Fall Break - Victoria Falls

Hey everyone,

So I realize that I kind of fell off the bandwagon in updating this and  stopped in the middle of the semester. Even though the semester is over, I still have another three weeks here in Cape Town and in Namibia, so I am going to try to bring everyone up to speed before I get back. For fall break, which was the last week of October, everyone in the group decided to go to Victoria Falls, which is the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Quite simply, it is worthy of such designation.

In order to get to Victoria Falls from Windhoek, we could either fly, which wouldn't really fit within our college budgets, or we could take the 23 hour bus ride to Zambia, which we ended up doing. And if my plane ride here wasn't filled with incessant motion sickness the entire time, then this would have been the most torturous travel experience of this trip. I was stuck in a seat with a guy who kept putting his legs right in front of my seat. I kept asking him to move his legs, he would do so for a couple minutes, then move them right back. It resulted in only about two hours of sleep.

After the awfully long bus ride, we arrived in Livingstone, Zambia, which is considered the tourist hub on the Zambia side. However, upon arriving, you would never know it is a tourist destination. Maybe because I am spoiled by the beauty of Namibia, but Zambia was not nearly as nice, with worse conditions of buildings and a general dirtiness to the city. To be completely blunt, it felt poorer, which is interesting because as a country is has consistently produced a stronger GDP and had a more stable economy than some of the other countries surrounding it, yet that doesn't really show. On our first night, we went out for some food, and Zambia has just won a huge soccer, or should I say football, match that qualified them for the Africa Cup. Everyone was downtown and just going crazy with excitement. The road was unofficially close and people were streaming the streets with chants and vuvuzelas. It was definitely really cool to see such national unity, especially in an area that has never had much considering the widely held beliefs of anti patriotism acorss the region because countries were separated arbitrarily by European settlers.

Out first night we mostly hung out around the hostel, because we were exhausted from the bus ride. At the hostel, they offered a wide array of different trips and activities through tours companies, so we decided to do what were called the "under the spray" tour and the Livingstone Island tour. Our first full day was the under the spray tour, which focused on actually going under the falls themselves. First, we had a 45 minute hike down to the Zambezi river, which flows through the falls. Once at the river, we all got into a raft similar to those used for white water rafting and paddled a short way over to a different part of the river. After hiking through a bunch of boulders, which was really fun in itself, we got to a pool of water separate from the flow of the river, which we proceeded to jump into from a rock about ten feet high. After swimming for a bit, we went over to a spot under the falls that was not flowing very hard at all (if we had gone under the hardest falls, we would have been killed instantly). Even though it looked like a small cascade of water compared to the big falls, it still pelted us pretty hard. After the tour, we just walked around admiring the beauty of the falls. One thing that was surprising was actually how little water comes over on the Zambia side. During the rainy season, there are massive amounts of water going over the falls. However, during the dry season, there is obviously much less water. And in Zambia, there was really not a lot going over, especially compared to the Zimbabwe side. We later learned that the government has diverted the water that goes over the falls for use in green energy movements. Considering how fast the water flows, it makes for a good renewable energy source for the fairly large population around the area.

                                  Zambia side (The little stream on the right is where we went under)

                                                                     Zimbabwe side

The next day we did the Livingstone Island tour, which was based around the devil's pool. Devil's pool is a little pool of water surrounded by a natural rock wall at the top of the falls, where you lay on the rock wall while a guide holds your legs and you look over the edge of the falls. It was absolutely terrifying. I was almost not about to do it, but the peer pressure forced me to jump into the pool and sit on the wall, then eventually look over the edge. The tour also gave a really good breakfast (with some of the best scones I have ever had), and consisted of a boat ride to get to the island and back. Unfortunately, they took my picture on the edge looking over with somebody else's camera, so I don't have pictures of it. Out of the two tours on the Zambia side, I definitely preferred the Under the Spray tour, but even still both were incredible.

The next day we headed over to the Zimbabwe side. After hearing about how they ran their currency into the ground and that their international reputation isn't sterling by any means, I was not expecting much. However, the Zim side was actually beautiful, reminding me a lot of Windhoek. It was fairly quaint, had a bunch of good restaurants, and was a great little walking town. Because they inflated their currency to the moon, they struck up an agreement with the U.S. and now use American currency, which was definitely a bit weird to use again. Many of the bills the the U.S. takes out of circulation get sent to Zimbabwe, which was incredibly evident considering the state of some of the bills. For coins, they use South African rand, but there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the values of the coins. One day, on the way to the falls, we stopped at a supermarket. For change, I was to get fifty cents back, but they gave me a two rand coin and a one rand coin. Then, later that day at the same supermarket, my total was X dollars and 45 cents. I figured that I could just give the rand that I got earlier that had equaled 50 cents to cover the 45 cents. However, the cashier told me it was not enough, to my obvious surprise. I told her that is what I got for fifty cents, yet she still said not enough. Also, for her change, another girl got back a two rand coin and a lollipop. Oh arbitrary money.

The first day we just went to the falls and walked around on the Zim side, which was much more breathtaking considering the massive amounts of water rushing down. The Zambia side was cool, but the Zim side was really why you come to Victoria Falls. The mist was so strong that in certain points on the path, you would just be drenched from the mist that rises up from the 100 meter fall.

I really wanted to do white water rafting through the Zambezi, but I waited until others had done it before me to see if it would be rough on my shoulder. And everyone was unanimous: there was no way I could do it with a recuperating torn rotator cuff. So instead, another girl and I did an elephant back safari. On the tour, we saw giraffe, impala, gnu, springbok, zebra, and water buffalo. Just being on an elephant was cool enough as it was. After the tour, we got to feed the elephants, either by allowing them to grab the treats with their trunk or by telling them to raise their trunk and throwing it in their mouth. We actually lucked out, because our elephant, Jock, was the only elephant who would suck the treats directly out of your hand. The organization that does the tours is a conservancy movement, where they rescue orphaned or injured elephants and nurse them to good health. They train the elephants to give tours, but when they are done with the hour long tour, they are brought to a open area, where they are free to leave if they choose, yet none ever do because of the great care the organization provides them. Jock had had his foot caught in barbed wire and was deeply injured when they first found him. While it is obvious that he had been injured just by looking at his leg, he is completely healthy today.

Later that day, we decided to step out of our comfort zone big time by doing the flying fox, which is a zipline 300 feet over the falls laying down. It was absolutely terrifying and I don't think I really knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up for it. Actually I know that I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I knew it looked pretty cool and was cheap. After getting strapped in, and asking them to pull it especially tight, I was set into position on the platform. To get going, you are supposed to run and jump off of the 12 foot platform out over the gorge. So once I was in position, they quickly start counting down from five. At one, I start running. But instead of channeling my inner superman and flying off of the edge, I kind of hesitate and end of flopping off of the end, making for a fairly lame initial picture. Even without the most graceful start, it still was amazing, albeit as terrifying as I thought it would be. After getting pulled in and watching my friend Christine do it as well, we asked if we could go again, as we were the only ones there. Luckily they said yes (probably because I was so pathetic jumping off of the end, which I used as reason to allow me to go again). The second time I did a bit better, channeling my inner flying fox.

 Yup, I'm a Binder. Starting to wimp out at the last minute. Actually, I did this, which most Binders wouldn't do in the first place

Overall, it was an unbelievable trip. The views were breathtaking, and the different trips all allowed for completely different ways to see the falls. I will hopefully update soon with the end of the semester, then a post on Cape Town. And soon after I will be back in the grand ol' U.S. of A. See everyone soon!

Rural Homestay

Hey everyone,

Once again, it's been a very long time since I have posted. For three weeks, we were on the road without extended periods of internet access. And this past week I was just lazy or forgetful. Because we did so much over the past month, I'm going to break the posts up into two.

When we embarked on our three week long trip, we began with our rural homestays in a town called Khorixas, which is about 4 hours outside of the capital, Windhoek. I had to admit, I was nervous for the homestay. I had anticipated feeling as if there would not be enough to fill the day and that awkward silences would be all too frequent. These fears were exacerbated when I found out that my host family was just an elderly woman and her granddaughter, both of whom spoke no English. However, I sound found that these fears were unfounded, both because another family member who was my age was also staying for the week (and he spoke English), and that while I was sleeping and eating with one family, the farm had such a community feel to it that the line between nuclear and extended family was blurred. Everyone was one large community, and they went to each other's houses freely.

In our time there, we did many different activities, both productive and for recreation. On the first day, my host brother and I went with another family, in the back of a pick up truck, to collect wood for the farm from a dried up riverbed. We also rode horses bareback, which was absolutely terrifying. I did not want to go fast, but some of the other students on my program told the guy leading the horse to really gallop, which I was not prepared for. Luckily, I was wearing sunglasses, so it looks like I was really into it and in complete control. On a particularly hot day (who am I kidding. Every day was a particularly hot day), we filled up a small pool with water from the well that is used for the entire farm for a swim, which felt really good. Because it was so hot in the middle of the day, most people would stay inside and nap, which was great for me, as I nap regularly, regardless of the temperature. The farm was surrounded by mountains, so one evening we hiked up to the top. While our sunset beach at Cape Cod is always nice, I have never seen a better sunset than that one, especially due to the view. I've also never seen the sun set so fast.Along with the entire group of about 15 people came all of the dogs of another family (the one who I went to collect wood with.) A combination of pitbulls and greyhounds, they totaled 14. Even though they don’t have collars, probably have not been given their shots, and definitely were not formally trained, they are some of the most obedient and loyal dogs I’ve ever met. When we hiked up the mountain, they would go and run ahead of us, yet would come in an instant of called or even heard a whistle. I had never thought I liked big dogs, but those greyhounds were great.

Each morning, we would wake and go fetch milk from the goats in the pen nearby. After failing rather miserably the first few times, I finally got the hang of it and was getting a good amount of unpasteurized milk that I was afraid to drink. For food, CGE actually provides a small amount of food to each family so that we could know that at least we had a little that we could be familiar with. In previous programs, students were not given any food by the prgoran and had their time marred by a lack of food, especially vegetarians. We also introduced American football to our families, which was great because I hadn’t gotten to throw a football around at all my entire time. It was also nice not to have our program heads continuing to remind me not to play because of my shoulder, which is slowly but surely healing on its own.

One night, my friend JB and I went into town in the back of the pickup, which was really fun. We stopped and got cool drinks (which is what they call sodas) and rode around running errands with his host father and brothers. One stop in particular was especially interesting. We stopped in a rather suburban area and got out. I thought it was a customer of their livestock. However, it turned out to be their house, which completely threw me off guard. What they said was that many families live in town in modern houses with modern amenities, but maintain properties on the farms that have been passed down for generations as a way of continuing tradition and maintaining their roots to their people and culture. It made me question exactly the constructs for which I saw the concept of poverty. I had assumed that they were living on the farm out of necessity, when it was out of choice and out of a need to maintain their originality as people. Understanding this was very enlightening for me and I now question more critically what is and what is not poverty. It does not mean that I automatically think that everything that appears to be poverty now isn’t. But it also doesn’t mean that the stereotypes of who is poor always hold. 

Hey everyone,

Wow it has been a long time since I last wrote. For all of you fervently checking every hour, the wait is now over. These past few weeks have extremely busy, with classes and a week long homestay here in the city. The more I am in the city, the more I love it. It is really manageable and has a lot of character. All of the facets are well integrated, from corporations to malls to government buildings to small shops. I'm not sure if I had previously mentioned this, but the Supreme Court is about a 15 minute walk from our house, so I look forward to going to see oral arguments in the coming weeks.

My classes have been very interesting, and are already heading into their fourth week. I'm taking Political Institutions of Namibia, Racism and Resistance in Southern Africa, Religion and Social Change, and The Development Process. As a part of the classes, there are many guest speakers that both come to our house and require us to travel to different locales around the city. Some of the speakers that we have had are a minister for a local church, a member of the Namibian government within the office of Developmental Planning, a leading figure in the labor rights movement, and the man who named Namibia and was one of the constitution's authors. All have been very interesting and obviously have provided a multitude of different perspectives, in both ideology and the bias of the position that they come from within society.

In addition to the academic workload, I and two other kids on the program began volunteering at an orphanage. The organization originally formed for kids who had been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. However, they later changed that philosophy and start allowing any children who qualified to live there, as they deemed it arbitrary to only helped parentless children because of a certain cause of death to the parents. Working with the children has been very rewarding, especially seeing their outlook. I honestly have never been around happier children, and that is not hyperbole to counteract the stereotype that they are afflicted and have reason to be resentful and depressed. they are genuinely very happy children who embrace the community environment that they have grown up in. Watching the older kids look out for the younger ones and the babies is really special.

One of the things that we do at the orphanage is tutor 10th graders with their upcoming exams. While sophomore year of high is pretty nondescript in the U.S.,  it is the penultimate grade within the Namibian education system. In order to continue to 11th grade, you must pass a series of very comprehensive tests on about 10 different subjects, ranging from physics to accounting to math to English to history to physical science, and others. Seeing how these students need to prepare, as well as the lack of resources and quality preparation that they have to endure is disheartening. The pass rate of the exams hovers around 50% nationwide. One of the students that I tutor said that he studied very hard (which I fully believe given his motivation with me) but failed the first time, because he was not instructed what specifically would be on the exams. The students were told to just study the textbook, with no emphasis on what would be considered important. There are some resources that the schools provide, such as past year's exams, but students must buy them at rather high rates, especially considering all of the other expenses that go along with school. The way that the current system is set up, hard work doesn't always pay off. Not even close.

The education system, from my limited observations, seems to be really broken. While the constitution guarantees public education for all citizens, that does not mean that there is free education for all students (which seems counterintuitive). Rather, school fees must be paid to attend a school. Some schools charge much higher school fees than others, which predictably leads to better education. Right off the bat, there is an inherent inequality, as poorer students will be effectively forced into the poorer, and lower-achieving, schools. On top of the school fees, students must pay for all of their textbooks, all of their school supplies, and their uniform. For a poor family, the cost of education is exorbitant. For a family with no income (and Namibia has a 52% unemployment rate, so there are many such families), the cost of schooling is prohibitive to their children receiving any education at all. Even with studies done by the UN stating that for every dollar that the government puts into education, the economy will get back 10-fold (), the government does not put a priority on quality education for everyone. They claim to do so, but the costs prevent such claim from actually being truthful.

Next week, we are headed to our rural homestays for about a week, which admittedly is slightly disconcerting, considering some families don't speak any English. For that time we won't have classes and we will be with our homestay family the entire time. Afterward, we will go to the coast for a three day seminar then a couple of days at the beach. Then, the following week is fall break, where we have planned to go to Victoria Falls and a canoe trip through Botswana. And for all of you wondering (maybe there aren't any of you), I'm fully up to date on the Jets. The NFL international package is great. You can watch games whenever you want and the homepage doesn't reveal the scores if you want to watch after the fact, which I will have to do once we go to the coast.

Talk to everyone soon,

Evan

New York Jets: A Truly Global Franchise

One small thing that I keep forgetting to write but is pretty awesome. On one of our first days in Johannesburg, we were on a tour of a township in Soweto. In one of the large open squares, many people play some sort of music, a la subway tunnels in New York. One guy we saw was playing a recorder. What;s notable was his hat: none other than good ol' Gang Green. When I asked him about it, he didn't seem to have a clue what I was talking about, even though he spoke English, which Led me to believe he got it for fifty cents at Salvation Army equivalent. Even still, an unexpected and pretty hilarious surprise.

Oh yeah, I also finally discovered how to upload pictures. Welcome to the 21st century, Evan.

Northern Namibia

Hey everyone,

Before I get started, I'm just going to clarify the name change of the blog. In an attempt to be clever, I titled the blog NamEVANibia, meaning Evan in Namibia, literally. Ok, so maybe not that clever, but I've got more important things to think about. Like how the Jets could ever come out of this season with more than five wins.

Also, for all of you wondering how I could ever go a whole season without watching the games, I couldn;t go a whole season without watching and I'm not. Thankfully, the NFL sells international packages online, so I'm going to buy that. And when the internet connection is bad at the house, I'll take the 20 minute taxi ride over to the hilton hotel and watch with their internet. Hopefully Dad's diamond status, or whatever they call it that allows free stuff, can get me something. Additionally, if anyone has any fantasy football questions (Rich, I know you need the help), I'm still answering. Number one tip: Avoid Trent Richardson. He's a third/fourth round back going in the first.

So, to what I'm actually doing here. We had been away for about a week up in Northern Namibia, attending a wedding for one of our professors and exploring Etosha National Park, which is the main wildlife preserve of Namibia. One aspect of Namibia I did not realize was just how large area wise Namibia is. It's approximately half the size of Alaska, which would make it our second biggest state. The drive up north took about eight hours, but it actually wasn't that bad of a drive. The wedding was very different and very similar to American weddings at the same time. The service took place in a local church, with the reception taking place after the service, with a brief break for pictures in between. The service was predominantly done in the native language, whose name I am forgetting right now. For anybody who is familiar with Beth El's second day Rosh Hashanah service, the pastor gave Rabbi Kessler a serious run for his money with regards to the length of his sermon. No matter where you are in the world, there will always be religious leaders who presumably like hear themselves speak. The setup of the reception was also very similar to U.S. weddings, with the many tables covered in decorative (and somewhat unnecesary) centerpieces and napkin foldings. Pretty much all of the extra froo froo stuff that you would find at any wedding.

While there were many similarities, there were also many differences, with the most primary of such being the length of the wedding and the preparation that goes into it. In order to be married, a man does not have to just drop down to one knee and pop the question to the woman then planning for the ceremony begins. (If you think I might be being hetero-normative, it's because I am. Give me a break if you think there is gay marriage in Africa.) He must consult many members of her community, and gain their trust and acceptance. Although it is rare, anybody who has a concern with the marriage can add their input and have it be taken very seriously. So if Great Uncle Charlie finds the color of the tablecloth offensive, it has to be changed. Also, unlike American weddings, there are two receptions, one at each of the communities. Each reception is pretty much the same, but it is a formal acceptance of each member of the marriage into their spouse's respective communities. There is also a long process before everyone enters the main reception. First, the host community has to decide if they want to allow the other spouse's community to enter. It is all done in jest but actually lasts for about 20 minutes. Then gifts are given to the couple by the women of the host community, symbolizing giving her up to her new husband. Among the gifts, their were an incredible amount of woven baskets and clay pots.

Overall, the wedding reception was a really good time. We showed a lot of the kids frisbee and danced with them at the reception. There were times when we could tell we were noticed for our race (there were 11 white people at the wedding, 10 of which were from our program), but everyone seemed to be very welcoming.

After the wedding, we went on a two day trip to Etosha National Park, Namibia's primary wildlife park. Now I'm not usually a big nature person, but seeing all of the animals was pretty amazing. We saw springbok (which were my favorite), zebras, elephants, rhinos, lions, ostriches, kudus, jackals, giraffes, and others I'm forgetting right now. And we saw them by the hundreds. At one point, there were probably around five hundred animals at one watering hole. Definitely a really cool experience.

About now, we're finally getting into the flow of things here in Windhoek, with a weekend off then the beginning of classes next week. On Thursday, we went to a karaoke bar downtown. Not one to brag (well, I kind of am), but my performance of Without Me by Eminem was definitely the best of the night. I had the whole bar up at the stage and random people who I had never met were taking pictures of me. Granted, they were probably taking pictures of the crazy American, but I'll take it. There is a video of it which I hope to get soon.

Talk to everyone soon,



Evan

P.S. A very happy belated birthday to Cat Strada from the good folks at blogspot!

Soweto Homestay/First Days in Namibia

Hey everyone,

So we just got to Namibia yesterday, and our house is amazing! I am living with the two other guys on the program, which as gone well so far. The house has got a great outdoor space, with a firepit, grill, patio, and small pool. About 50 yards up the road is a little backpackers hostel with internet and a small bar that's fun. The city of Windhoek is beautiful - really clean and visually appealing. It has an heir similar to that of Providence in the sense that the city is not sectioned off into different regions, such as the business center, government buildings, shopping, etc. Everything is very well integrated which gives the city a vibrancy. Granted, it's only been one day in the city, so my opinion could change, but for now I love it and don;t anticipate that changing.

This past weekend, we did a homestay with a family in Soweto, which is a city within the metro region of Johannesburg. Soweto used to be a conglomeration of the many townships that contained black citizens during apartheid (hence its name, which is an shortening of South Western Townships). I stayed with another girl on the trip. We stayed with a single mother and her 16 year old, named Mpumi. We went there on Friday afternoon, and were picked up Monday morning. She worked for the education department in Soweto, where she would go to schools all over the city and both observe classes as well as ensure that the grades that teachers are giving out as adequate and that they are teaching the proper material. They were both great, and I intend to keep in touch with them after this experience is over.

On Saturday morning, we went to a funeral. While in the U.S. this would be a somber experience reserved for the few who were close to the person who died, funerals are more of a community gathering and something of a celebration of the life we do have. You don't need to be especially close with the person who passed to go to the funeral - the reason we went was that our host mother was friend's with the deceased's cousin. Even though she did not have a connection with the deceased, as many who were there did not, it was expected for one to be a part of the community. One aspect that showed just how strong the community is was during the bus ride from the service to the cemetery. In a rented out, packed bus, traditional zulu songs were sung the entire ride over, and everyone on the bus was taking part. It was this experience where I got to see truly how strong community means to the people of Africa.

Another aspect of the homestay that was great was the food. Each meal, there were about five different dishes, ranging from barbecued chicken to cooked spinach and potatoes to beats to fresh baked bread and more. Now, as many of you know, I can be a picky eater, but because I was a guest in someone else's home, I didn't want to be rude, so I ate pretty much everything. And despite my initial apprehensiveness, everything was really delicious (with the exception of sweet potatoes - I will never like sweet potatoes). It may sound kind of weird or corny, but I was somewhat proud of myself for eating pretty much everything served.

One thing I was expecting on the homestay was to notice my color often. Throughout the entire weekend, I didn't see another white person, but I did see thousands of black faces. I expected to feel somewhat out of place, but to my surprise I really didn't notice anything different. Sure, some kids would look over and whisper the zulu word for white person, which I can't seem to remember right now, and other adults sometimes gave suspicious glances, but for the most part I didn't pay any real mind to the color of my skin. Maybe it was because of white privilege that is somewhat inherent in South Africa, which continues to have racial divisions and statuses even after apartheid. Or maybe it was because we were living in someone's home, which provided us with a level of acceptance because we had been brought in as guests, as opposed to coming in and looking down on the people there, as white South Africans are accused of doing. The only time where I felt the slightest bit of discomfort for my race was at the funeral. After the burial, everybody goes back for a big lunch (made by everyone close to the deceased's family - another sign of respect). We had gotten in line like everyone else - the line had about 200 people. However, the father of the deceased saw us and invited us to eat inside of the house, where there was more options for food and we were given plates, as opposed to styrofoam containers. I felt some apprehension about going with him because I didn't feel worthy of the special treatment, while others close to the deceased had to wait in line. I'm not sure what to attribute us going inside the house to, yet I found it to be solely due to my color.

That's pretty much it for now. Tomorrow, we are heading up to northern Namibia for one of our professor's weddings, then heading Etosha for a weekend safari. Talk to you all soon.

Evan

Hey everyone!

So I'm doing this blog for all of those in the states who want to know how I'm doing, but are unable to talk with me/my communication is too bad that I forget to talk to people. To ge there, it was an 18 hour plane ride, by far the longest I had ever been on. And it was absolutely brutal. On the second leg, after we stopped in Dakar, Senegal, I was sick for the next ten hours, non stop throwing up and unable to get to sleep. I had never stared at a clock praying for the time to go away as much as I had that plane ride. After we landed everything was fine, leading me to believe it was mostly motion sickness thankfully.

So far, we have been in South Africa for about five days, and have been jam packed with different activities every day. We have seen many museums detailing the apartheid era, focusing on the different perspectives of the different classes of people who were involved in the struggle. Some of such perspectives include the students who led the Soweto uprisings in 1976 (when black students protested the forced teaching of the language of Afrikaans, which was seen as the language of the oppressor), workers who were constrained by apartheid struggle, the ANC (the liberation movement), Nelson Mandela (at his house that he lived in with his family in his adult life prior to being imprisoned), the Afrikaners (white citizens who enforced apartheid), as well as a general overview of all of the different viewpoints. It's safe to say that I am fairly well educated about the apartheid struggle.

Additionally, we toured one of the townships, called Kliptown. Unfortunately, it is the stereotypical picture that one has when they think about poor Africa. The houses are more like shacks and have 2-3 small rooms. They can't afford electricity or water within their own houses, so so there is a communal pump for water and electricity is rigged up from the nearby railroad tracks. The government has (obviously) made many promises to the citizens residing there about upkeeping the area and providing water and electricity, but little improvement, if any, have been made since the end of apartheid. The unemployment rate remains incredibly high at around 40% among the entire populations, with the numbers being even higher within the townships.

We also got to meet with representatives of the two main political parties in South Africa: the DA (Democratic Alliance) and ANC (African National Congress). In speaking in some American context, the DA is more conservative, while the ANC is more left-leaning. However, this is only in terms of economic issues. For social issues, especially regarding equality of all citizens regarding their demographics (age, race, orientation, etc) both parties are socially liberal, unlike the tumultuous relationships that the two parties have in the states over social issues. Philosophically, the ANC believes in the public sector providing the most basic needs to all people, such as water, electricity, housing, food, and education, among other needs. The DA agrees for housing and education, but believes that the private sector should be relied upon for providing water, food, and electricity. (With regard to these three needs, the ANC doesn't believe in providing unlimited amounts of each, but a subsistence level for poor citizens who couldn't afford such things within the private sector.) While these, among many other positions, are their philosophical platforms, the execution of such platforms does not reflect these positions, especially with the ANC. The ANC gains around 65%-70% of the vote each election, maintaining a good control of government. However, even with the influence that they exert due to their vast majority (the DA received their best percentage since apartheid ended last elections, with 17%), there is still great influence exerted by foreign corporations who essentially hold the country hostage, providing some of the exact problems that we are now witnessing in the states and that the ANC sought to prevent. Great subsidies have been given to these corporations, especially those from China, yet little is provided for their own citizens, as Chinese corporations bring their own workers to South Africa, thereby reducing the impact that this has for the country, which is the intended purpose of awarding the subsidies in the first place. Due to such relationships, along with other questionable appointments made within the party, many have made calls of nepotism among the party that ultimately have been a detriment both to the party as well as the country as a whole.

In addition to the policy implementation of the ANC, the political decisions made by the party are also questionable. First of all, because white voters tend to vote for the DA, the ANC has accused the DA opf being the party that seeks to bring back apartheid, which is completely untrue. Also, the ANC has much diversity of thought within the party, and has consolidated four different parties under the label of the ANC in order to maintain the strong majority. With such a diversity of thought within the party, there is much compromising and infighting, which gets away from one central philosophy. And once some compromise has been made within the party, there needs to be even more compromise once dealing with the other parties, thereby getting even further away from the intended positions and platform. They also require that anybody working for the party take and pass tests about the history of the liberation struggle. This has caused criticisms of living in the past and not being able to face the country's current problems because there is still too much pride of the past and not enough vision of the present and future.

Also of interest, particularly to me, is the role of the judiciary and constitutional law. Both parties don't hold much regard for constitutional precedence or enumerated rights, claiming that the judiciary has become too powerful and ought to be reigned in. Neither party evens considers the constitutional ramifications of their platforms. For instance, housing, water, electricity, and food are all rights and services that are constitutionally guaranteed to all, yet the political discussion is dominated around whether these services should be privatized, without a concern that this is a constitutional violation. Then, once some of such policies are ruled unconstitutional by the court, they are angry that the court is too activist. How can the ANC, which drafted the constitution, then be angry when the judiciary isn't holding them to what is essentially their own personal manifesto? Even if it is not the ANC who drafted the constitution, it is still the higher body of law that prevents the government from being able to maintain too much power and stray from the core values of the country.

On a less serious note, the food has been really good. I'm pretty sure I found my replacement for Moe's as my go-to restaurant. It is not a burrito place, but rather a chicken place called Nando's that is a South African chain and thankfully is in Namibia. I've ordered the same thing every time: chicken strips and rice with the lemon tango sauce, flame grilled mielie (corn), a portuguese roll, and a bottle of water. Everything, especially food, is much cheaper in South Africa, as that entire meal costs less than eight american dollars.

Another really cool thing that happened was on our trip to Nelson Mandela's house, one of his daughters was there with her family completely by chance, so we got to talk to her for a little bit. Mandela's grandson was there also, and he is our age and goes to school in the states. This week is actually his birthday, and he invited us to his birthday party at a club in Johannesburg. All on our first day. Unfortunately we can't go because we are going to our homestays tonight for the weekend (oh yeah, we are doing homestays for the weekend in Soweto, which used to be the largest townships in the apartheid era but is going through a transformation a la the Harlem renaissance).

That's pretty much it for now. With regard to pictures, I haven't figured out how to put them up here yet, (I'm going to need somebody to teach me), but they will be here soon. Another thing that everyone on my program will be doing is created a group flickr account where we will put all of our pictures on there together, as many of them would be the same. I'll post that link on here once we create it and start getting pictures up there. Also, if anyone who actually reads this far can think of a more creative name, that would be great because I can;t think of anything clever.

Talk to everyone soon (I'm assuming there is an everyone because it feels a bit odd writing to unaddressed people),

Evan