Settling In

I am so very stunned at what is happening in Texas and so sorry for so many whose lives have been lost or disrupted.  wow, the images are almost incomprehensible to me.  I am so impressed with the heroic efforts of so many.  

I started a yoga class in the local community center last week. It feels good to start doing that again.  I walk a lot but I am not getting any serious exercise that I eventually need to do something about, and in the meantime, yoga is even more important.

Last Saturday, I attended an event regarding a partnership between UCT and schools in Khayelitsha celebrating successes of this program to help mentor students and teachers so more students graduate high school and are given a chance to go to college.  It was very cool.  Khayelitsha is one of the largest townships just outside Cape Town.  During apartheid, Cape Town and most of the surrounding neighborhoods were made “whites-only” areas and townships are communities built outside of Cape Town for mixed-race and black residents.  There are also townships outside the other big cities like Soweto outside of Johannesburg.  some of them are “formal” meaning they have structures and utilities.  however, over time huge numbers of people looking for work moved to the outskirts of these communities and have just shacks made of whatever materials could be found, and often there are no utilities or services.   some informal settlements have developed in places other than adjacent to the townships.   when i was here before i remember thinking i have never seen anything like this - the poverty is immense.  i haven’t been around enough to see some of the informal settlements, but likely, things have not improved.  Townships are essentially like isolated ghettos or slums with many, many problems for the residents living there.  At this point I would not go to one of the townships by myself.  And on the other hand, there are some amazing programs with remarkable community involvement that is inspiring.  I was at two meetings at the department at UCT last week where members of the Khayelitsha community attended.  They were so insightful and involved in making a difference in their communities.  They were inspiring to me.

One especially horrible blight in Cape Town and on its history is that there was a really vibrant, artsy, and well-integrated community of blacks, Malaysians, Indians, mixed-race (also called coloured here), called District Six.  The people were ordered to move in order to make Cape Town white again, but people resisted.  Eventually the apartheid government just bulldozed the entire community.  unbelievable.

It is interesting to approach every new thing I do for the first few times, like I am learning a new skill or something.  It is intriguing and fun, but also tiring at times – likely due to all the new stimuli and extra energy it takes to initiate things and engage in relatively unfamiliar ways.  But the more I do, the more I realize how much people want to help and how kind and open they are; making me more open to them, too.  And as soon as I open my mouth, and they realize I am from the US, they become even more curious and want to know more and if I am liking Cape Town so far.  Everyone seems to have a comment about Trump, usually shaking their heads about how he could be president (of course, I have no simple answer).  Many in Africa have been living under dictators or corrupt leaders for a long time and understand, sort of, but they tell me they thought they could look to the US for some hope, but currently, not so much. 

On Friday Sept 1, I move to my new place and I am really looking forward to unpacking finally.  I have been getting quite creative with microwave cooking, but hope to get back to some type of cooking and baking soon.  Eventually, I will certainly send some photos of my new digs.  Sunday Sept 3, I fly to Johannesburg for the Public Health Association of South Africa annual meeting, which will be a good substitute for my annual APHA meeting that I will miss this year.  I am looking forward to this meeting and my friend, Susan Wilburn, will also be there.

Photos include: Big tree on my Sunday walk recently; looking up toward the library on the main campus of UCT with Table Mountain behind it (the campus is built on a steep hillside, so lots of stairs); Marimba band at Khayelitsha event; lunch with friends on the ocean side of the city - Robben Island is out there in the bay; stone man sculpture near campus.

     

Moving Along

Last week I put a deposit on what is called a studio “cottage”.  it is a little separate structure behind the main house of the person who owns it.  It is basically a large room with a bed at one end, a bathroom, and at the other end is a kitchenette, table & chairs, small couch.  it is a little funky but the owner is motivated to make some updates and improvements based on my suggestions.  He has 3 kids that live with him part-time and he has a little black dog named, Milo.  the property has a good privacy fence and so I will feel pretty secure besides that the owner is there.  the guy seems pretty progressive and interesting.  He is likely about 10 years younger than i am, maybe more.  Currently, I am about 20 min walk from the office I am using at UCT and this will add 10 more minutes to my commute it is great to be able to walk so much actually.  I am so lucky that I am not having any obstacles to walking. I would love to have a bicycle to get around, but I have to say, it does not feel safe at this point given how narrow some of the streets are, the volume of traffic at times, and some of the crazy driving etiquette I have seen.  So, for now, I will likely not be bicycling for the foreseeable future.  Up to this point, I have only seen a few people riding a bike for transportation.  I know there are bike clubs that go out together, but if I do that, it will have to be sometime down the road.  I am still getting used to knowing which direction oncoming traffic is coming from when I am crossing the street.

It is toward the end of winter here, but pretty mild conditions by experiences in the northern hemisphere, naturally. It hover in the mid-40s at night then from 50s to high 60s during the day.  I am told this is unseasonably warm for this time of year.  We have had a couple of good days of drenching rain, but overall the rainfall has been low and the area has been in a drought for about a year.  I heard on the radio recently that the water supply reservoir is at about 30% capacity.   Despite that, I am anticipating a beautiful spring with lots of wildflowers and whale watching, too.

I am rapidly getting integrated into the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine at University of Cape Town (UCT).  I didn't quite know to anticipate being an actual part of the department but having the Fulbright is certainly a door-opener and i am grateful on a daily basis. It is a wonderful thing to be embraces do readily, although I have history there and some of the same people I worked with before are still around, which is great to reconnect them. The actual scope of my activities is a work in progress at the moment as i get to know people and their projects.  And I am having the opportunity to learn about so many other areas of public health that I haven't been involved in much, like HIV and TB which both are whole orders of magnitude from anything experienced in the US.  This week I am doing my first lecture and it is on Child Labor (Labour here), my labor of love for most of my career. I will be talking to Master’s in Public Health students in their course on Children’s Environmental Health. I didn’t expect to do this for another month so am working fast to pull the pieces together.  This coming week I will be talking with the faculty at Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape Provice, to see what type of assistance they anticipate from me and when I may go there to visit.  

My one little hiccup since I arrived is that I developed cellulitis in my index finger the week before last as a result of a paronychia (took me a long time to say this word – and leave it to readers to look it up).  it was so dang painful I still can’t believe it - even kept me awake for two nights.  Finally when an abscess began to appear i found a nice MD, about my age, based on the recommendation of a good friend here; he took care of it and started me on antibiotics.  I about flew off the table when he started poking to drain it - he told me I could cry if I wanted (you know it’s going to hurt when someone tells you that).  He later told me that he was “alarmed” by how far it had progressed by the time he saw me.  I don’t know what i was thinking, but somehow it did not register what was happening until a few days into it. It’s all resolved now and it was a good drill for me to figure out how to find medical care and use the health benefits I have from the Fulbright program.   

Yesterday I went exploring on my own into the city center.  My destination was to the community Bo-Kaap, the first Muslim community in Cape Town settled sometime in the mid-1800s after slavery was ended in 1838. The area was originally a township known as the Malay Quarter and the heart of the Cape Malay culture.  Many of the slaves brought to the Western Cape were from Malaysia and East Africa.  It essentially became one of the several workingclass communities in Cape Town.  It has been revitalized in recent history to recognize its unique cultural roots, which continue today.  Along the way I saw lots of tourists and tourist markets.  It takes a certain amount of grit to navigate a new area and the transportation that most tourists don’t bother with.  But since I am without a car, I have to use all options.  Much of my orientation from my earlier time here is definitely coming back, which is nice.  I have some sense of how things work.  

Photos include:  Poster from the rally to call for the Parliament to pass a vote of No Confidence in President Jacob Zuma (the vote failed); workers hanging off a building along the march route; they were sandblasting with little or no respiratory protection and, of course the dust circulated into the downtown environment; photos from Bo-Kaap; A type of Proteus flower (called pincushion) native to the region.

 

August 6, 1st Week in Cape Town

6 August 2017

It was a long but welcome journey, finally, after so much preparation.  I arrived to my lodging about 11pm on Wed, August 2, 2017. I am just ending the first week in my new home.  I am staying in temporary rental like an AirBnb, but via a friend of a friend. I have a cozy bed but awake too early, either 2:30 or 3 a.m. I thought I would be switched over in my schedule by now since I was awake so much in the 20+ hours of travel to get here. It is beautiful weather now in the 60’s during the day and 40-50s at night, but too dry. They have been in a severe drought for a year and this should be its rainy time. It will get critical if this lack of rain continues and the hotter than normal predicted temps for summer occur.

Anyway, I am just now realizing that I have actually made this leap and will be inventing a new life for myself.  I am so grateful to the Fulbright Program for this opportunity and for all of your hard earned tax payers' dollars.

Currently, I awake with a little nervousness but know it will all work out. I went to the US Consulate last week for a security briefing and there was some sobering informatoin on crime- some of which sounds worse than when I was here in 2001. So it is a different reality to keep in mind, always.  And yet so many interesting things to learn about and people to meet too.

I have been listening to Trevor Noah's book, Born A Crime, which is fascinating and fun but hard to hear what it was like for him and so many others as apartheid was ending, particularly since his mother was black and his father white. Things are tumultuous here with race and issues of inequality as they are in the US.

My mission in the coming days/weeks is finding a place to live for the year. Where I am staying at the moment is convenient and nice but only has a microwave and small fridge, toaster and electric kettle. so although it is not what I want in the long-run, it is a sweet place nonetheless.  And it is interesting about getting creative about what I can do with my meals with what I have to work with. The area where I am located is called Observatory and is walking distance to University of Cape Town’s Department of Public Health.  It is also a pretty hip area in general, but not too gentrified, although heading that way.  Lots of new high-rise development going on much to the upset of the locals, not unlike what is happening in parts of Seattle.  This area has lots of restaurants and shops, and I am hoping places to listen to music.  It is easy walking to grocery stores and other shops for basic needs.

It is also nice that my little flat is attached to the house where the owner lives – she is a very nice woman who just retired from working in planning and policy in the development of educational programs across several universities.  She is also instrumental in the organizing of many groups joining in a mass demonstration on Monday 7 August where around the country there will be thousands demanding that the Parliament recall President Jacob Zuma – even more corrupt than our #45 since he has been at it longer.   Living near the owner is nice knowing someone is available if I need something. My place is a large one room living area/bedroom, a small kitchenette and bathroom.  There is a lovely small outside courtyard that is very protected.  Lots of keys to keep track of for the 3-4 locks I need work with.  I am attaching a photo of the plaque outside the main house that describes a milestone that took place in my part of the property.

Gradually, I am getting around and reconnecting with people and places that I know from 6 months stay here in 2001.  It is reassuring that there is a certain amount of familiarity with some people and places.  Last Thursday eve, I went with my friends, Leslie and Phyllis (who were kind enough to pick me up at the airport and deliver me to my lodging) and another of their friends, to the Book Lounge in the City Center.  We went for a book launch by author, Maxine Case, for her novel called, Softness of the Lime, about the Cape area in the late 1780s and it sounds really interesting with good historical background for the place and time.  I look forward to reading it.

Today, Sunday, I went to one of my favorite places, Kirstenbosch Gardens, to meet up with my friend and colleague whose project I worked on in 2001.  I met him, his wife and two boys there in the morning.  It was a beautiful day and the gardens are spectacular.  We had a delicious lunch in the Tea Room restaurant of the garden.  Then later, it was back to another cool wooded area with trails to walk with friends and their dogs.

Tomorrow I will go to the Department offices and see about where I will be fitting in to the various projects and opportunities there.  I know there will be no shortage of things to get involved in.

A few photos include: Table Mountain looking up the street outside my gate; Table Mountain from the university; my friend Mohamed and 7 y.o. son Yameen on our walk in Kirstenbosch Garden; Mohamed, his wife Razia and Yameen; Me and Yameen; the waterfall we hiked to at the Garden; the plaque on the house where I am staying this month; and the amount of luggage I checked to come here; plus carryon bags, my trusty day pack (thank you Jim Catalano) and another smaller item.