Open Arms in South Africa and Jane Letourneau

Delft/Bridging Academy Update

2010-02-17T00:03:00.000-08:00

Since I arrived in September, Edwin has been asking me to go with him to visit an area near a coloured township called Delft. As it always happens here your daily plans change constantly, everyday something else becomes a priority and things on your to do list keep going to the bottom. Two weeks ago I picked up a young woman who is from Minneapolis (such a small world) taking a 6 month course at a college here in Cape Town and brought her to the JL Zwane Centre. Her name is Laura Essenburg, she grew up in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis where her mother, Joani Esssenburg, started a non-profit called The Banyan Community (www.BanyanCommunity.org). The Banyan Community is diverse in race, class, culture and creed. Their common purpose is to develop their youth, strengthen the neighborhood families and create a sense of community. The reason I am talking about Laura and Banyan is because meeting Laura here in South Africa is the first time I didn't have to explain cultural diversity to a visitor. Laura lives it everyday and her wanting to come to South Africa to learn more about diversity and the challenges faced after Apartheid really impressed me. On the way back to drop Laura off Edwin asked if we had time to visit the Delft township that he kept wanting to take me to. As we drove along the road I couldn't believe what I saw. I am so used to seeing township shacks lining the road built anywhere there is an open piece of land that when I saw these zinc shacks lined up so uniformly I could only think that they looked like a communist built community. Edwin explained that these shacks were put up by the government about seven years ago after they removed residents from a neighboring township. We actually went into the area called Symphony Way, yes, can you believe it, and drove around. From what we could tell there were four shacks to every port-a-potty and water tap. We went to the "information centre" to talk to the people there and were told that there were about 12,000 people living in Symphony Way. There were blacks, coloured and even a few white people. As we talked to Oudie, Fatima and Gerald, we found out that Oudie has been waiting for a government home for 23 years and and Fatima for 20 years. Next to the information centre we saw people giving out food, there was quite a line and we were told that the food was donated through a non-profit organization called HOPE (I mentioned HOPE in my 11/30/09 blog). Oudie, Fatima and Gerald are community leaders for Symphony Way and when we asked them what their biggest challenges were they said education, employment and violence. Due to the lack of employment and that many of the youth were not attending school, the youth turned to violence within the community and as community leaders they did not know how to control it and were becoming disillusioned. They said the police do not even want to come into the area. This is a common thread throughout the townships in South Africa and a ongoing point of controversy.

On to happier news. This past Saturday I went with Mel back to the Bridging Academy (12/15/09 blog) for the official grand opening of the building and grounds. We were so excited to go back to see the children and talk to them about their new life at Bridging. When Mel and I drove up they came running to the car with the biggest smiles on their faces, they were so excited to see Mel (Mel was their mentor from the Orphan Programme at the centre) and be able to tell her everything. The programme started with the founders, Dennis and Susan Wadley, talking about their dream for the academy and how wonderful it felt to see it become a reality, to the finale with the children singing and dancing. It was a heartwarming experience for me just to see the children and to know they have a safe place to live and at the same time are getting the education and the nutrition to help them learn and grow. They told us that they were so happy making new friends, that they loved their teachers and of course the food!

Photos:

1. and 2. Symphony Way

3. Volunteer, Fatima, Gerald and Oudie at Symphony Way

4. Bridging Academy Students

5. Mel and children from the JL Zwane Orphan Programme at Bridging

Bye for now...

Broadway in South Africa/Free Day

2010-02-11T03:52:00.000-08:00

The JL Zwane Centre was once again the chosen venue for Broadway in South Africa's 2010 4 day workshop. I blogged about BSA last year when they visited the centre for the first time, working with 50 children who benefited from the very talented group from Broadway in NYC. This year they expanded their program to include 75 children from five townships around Cape Town. Many of the children were part of the program last year and were thrilled to be invited back to sing, dance, write, act and greet the friends they had made in 2009. They were mentored by nine members of BSA, five who had been here last year and were thrilled to have the opportunity to be with the children again. The children ranged in age from 7 to 14. Their big finale was on a Saturday when the parents, family members and friends could all congregate to watch the children perform. It was a wonderful performance full of laughter and energy! The JL Zwane Centre was honored to be chosen once again to be a part of Broadway in South Africa's tour and they hope to host them again in 2011.

If you have been reading my blog you might remember my posting introducing you to Mary Sili. In 2008 Mary started a soup kitchen for the school children in her neighborhood. Mary makes sandwiches and rolls and sells them for a nominal price to the children after school, trying to give them a healthy alternative to chips and candy. Christmas 2008 was a very sad and difficult time for Mary and her family. Her youngest son Nandile, had been killed in a car crash on Christmas morning. Mary was devastated by the loss of her son. Nandile had been helping Mary everyday with her soup kitchen. Mary was so saddened at the loss of Nandile that she did not have the heart to continue with the soup kitchen. She shut it down and went into a very sad state of being. When I returned in September of 2009 Mary kept saying that she still was not ready to start her soup kitchen but wanted me to be patient with her. (John and I had helped with the initial start up costs, refrigerator and supplies.) I think she felt she was letting us down. Christmas day brought many memories back to Mary and her family on the first anniversary of the death of Nandile. Instead of being sad, Mary decided that they should celebrate Nandile, she knew this is what he would have wanted, so they had a party. They brewed their own beer and invited all of Nandile's friends over to the house and they danced and partied celebrating the life of Nandile. The best part of this is that Mary realized that to honor Nandile she should reopen her soup kitchen and help the children in her neighborhood. One day last week I went to Mary's to see the soup kitchen in action and decided it was going to be a free day. You should have seen the look on their little faces as they realized they didn't have to pay for their treats. Word got out, they started coming in droves, we had a few try to get seconds but we recognized them and Mary would scold them in Xhosa. There were so many of them at times that they would push against the door making it quite chaotic. Somehow me talking to them in English that they needed to behave did nothing, but the moment Gogo Mary spoke they paid attention, quieted down and lined up quite orderly. It was a very fun and lively afternoon. Mary and I would just laugh as the children ran away smiling and giggling! Mary told me that many came the next day hoping I would be there to continue free day!

Photos:

1. Broadway in South Africa Members

2 and 3. BSA performers

4 and 5. Recipients of free day.

Bye for now...

Kevin was here, that's my excuse!

2010-02-03T02:42:00.000-08:00

I am back to blogging, I am not really going to blame Kevin that it has been so long but it is a good excuse instead of just being a procrastinator. Kevin arrived the 19th of January with his sister Barb and niece Amy and were here until the 31st of January. The best thing about having visitors is that I get to revisit places that I haven't been to in awhile so it is nice to reconnect with people that I miss seeing on a regular basis.

In just one day we did the following:

Our first visit was to a school in Nyanga (a black township whose name means moon in Xhosa) called Mkhanyiseli, which means Light of the World (or something like that according to my Xhosa friends!). We visited the first grade class of Noxie, a member of the JL Zwane Church congregation. Noxie has been at the school since 1978. It is a government school meaning that the school is free for the students but they still have to pay for their uniforms and stationery. Noxie has one assistant to help with 34 students in her class, more boys than girls and she says her biggest challenge is with discipline. When I asked Noxie what her biggest challenge was for her besides the discipline problem she said that she has to purchase most of the items she uses in class herself. The government supplies the basics but nothing extra to help the children learn more. She wants to get the map of the world, a weather chart, a number chart and containers to store their supplies in. They always need crayons, writing utensils and of course more paper. I think this is the same struggle in schools back home in the United States, am I right?

After visiting with Noxie we went to Nancy's Place. Nancy is the mother of a twelve year old girl Ntombi, who has cerebral palsy. Ntombi had been in day care at a centre called "Golden Girls" (yes, it was named for the show starring Bea Arthur and Betty White) that housed approximately 35 children living with physical and mental disabilities that had been discarded (a word constantly used at the home) by their parents who either didn't want them or couldn't afford to take care of them. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) Golden Girls was shut down in 2007 due to the care and cleanliness of the facility and mismanagement of funds. At the time of the closure Nancy didn't know how she was going to take care of Ntombi. Since she didn't have another centre to take Ntombi to she made the decision to quit her job and stay home with Ntombi and try to take care of some of the other children that also had no where to go, this is how Nancy's Place came to be. With help from the JL Zwane Centre, Nancy is able to care for Ntombi and 14 other children. Ten of the children live in Nancy's Place full time, the other five are day residents. JL Zwane supports Nancy's Place with food, nappies and helping to find funding from the US and internationally.

After Nancy's Place we proceeded to Khayelitsha, a black township with over 750,000 people. Khayelitsha has the highest HIV+ rate in the Cape Town area. Over 75% are unemployed, living in shacks without water and electricity and unable to attend school due to not having an income. Amidst all this tragedy is TAC - Treatment Action Campaign (I blogged about TAC last year) run by Mandla Majola. The JL Zwane Centre has been a friend and supporter of TAC for many years. When Kevin was here in 2003 he befriended Mandla and a friendship between Open Arms and TAC developed. There are over 3000 volunteers with TAC working in the township walking door to door educating the community on the prevention of HIV/AIDS and working in clinics to educate people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Many of these volunteers themselves are HIV+, have no jobs and work tirelessly to be a voice for others. TAC wanted to help some of these volunteers who they felt were the neediest of the needy by providing food parcels to them. Open Arms helped raise enough funds (thank you Tony!) to provide 54 food parcels. We went to Khayelitsha to help distribute them, meet the recipients and to thank them for all they do for the people of Khayelitsha. The media was on hand to take pictures and interview Kevin and Mandla about the day and what TAC represents in the community. After we distributed the food parcels Mandla drove us to an area of Khayelitsha to visit a few of the people who received the food parcels. I have been in many shacks since 2001 but one of the ones we visited was the worst I had ever seen. A family consisting of a father, mother and a one year old little boy were living in this tiny, dark (no windows), mildewy wood/zinc/garbage shack. The father and mother were both unemployed. I remembered seeing the father and little boy at the distribution because the little boy was so cute and so well behaved, unlike some of the other children who ran around screaming and hitting each other, he just stood by his dad quietly. When we were in his shack talking to his father I picked up Ayabonga and as I was holding him I realized why he was so quiet and well behaved, he was sick. Ayabonga's skin was so hot and his breathing was irregular and raspy. I touched his little forehead and knew right away he had a temperature. It was very hard to leave him but as soon as I got home I called Mandla and asked him to please have someone go to his home and take him to the clinic. The next day Mandla emailed me to tell me that they did take him to the clinic and that he was very sick. Unfortunately, I do not have an update on Ayabonga. I have left a message for Mandla and I am waiting to hear. I can't stop thinking of him and probably now you can't either so I will keep you updated. Everyday I am still amazed and angered that human beings still have to live like that...

The day still isn't finished! After TAC we visited Lydia and Neo (I blogged about them last year and updated you this year). Kevin can not come to Cape Town and leave until a visit to Lydia is made! Lydia was one of the first persons he met in 2003 participating in the HIV/AIDS Support Group at JL Zwane (Open Arms supports the meal program at the centre). Kevin was able to see the new zinc home that Lydia was living in thanks to Arm In Arm In Africa (a non-profit based in Minneapolis)! They are still very happy, warm and dry. Neo is growing like a weed, his current course of ARV's seem to be working which is a positive thing.

The time with Kevin, Barb and Amy was wonderful. We experienced new things together and ended the trip with a two day safari at Inyati where I went in November with my sister Mary and her husband Ray. It was sad to say good-bye to them at the airport and not be going back home with them to Minnesota, a few tears did fall. One consolation though was when I thought about the snow and cold, returning to Cape Town didn't seem so bad!

Photos:

1. Students in Noxie's first grade class.

2. Kevin and Mandla with a food parcel recipient.

3. Little Ayabonga with his dad.

4. Kevin, Lydia and Neo.

5. Couldn't resist posting this safari picture!

Bye for now...

University of St. Thomas/VISION Group

2010-01-22T02:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I am back in Cape Town and I realize I haven't blogged for awhile but I didn't have anything to blog about since the centre was closed but fortunately for me along came the VISION Group from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN.

VISION is an acronym for "Volunteers In Service Internationally or Nationally". Since 1987 thousands of students have traveled the globe trying to affect positive social change and to experience the diverse beauty of the world's cultures. There are six components to the VISION Program: Service, Simplicity, Community, Justice Issues, Spirituality and Cultural Exchange. This is the first time that VISION has been to South Africa. The focus of their program is AIDS, Apartheid and the Arts of Resistance coordinated by Kim Vrudney, Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas and Richard Cogill, an Anglican priest in the Western Cape Diocese. The VISION group consisted of one staff member and 9 students, all girls! The VISION group is here for 3 weeks, the first week they spent touring Cape Town and learning the history of Apartheid through lectures, films and books. I come into the picture because they spent 5 nights in the township, staying at the homes of members of the JL Zwane congregation. Edwin (manager of the JL Zwane Centre, I profiled Edwin last year) and I worked on their itinerary and housing arrangements. It was such a wonderful week for all of us. The students raised $8,000 for food parcels that they assembled and distributed one day to 130 people in the community of Guguletu. They visited clinics and hospitals, spent a morning going out with hospice carers into the homes of people who needed assistance, served lunch to seniors at the CPOA Senior Centre (the centre where Mary and Teach were at) and went to a clinic with Siyaya where Siyaya performed a play to educate the people in the clinic about HIV/AIDS, TB and STDS. In the evenings they all congregated at one of the homestay families home for dinner, music and dancing. I went along on the last night where there was much happiness but also sadness in the fact that the students would be leaving the host families the next day. They openly shared their feelings and experiences with their mamas and their new families, I have to say I teared up, the mamas also shared their feelings, it was one big love fest!

If you have been reading my blog you read about me being late to the mass when Archbishop Desmond Tutu was presiding. Well, thanks to the VISION Group I was able to redeem myself. Richard is a close, personal friend of the Archbishop and so the VISION Group was invited to attend mass and meet him after. They invited me along, I made sure that I was on time, in fact early so once again I had the pleasure of being in his presence. After mass we were able to greet him and get our photo taken. I made sure I was in that photo to prove I really did meet him. After mass we had coffee with him and some of the students were able to get their books and postcards autographed by him. I was taking pictures of him, trying not to be too obvious so I decided not to push the autograph thing realizing that I was just invited along, I was not a student!

After coffee we went and toured the Provincial Parliament Building. It was very educational. I learned so much more about the history of South Africa, Apartheid and their government. I still struggle with how their political system operates but I will continue to try and learn.

For their last few days VISION is staying at a retreat centre outside Cape Town where they will reflect on all they have seen, heard and participated in. I am sure they will have a lot to talk about and to share with each other. I thoroughly enjoyed this group of bright, energetic, lovely young woman and hope they took away as much from their visit as I did.

Kevin Winge arrived this week so everyone at the centre is over the moon. I know I will be busy but I will try to blog about all we encounter, always an exciting time when Kevin is here. Having spent 6 months here himself he has so many people that want to spend time with him. It is Kevin's birthday on Saturday and so we are having a party for him. So far there are almost 30 guests, who knew we had so many friends in South Africa!

Photos:

1. Homestay families (note the JL Zwane t-shirts).

2. Team effort putting food parcels together.

3. The seniors singing for the VISION Group.

4. VISION Group with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

5. VISION Group at the Provincial Parliament Building.

Bye for now...

Happy Festive Season

2009-12-28T15:36:00.000-08:00

I left Cape Town on December 20th, a warm, sunny day with a temperature of about 80 degrees to fly back to the US for the holidays. I managed to stay ahead of the snow but did get delayed in both Amsterdam and in Seattle. I arrived in Sun Valley, Idaho to snow and cold weather, about 10 degrees, a very large delta! I went from the sea to the mountains, I can't really complain about that, I am very fortunate to be able to live in both places. I will be in Idaho until January 3rd and will return to Cape Town on the 5th. The centre reopens on January 7th starting with a visit from the VISION Group from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, Kevin Winge from Open Arms of Minnesota and Broadway in South Africa (from NYC, I blogged about them last year) will once again hold a 4 day workshop for the children living in the townships. Stay tuned for more stories from Cape Town!

Hoping you all had a very merry holiday season and here's to a very happy and healthy New Year for you, your family and loved ones!

(I had many people ask me what happened to the 10 orphans who were not accepted at the Bridging Academy. They will continue to be a part of the Orphan Programme at the JL Zwane Centre, continue their education at the schools they were enrolled in last year and continue to live with their current caregivers. Thank you for reading my blog and for asking me questions!)

Photos:

1. View from my flat of the sea (Atlantic Ocean, Capetonians call the ocean the sea).

2. View of the new soccor stadium for the 2010 World Cup from my flat.

3. Winter in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Bye for now...

Bridging Academy

2009-12-15T01:05:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday I went with the Rev. Mel Baars and 30 orphan children to wine country. Don't get the wrong idea, we didn't go to do wine tasting, we went to visit a school for orphaned and vulnerable children. Bridging Academy sits on a 12.5 acre farm about 45 minutes from Cape Town in the beautiful countryside of Franschoek. The area is surrounded by mountains, wine farms and olive groves. The Academy opened in January 2008 by an American couple from Santa Barbara, Dennis and Susan Wadley. Their goal was to be able to offer a safe place for orphaned and vulnerable children and to give them the opportunity to receive a good education along with a stable living environment. The school started with 30 children, in 2009 they grew to 40 and for 2010 are looking to enroll 50 - 60 orphaned and vulnerable children. Each year they intend to gradually increase the enrollment until they reach their capacity of 100 students from grades 5 - 12. Their staff consists of a Principal, 5 full-time teachers, 5 house parents, 3 part-time teachers, a counselor, a social worker and an administrator. Bridging Academy is a fully accredited school by the South African Education Department. Besides their required courses, the children participate in the maintenance of the farm, meal preparation and learning entrepreneurial skills by contributing to the Academy Gift Shop.

The cost for a child is as follows:

Room and Board: $100 per month

Books, Uniforms, Supplies, Transportation, Field Trips, Birthday, etc: $50 per month

Teachers, House Parents, Principal's salaries: $200 per month

The 30 children from the orphan program from the JL Zwane centre were invited to Bridging Academy for the day for assessment into the program. The children were first given a tour of the grounds, the rooms where they would sleep, the school area and the eating/kitchen area. (The buildings are beautiful, the architecture was Arts and Crafts, very comfortable and fit right in with the scenery.) After the tour they all assembled to hear the rules of the school, (I realized listening to some of the rules that many of these children have not been taught certain life skills that we take for granted, ie: proper use of a washroom, how to dispose of garbage, how to take care of the area in which they live.) and the itinerary for a typical school day. After the question and answer period was over it was time for the hard part, the assessment tests! The children broke up into their age groups and were handed the tests that would determine their acceptance into the program. They were very nervous but also very excited. I could tell that many of them were also very scared. After the alloted time for the assessment test they had lunch of chicken, rice and vegetables. After lunch each child had a one on one interview with the principal, the teachers and the social worker. It was a very long day but one filled with excitement and wonderment at what their future held.

That evening I received an email from Mel. The school had accepted 20 children, this was a very momentous occasion. A new relationship was being forged between the JL Zwane Centre and Bridging Academy for the future of many orphaned and vulnerable children from the townships!

Photos:

1. Ready to leave for Franschhoek!

2. Bridging Academy.

3. Girls bedroom.

4. Getting ready for the assessment test.

Bye for now...

World AIDS Day/Food Parcel Day

2009-12-07T01:38:00.000-08:00

The other day I was reading in the Economist an article called "How to Feed the World". It started out with the following paragraph: In 1974 Henry Kissenger, then America's secretary of state, told the first world food conference in Rome that no child would go to bed hungry within ten years. Just over 35 years later, in the week of another United Nations food summit in Rome, 1 billion people will go to bed hungry."

Tuesday, December 1st was World AIDS Day. In South Africa it is a day of reflection, prayer, celebration and remembrance. Since 2004, Open Arms has been recognizing World AIDS Day in South Africa at the JL Zwane Centre by distributing food parcels to members of the HIV/AIDS Support Group, the Orphan Program and senior citizens in the Guguletu community. Last year we distributed 350 food parcels, this year due to the financial situation in the US and the devalue of the dollar we distributed 250. Even though it was a smaller amount the feeling among the community remained one of hope and relief. It is an interesting concept to many of us when we say that someone has no food. I remember growing up and being hungry and going into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator and just hanging on the door and saying to my parents, "we have nothing to eat" and they would look at me like I was crazy. It wasn't like we didn't have food, oh my word, we always had food, but that day it just wasn't what I was hungry for. Most people in the townships do not even have a refrigerator door to hang on and if they do it is the size of the coolers we take on a picnic, so when they say they are hungry they really are. When I am in the grocery store I look at what people are buying, the most common purchase is a loaf of bread and when I say a loaf of bread that is it. It is normally someone with a child, just a loaf of bread because it is cheap and filling. Open Arms' food parcels are made up of staples such as rice, maize, flour, sugar, oil, samp, beans, pilchards and chicken. The cost of a parcel is $40, it will feed a family of seven for one month. It is more than just a loaf of bread.

Food parcel day is a great day to bring the many friends of Open Arms together. We had 2 white South Africans, 2 coloured South Africans, a Canadian and 7 Americans that were visiting from different areas of the US. They all came together as one group with one mission, to help some of the 1 billion people in the world to not go hungry. We started unloading the truck at 10:00 AM, by noon all the parcels were assembled. It took a lot of teamwork, sweat and muscle. People started coming around 1:00 PM to wait to be called to receive their parcel. It is done very orderly. Rev. Spiwo and his wife Zethu call out the names and the people come and take their parcel. Due to the weight of the parcel and the number of items, many of them have family members or friends to help carry the food to a nearby taxi. (Remember most of the people in the townships do not have their own form of transportation.) The most frail of them all somehow manage to lift their buckets with a smile on their face and a big hug for us. By 5:00 PM all the parcels had been distributed. It was a very long day filled with many different emotions but I think we all went away with the knowledge that there were going to be some very full and happy stomachs that evening!

I had an interesting situation occur the other day. I went into the Woolworths (grocery store chain in South Africa) store near my flat to arrange to pick up 50 of their reusable grocery bags. These bags are very colorful and Open Arms uses them to distribute small food parcels to senior citizens at the CPOA in Guguletu. (We will be distributing 50 bags this Thursday, December 10th.) The manager asked me what I was going to do with all these bags. I explained about Open Arms and our work in Guguletu at JL Zwane and the CPOA Senior Centre. He asked if we were a charity organization. I said yes and than he asked me to write a letter to Woolworths telling them about Open Arms and our programs and to bring it to him the next day when I picked up our bags. I brought the letter the next day and thanked him. Around 8:00 PM that evening I received a call from Woolworths telling me that they would like to donate food to the JL Zwane Centre but that I would have to pick it up the next day at noon. I said I would be happy to and would it fit in my car. "No", he said, "you must bring a bakkie (a pick up truck)". I called Spiwo and arranged a truck, driver and two young men to help. They were right on time at Woolworths to pick up the food. We brought it to the centre and unpacked everything. The next day was church service and to the surprise of the congregation we were able to offer them bread, fruit and vegetables. Once again we could smile about the fact that more people within the community would not be going home hungry that day. I also felt so grateful to Woolworths for their compassion for the people of South Africa.

Photos:

1. Unloading the truck from Elite Foods.

2. 5 gallon buckets filled with food.

3. The Food Parcel Brigade.

4. People waiting for their food parcel.

5. How about this for a balancing act!

Bye for now...

Refugee Service at JL Zwane

2009-12-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, November 29th, JL Zwane hosted a special church service to welcome refugees from the Cape Town Refugee Centre. Instead of preaching to the congregants Rev. Spiwo Xapile made the following statement: "My intention is not to preach today but to listen to your stories." The refugees came from all over the continent of Africa; the Congo, Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia, Rwanda and Burundi. Appeals were made for South Africans to rid themselves of xenophobia and accept African refugees as human beings. The senior manager of the Western Cape Immigration Office, Richard Sikakane, attended the service and remarked that the influx of foreigners was an overwhelming challenge for the Department of Home Affairs. He commented that: "They are people like us. Let's look at them and treat them like people." It is stated that black-on-black hatred is a big problem in South Africa. One Zimbabwean remarked "Other races don't hate each other but black people hate each other. In Zimbabwe there is no South African or Congolese. We are all one nation." Having to leave their homes, family and country is hard enough for many but to not be accepted in a country of fellow Africans is very confusing to them. They have had their dignity taken away from them and hope someday to be accepted and treated with respect. A young woman from Angola stood on stage and recited a poem she wrote on xenophobia, the congregants were on their feet applauding her, this time she felt loved and accepted.

During the course of the service, Siyaya, the musical group from the JL Zwane Centre, performed songs of hope and love inspiring the congregants to get up on their feet and dance and sway with exuberance. Great Sound of Vision, a band made up of blind refugees from Zimbabwe assisted by Zimbabwean musician Patricia Matongo, had the crowd screaming for more. Near the end of the service Rev. Spiwo asked all the children to come to the front of the stage. They all ran up together, his words to them were: "All I want you to do today is go out there and play together, just play together as children!"

Those words ring true for both children and adults, just go out there and play together!

Photos: 1. Rev. Spiwo, elders of JL Zwane and Rev. Mel assisting in the service.

2. Siyaya performing their songs of inspiration.

3. Great Sound of Vision and twins Obey and Gracious.

Bye for now...

Ikamva Labantu and Hope Initiatives

2009-11-30T02:09:00.000-08:00

Ikamva Labantu:

In 2007 ANSA International partnered with an organization in Cape Town, South Africa called Ikamva Labantu (it means the future of our nation in Xhosa). IL was started by Helen Lieberman 45 years ago during the time of apartheid. Helen started working with women in the poverty stricken townships around Cape Town. IL is an umbrella organization working with and assisting various sectors of the population: children, youth, families, seniors and those physically challenged. In October, ANSA did a site visit to IL to review the current programs and discuss going forward for 2010. Since I am currently the interim director of ANSA it was my responsibility to set up the itinerary and organize the program for the week. There were four people total. Three people from Seattle (including a state senator) and one person from Boston. We spent the first two days visiting the programs in the townships starting with creches (day care centers), care givers (foster mothers with up to 11 children) and senior centers. IL is in the process of building a wellness centre in Khayelitsha (a township with over 750, 000 people and an HIV+ rate of over 20%) which will benefit the community by sponsoring a daily meal to providing training on food safety and security. There will be access to health services and the ability to be referred to a specialist. The wellness centre will be called Enkululekweni, Xhosa for Freedom. You can learn more about Ikamva Labantu by visiting their website at: www.ikamva.org. ANSA also met with TAC (Treatment Action Campaign), spent time at the JL Zwane Center, visited HOPE, a program for HIV+ children at Tygerberg Hospital and met with the woman at Monkeybiz. It was a very busy week for the ANSA team but they were able to visit the many beautiful tourist sites of Cape Town also.

Hope Initiative:

The other organization ANSA partnered with in 2007 was Hope Initiatives in Windhoek, Namibia. I did blog about HISA when I was there in February. That time I was visiting as a representative of Open Arms, this time I was representing the ANSA International Program. ANSA sponsors a nutrition program for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC's), HIV/AIDS Support Group and carers (the carers are the woman who look after the orphan children), the salary for the nutritionist and two community gardens. Early November I traveled to Namibia to meet with Patricia Sola and John Mafukidze who founded HISA in 2004. There was only one other ANSA member besides me, Doug Gosling, a master gardener from Sonoma County, CA. Doug was also on the visit in February where he and a few others constructed the first community garden. Doug trained the garden team about crop rotation, insects, fertilizer, irrigation and composting. On arriving to Kilimandjaro (the site of the food program and the community gardens) we were amazed at what we saw. The garden was beautiful. We had been told that the garden was producing vegetables for use in the kitchen but until you actually see what was being harvested it is hard to believe. The garden is helping to feed over 650 children and adults a day. The purpose of this trip was to construct a second community garden and to review the existing programs. Doug started working with the garden team in preparing the ground for planting. It took less than two weeks to complete the garden along with a beautiful stone walkway and planter area. It was a very productive week and I look forward to seeing the second garden flourish.

Tomorrow is December 1, World AIDS Day. Open Arms will be providing food parcels to 250 people; members of the HIV/AIDS Support Group, orphan children, senior citizens and members of the Guguletu community. Each $40 parcel contains enough food for a family of seven for a month. It is not too late to purchase a food parcel, log on to the Open Arms website at: www.openarmsmn.org. (Sorry, you know I always have to plug OA and their programs!)

Photos: 1. Ikamva Labantu and ANSA Team: Me, Ishrene (CEO, IL), Eileen (Community Servings, Boston), Helen (Founder and Honorary President, IL), (back row) Ed Murray (State Senator Seattle), Steve (Congressional Hunger Center), Eric (Board Chair: Lifelong AIDS Alliance, Seattle), David (Executive Director: Lifelong, Seattle), Lulama (Nutritionist, IL)

2. Creche

3. Original garden Feb. 2009 Namibia

4. Original garden Nov. 2009 Namibia

5. John and Patricia, founders of HISA

Bye for now...

Where in the world is Jane?

2009-11-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my last blog was dated Oct. 17th! Ok, the following are my excuses: Oct. 19-23 the ANSA group from the US was here. ANSA stands for Association of Nutrition Services Agencies, it is an umbrella organization based in Washington D.C. that does advocacy work for HIV/AIDS and nutrition programs for member agencies like Open Arms of MN. As I mentioned in my email to all of you when I was returning to Cape Town I was going be taking on the position of the interim director of ANSA's International Program. ANSA partnered with a non-profit organization in Cape Town, Ikamva Labantu in 2007. The group was here doing a site visit and working on the program for 2010. Oct. 23-31 I was in Paris with John. Ok, that was not work, that was a vacation. We met in Paris and spent the week taking in all the beautiful sites of Paris. The weather was cool and sunny, perfect walking weather. Nov. 1-6 I was in Windhoek, Namibia with the second group from ANSA visiting Hope Initiatives, the other non-profit organization that ANSA partnered with in 2007. Nov. 8-19th my sister Mary and her husband Ray came to Cape Town to visit me. We spent a few days in the townships and other days doing the touristy thing. Unfortunately for Mary and Ray the weather precluded them from visiting the major tourist attractions of Cape Town. We did go on a 3 day safari in Sabi Sand near Kruger. It was the perfect ending to their vacation. We were able to see the big 5, the only animal we didn't see was the zebra. I will be expounding on both ANSA programs in my next blogs. My main objective for this blog was to let you know I was still in Cape Town!

While I was in Namibia I received a call that my friend Teach had passed away. I mentioned him in my blog last year and also this year. Right before I left for Paris I stopped by to visit Teach and to bring him some food. As I left him I started to cry, I had this horrible feeling that I might not see him again, I was right. I was able to go to his memorial service. Being that the service was in Xhosa I had my friend Ben translate for me. A neighbor of Teach got up to talk about Teach and how she and her son took care of him by making sure he had food each day. She also made a plea to the congregation to please not leave electrical wires on the floor of their homes. Teach had just moved in with his niece and in the middle of the night he got up to use the bathroom and on his way back to bed he tripped on the electrical wire on the floor, fell down and hit his head, he never woke up. If the wire had not been on the floor Teach would still be with us today. I miss him, I drive by the Senior Centre everyday and think of him. In honor of Teach, Open Arms will be doing food parcels for the Senior Centre for Christmas this year.

I forgot to mention that I had a very interesting experience. On Friday, Oct. 16th my friend Richard invited me to attend a mass at St. George's Cathedral where Archbishop Desmond Tutu was officiating. The mass was to start at 7:15 AM. I wrote in my datebook 7:15 but in my mind I kept thinking 7:45. I left my flat at 7:15, got to St. George's, found a parking spot and started walking into the vestibule where the mass was. As I am walking in I notice how quiet it is (my shoes were making that awful click-clack sound) and to my horror I realize that I am walking in during the middle of the mass, they were just getting ready to give the sign of peace. I quickly walk in, find a seat and sit down. I see Richard and he smiles at me and motions to me to come and sit by him. Everyone starts to get up and give the sign of peace. Archbishop Tutu gives the sign of peace to each member and comes to me and says welcome. When he returns to the altar he says "Richard, please introduce us to your friend." Ok, I could just die, I am so embarrassed. Richard gets up, introduces me, says that I am from the US working with a non-profit, Open Arms of MN at the JL Zwane Centre in Guguleu. Seriously, this is so excruciatingly painful for me. After the mass we all line up to greet the Archbishop. It comes to my turn, he shakes my hand and says, "Thank you for joining us today Jane, nice meeting you." He remembered my name! I have this feeling he remembers everyones name. I was invited to have coffee with the group after mass so I did join them. I wasn't able to sit next to him but I met some very interesting people that morning. He is a small man but his persona is huge.

I was able to return to the centre on Friday, everyone kept asking me who I was, it was very funny. My next blogs will be about Ikamva Labantu and Hope Initiatives so you can meet the ANSA International partners.

Bye for now...

Photos: In honor of Teach and the animals from safari.

Lydia and Neo

2009-10-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

I introduced you to Lydia and Neo last year. Lydia has been HIV positive for 15 years and her son Neo, 6 years old, is also HIV positive. Lydia is a member of the HIV/AIDS Support Group at the JL Zwane centre and when she is feeling good she volunteers as an AIDS educator at Neo's primary school. Over the past 6 months when I was in Minneapolis, my friend Mel would keep me updated on Lydia and Neo. Their health is like being on a major roller coaster ride. Each week it would seem that it was either Lydia or Neo going to the hospital. Both Lydia and Neo struggle with their ARV treatments, Neo suffers from epileptic seizures and Lydia also has breast cancer. Before I returned home last March I brought a group from Minneapolis, Arm In Arm in Africa, a non-profit that raises money and awareness to assist with food, education, hospice and health related issues to people living in Guguletu and Malungeni (the home of Rev. Spiwo Xapile, minister and founder of the JL Zwane Community Church and the JL Zwane Centre, in the Eastern Cape) to visit Lydia. At the time of their visit Lydia's home (her shack) was becoming a health hazard. The shack had mold, a leaking roof, was drafty and did not protect them from the outside elements. The JL Zwane Centre had been trying to do what they could to help Lydia with small repairs but it was becoming apparent that the small repairs were not enough anymore. AIAIA to the rescue! They very generously offered to build a new home for Lydia and Neo. This was a dream come true, they were going to have a new home! We hired a local builder, Ikhayalami, who were so moved by Lydia's situation that they reduced the cost of the shack and even threw in extra cladding! The new home is made of zinc, has windows, a door, flooring and is safe from the outside elements. You may be picturing a home with a separate bedroom, bathroom and kitchen like the homes we live in but the shacks in the townships are normally one room without plumbing. They do have electricity so they have lighting and the ability to cook food and watch TV.

I left Cape Town before seeing the completion of their new home. Edwin, director of the JL Zwane Centre, would send pictures so I could see the progress each day. (The old shack was taken down and the new home put up in one week.) Upon returning to Cape Town I immediately went to check on Lydia and Neo and see their new home. I can't tell you the emotion I felt when I saw their home with my own eyes, they had painted the zinc a beautiful red color (Lydia wanted her new home to be seen), it looked sturdy and was warm and cozy inside. The smiles on their faces said it all. AIAIA you should be so proud of what you did for Lydia and Neo. They look forward to your visit in 2010 so they can show their gratitude to you in person.

The Photo is of Lydia and Neo in front of their new home!

Bye for now...

I'm back!

2009-10-10T05:58:00.000-07:00

Well I am a bit embarrassed at the realization that my last blog was dated March 5th because I didn't leave Cape Town until April 3rd. I can only use the excuse that Kevin (Kevin Winge, Executive Director of Open Arms of MN, the organization I am here representing) came around that time and it seemed we were busy from the day he arrived until the day we left. I hope that is a good reason/excuse instead of actually telling you that blogging isn't really my thing! I was going to do a blog to tell you how it felt returning home after 6 months but that didn't happen either and now 6 months later I am back in Cape Town. I can tell you this, I feel like I never left. I left Minneapolis on September 27th, arrived in Cape Town the evening of the 28th and was at the centre the 29th. I was fortunate to be able to rent the same flat, rent the same model of car and I am working with the same wonderful people at the centre. I will tell you the one fear I have each time I go away and return: did anyone I know and love pass away while I was gone and there wasn't a way to let me know? One person I think about on a constant basis is Teach. I hope you remember him from one of my first blogs. Mary and Teach ran the Senior Centre in Gugs. Mary was the director for many years and Teach was a volunteer and than became a salaried employee. I am able to keep track of Mary because her daughter, Marilyn, lives in Johannesburg and has computer access so I email Marilyn on a regular basis to get a "Mary" update. Teach on the other hand has no family that I am able to contact. So upon my arrival to Gugs I immediately went to see Mary to give her a big hug and find out how she was coping (in my January blog I wrote about the death of Mary's youngest son Nandile). I also asked about Teach. Mary said that she hadn't seen him in a while and hadn't talked to him. I had his cell number but she said that his cell had been stolen so that wasn't the correct number. When I hear this kind of news I immediately start to worry so I asked Mary if we could go to where Teach was supposed to be staying. Mary's oldest son Lulu took us to the home he thought Teach was at, we knocked on the door, the window and yelled his name to no avail. Finally Lulu went to the back and was able to get in the house. There was Teach, lying in bed, very sick, he had pneumonia and was all alone. He said he had tablets for his pneumonia and had been to see the doctor. We had brought some juice and some bread with us just in case of this very situation. Teach was so happy to see us and I have to say, I was so happy to see him alive! He is 82 years old, very thin and with very poor circulation. He has trouble walking because his little feet are so swollen. I have never seen Teach without a tie on, here he was without a tie and wearing a hat and heavy clothing to stay warm. My heart broke, my fear of coming back and losing someone I love didn't come true but I felt it had been too close. The next day I went back to see Teach with a bag of food and happily found out that Teach was going to go live with his grand daughter and her family. It was such a comfort to Teach and to all of us that there was someone to love him and to take care of him. He is smiling so big in the photo that you forget he is so sick. It was so nice to see Mary and Teach together!

I have been in Cape Town almost two weeks now. I have been able to visit some of the friends that I had introduced you to last year and I will continue to update you on how they are doing and to also inform you of new things happening in the townships and in Cape Town. Hope you will stay tuned!

Bye for now...

Namibia

2009-03-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

The other reason I was a bit delinquent in blogging last week was the morning after John left I flew to Windhoek, Namibia. This was my second trip to Namibia. John, Kevin Winge and I went there in November of 2006 to check out a food programme called Hope Initiatives. HI was started by Patricia Sola, a woman from Zimbabwe who had received her masters degree in psychology from the UK. Patricia had been working with children in refugee camps in Zambia and came to Windhoek to visit her sister who was very ill. When she saw what was happening or actually not happening, she decided to stay and be with her sister and do something for the children in the townships. Thus, Hope Initiatives began. We were impressed with the programme and with Patricia and her husband John. Open Arms belongs to a national organization based in Washington DC called ANSA. ANSA stands for Association of Nutrition Services Agencies. Open Arms was the first agency to sponsor a food programme in Africa. Two years ago ANSA developed its own International Programme based on the relationship between Open Arms and the JL Zwane Centre. Hope Initiatives was the first programme to be adopted by ANSA and a few of its member agencies. I was invited by Mary Reed, who developed the ANSA International Programme, to come and participate in learning about two different garden programmes. A traditional organic in-ground garden and a low-maintenance container box garden.

Hope Initiatives had recently completed their new building in a settlement area called Kilimanjaro. Previous to this they were serving meals out of a centre in a nearby settlement which was farther for the children to walk to. Their new property is big enough to have a soccer field and a garden area! The idea was to supplement the food programme with fresh fruit and vegetables that would be harvested from the gardens and also sold at the local markets to generate income for the programme.

The in-ground gardens were designed and implemented by Doug Gosling from Food for Thought (also a member agency of ANSA) in Sonoma County and Steve Bolinger from Development in Gardening (DIG), a non-profit working in Senegal and Uganda. (Note of interest: Laura and Jenna Bush visited Steve and DIG in Senegal) Jonathan Norton from Operation Lionheart from Johannesburg, South Africa, educated us on the container box garden which is called the Earthbox. The Earthbox is made up of a plastic box that has a lifetime warranty. The soil is shredded coconut, shelf life of 4 years, fertilizer, which you replace once a year and a cover that has a dark side for winter and a light side for summer. You can plant either seedlings or seeds in the container box which takes about 5 weeks to become full grown plants. The amazing thing about the Earthbox is you don't need land space, it takes less water and less time to have full grown fruits and vegetables. I think this is the perfect thing to introduce to the JL Zwane Centre due to the issue of land space and water. This would also be invaluable for individual families in the townships. Jonathan is working with schools and HIV/AIDS programs in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Their goal is to be everywhere on the African continent. This program has been available in the US for a while now. Jonathan's company bought the rights to market the product in Africa. The cost of the Earthbox is between R295 and R395 (about $30 to $40) depending on quantity. I now know what my next fund raising project will be!

I digress, back to the gardens. The idea for Hope Initiatives was to incorporate both types of gardens to be able to enhance the feeding programme and to use the gardens as an educational programme for the community.

The land is extremely rocky and it took many hands to clear the garden and dig the patches for preparation of the garden. But in one week there were 14 in-ground plots and enough room for 122 Earthboxes that will be shipped in two weeks to Kilimanjaro. I must say, it was an incredible experience for me to actually be a part of a hands-on project like this. As you can see from the pictures, a lot was accomplished in one week and the smiles on the faces of all involved show how proud they are of all the hard work they did to bring their community together.

Picture #1: View from the garden area of the new Hope Initiatives building.
Picture #2: Patricia and John, can you guess what well known painting they are trying to replicate?
Picture #3: The children enjoying their meal.
Picture #4: The organic garden space.
Picture #5: Jonathan explaining how to create the Earthbox.

Bye for now...

Monkeybiz and Siyaya

2009-03-01T08:13:00.001-08:00

Once again I am behind in blogging. John was here for almost two weeks and just left. We had a great time together, did many things even though I went to work everyday. He has the routine down now so I don't feel guilty about leaving him, but remember it is Cape Town, so don't feel that sorry for him. It was his last visit for my six month stay, I have one month left to go and I will be home. It will be a very bittersweet day for me!

Many of you have received gifts from me over the years of colorful beaded artwork from a non-profit here in Cape Town called Monkeybiz. Monkeybiz was created in 2000 by Barbara Jackson, Shirley Fintz and Mathaps Ngaka. Monkeybiz is an income generating program that supplies glass beads to 450 women living in the township of Khayelitsha, about 40 minutes outside Cape Town. Many of these women are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. These women are able to work from their homes and are now able to take care of their children and avoid the high cost of transport to the city each day to find work. Once a month the women bring their creations to the home of Mathaps' mother, who has trained most of these women to bead, for market day.

The last market day was February 18th and Monkeybiz and the JL Zwane Centre collaborated with Siyaya to have a market day celebration. The market runs from 9:00 AM until 12:00 PM. Siyaya was there to perform while the women stood in line, well, I should say danced in line! The celebration of the women was a wonderful event. Siyaya kept them entertained and dancing for over an hour. We were also fortunate to have a group from Minneapolis come to the celebration. Arm in Arm in Africa are funders to the JL Zwane Centre, I believe this was their 10th trip to Cape Town and they are frequent visitors to Monkeybiz!

Open Arms has been promoting Monkeybiz products for the last 4 years selling them at their annual World AIDS Day event. All the proceeds from the sale of Monkeybiz products go back to the programs that Open Arms supports in South Africa. Open Arms supports a soup kitchen every market day which provides a meal for the women and their children, this day there was soup, sandwiches and fruit.

This was Monkeybiz's first market day after the December/January holiday shutdown. Many of the beaders go back to the rural areas to be with their families so the day was a reunion for many of them. The day marked the beginning of a new year and a new friendship between the JL Zwane Centre and Monkeybiz.

I want to introduce you to the Monkeybiz family. In the first photo: front row: Joan, sales and administrative assistant, Elizabeth, bookkeeper, Barbara, co-director and founder, Mathaps, co-director and founder. Back row: Zaki and Siya, both ordering and packing assistants.

The second photo is of Siyaya performing. Third photo is of the children and adults enjoying the music of Siyaya. Forth picture is of Mathaps doing quality control on the beaded artwork. Every women has a bank account and once market day is completed the money is put into their accounts so they don't have the stress of having to go to the bank or to be a victim of theft walking home with money in their pockets after market day. Fifth photo is of the beaders in line to receive their meal from the soup kitchen that Open Arms supports through the generous donations made by you!

I hope you enjoyed meeting the Monkeybiz family!

Bye for now...

Table Mountain and the Taxi Strike

2009-02-15T05:50:00.001-08:00

I have been to the top of Table Mountain many times. It has the most spectacular views of Cape Town, from the city centre to the beaches, to Cape Point in the distance, it is breathtaking. Jean Claude, my French conversation teacher, who is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo has lived in Cape Town for 3 years and has never been to Table Mtn. Actually, he has never been to any of the tourist destinations that support the economy of Cape Town. Jean Claude isn't the only person I have talked to that has not had the opportunity to visit these beautiful sites, most of the people in the townships have never had the opportunity either. If they don't have a car, or a friend who can drive them, or the money to afford to pay a tour guide, they will not be able to visit the penguins at Boulders, climb up to the light house at Cape Point or get their picture taken in front of the sign at Cape of Good Hope, they rely on us to tell them how wonderful their city is.

Jean Claude and I meet once a week at a coffee shop one block up the hill from where I live. One evening as Jean Claude and I were finishing up our French conversation, a young man stopped me as I was leaving the cafe to ask me what I was doing in Cape Town. He said he had heard me use the word "orphan" as I was talking on my cell phone. He was in Cape Town doing modelling work and would be here for 7 weeks and wanted to get involved in something other than modelling and was wondering if there was something I might be able to suggest to him. His name is Dale, he is 26 years old from Toronto. It turns out that besides modelling, Dale is a certified chef. At the time that I met Dale, the centre lost 2 people in the kitchen. I called Edwin and Spiwo and asked if I could bring Dale out to the centre. It was perfect timing. Dale came in for the first few days and helped get the meals cooked and served to the Support Group and the Rainbow After School Program, the meal programs continued without a hitch. Funny how just meeting someone happenstance can work out to the benefit of so many.

Last Sunday I brought Dale and Jean Claude to Table Mountain. One had been here 3 years and the other 3 weeks. It was a beautiful sunny, warm day. We walked all over the top of the mountain and learned some very interesting facts. Here is one: there is a small animal called the Dassie that is similar to a woodchuck, it turns out that he actually descends from the elephant family. It is very hard to believe that something so small could be related to something so large but it is a fact we learned at the top of Table Mtn.!

(The pictures are from our trip to Table Mtn.)

I had an unexpected vacation this past week. Tuesday evening I went to the theatre with my friend Elizabeth and her son Chad to see "Where the Boys Are", a musical based on growing up coloured in the 80's. The 3 men were hilarious, especially to my friends who spoke Afrikaans since a lot of the musical was in Afrikaans. They translated it for me so I could understand what they were laughing at. The music transcended any language barrier, it was wonderful and energetic. As is the case for theatre and restaurants, I had turned off my phone before entering the theatre. When I returned home and remembered to turn my phone on I had missed two phone calls and one SMS. Mel had phoned me to tell me that I was not to go to the centre tomorrow. There was going to be a taxi strike in the townships and there was fear that it could turn violent and Spiwo had asked us not to venture into Gugs. The taxi strike was against the proposed idea from the City of Cape Town wanting to institute the monthly bus pass to include and cover the usage of the taxi cabs in the townships. The township taxis refused to be a part of this proposal and therefore decided to strike for 3 days. This left the townships in total chaos. Remember, many in the townships do not have cars and therefore rely on taxis to get them to public transport, ie. buses and trains. From what I was told, people were walking in droves all over Guguletu to try to get to the buses and trains so they could get to work in the city. I was also told that violence did occur in the townships, they had stoned a few cars that were transporting more than 3 people in a car. Siyaya had a performance on Thursday night and Xolani, the driver, insisted they have police escort from the centre, he feared retaliation due to the fact there would be at least 12 people in the bus. The taxi strike has been called off and we are able to return to Guguletu on Monday. A group from Minneapolis is coming next week and I need to complete their itinerary so I am anxious to return to the centre.

Looking forward to your visit Arm In Arm In Africa, and I will do my best to make sure your itinerary is completed!

Bye for now...

Profiles of Spiwo, Zethu and Siyaya

2009-02-08T06:29:00.000-08:00

It has been two weeks since I last blogged (sounds like the start of a Catholic Confession!) and I really have no excuse other than I have been busy and the weeks went by so fast. Last week officially marked my 4 month stay in Cape Town. I am shocked and amazed how fast the time has gone. I realized that I have not introduced you to Rev. Spiwo of the JL Zwane Centre, his wife Zethu and one of the programs at the centre, Siyaya.

Rev. Dr. Spiwo (his name means "gift" in Xhosa) Xapile is the minister at the JL Zwane Presbyterian Church. JL Zwane was named for Jeremiah Zwane who came to Guguletu in 1952 to help reestablish the church community. In 1989, Rev. Spiwo came to JL Zwane to create a model for community focused ministry. Rev. Spiwo was the first minister to openly speak out about HIV/AIDS and educate its congregants about the problems in their community. When I visited the centre the first time in 2001, there was just a hole in the ground where the centre now proudly stands and where I work. The church itself was a dilapidated building that needed a lot of loving care. Spiwo reached out to the international community to find funding for the centre. What a wonderful sight it was for me when I returned in 2002 to see the completed building and realize all the work that went into building a foundation for the programs that have been established at JL Zwane and the relationships that have developed and grown over the years. The church hall is painted in vibrant colors with paintings and stenciling of bible verses that were done by a couple from the Netherlands. There are over 1000 congregants at JL Zwane who are very proud of their church and centre.

Zethu (her name means "ours" in Zulu) Xapile is a nurse and director of the Browns Farm Clinic in the township of Phillipi. The clinic has officially been named "Inzame Zabantu" which means "Peoples Initiative" by the South African Government. Zethu has been at the clinic since 1997. When I visited the clinic in 2001 it was a building made out of 6 shipping containers. Patients would line up outside the containers at 5:00 AM, even though the doors didn't open until 8:00 AM, just to try to be seen that day. In 2006, the government funded a new building that now has a waiting area and a system in place where the patients can actually make an appointment in advance and not have to wait hours to be seen.

Spiwo and Zethu have two children, Salume (his name means "stand up" sort of to be strong) and Nonkie (her name means "helpful").

In 2004, Spiwo and Bongani Magatyana, an accomplished musician and composer, formed the group "Siyaya" (it means on the move in Xhosa) to bring HIV/AIDS awareness by educating people through music, dance and theatre.

Siyaya is made up of 6 singers and 4 musicians, ages 20 to 25 from the townships surrounding Cape Town. Siyaya's music is a fusion of tradional African songs, opera, jazz and pop. Nearly all their songs are originals, with music, lyrics and choreography created by Bongani. Siyaya teaches the ABC's of AIDS-Abstain, Be faithful and use Condoms. Through highly entertaining and moving performances, their shows pierce through the powerful stigma of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, exposing the myths and risks of the disease. They perform regularly at schools, churches, community centers, health clinics and public events.

Siyaya has performed in the US three times. Their first visit was in May of 2005 in three cities. In September 2006 they opened in more cities and venues, even performed at the National Cathedral in Washington DC. In June 2008 they did a six city, six week tour traveling from NYC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Dallas and Pensacola, FL. They are a group of energetic, talented and caring individuals.

On Friday I went to a high school in Phillipi with Bongani to watch Siyaya perform for the students on a fund raising day. The students held a Braai (a BBQ) and Siyaya performed for free because Bongani had been the music director at the school and he wanted the students to see Siyaya and be inspired by them. As I sat and watched the students singing and dancing to the music I wondered if the uplifiting music and energy of Siyaya could help make them forget, at least for an hour, the fact that their school was in utter decay with broken windows, desks with no tops, chalkboards that weren't even usable. Looking at their faces and hearing the screams emit from the crowd I think Siyaya performed their job well!

(pictures: Zethu, Rev. Spiwo, Bongani, Siyaya, high school in Phillipi. I have no clue how the pictures ended up lined up this way!)

Bye for now...

Broadway in South Africa

2009-01-24T05:36:00.000-08:00

The centre reopened on January 12th with a bang. We have been so busy that I forgot to blog. The first week we had a group from New York City called Broadway in South Africa. BSA is a non-profit comprised of 14 New York City based professional actors, dancers, singers, directors, musicians and producers with such Broadway hits as "The Lion King", "Rent", "Wicked" and "Hairspray". They came to Cape Town to conduct a 4 day arts intensive workshop with 50 children, ages 7 to 14 and chose the JL Zwane Centre as their venue. The work to coordinate the event started before I even left Minneapolis to come to Cape Town. I received an email from Spiwo asking me to work with Sean from BSA. I organized what the centre needed to do to accommodate BSA but all the really hard work was done by 4 people, Nceba, Bongani, Ntutu and Nkcubeko, the last three are members and the director of Siyaya, the musical group from the centre. (I will be blogging about Siyaya in the future.) They went to five different townships, both coloured and black, and auditioned children for 5 days to find 50 to participate in the workshop. Nceba even videoed the children. I was able to watch one of the auditions and it was incredible. The children were lined up outside the centre, there were over 100 of them. They were so cute, groups would come in with matching costumes, many songs were modern hip hop dance tunes and a few traditional African songs. The children were so excited and tried so hard to become one of the 50! This was not an easy job for our judges but they were always positive and I thought of American Idol, we just had all Paula's, not one Simon on our panel!

So for 4 days the children came to the centre each morning at 9:00 AM. We organized all the transport, you have to remember that most of the families of these children do not have cars or rand for taxi's, so to ensure the children would arrive each morning we had 3 drivers go to 4 different sites to pick them up. They would have a breakfast snack before classes began, the classes would run until 1:00, then they would break for lunch and continue the classes until 4:00 PM where once again they would be transported back to the meeting sites. Some of the parents even came along to watch their children perform. This was the first time for these children to participate in a program like this, they were able to meet other children from different townships, they formed friendships that they would have never had if not for BSA. The final day of the workshop they put on a show. They were divided into 4 groups. Two groups performed plays that they had written and two groups sang and danced to show tunes along with their instructors. The finale was the whole group singing a song from "High School Musical". The hall was filled and they were given a standing ovation after the final song! They were magnificent! There is definitely a lot of talent in the townships surrounding Cape Town, if only they had the opportunity to participate in programs like this all year long.

Besides Broadway in South Africa, we had a group of 14 from Louisville Seminary. The group was made up of two professors, 3 clergy from different religious organizations and 9 Presbyterian seminary students. I took them on a tour of Guguletu to see township life. We started out visiting Lydia (Lydia was the woman who I introduced you to on World Aids Day), her son Neo, who is 5 and is also HIV positive and suffers from seizures and her mother who they live with. We brought her a food parcel and she told her story to the group. After Lydia talked about what it is like living as an HIV positive person we all said a prayer together and as we left her home I noticed that there was not a dry eye within the group. Home visits can be very emotional and draining on both the visitor and the visitee. You feel a bit of a voyeur, but you have to understand that Lydia wants to have visitors, she feels that by telling her story that they will go home and tell her story to other people, and in doing so it helps to make her feel like a person not just another statistic. HIV has a face and this face has a life that needs to be known and cared for.

After Lydia, we drove past the Amy Biehl memorial and the Guguletu 7 monument. These are two places that represent the history of Apartheid. On to Khayelitsha to meet with Mandla the leader of TAC that I blogged about in an earlier entry. After TAC we went to Philani. Philani is an NGO started in 1979 by a Swedish doctor and community health workers. The focus at Philani is child heath and nutrition. Philani is known for their rug weaving and textiles programs. These are income generating programs where the women are able work on the premises and bring their children to a creche (day care centre) that is provided for them.

After Philani we returned to the centre for lunch prepared by Nkqo and Eureka (you met them earlier also!). Spiwo gave a talk on Justice and Reconciliation after Apartheid. After Spiwo it was time to return to our tour of Gugs. We went to Mitchell's Plain, a coloured township where we visited another NGO, St. Luke's Hospice. St. Luke's has 20 beds for HIV/AIDS patients and 6 beds for cancer patients. The patients come to the hospice for two weeks, after two weeks the social worker makes the decision if the person is able to return home or needs to be transferred to a hospital or another facility for longer term care. There are 14 carers at the hospice with funding coming from PAWC, private donors and bequests.

From there we proceeded to drive through the hostel area, this area represents dwellings that were initially inhabited by the men that came from the Eastern Cape to find work in Cape Town. They have since become homes for families, they are brick buildings much like townhouses but in very poor condition with each unit housing more than 7 people. I am not sure if I explained the different styles of homes. There are brick and stucco homes, hostels, and shacks made out of zinc, wood or any other material that can be scavenged. Near the hostels we visited Noluyolo who is 19 years old, an orphan who has been raising her 9 year old little brother Aso for over 2 years now. They actually live in a zinc shack donated by friends of her mothers after she passed away. Noluyolo also received a food parcel and shared her story of raising her brother on her own and with the help of the zone (neighborhood) she lives in. There are many times that Noluyolo goes with out food and her neighbors help out so when she receives food from visitors and the centre, she also shares with them. On to another home visit. Priscilla is a 62 year old go-go (grandma) who is raising 12 orphans (yes 12) after raising 4 of her own. She lives in a brick home with 2 bedrooms. Priscilla can only receive government support for 6 children, she relies on help from the JL Zwane Centre and from visitors like Louisville that brought a rather large food parcel.

We returned back to the centre emotionally and physically drained. It was a long day for the group but they wanted to see and experience as much as they could in one day. I hope this gives you an idea of a township tour. There are many more things to experience and see in Gugs and hopefully you will join me again soon.

Pictures: The finale for Broadway in South Africa, The Broadway in South Africa group, Lydia and Neo, Philani children, and Priscilla with her children!

Bye for now...

Happy New Year

2009-01-08T07:45:00.000-08:00

It has been so long since I last blogged I almost forgot how to sign in. I really hope everyone had a very happy "Festive Season" and welcome to a new year! The reason I didn't blog was because John was here from December 18th until January 6th. I didn't really think you wanted to hear about everything we did but I will give you a few highlights. Upon his arrival we took a 5 day road trip along Route 62, a famous road in South Africa much like Route 66 in the US. We stayed one night in a small town called Montagu which is in the Little Karoo in the desert. We left the desert and drove the Garden Route which runs along the ocean. We stayed two nights in Mossel Bay, a quaint beach town. We left the ocean and drove into wine country. We stayed two nights in Franschoek. It was established by the French Huguenots so I thought I might be able to practice my French but unfortunately nobody speaks French, they just want to! The topography of South Africa is as diverse as its people.

We returned to Cape Town and explored more of the city. There is so much to do and see here. Due to the downturn in the economy all over the world, Cape Town did not have as many tourists as last year so we did not have to fight the crowds to experience Cape Town life.

Last weekend we took another drive into the Cederburg area which is also much like the Karoo. We went to a non-predatory game reserve. We were supposed to stay two nights but it was so beautiful and relaxing we ended up staying another night. We saw zebra, springbok, ostrich, baboons, snakes (from the jeep!), and other kinds of deer type animals I don't know the names of. Because it is a non-predatory reserve we were able to take hikes without any fear of animals attacking us, we came so close to two zebras who didn't run away, it was very cool.

We also experienced sadness while John was here. I hope you remember me blogging about Mary Sili. She is the woman who ran the Senior Centre in Guguletu who retired in 2007 and started her own food program for school children from her home. I received a call from Ben, her husband, the Saturday after Christmas. He called to tell me that their youngest son Nandile had been killed in a car accident on Christmas morning, could I please come to see Mary. John and I drove to Guguletu to see Mary, I can't even begin to explain her grief. It was the saddest thing to see Mary like that. Mary who is always so vibrant and full of life. Our hearts were just broken for her. Fortunately for Mary and Ben (if you can understand why I say that word) all her children were with them because of Christmas. Mary and Ben had 6 children, one daughter and 5 boys. She was comforted in the fact that they were all together and were able to comfort each other. Nandile was 25 years old, was helping Mary in their home with the food program and also taking care of two of his nieces for his brother during the day. He had been in Stellenbosch, a town about 20 minutes from Gugs, for a friends birthday. They were leaving early in the morning to go home and unfortunately the driver of the car fell asleep and the car went off the road. There were 5 boys in the car, only one survived. Car accidents occur quite frequently here. South Africa does not have seat belt laws and if you look inside the cars here the people are piled into them. Most people in the townships can not afford a car so that is why you will see so many people in one car. Friends of the 4 boys held a memorial service the following Wednesday at the Senior Centre. Mary and Ben asked John and I to attend and to sit with the family. It was a beautiful event, so many people came to show their love and support for the families, it was standing room only. For those of you who knew Mary and I left you out of the email I sent I am very sorry. We hope we represented Open Arms in the best way.

The centre reopens on Monday, January 12th. I am looking forward to going back to work. The first week we have 2 groups visiting from the US so we will be busy. At least I should have something interesting to blog about instead of what I ate for breakfast! I felt I should have at least one picture on the blog so I chose the one of the zebras we saw when we were on our hike.

Bye for now...

Festive Season

2008-12-15T09:12:00.000-08:00

Here in Cape Town the term Festive Season is used frequently due to the many different ethnic and religious groups that live here. In the US you hear Christmas Carols starting November 1st, by the time Christmas rolls around you want to pop Rudolph. Here, you might hear a Christmas Carol here and there but quite frankly I walk around not even realizing that Christmas is in less than 2 weeks. Haven't heard of or been invited to any Christmas parties, I haven't seen eggnog in the refrigerator section or Christmas cookies in the bakery department. No one is on the street corner ringing a bell by a red kettle but there are college students dressed in shorts and t-shirts standing in the major road intersections asking for money for a certain charity that the University of Stellenbosch is supporting this year.

Last Monday I was invited to a friends house for lunch. I met Mareldia a few years ago at a cafe at the V&A (the waterfront mall) where Kevin and I would go for coffee. She always recognized us and always knew what we ordered. I should say she knows what Kevin orders. I normally mix it up since I am really not a coffee drinker. Last year we invited her to help on parcel day. Mareldia is 24 years old, coloured and has never been to a township. It was quite an experience for her. She must have enjoyed it because we have remained friends ever since. It was because of Mareldia that I learned to text. Texting is very inexpensive compared to making a phone call here in South Africa. I was told to be at her home at 2:00 PM, seemed late for lunch but for food I didn't have to prepare I wasn't going to question it. I arrived at 2:00 and was told it was Eid Day, al Adha begins at sundown. A holy time in the Muslim religion. Her father had just returned from Mosque, which is why it was at 2:00, they always wait for him to come home. The women did not go to Mosque, they said they could but usually the men just go because the women stay at home to do the cooking and baking. And cooking they did. We sat down to a meal that was incredible. There was shrimp curry, marinated chicken, rice, cole slaw, potato salad, a Greek salad, chutneys and spices to put on your rice and in your curry. They said they usually cook more but it was just too hot that day. It was delicious. After lunch we sat for about an hour while neighbors came to say hi as they made their way to visit other neighbors. Most of their neighbors are actually relatives. The families tend to live near each other. It was very festive and they were most welcoming to me. After the visitors it was time for dessert. The dessert table was packed with cookies, puddings, pastries, cakes, dried fruit and nuts, it was overwhelming. I really couldn't choose what to try but I tried the mint pudding because one of her sisters made it especially because I was coming. I needn't have worried about what to try, they sent me home with a food parcel full of desserts! It was my first Eid and I really hope it won't be my last. I felt so honored to be invited to share their holy day and discuss their beliefs and religion.

As you probably noticed I haven't blogged in a week. Due to the festive season it has been really quiet around the centre. Many people in the townships are from the rural area known as the Transkai. For many people, they leave their rural villages to come to the city to look for work. Many wives and children are left behind. During the festive season, for most of December and January, they return back to the rural areas to be with their families. Most businesses shut down from the second week of December until the second week of January. School starts back the third week in January. The centre is closing this Friday, Dec. 19th and won't reopen until January 12th. John arrives this Thursday and we have a 5 day road trip planned into the Karoo, the desert, and then on the Garden Route which is along the Indian Ocean and than into wine country, back in Cape Town on Christmas day. We have Christmas dinner planned with Mel, the minister from the centre, who will not be going back home either. As I said, I don't feel very Christmasy (I know that is not a word but it works) but I did put out some beaded reindeer that I bought earlier in October. At least they make my flat feel a bit more festive.

I would like to introduce you to the rest of the employees at the centre. You met Nqko and Eureka, the cooks at the centre in an earlier blog along with the Rainbow After School program and the HIV/AIDS Support Group. Now you will meet the office staff.

In the first picture the first person is Manelisi Jack. He has been a paid administrative assistant for over a year now, prior to that he was a volunteer at the centre. Edwin Loew is in the middle. Edwin has been at the centre for 3 years, he is the manager of the JL Zwane Centre. He is who I work with on most projects. He is Rev. Spiwo's right hand man! He is actually an ordained Presbyterian Minister but does not preach or actively work in the ministry of the church. The third one is Mel. I think you recognize her from other pictures and blogs. She arrived the same time I did. She is to be here for approximately 3 years. I think I mentioned she is Army and this experience is part of her preparation to be an Army Chaplin.

The second picture is of Mawakhe Williams, she is a part of the cleaning staff and has been at the centre for over 2 years. TO is in the middle, not sure what his real name is, he just goes by TO, he is security and helps maintain the grounds, he has been at the centre less than a year. The third person is Nomzano Mdekazi, she is also the other part of the cleaning staff. She has also been here over 2 years. I have to say, they make the place sparkle.

Our Festive Party is this Wednesday. We are having a braai. Yes, a BBQ for Christmas! South Africans love their braai's and there is always so much meat! Due to the fact that I am now a vegetarian at the centre they are going to make salads for Mel and me!

I couldn't finish this blog without letting you know that it was Teach's birthday yesterday, he was 83. We had a party for him a the CPOA Senior Centre today. Here is another picture to add to his photo album.

I wish all of you a very happy Festive Season and the best to you in the New Year!

Bye for now...

Food Parcel Day

2008-12-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

Two blogs in a row!

Tuesday, December 2nd, was Open Arms's Food Parcel Day. It was a huge success due to the generous donations made by so many people. We were able to put together 350 food parcels, that is quite a feat! Thank you everyone for your support, due to your generosity we were able to help so many people. As a reminder, the parcel contains staples for a family of 7 that should last a month. We usually choose World AIDS Day to deliver the food parcels but this year we chose December 2nd because it was a Tuesday and Tuesday is the day the HIV/AIDS support group meets. We felt it was the perfect day for them to receive their food parcels. We started unloading the truck at 10:30 AM. We had members of Siyaya and staff assisting in forming a fire line to make the process go quicker. By 1:30, 350 buckets were all assembled and it was time for lunch! By 3:00, members of the support group started coming to the centre to eat the meal that Open Arms supports Monday through Friday and to get in line to receive their parcels. Along with the HIV/AIDS Support Group, patients of St. Luke's Hospice and their caregivers, a designated group of senior citizens and two zones (neighborhoods) of the JL Zwane Church, orphans and staff received the parcels.

Today at service a senior citizen went up on stage and started speaking in Xhosa, just as I was asking my neighbor what she was saying I heard my name! Spiwo wanted me to make sure I told everyone at home that this woman was up on stage wanting to thank Open Arms for the wonderful food parcel that meant so much to her and her family and thanked us for not forgetting the people of Guguletu. She also hoped we would continue to support them and sends her love and blessings to all of you!

Today was a special day at the JL Zwane Church. Mel, our assistant minister from Pensacola, (that I have blogged about), preached her first service at JL Zwane. This sermon was in English so the congregation had to have an interpreter! Mel did an excellent job and the congregation really enjoyed hearing from her.

The photos above are of Food Parcel Day and of Mel on her first official day of preaching at the JL Zwane Church.

Bye for now...

World AIDS Day Celebration

2008-12-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

As most of you know Monday, December 1st was World AIDS Day. Around the world people were remembering their loved ones that have died from this pandemic which has hit hardest in sub-Saharan Africa. The statistics are staggering. 25% of adults are believed to be infected with HIV/AIDS. There are 510,000 new infections annually. HIV kills 370,000 young people in South Africa a year. There are 2.5 million orphans in South Africa living with their Gogo's (grandma's), Aunties and in foster care.

On World AIDS Day, Kent, David, Mel and I were invited to attend a grand-opening of a community center in Khayelitsha established by an American based non-profit, Art AIDS Art, in conjunction with Monkeybiz. The centre will serve local residents with programs in family literacy, nutrition, gardening and AIDS prevention. The outside of the building is painted in a very bright blue and the inside walls are painted white with multi colored circles giving the space a fun and creative feel. Monkeybiz is an income generating program for women who have reinvented the ancient South African art of beading through their contemporary designs which have been exhibited at galleries and museums around the World. Open Arms and Monkeybiz began working together in 2003. Open Arms established their first World AIDS Day event in 2004 around the Monkeybiz product, it was a huge success and continues to be to this day! All the proceeds from the sale of Monkeybiz products go back to South Africa to sustain the many programs Open Arms supports here. Many of you may not know, but Open Arms supports a weekly soup kitchen for the beaders on Market Day. Monkeybiz employs over 450 beaders, many who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS in Khaylelitsha. An estimated 35% of the residents of Khaylelisha (pop. of over 750,000) have HIV/AIDS, with women disproportionately affected. Because of the stigma and misinformation attached to the disease, many are resistant to getting tested or, if they test positive, hide their condition to avoid being ostracized. Women, already living in extreme poverty, face the additional hardship of taking in children of relatives lost to AIDS.

The grand-opening was enjoyed by all the Monkeybiz beaders, the founders of both Monkeybiz and Art AIDS Art, staff and many guests. We were entertained with music, traditional dancing, a tour of the new facility and artwork created by American artists.

The pictures represent the excitement and happiness felt by all who attended the event. Art AIDS Art co-founder Dorothy Garcia insisted "Education provides understanding of how AIDS is transmitted, and financial independence allows women to avoid trading their bodies for food and shelter. They are able to make decisions on their own terms."

(We felt very special when we saw the woman wearing the Open Arms T-shirt, how appropriate!)

Bye for now...

A Typical Day

2008-11-29T22:08:00.000-08:00

I know that I just posted yesterday but I received an email from a friend who asked if I would blog about a typical day for me at the centre. I can tell you that the only consistent thing each day is getting up and going running. That is if I am going to be at the centre at 8:30. Once I get to the centre my day varies. I think this is what I love about being here. Each day brings a new experience for me. I may not even get the computer turned on and someone wants to see me. These visits can be young people wanting to share their dreams about furthering their education but do not have the funds. Like so many in the townships, they want to break out of their cycle of poverty. The next visit might be a young man or woman struggling with their sexuality and they know that the JL Zwane Centre is a safe haven to be able to talk about who they are. The townships are not a place where people can live openly gay. Like a person diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, they are stigmatized and can be ostracized from their families and friends, that is why there are so many that are not open about their sexuality or their HIV/AIDS status. Johanna, the social worker at the centre, will come and ask me if I can drive her to visit a person dying of cancer, or visit a woman who has had both legs amputated from having HIV/AIDS and whose wheelchair doesn't work, to visiting a school to find out how a young boy of 18, who has been living alone after losing both his parents to HIV/AIDS over a year ago is doing, and finding out he is not passing. He is lucky though, one of the teachers took an interest in him and he will be starting a new school in January where he will learn life skills, ie., how to manage money, a bank account, a checking account, how to shop for food and make his own meals and learn a skill that hopefully will help him earn an income. He was given a new home from the government after his parents passed away, it still does not have electricity or running water, but he is hopeful.

I also have many experiences of hope and joy. We visit the local creche (daycare) where the children sing songs and dance, they are all smiles, just wanting some love and affection even for a little while. Visiting the senior centre and sharing lunch and a conversation. Getting a visit from a young man who just completed his college exams after being given a scholarship from the centre to study for an accounting degree. Taking an orphan shopping for a new school uniform after a donation was made to the Zwane Centre, watching her face light up as she twirls around in the mirror admiring her new look!

What I struggle with most is that at times I think I am becoming desensitized to what I see but what I realize is that I have limitations at what I can do. I struggle deciding what situation needs the most attention. Who am I to decide who to buy food for, how come this person and not that person. Is this little child more deserving of a school uniform than the other one? Which young man or woman will be the one chosen to attend college so they can break out of the cycle of poverty they are living in? I work closely with the staff at the centre because they are the ones I look to for making the difficult decisions. They live it daily, I am just a visitor living in their world for 6 months.

I received a text last week from Mandla Majola who runs the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in Khayelitsha. I blogged about TAC in my entry on xenophobia. He was desperate. Over 100 shacks in Khayelitsha had burned down. Four of those shacks belonged to comrades (volunteers) of TAC. "Comrade (he calls me) is there anyway you can help in this situation, they have lost everything! Please, I need your help." I immediately SMSed him that I would help. The ironic thing is that these people are volunteers with TAC, they live in shacks, they have no income, no money and pretty much own nothing, the fire completely decimated their lives. What they owned before the fire was probably similar to when you left college, you had your clothes, mementos of your fun college days, possibly a peach crate filled with your albums (for those of you my age!) and maybe a small piece of furniture. We had support from our families and a future with a college degree and the opportunity to find employment and actually earn money to buy a house, a car, more clothes and CD'S!. They have no support and no future. On Friday I went with Mandla and Kent and David from Open Arms to survey the area and meet the people from TAC who lost their homes. It was overwhelming. One person perished in the fire, it is incredible that there was only one death due to the fact that there are no fire hydrants, sprinkler systems or the infrastructure to get a fire truck into the settlement, everything was destroyed. (The first photo is before we visited the site, note the smiles, the second photo is of Angie (a comrade) and her daughter, they lost their shack, the next 3 are of what we saw as we walked.) Most of the people we met are now living with relatives, so instead of 5 to 6 people in a shack there are now 8 to 9 people. We visited one woman and her son who had a new zinc shack but it had no windows. They couldn't afford that luxury. The weather has been in the 70's and 80's and will continue to get warmer, their shack was already stifling and it will only get worse. School starts mid January and the children lost their uniforms in the fire. TAC is working with the government to see what subsidies are available to the people of the fire. As I drove home from Khayelitsha into Cape Town towards my flat on the ocean, it struck me that it could have been me living in a township which lead to the deep question of who decided it would be them and not me?

Bye for now...

Food Parcel Day for Senior Citizens

2008-11-29T05:46:00.001-08:00

When Kevin Winge was living in Cape Town in 2003, besides working with the JL Zwane Centre, he visited and quickly befriended a senior citizen centre, the Cape Peninsula Welfare Organization for the Aged (CPOA). The CPOA branch in Guguletu is the branch where our friend Mary Sili supervised until she retired last December at 67 years old and after 14 years of service. Mary is the woman I blogged about that is currently running a soup kitchen from her home. Mary remembers the day Kevin walked into the centre to find out what it was all about and introduce himself. Kevin's visit to the centre was around the holiday season and he asked Mary if she needed anything for the seniors and offered her some rand so she could buy some food for their Christmas party. Mary suggested that instead of just giving money for a meal that maybe Kevin could put a small food parcel together. He started the food parcels for the seniors that day and 5 years later the "old people" are still receiving food parcels from Open Arms. On Wednesday we had Food Parcel Day at the centre. Along with giving out 80 food parcels, we had a 20 member choral group made up of boys and girls from the neighboring townships perform for over an hour. The old people danced and swayed in their chairs to the music. Mel, the assistant minister from the centre came along with me to help put the parcels together and to say a prayer for the old people. We all shared a meal of chicken, rice, potatoes, pumpkin and peas that Mary and Singbongale prepared in the kitchen. Mary was working the last two weeks filling in for the current supervisor who is on vacation. Also at the centre is Skhumbuzo "Teach" Majokweni, he is a retired teacher that has been volunteering at the centre for 19 years, he receives an honorary salary of R150/month, which is about $20. Teach will be celebrating his 82nd birthday on December 14th. Each time I have visited the centre in the past I have had my picture taken with Teach and I always send him the photos. He carries around a little photo album that Mary gave him that consists of all the pictures I have sent to him over the years, it is so cute and I feel so honored. Mary and Teach gave me a Xhosa name a few years ago, it is Nolothando, which means "Lady of Love"! The pictures above are of the parcel bags, the choral group, the old people listening to the music, Mary and Teach dancing, Mary, Mel and Teach, and of course it wouldn't be complete without a picture of me and Teach!

Bye for now...

Ongx and A World AIDS Day Event

2008-11-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

When I was in Cape Town last December, I met a young man named Ongx. Ongx is 23 years old, an unemployed blues musician from the township of Khayelitsha. Khayelitsha is the township I blogged about last time that has a very large geographical area with a population of almost 1 million people. Last year Ongx was the winner of an American Idol type amateur talent contest sponsored by Nedbank, a large commercial bank in South Africa. There were over 100 participants from all over South Africa with the final performance in Johannesburg. To be the winner is quite an accomplishment for a boy from a township. The prize, a Toyota SUV. Now, for Ongx, this was rather ironic because he doesn't have a drivers license, a place to park a car or the money to pay for petrol. Ongx decided that the smartest thing would be to sell the car and use the money to buy a home as an investment. Ongx currently resides in a shack on the beach in Khayelitsha. The funny thing is if this was in the US it would be prime property for beachfront condos near the ocean. Ongx's shack is one small room, no electricity, running water or bathroom facilities. The first picture is of Ongx in front of his shack. Ongx was finally able to sell the SUV and has purchased a home in the township of Phillipi. It does have electricity, running water and a bathroom. It even has room in the back to add another room or a shack for someone else to live in, known as rental property! Ongx is standing in front of his new home in the second picture. Ongx earns money by booking gigs as a solo performer or with a band in venues around the Cape Town area. Ongx has been having difficulty making a living as a musician and has decided that an education is the only way to get out of the vicious cycle of poverty that he currently lives in. With the help of some very wonderful people in Minneapolis, as of Friday, Ongx has registered at City College to pursue a career in sound engineering. With the stability of having a real home and a chance at an education, Ongx now has the opportunity of pursuing his dream in music and moving on up much like the Jefferson's!

On Saturday I was invited to participate in my first South African World AIDS Day program at a grade school in Gugs. The program was organized by Lydia who has been HIV positive for 14 years and who is a member of the HIV/AIDS Support Group at the JL Zwane Centre. Besides being HIV positive, Lydia was diagnosed this summer with breast cancer. On Dec. 10th Lydia will have surgery to remove one breast. Lydia has a son Neo, he is 6 years old, he is also HIV positive and also suffers from epileptic seizures. Neo did not respond positively to his first round of Antiretroviral (ARV's) treatments so he is on a second course that doesn't look very promising either. You would think with all this happening in her life that Lydia would be at home, but no, she has been volunteering at the Lehlohonolo Primary School for 3 years educating the young students on HIV/AIDS. Along with the principal and a few teachers, Lydia planned this event. It was wonderful. To be among so many children who sang, read poems and performed plays which focused around HIV/AIDS education and how it affected their lives made me think of the 5.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa and the 370,000 young people that die annually. We had a candle lighting ceremony and Mel, the assistant pastor at JL Zwane, said a prayer and we remembered all of those who have perished from this awful pandemic and prayed for the young children who hopefully will learn from the World AIDS Day Program that through education and the love from their community they have the ability to control their destiny.

Kent from Open Arms arrives tomorrow with his partner David to participate in the food parcel program that Open Arms supports on World AIDS Day. I am so looking forward to seeing them and hearing news from home! It will be a busy week but I hope to find the time to blog so I can keep you updated on what is happening here in Cape Town and Gugs. The weather is wonderful, sorry for all of you back in Minnesota and the northern states. Kent, David, Mel and I will actually be having a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings at a restaurant here in Cape Town. I wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends. After almost 2 months being in Cape Town I realize how much I have to be thankful for! Thank you family and friends for your love and support and for reading my blog!

Bye for now...

Christmas and A New Church

2008-11-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

I am having a very difficult time realizing that Christmas is getting closer, but here in Cape Town it is everywhere. They started putting up decorations in early Oct. It just seems so wrong especially when it is sunny and warm and people are laying out at the beaches. I went to my first Christmas party on Saturday at the centre. It was a Christmas lunch for the "Old People". Yes, you read that right, old people. They don't call them senior citizens like we do and I am too afraid to ask what constitutes "old". There were about 40 women and only 2 men! They had little Santa's on a table with candles and a little decorated tree. They passed around little candies and chips. Christmas music was playing and after a prayer was said the women started to get up and walked with their canes and walkers to the front and started to dance, boy can they dance. They can hardly walk but once the music started to play they started to move. Lunch was ready to be served and they slowly moved to the next room, all smiles on their walkers and canes. I thought it would be nice to share a happy story and photos so that the next time someone calls you "old" just think of the Old People in Gugs.

My weekend was spent in Gugs, first the party on Saturday and then on Sunday I was back at the centre for the Adult Leadership Group. It starts at 8:00 AM and in case I forgot to tell you it is in Xhosa, so you can understand how difficult it can be to stay focused. I sit there and smile and laugh when they all laugh. They probably think my Xhosa is getting better or they are saying something funny about me and I don't know it.

After the leadership group I was invited to attend a Presbyterian church in Khayelitsha. Khayelitsha is the next township after Gugs. Khayelitsha means "hope" in Xhosa. There are almost 1 million people living there. Many are living in shacks that are not government sanctioned. Some areas are very dangerous and if you read my blog on xenophobia, Khayelitsha is where the incidents occurred. Khayelitsha is very large geographically and therefore it is difficult for many to attend church service. The interesting thing about attending church in the townships is that when you drive up to the church there are no cars and you think wow, no one is here, you walk in and the church is filled, it is because everyone walks, it is the opposite in the US.

This church was started by Reverend Sokoyi who helps with the pastoral ministry at JL Zwane. As you can see by the photo it is very different from JL Zwane. The congregation had about 30 people attending. The choir was the Sunday school class who sang a beautiful rendition of "Rock of Ages". The reason I was invited was that at the same time I started at the centre a young, newly ordained Presbyterian minister from Pensacola, FL also started. Her name is Mel Baars, she is 24 and has made the commitment to spend 3 years at JL Zwane. Mel is Army, so before she can be a chaplain in the Army she has to spend 3 years being a minister in a Presbyterian church. She chose to come to JL Zwane as a volunteer and therefore she has to support herself while she is here. She was invited to give the sermon on Sunday and I was excited to hear her preach. As she spoke, Rev. Sokoyi translated, he even included her hand gestures. I stood in the back of the church and took photos so she would have memories of her first sermon in a township church. The congregation was so thankful to have her there and her sermon was well received. When I think back to the first time I met Rev. Spiwo Xapile in 2001 and saw the dilapidated church that was JL Zwane and the big hole in the ground that was to become the JL Zwane Centre I thought wow, this is some dream. Years later as I walk the halls and sit and listen to the church service I realize if there hadn't been a dream I wouldn't have this opportunity. So Rev. Sokoyi, dream on.

Bye for now...

JL Zwane Programmes

2008-11-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

I realized as I was walking around the centre the other day that I haven't really told you about the programmes (sorry Muth) at the centre. I did go into full detail about the Orphan Programme so I don't need to talk about that one this time. I am going to tell you about 3 of the programmes in this blog.

The first programme is the Rainbow After-school Programme. It started in 1994 to provide homework assistance to children who were struggling in school and did not have the support and encouragement from their parents due to the fact that their parents themselves did not receive a very good education and therefore could not help their children at home with homework. There are 112 children in grades 1 - 10 with 8 teachers and a principal. They meet Monday through Thursday from 2:30 to 5:00 PM. The children receive a meal sponsored by Open Arms of MN, usually the only meal of the day. It usually consists of bread, samp and beans. (samp is a starch, mixed with the beans it has a taste similar to refried beans, I think it tastes great! I know you miss it Tony!). The pictures are of the students and their teachers during class time.

The second programme is the HIV/AIDS Support Group. This programme started in 2001 to help people affected by HIV/AIDS connect with others in the community. It is a place for them to discuss their issues, concerns and solutions in a safe environment. They also receive educational training on HIV/AIDS, TB and STD's. They meet every Tuesday from 4:00 to 5:00 PM. When I went to the first Support Group meeting in 2001 there were about 12 people, today there are over 100 people currently registered in the support group. The number of people attending the meetings vary due to job and health issues. Monday through Friday the Support Group, their families and care givers receive a hot meal sponsored by Open Arms of MN. Open Arms of MN also sponsors a food parcel to the Support Group twice a year, one is coming up on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1 and one around the Easter season. The photo above is of the Support Group this past Tuesday. The Support Group is headed by Zethu Xapile, who also heads the Brownsfarm Clinic and Nomazizi Pasiwe, who heads the Hospice Group. (more on those organizations later)

Open Arms has been sponsoring food parcels to the Support Group on World AIDS Day which is Dec. 1 and around the Easter holiday since 2002. The parcels contain enough food for a family of 7 for one month. The parcels contain staples such as maize, rice, sugar, flour, tea and biscuits. In South Africa, most organizations shut down from mid December to mid January to allow for the people who come from the rural areas to Cape Town to work to go back home to be with their families for the Christmas season. Due to this shut down many people do not have access to food and therefore the food parcels are vital for the families. The food parcels are $40 and can be purchased through Open Arms. (sorry about the plug!) The food parcels are distributed in a 5 gallon plastic bucket that the families can than use for hauling water. Remember, many homes in the townships do not have running water and they get their water from pumps located in their zones (neighborhoods). If you want to know more about the food parcels please visit Open Arms's website: openarmsmn.org. The picture above is of a day we were loading the flatbed truck with the food for the parcels, you can see there is quite a bit of food and very labor intensive.

The food for the Rainbow After-school Programme and the Support Group are prepared by two women in the kitchen at JL Zwane. This is the third programme, the Nutritional Programme. The two women are Nkqo Qinga and Mama Katony, whose first name is really Eureka, which I really like so that is what I call her. Katony actually means mother of Tony, Tony is her eldest son. Nkqo started out as a volunteer in the kitchen in 1997 and became a permanent staff member in 2003. Eureka started as a permanent staff member in 2004. They work very well together tirelessly chopping cabbage and cooking for over 173 people daily, this includes staff members, which of course includes me. They have decided I am a vegetarian and I am not sure why, but my plate is filled with a variety of vegetables which are really tasty, who knew I liked squash! In the photo Eureka is on the left and Nkqo is on the right.

I hope you enjoyed meeting some of the staff and learning more about the programmes at Zwane.

Bye for now...

It's a small world!

2008-11-12T09:46:00.001-08:00

I went to church service on Sunday at JL Zwane, once again it was upbeat and full of life. The congregation was buzzing and there seemed to be more people at church than usual. I realized after I saw police and security people starting to filter into the building that something was happening. Yes, we were going to have a visitor. Jacob Zuma, the ANC (African National Congress) party president of South Africa and presidential candidate for the next election, was coming to talk to a women's leadership group at the JL Zwane Centre. Nelson Mandela was the first president of the ANC. In the last year there has been discord in the party which lead to the eventual resignation of the last president, Thabo Mbeki. There is an interim president in place by the name of Kgalema Motlanthe. There are a few issues surrounding Zuma, it is alleged that he has four wives, has been accused of sexual harassment and he has gone to court on corruption charges. In other words, not really the people's choice. But here was an infamous public figure coming to the centre. We were all waiting just to get a glimpse of him. About 20 minutes before he was to speak we saw the entourage drive up, he walked in the front door and we immediately surrounded him. I was introduced to him as "Jane from America" as I shook his hand and had my picture taken with him (note photo!) He was quite charismatic and spent a lot of time getting his picture taken with many people from the congregation.

The next day I received an email from my friend Kiersten Chace in Minneapolis. She attached an article from the paper that showed a picture of Zuma at a coloured church in a township called Atlantis on the same day that he had been at the Zwane Centre. Kiersten is the person who introduced Kevin Winge to Rev. Spiwo of the JL Zwane Centre in 2000. The ironic thing is that Kiersten has been working with the pastor of the coloured church (Pastor Mike Adams) on a documentary film and developing a multipurpose centre in Atlantis. Last week I set up a meeting with Pastor Mike to go to Atlantis and visit his church and see the plans for the new centre. What a small world we live in!

After my visit to see Pastor Mike I will blog more about black and coloured. I hope you enjoyed this small world story!

Bye for now...

Orphan Program

2008-11-04T01:27:00.000-08:00

I am finally blogging again! As you know, John was here visiting me for about two weeks. He left last night and unfortunately I felt much the same as when the Kevin's left Cape Town in October. Very sad and the tears did fall. My positive spin on the situation is that he will be back in December when the centre is closed and I won't have to work every day. The interesting thing about John's time here is how our roles were reversed. I was going to work everyday, I was driving the car and telling him what to do and what not to do! John was cleaning, grocery shopping and running errands, he did all this without a car! I think we learned a lot more about each other after this time together. It was fun!

Another reason I have been delinquent in writing is that I have been wanting to write about the Orphan Program here at the centre and the orphan situation in Guguletu and I have been procrastinating because I want to make sure I do it justice.

I just finished reading an article from the Cape Argus, the afternoon/evening paper in Cape Town, about the number of AIDS orphans rising. Currently there are 91,216 orphans, (reported by the Department of Social Development) including those who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS, in the Western Cape (the province that includes Cape Town). The number of orphans whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS is expected to increase in the next three years, while the figure for non-AIDS orphans is expected to fall.

Last count at the centre there were 70 orphans. These orphans either live with other family members, foster families or are a part of child-headed households, meaning a sibling is taking care of them, the sibling can be as young as 15 years of age. The growing number of orphans has over extended the available resources of the Orphan Program and there are now too many children and not enough spaces. The picture above is of Milly (on the right) with the Orphan Program children.

The Orphan Program was started in 2001 by Milly McQuade, a woman from a white Presbyterian church in an affluent suburb about 25 minutes from Gugs. She started the program after learning her domestic's daughter was dying of AIDS in the hospital after giving birth. The Orphan Program meets every Tuesday from 3:30 to 5:00 PM. The program breaks the children into 3 age groups, they are then taught school subjects that relate to their age and life skills. At the end of the program each child is given a food parcel to take home. The parcels are provided by church members who take home a bag each Sunday (specific items requested on the bag) and return it the following Sunday. These items and some fresh fruit and at least 2 loaves of bread (obtained via the Rotary) are packed into each child's bag. The youth group at the church also provides each teenager with a parcel of toiletries. Milly also organizes outings periodically to the beach, the zoo, to see a movie, etc. Milly's mission is for these children to experience life like any other child.

Education is the main concern of the centre and Milly's program. She believes empowering these children by education will prevent HIV infection and move them away from crime and poverty. The saving grace of South Africa!?! Due to the cost of school fees, uniforms, stationery (books, etc) and transport costs it can be very difficult for the extended families to pay for schooling. The government will cover some costs of schooling for the orphans but only if there is a birth certificate for identification. Many times the birth certificates are lost which precludes receiving government support.

There are 3 types of schools in South Africa: Public (least expensive school), Model C (more expensive than Public, better overall education and teachers) and Private (very expensive, where a child will receive the best education).

Milly's church has been able to raise money to be able to send two students to Private schools. The JL Zwane Centre has a scholarship fund for the orphans, these children attend the Model C schools. Many of you who have visited Cape Town have asked me how you could sponsor a child. I talked to the principal of the Rainbow After School Program here at the centre (this program is for children who have parents but are having problems in school and so they come to the centre to work on subjects after regular school and they also receive a small meal thanks to Open Arms) about the cost of school tuition. She broke it down to the following:

Public Schools: Average R100 to R1000 annually (divide by 7 for the dollar cost)
Model C: Average R6000 to R8000 annually
Private: R20000 plus.
Difference: Model C and Private Schools have extra teachers, smaller classes and specialized tuition for sports, dancing, music, computers, etc.

Average cost of uniforms is R500-R1000, stationery R500-R2000 these are paid annually and are based on what level in school they are. The poorer public schools do not always have text books for the children and so the information is copied and put into plastic files, therefore the high stationery costs. Transport costs can be as much as R300 a month (they do not have school buses). Children attending schools outside their township make huge sacrifices but it has been proven that they matric (graduate) with higher scores than if they remained in the township schools where the teachers are not even coming to school to teach or have been given a poor education themselves.

I just returned from a two day conference in Johannesburg on HIV/AIDS in the business and public sectors. The sad and scary statistic was that there are approximately 2 1/2 MILLION orphans in South Africa. I question how these children will ever break the cycle they are living in without the help of others. If you would like more information on the Orphan Program or the scholarship fund please let me know, I would be happy to answer any questions!

Thank you for letting me write so long about this subject that just breaks your heart!

Bye for now...

Photoblog of Gugs

2008-10-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody, I have been a bit remiss about updating my blog. John arrived on Wednesday night and it has been very busy and quite social since. It was a very busy week at the center (this is for you Muth) but I made the decision one day to take pictures of Gugletu to show you where I go everyday. Much like Minnesota, there are many potholes in the townships and unfortunately I hit one of them and ended up with a flat tyre (sorry Muth). We were close to the centre so I drove on the tire rim back to the centre where Edwin, the assistant pastor, changed the tire. I ended up back at Budget and instead of getting the tire fixed they gave me a new car. I am driving a silver Honda Jazz, 4 door automatic, it is rather sporty, not fast but fun.

Guguletu was established as a black township in 1958. Professional people such as doctors, teachers, lawyers etc. were given brick or stucco homes. As the years went on and people from the rural areas moved to Cape Town, different forms of homes were built. Men came down to work in the city and were put into homes called hostels. These are similar to townhomes that were built by the government. Years later, when more people came from the rural areas to find jobs, they would move in with family members or friends and would attach a room to the back of these homes. These shacks might be made of zinc or wood or any scrap of material they could find to build with. More and more zinc or scrap shacks were being built on any open piece of land. The government had a hard time controlling these buildings going up in the middle of the night and eventually they started to approve them as permanent dwellings and supplied them with portable toilets and water pumps in these areas. (Most shacks do not have running water, electricity or plumbing.) In the photoblog you will see each type of home. Habitat for Humanity is also putting up homes in the townships. Guguletu has it's first brick Habitat home where a woman and 5 orphans are living. In South Africa, the people who live in the Habitat homes are not required to pay for the homes, it is generally assisted through another organization. JL Zwane assisted in helping this home be built. I have also taken pictures of schools and hopefully other points of interest!

I forgot to mention some stats about Guguletu. Gugs has a population of about 350,000 people in a geographic area smaller than Richfield, MN (for those of you in Minneapolis), 50% unemployment and most people living well below the poverty line. Domestic abuse, alcohol and drug use and violent crime is rampant. The centre itself was established around 1992 with the new building being completed in 2004. Staff consists of about 10 key employees and many volunteers. (thank you Tony for the research)

Again, please let me know if you have any questions about what you see in Gugs.

Bye for now...

Week of Diverse Cultural Experiences

2008-10-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

I completed my first official week at the JL Zwane Community Centre. The centre had many visitors this week, two groups from the United States, The House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, MN and the ANSA organization based in Washington D.C., a couple from Windhoek, Namibia and a family of 5 from Forres, Scotland. Last Wednesday the centre hosted the Council for World Mission Churches made up of 15 people from around the world. It literally was the UN! They asked me to speak on behalf of the relationship between Open Arms and the centre. I was happy to and was also very proud to plug Kevin's book (for those of you who didn't get one from me as a gift, Kevin wrote a book called "Never Give Up", vignettes about his 6 month stay in Cape Town), I sold about 10 copies. The proceeds of the book go back to the centre for the nutrition program. Siyaya, the musical group from the centre performed, they were a big hit and they too sold many CD's. The group was very impressed with the centre and the programs presented to them. They asked many questions which I view as a good sign that they were interested in what is happening at the centre and in the townships regarding HIV/AIDS.

I have to admit that at home I do not attend the theatre or art programs very frequently. But in one week I had the opportunity to attend the theatre twice, watch a musical competition for high school students in Cape Town and listen to a choral group in a township.

I will now explain the diversity of each program.

The musical competition was held in Cape Town at a venue called Artscape. A beautiful building that is the home to the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cape Town Ballet. The competition was for high school students from all over South Africa. In the past, South Africa did not promote music in the schools due to cost but some of the Afrikaner schools decided that music was important for the growth of the students and so they began music programs in their schools. The Afrikaner schools are private and the cost to attend is very high precluding children from the townships the ability to attend. With the help of scholarships, children from lower income families now have the opportunity to enroll in these schools. The final 7 students were made up of 2 Afrikaners, 2 colored, 2 black and 1 Jewish student. The competitors were very talented. I found it very hard to have a favorite but secretly I wanted the pianist to win due to the fact that I have taken piano lessons. I wasn't disappointed though when the winner was a 15 year old violinist, she was amazing. I think we will be hearing her name along with Yo Yo Ma (cello) in the future! The girls wore gowns and the boys suits and ties. Very formal and professionally orchestrated. The winner received R10,000 which right now would be about $1,000. It was quite the evening.

The second musical event I attended was in the township of Nyanga. Nyanga means moon and is a black township next to Guguletu. Bongani, the music director of Siyaya, the group at the centre, started a choral group called African Chord Melodies. The group is made up of 40 boys and girls from the townships. He is trying to preserve traditional African choral music by forming this group and at the same time working to get youths off the streets and to give them an outlet for displaying their talent. The venue in Nyanga was at a community center. It is an older building with a few windows missing, the acoustics weren't quite the same as at Artscape, the costumes were simple black pants with either an orange or black t-shirt but when they started to sing and the voices came together you forgot where you were or what they were wearing! The music was powerful, they shared the same energy and joy of performing for the many free guests in the audience as the students at Artscape did for the many who paid. The audience was made up of one white person (me), two colored people (my friend Elizabeth and her son Chad) the rest were black. It was a wonderful experience. Like the church service at JL Zwane, all spoken word is in Xhosa so you can imagine how shocked I was when the announcer thanked "Jane and her two friends for coming" in English. Bongani's dream is to see the group perform in bigger venues where they can generate income to purchase "professional" costumes and to be able to afford transport costs. I know Bongani and I know he will work hard to make his dream come true!

The first theatrical performance I saw was a one man show at the Baxter Theatre in Newlands. A small, artsy venue with a very warm feeling. The play is called "The Crossing". It is the story of Jonathan Nkala's journey from his small village of Kwe Kwe in Zimbabwe to Cape Town, South Africa. Jonathon presented his story through acting, song and art. He makes a living by selling beautiful beaded artwork to tourists in Cape Town. The story is of innocence, pain and joy presented with humor, irony and love. I met Jonathon after the play, he is very soft spoken and genteel. I am sure this performance was very difficult for him but also very cathartic. He is now a temporary asylum seeker whose permit has to be renewed every six months.

The second play I saw was at The Theatre on the Bay in Camps Bay, a very beautiful, expensive area on the beach. The audience was made up of white people, many of them tourists. The play was called "Mooi Street Moves". It was performed by two professional actors, one black, one white. Mooi is a street in Johannesburg, South Africa. It tells the story of life after Apartheid and how during Apartheid Mooi street was an upper class vibrant area, after Apartheid it became a place of drugs and crime. The play was about the black man's struggle to make a living by selling stolen goods to a middleman and his relationship with the white man who came to Mooi street to find his brother who he hasn't seen in 6 years. I didn't understand some of the story because it was based on Afrikaner history. I enjoyed the play very much and once again I was able to learn more about the history of South Africa and its people.

I start a new week tomorrow and wonder what it will bring. I hope it will be as exciting as this last one so I can blog about something interesting and not just "I got up today and ate breakfast"! Thank you again for reading my blog.

The photo is of Bongani and the African Chord Melodies, sorry it is so dark, still learning to use my camera too!

Bye for now...

Officially Started

2008-10-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday I officially started as an employee of the JL Zwane Centre! My first day did not start out great, it was my first experience of a black out in Cape Town. I have made 14 trips to Cape Town and I have been fortunate to have escaped the experience, but alas, here I was wondering what to do. I live on the 8th floor so I figured that it was easier walking down 8 than 24 (remember New York Gretchen!). I decided to go running as planned and just as I was leaving the flat it came back on. I was very relieved but proud that I didn't panic! I drove to Gugs without much traffic, the good part about living in the city is the traffic going out is light but coming from the townships "'burbs" to the city is just crazy, much like any major city in the US.

The day went really well and very fast. I tried to get organized and familiar with the way they work. The transition with the employees won't be hard for me since I know most of them from previous visits. The big issue is learning their names. The majority of the people living in Guguletu are Xhosa speaking. Their language consists of clicks and different sounds. I have not mastered any of the sounds and can say quite honestly I probably won't. They think my last name is funny and hard to say and I just remind them of theirs. They stop laughing then.

Due to the fact that Open Arms supports the food program for people that are a part of the HIV/AIDS support group, there is a daily meal served, much to my astonishment I was delivered a wonderful lunch consisting of chicken, spinach, corn (when did I have corn last?, sorry) and bread. It was very good but I felt funny being served!

Today I had my first meeting alone, normally it would be with Kevin, with an organization called TAC. It stands for Treatment Action Campaign. It was established in Dec. 1998. They campaign for people living with HIV/AIDS and to help reduce new HIV infections. They have implemented mother-to-child transmission prevention and antiretroviral treatment programs (ART's). TAC also runs a treatment literacy campaign, it is a program on the science of HIV treatment and prevention. The positive news they shared with me was that the number of HIV positive people has stabilized in the last two years but they still have issues with education about condoms and STD's and Tuberculosis.

The reason they wanted to talk to me was actually about xenophobia, if you are not aware of this term it is the fear and dislike of foreign nationals coming to another country. For South Africa, the foreign nationals are from other African countries, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Somolia, due to political unrest and war. To many you would think this wasn't an issue because they are all from Africa and black. The issue according to the residents of the black townships is that they are taking their jobs, willing to take less in pay, taking their women, disobeying the "rules of conduct" such as drinking in the streets during the day and using their money to sexually abuse the black women of South Africa. There is a lot of unrest that TAC is trying to help resolve. One of their foundations is for human rights and they feel that this is an issue they need to support much to the chagrin of the township residents. In May at least 50 people were murdered. TAC has over 2000 activists (volunteers) that have been working to stop the violence and to continue their work with HIV/AIDS.

The interesting twist to this is that TAC last year donated food parcels to about 45 people with the help of Tony Zappa (the Open Arms board member that spent a whole year away from his family last year and whose footsteps I am trying to follow in!) who were very sick from AIDS and/or very old. A gentleman from Somolia (yes, Somolia) has given funds to donate food parcels for 150 people. They are very happy but they feel that they are missing personal items from the parcels, eg. toothbrush, toothpaste, soap etc. So they asked me if I could help raise 3,000 Rand, which right now with the dollar so good (it really is here) it comes to about $400. Of course I didn't say yes right away, but to me it is a no brainer. I was very impressed that a Somolian was willing to make such a wonderful donation after all the heartbreak that has been happening in the townships. I will be getting back to them but their story was very powerful to me.

On a lighter note, after that I went to visit another good friend of Open Arms. Mary Sili (I will highlight Mary's story in a later blog) is a black South African who retired in December at 67 as a director of a senior centre in Guguletu. Instead of retiring, she started an after school food program in her neighborhood. There are 2 elementary schools near her. Most of the children go to school with out breakfast each day, pretty hard to study under these circumstances. She makes homemade doughnuts, sandwiches with mince (meat) and curried veggies, soup and juice. She charges one rand each which is about 8 cents. From what I saw, Mary gives the children food on credit, but she said they always come back to pay. She does not make a profit, it is actually at a loss, but it is strictly to supply food for the children that is reasonably priced. I decided it was free day, you should have seen these children, they were so happy, asking for 3 sandwiches instead of 1, 4 donuts to take home, one little boy came to buy his Gogo (grandma) a donut, so cute.

I am going to try to post pictures at this point, if they are not there I will try again! The pictures will be of the view of my apartment (don't feel too sorry for me after seeing my view), the centre, and Mary.

Thanks for reading this and not getting too antsy due to its length.

Bye for now.

Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa

2008-10-12T04:06:00.000-07:00

Many of you have been inquiring as to when I will start my blog. It could be just procrastination but I really think it is because I am overwhelmed and not sure where to start. I have been here for about 12 days now. Kevin Winge, Executive Director of Open Arms of MN, the organization that I volunteer with and will be representing for the next 6 months in Cape Town, and his partner, Kevin Shores, came to help "tuck" me in. We spent the first week getting my flat organized, getting a rental car, getting my computer set up with wireless, phone, etc. We also spent a lot of time connecting with our friends at the JL Zwane Centre (centre is not a typo, that is how it is spelled here!) in Guguletu, the township I will be working in, and visiting with friends that we have met over the last 8 years.

The Kevin's left last Thursday, needless to say I was very sad and cried quite a bit. I tried to hide it from them but it wasn't easy. Two friends took me out to dinner that night to make me feel less lonely but when I returned to my flat that night and laid in my bed I thought to myself, wow, I am now here on my own, Kevin won't be calling me to say "coming now" each morning. The next morning was a beautiful day, I felt like I had a huge pit in my stomach but I told myself to buck up and get on with it. I went driving in my car to practice, they drive on the opposite side of the road here and it can be a bit daunting. Everyone here is very concerned about me being alone but that is good for me since they call and SMS a lot. I won't be alone for long since John will be coming the end of Oct. for 2 weeks!

Once I figure out how to post pictures I will attach them so you can see where I live, the Centre and meet the people I will be working with. I think that pictures help complete the story.

Today I drove to the JL Zwane Centre at 7:30 AM to attend an adult Leadership Program and than to attend church service that started at 10:00. For those of you who don't know, the centre is part of a Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Spiwo Xapile leads the church and the centre, he is the gentleman that Kevin Winge met in 2000 which started the partnership between Open Arms and the JL Zwane Centre. There are many international organizations that visit the centre and today there was a group from Denmark (I was thinking of you Rita and Dick). They are visiting to learn more about reconciliation and hope in South Africa after Apartheid. Spiwo invited me up to the podium to introduce me to the congregation so they would know me and look out for me while I was in the township. The service was very energetic with lots of music and singing, it also lasts for 2 hours!

I officially start tomorrow so I will be updating my blog on a regular basis. Thank you for checking out my blog and again for all the support I have received from everyone, it means so much to me especially since I am literally so far away but with the internet I feel like I am right there with you! Please feel free to email me with any questions you might have, I look foward to hearing from you.

As they say in South Africa: Bye for now.