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.