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