Center were getting from South Africans. There was a widespread  national threat that when the 2010 World Cup finished and all of the foreigners left, the rest of the foreigners (migrants/refugees) would be run out of the country too. This campaign shared a positive message through out the country, and our donors have agreed to help us run another campaign this year, with a bit more attention to the specific school involvement, as well as the greater community involvement too!

Unite Africa! 

xoxo

Unite As One Campaign

Here's an overview of our new project. However, we're still waiting for the contract to be signed, so I guess its the tentative plan. Hopefully the donors send the contract through by the end of the month, so we can really get started!

The Unite As One campaign school project will focus on 20 schools in the greater Cape Town area. Continuing from the past year’s campaign, the purpose is to reach young persons (grade 9 and/or 10) focusing on human rights and an appreciation for cultural diversity. The school project will involve various organizations to promote cultural diversity through film making, documentary screenings, cultural diversity workshops, murals, soccer tournament, Ambush Theater, and a World Refugee Day awareness event.

In two of the 20 schools there will be a film making training implemented to 15 students. This training will include media skills, storytelling and cultural diversity workshops. The end result will be 5 documentaries (each 5 minutes long), exploring different aspects of cultural diversity and identity, from differing perspectives.

All 20 schools will receive 2 documentary screenings, in coordination with STEPS for the Future. Each documentary screening will be implemented by trained facilitators, including a discussion and question session after each film focusing on positive aspects of cultural diversity. The first documentary will act as a general opening to the campaign, facilitating discussion about the issues, raising awareness about the campaign. The second film will follow within 6 months, and will focus on identity, again facilitating discussion and positive aspects of diversity.

In 12 of the schools (10 around Cape Town and 2 in De Doorns), the Institute for Healing of Memories (IHOM) will conduct Cultural Diversity Workshops. Each of these 12 schools will receive 3 workshops, taking place in between the two documentary screenings. These three workshops will revolve around elements of cultural diversity, through learning about South Africa’s past, along with discussion and activities.

In 10 of the 20 schools, murals will be painted with the students. Through these murals, we seek to promote discussion and interaction about refugee rights and positive aspects of cultural diversity in each community. The murals will be the same design in each school, bringing a visible aspect of unity amongst all schools involved. These murals will be in highly visible places (ie. The front of the school) to promote the Unite As One message of unity.

A soccer tournament will take place in June. The teams will be comprised of both foreign nationals and South Africans, to help increase interaction and promote cultural diversity through sport. Before the tournament, anti-xenophobia workshops and activities will take place, promoting unity.

For the Ambush Theater performances, these will occur once per week throughout the campaign, in the communities involved in the project. This theater troop will perform drama scenes in public places, (train stations, busy streets, taxis, shopping malls, ect.) to the unsuspecting public. These dramas will focus on educating people about violence and human rights, as well as xenophobia. These performances will help involve the greater community around the schools.

This project will also include an awareness day event for World Refugee Day, here at the Scalabrini Center. This event will celebrate cultural diversity and refugee rights through musical performances by Driemanskap (hip hop artists), Congo my Foot (kwasa kwasa), KIAT (from Zimbabwe), and a South African Marimba Band. These performances will be followed by an open mic session, where ideas and community voices can be heard. This project will combine all of these mediums to spread the message of unity and support for cultural diversity. 

Week 7 & Week 8: time off and time Very on!

Last week my project manager was in Lesotho for the week, so I worked on preparing my own questionnaire (/pilot study for my PhD project) and prepared everything for the next week's busy weekend in De Doorns.
Timing worked out quite well last week, as it was my first weekend off, and it just so happened to be Gay Pride celebration here! I definitely felt at home (read SF or Brighton) at Pride, and I always find such an amazing community there!

So it was quite a fun weekend! I did take advantage of my Sunday too and went to go see the gorgeous African Jackass Penguins! (Yes that's what they're called!).
And it was such an amazing weekend that I will always remember, because my BEAUTIFUL BABY NIECE was born on Sunday night!!!! :) Congratulations Kallie & Philippe! She picked a perfect time to come!

And congratulations to the first time Grandparents!!!!!!! :) such a happy weekend!! Can't wait to meet her!!!!

amazing Amandine! :) 

Week 8 was quite a busy one too!

This week we had to organize and prepare for the start of our Unite As One Campaign [which I will describe in full in the next post :)] which it mainly encourages the idea of unity in Africa, cultural diversity, and non-violence in the face of xenophobia.
Our first step in the Unite campaign is to screen documentaries to 10th grade classes around the townships/areas surrounding Cape Town (and in De Doorns).

My big role in this campaign is what I do best: research! I designed a questionnaire that will be implemented before and after the campaign, to assess the impact of our program. We'll also have a control group at each school, to make sure our data is statistically sound. This questionnaire addresses similar topics to my MSc dissertation, (prejudice, intergroup contact, support for multiculturalism) and expands on trying to understand how taking another person's perspective can help reduce prejudices (what I hope to focus on in my PhD) in a very applicable and useful way.

This questionnaire did take some time, and had to be translated into Afrikaans & Xhosa, and ready for our first implementation Friday!

Friday morning we headed out bright and early! ( beautiful sunrise again!) We made it to the first school by 8am to start our first screening. After a bit of chaos (making sure the cords all worked and that the sound/video would project, finding a makeshift screen to project on, and trying to dim the bright bright sunlight flooding in through the windows...) the screening was ready to go.


I handed out my questionnaire, in Afrikaans (as its an Afrikaans speaking school), and it went well! No major typos & people answered the questions with out problems. Then as soon as they finished we started the documentary. This was filmed by 12th graders in Maitland, a school in Cape Town, addressing issues about how cultural diversity is understood at school, and what it means to them.

1st screening (note the brightness of
the windows! but we made it work)

 After the documentary one of our colleagues facilitated a discussion in English. It was a bit difficult to get responses from the kids, since maybe they weren't comfortable discussing in English, but as someone very wise just mentioned to me, hopefully we've planted a seed in these kids, or at least an idea or question in their minds, that can grow and develop over time. Its much less gratifying than seeing the results, but I am happy to hope that we're making an impact!

Symbolically planting the seeds :)
[but this is also a picture of my seeds
I'm growing in my garden at home!
In just 1 week they're sprouting! :) ]

After a quick breakfast stop, we were on to the next school in De Doorns, this time at a Xhosa speaking school. Set up was again a bit chaotic (some of the equipment getting left in the car, but not as many lighting issues!), but we managed. I handed out my questionnaire in Xhosa, and then we screened the same documentary. This time, the facilitator for the discussion was a young Xhosa speaking girl (maybe 19?). Maybe it was the similarity in age or the ease of their native language, but the kids were much more involved in this discussion (it was also not at 8.30am, so maybe these kids were just more awake too!). We seemed to get the students to start talking about issues and they were able to voice their own opinions. This screening even though I couldn't understand the discussion as it happened, I could just feel the interest and involvement. It was a bit more rewarding, but either way, I'm hopeful that we may have planted a few seeds here too :)

Speaking of seeds, the garden in De Doorns is booming! some of the plants should be ready to harvest in 2 weeks (spinach & leafy veggies) and then in about a month, much more will be ready! I'll add more pictures  soon!

So this busy week was quite a good week. It's nice to see plans that are followed through, as I think we started trying to plan these screenings the first week I arrived! Follow through is one of my favorite things :)

Speaking of following through on promises.....
Dan arrives in Cape Town in 2 days!!!!!!! 
He'll be here for 3 weeks, and we will get to explore Cape Town and the garden route as well! I am soooo excited! And have been counting down the days and hours until he arrives :)

For the next 2 weekends I will not be in De Doorns, as there are 2 sessions of Capacity Building workshops planned, to help build the newly formed CBO. So in the next 2 weeks the organization will grow and learn more about how to be efficient and self-empowered to keep the organization running strong on its own.

At the end of the month I'll be back in De Doorns, this time with Dan too! He'll get to see what its like, and maybe I'll get him to write a blog entry too :) (hint hint)

I'll write more soon!

Here's a picture of the mountains that I took on my cycle ride home yesterday. The clouds just majestically roll over the mountains here, so beautiful and delicate. nice juxtaposition to the industrial building and graffiti, if I do say so myself :)

Lots of love!

Laura

Week 6: Grassroots Soccer Weekend

This weekend we headed out quite early again in order to make it to the school in De Doorns by 8am. This weekend we focused on Grassroots Soccer (GRS), a program they've been running in De Doorns for a while now. Its a program that teaches kids about HIV/AIDS and life skills through soccer. The GRS organization trains "coaches" to implement their program, and that way they can reach far and wide with their program. They've trained some of the members of our organization to be coaches, so last year they've been implementing this program to the kids in the area.
This week we presented certificates the kids who had passed the program at the end of last year. They had a short assembly/meeting before school, so we stood in front of the school and handed out the certificates. We also announced that we'd be starting the GRS program again.

As for our community organization, this weekend they were focusing on being re-trained to be GRS coaches. They had a 2 day training workshop, to tighten their skills and work on team building. Now, they're all ready to start implementing the program again! :)

Whilst the team members were in the training, Sergio (my project manager) and I worked in the garden. Its growing quite big and very green! Unfortunately its also growing loads of weeds.
So we spent the whole weekend weeding the garden, on hands and knees, in the hot sun!
But it was worth it! Take a look!

Before: WEEDS EVERYWHERE!

After: Weed free! You can actually see the rows! :)

Hard work is paying off!! :)

Its great to see the little plants grow, and now you can actually tell where we planted! :)

Over this week they'll work on transplanting the veggies, as some are too close together!

Can't wait to see the progress!

So it was a lovely weekend, and sadly next weekend we wont be going to De Doorns, as my manager will be in Lesotho [pronounced Le-sutu](cool country entirely surrounded by S.Africa!), so we'll see how the garden is progressing in 2 weeks time!

Lots of love!

Lo

Week 5: BITE ME...

... is apparently what I said to the ferocious-looking stray dog on the porch of my host family's house.
OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!
I never thought a beagle could be so nasty, but their bite is most definitely worse than their bark.
Well to be fair, its merely a blue-ish/purple bruise now, no blood drawn [don't worry!], but yes, I guess township stray dogs don't mess around.
So that was a lovely end to a long day in De Doorns! Oooch.

This week we left around 5.45am on Friday, to make it to the school in time to announce our new round of Grassroots Soccer training sessions [a grassroots program that teaches kids about HIV/AIDS and life skills through soccer]. We made it there bright and early, and watched a lovely sun rise on the drive there.


Going to the school was a neat experience, and  it will be exciting to get to work with the local kids more through out the next few months.

The rest of the day we ran errands:

• We met with a farmer, who signed a contract for our associate organization to start the solar panel project in town [building a small plant & generating a moderate amount of power in the valley]. 
• We met with the local banks to see how difficult it would be to open an account for our new organization (TDG).
• We bought new tools and chicken wire to add to the fence to keep the rubbish [burning & other kinds] from floating on into our garden.
• We added the wire to the fence, watered the plants, and weeded the terrible weeds away from their death-grip on our poor baby seedlings.

                                                          All in all it was  a pretty productive day!

The radish is still doing the best!

Friday night we then had a meeting to plan the budget for TDG, which took a few hours of long, concentrated work. After the long, intensive meeting I headed back to my host family, where I was unwelcomed by that ruffian beagle dog. Long day!

Saturday we couldn't stay around for long as we had another meeting at 12 back near Cape Town in Philippi, so we got up early and headed back. 

The meeting Saturday was for a separate program that we're working on [one of the many!]. This other project is the Unite As One Campaign, promoting Unity in Africa and acceptance of cultural diversity. This year the campaign is focusing on local High Schools, getting them involved in various aspects of the campaign. We have cultural diversity workshops in 12 schools, documentary screenings followed by empowering discussions, mural paintings, awareness days [World Refugee Day in June], and a Film making project. Saturday we went to announce our film making project to the schools chosen. We'll select 12 kids to take part, and through training and facilitation, they'll learn and produce a documentary that tells a story about their area, and views on cultural diversity. Super cool! I wish I could take part!

So we showed up at this meeting, and waited for our turn to make the announcement. As we arrived there was a lady from a department of the South African government there talking about xenophobia. She proceeded to claim that at present, there is no xenophobia in South Africa, and that since the attacks in 2009, South Africa hasn't had any problems besides minor threats here and there. WOW. I found it so hard to believe that she blatently lie to all of these kids so easily. Not only is it a lie (as our interns here compile a weekly report of all the cases of xenophobia in the country/continent), but its a lie to this group of kids that have themselves experienced the xenophobia, and had to live in the camps themselves. At least it looked like a smart group of kids, and I hope they're being taught to question this "authority figure" because she was lying through her teeth! geez. 

Either way, the kids seemed very motivated to combat issues of xenophobia, as they were all at this meeting because of their motivation to be Peace Ambassadors at their school, promoting Peace and Ubuntu (borderless-ness). They were also very receptive to our proposition, and were enthusiastic to write the essays to be selected for our film making program!

The weekend was very full and also quite successful!

"Giiiiiiiiiiirllll, your trash is on Fiiiiiire"

This week on Tuesday we went back to Philippi, for a meeting and we saw these crazy black billowing clouds coming right from the area we were supposed to have our meeting. Well it turned out it was about 100meters from the office space, but still, a bit too close for comfort. As an extension of my commentary on the problem of rubbish burning in the townships, here's a great big example of how bad it can get. Not only do all of the people in the area have to breathe in this soot, but the dry landscape seems to scare me a bit, although somehow they manage to control the burns (I think/hope).

More to come next week!

Keep the Peace!

-Laura