Internship at PASSOP

I am working for a refugee aid organization called PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty). This group works as an grassroots NGO with a small staffed office, but more importantly as a CBO (Community Based Organization) with 7 different branches in 7 townships in Cape Town. Townships are large impoverished areas with informal, usually shack, housing. PASSOP uses this CBO structure to reach out directly to refugees and asylum seekers (mostly Zimbabweans who have fled the collapsing Mugabe regime) to assist with legal advocacy, human rights education, labour rights awareness and some humanitarian assistance. It achieves this through protests, a strong relationship with Home Affairs, media outreach, research, policy recommendations, etc

My experience at PASSOP so far has been challenging and I'm learning a lot everyday. The office is a small one in which the founder of PASSOP, a secretary, and several interns work hard to get all the NGO work accomplished. One of my first assignments was to write affidavits for refugees and asylum seekers who were about to be evicted from their refugee camp. I also helped to write out legal statements for Zimbabwean asylum seekers who were undocumented and sought papers. Currently, I'm working on planning a labour rights workshop and network of organizations that helps to empower immigrants against workplace abuses.

My boss here is pretty crazy- he's a super eccentric, blunt and opinionated 27 yr old Zimbabwean. Sometimes I find it really really tough to get along with him, but otherwise he's a good idea man and is really knowledgeable. He can be really condescending at times and we've already had a couple arguments, but they all blow over really quickly. I'm glad that our working relationship seems to be working and I just need to stick it out another month! :) This Labour Rights network/workshop is going to be my main project for the summer and so I'll be devoting most of my time to it.

If you want to learn more about PASSOP they have a page on wikipedia- check it out! :)

Much love,

Sarah

Epic Southern Africa Adventure with the Rainbow Coalition

Holla lovers and friends!

So sorry I've been really bad about updating recently! It's been weeks since my safari adventure and I have yet to write about it, but here it comes, memories might be a little fuzzy by now so be warned... 

April 1- April Fools Day! 

We left for our last minute safari during our Mid Semester (Spring) Break with Adventure Travels, an Australian travel agency through which we "thought" we got an amazing deal. "We" being me, Shanell (a saucy well-travelled Black sista from Pittsburg with sarcasm/wit that could eat through metal), Alma (a Mexican sweetheart who goes to USC and has a heart of gold), and of course, Lindsey (road dog numero uno). We call ourselves the "Rainbow Coalition" because we have our token white, asian, black and hispanic components to our quartet. It's funny because South Africa is known as the Rainbow Coalition because of the post apartheid interracial concessions they had to make. 

Anyways, we had to book all our own travel arrangements and were scrambling to get everything done in time. We all had papers/projects due, classes to attend, anti malarial pills to buy, money to exchange (South African banks suck by the way, we spent 2 entire days and went to 3 banks to try to get US dollars only to be turned away from all of them... :/), and gear to pack. Literally, Lindsey and Alma were writing their papers until the last second- Alma threw some luggage into a suitcase and ran out the door, Lindsey found out she was a victim of credit card fraud an hour before we had to leave (what a crappy april fools joke, eh?) and so didn't end up turning in two papers and literally jumped into a cab after seriously contemplating rolling around in fetal position all break instead. 

We all had different flights in Johannesburg, SA which is where our safari was scheduled to leave from because we all tried to find last minute cheap flights. My flight on British airways was the earliest flight of the 4 and we were late to the airport so as soon our taxi touched the airport, I bolted to my gate. Out of breath, I got to the British Airways booth and handed the lady my passport. She's looking at my passport for a suspiciously long time and asks if this ticket is for me. I'm annoyed and all sweaty I'm like "Of course this ticket is for me, who else would it be for?" She then hands back the passport to me and it's a picture of a smiling black chick! AGHAHGHHHHHHGHGHGHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I have Shanell's passport because our passports got swapped when we were trying to exchange currency at the bank- I run at light speed back to the entrance of the airport praying that Shanell will still be around there and thank god I find them at an ATM, get my ID and run over in time to catch my plane! :) Someone up there is watching out for me! 

My flight itself was AWESOME, a short 2 hours during which they showed TV shows and even served dinner (I love airplane food... so cute!). 2 glasses of wine later and a quick flip through some awesome airmall mags, we were landing. I then met up with the girls in the airport and we went to a cafe to get some chow. Then we happily find out that the man we were supposed to stay with for the night in Joburg isn't picking up his phone and there are no hostels available- pretty much we're screwed. We end up staying the night in the airport amongst the many homeless men that sleep there and have an incredibly uncomfortable and claustrophobic night of cold, nervous napping. At 6 in the morning, we catch a taxi to meet our safari vehicle at a hostel in town and are greeted oh so hospitably by our driver, Blessed and our tour guide, Fiona with "YOU GUYS ARE LATE!" crap. this safari is going to suck. 

Our booking was done through Adventure Travels, but was actually with Acacia Safari on the ground. Overall, Fiona was a majorly sucky tour guide. She wasn't that friendly, wasn't very informative and told us everything last minute. She had this really annoying habit of saying "yea????" after everything she said... literally. it was freaking annoying. "We're leaving you if you aren't back in 10 minutes, yea???" NOOOOO, ho. jeez.  Our driver Blessed had a pretty twisted sense of humor, he was always being mean to us but in a half joking way, it took us a while to figure him out. He ended up being a pretty chill dude though- introduced us to some good Bob Marley and told us some crazy stories about nearly dying while being a guide for rich European hunters around the campfire. He was also eaten by hippos (had his canoe bitten in half instead...), trampled by a elephant, and his brother almost had his guts ripped open by a leopard... pretty cool, eh?

Also, because we did everything so last minute, we forgot to bring flashlights and sleeping bags (Adventure told us they'd provide...) so basically this safari was 5 awesome nights of shivering without sleeping bags, being covered in mosquito bites, and needing to pee but being  too scared to go outside without a flashlight, stepping on an angry hippo and getting eaten....

Nice side note about antimalarial pills by the way- they make you nauseous and hallucinate in your sleep. The first night we slept in our campsite, our tent was pitch pitch black and I went to sleep pissy (I'm scared of the dark, bite me...) and ended up having night terrors that I was trapped in a cave and needed to get supplies and started waving my arms frantically in my sleep, hitting Lindsey all over her head and body and then grabbed her hand in a panic yelling "WHERE AM I? WHERE AM I? WHY IS IT SO DARK? IS THIS YOU, LINDS??" oh jesus, i am the biggest spaz on earth. 

To make things snappy here's a list of all the activities we did on the safari:

Kruger National Park (North Eastern South Africa) 

* Night Game Drive: AWESOME!!!!! most kickass thing ever- we saw huge black and yellow spiders with webs that stretched across roads, tons of buffalo (who are apparently some of strongest and most aggressive animals in Africa), antelope, giraffes and coolest of all- a freaking lion eating a wildebeest, it was the sickest thing on earth!!!!! National Geographic in real time, baby! We were literally no further than 10 feet away from the lion who was just tearing away at a wildebeest carcass, all this in the beauty of the African sunset 

heart racing and adrenaline pumping to be sure! 

* Morning Game Drive: Saw a ton of wildlife including herds of buffalo, antelope, kudu, eland, giraffe, elephants (!!!), was pretty long- everyone fell asleep toward the end to the disappointment of our poor driver

Botswana

* Early Morning Nature Walk- Super cool nature walk through the bush with a mad cool informative guide- saw a herd of antelope, elephant caca, elephant mud baths, wild dog/giraffe tracks, and more! So much fun! 

* Night Cruise on the Zambian River- We thought this was supposed to be a booze cruise and was super bummed when our boat was a dodgy platform with a motor on it with no booze in sight... :/ We saw some awesome sights though! Huge herds of elephants and impala passing through on the bank, lots of baboons (mommas and babies), monitor lizard, kingfisher birds, and most exciting- a scary huge herd of hippos! 

Zambia (Livingstone) 

*JollyBoys Backpacker's Hostel- Sounds sketchy, but was AMAZING!! Huge facility, outdoor 2 level pool, sunbathing deck, huge pillow chill out zone, internet cafe, laundry area, bar, etc... perfection basically... You also meet the strangest and coolest people in hostels- dudes biking from Cairo to Cape Town, generous huge Lebanese South Africans who shared their hookah and alcohol, crazy drunken British youngsters, and one weird but cool German dude are a few. 

Livingstone itself is an awesome city- feels like a real African city with colorful outdoor markets, dirt roads, etc, unlike Cape Town which really Westernized and diverse. 

*Victoria Falls- The most beautiful and breathtaking thing I saw on the trip. Amazing. Tropical. Lush. Sublime. It made the trip- we hiked all over the park for an entire day and came back the next night to see the lunar rainbow. The lunar rainbow only happens 8 times a year when there is a full moon- the light reflecting off the moon creates a faint rainbow effect at night. Rainbow at night... who woulda thunk? Pretty sick though. We hiked down to the "boiling pot" of Vic Falls as well, which was one hell of a hike, we trudged across rivers, through the forest, and through butterfly covered valleys, it was really the most beautiful thing, exhausting though. This area has gotten the most rain in over 40 years so Vic Falls was literally bursting at its seams- everyone got completely drenched by the spray of the waterfalls. A lot of hotels and lodges surrounding the Zambezi River are underwater because of the intensity of the flooding. 

*Mukuni Village- A young Zambian man (Javan) our friends, Lixanne and Marshall, met at a crafts fair offered to show us around and take us to a traditional Zambian village. We went to Chief Mukuni Village and got a tour around the royal quarters and walked around the village- saw the hospital, the school, the houses, craft market, etc. It was really sad to see the craft market, desperation in the vendors eyes because of the tapering of rich tourists to the village...It was a holiday the day we visited so the children of the village didn't have school. They absolutely mobbed us! They nearly tore Alma limb from limb when she offered one of them a ballpoint pen. We played with them and they rushed at the chance to hold our hands, they are so cute but their poverty was really apparent. Signs around their school said phrases like "AIDS kills" and "Abstinence is good". Pretty intense, serves as a symbol of how much AIDS is devastating rural areas such as this. 

* Lion Encounter- Alma and Shanell decided to go gorge swinging (throwing themselves off a huge cliff over the Zambezi River) while me and Linds opted instead to go for the less adrenaline pumping lion encounter. We got to stroll and play with three 1 year old girl lions in the bush. It was KICKASS. It was the most amazing thing I've ever done in my life. They were so cute and sweet and playful!!!!! I fell in love, completely and utterly- head over heels in love! I got to stroke their heads and back, hold on to their tails, and watch them play! OMG kill me, I'm in heaven. If I can, I'm definitely going to go back and volunteer for the non profit that sponsors the program. It's actually part of a lion rehabilitation program that work to reintroduce domestic cubs into the wild, so I didn't feel like part of a shameless money making tourist-y activity. GLEE!

Headed back to Cape Town after 5 days in Livingstone. Took a 2 day epic bus journey from Livingstone to Windhoek (Namibia) and then from Windhoek to Cape Town. 

5 countries in 2 weeks. not too shabby. :)

<3

 

Getting my Jesus on

I went back to the Rosebank Methodist Church today, which is super close to where I live and to campus. I went there the first time when PASSOP (the refugee advocacy group I volunteer for) invited us to be ushers for Susan Tsvangirai's memorial service a couple weeks back. Susan Tsvangirai is the new Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai's wife. He is the new hope for Zim, voted by democratic popular election by the people. Right now he is sharing power with president Mugabe who is supposed to be phasing out his term, an incredibly corrupt and murderous regime. There is more than a little doubt that the car accident Susan died in was actually an "accident". Mugabe's people have been known to kill people without hesitation if they were politically "misaligned" with his regime. Morgan even pulled out of the election a couple times due to the huge attacks on his supporters by Mugabe's people. It was a really cool experience to witness the coming together of the Zim community in this area to celebrate the life of an extraordinary woman. The gospel singing in Shona was my favorite part, such a beautiful language...

Anyhoo, I went back to the same church today to volunteer with the homeless ministry they have there every Tuesday afternoon. They have a special service, give out food, and donate clothing to the homeless in the area. The people in the church are wonderful people and so sweet, very generous with their time. As we were waiting to go into service, a drunk belligerent woman got into a HUGE brawl with another much older homeless man- like literally on the ground fighting, grabbing at each others clothes, pulling the man's mouth open, cursing like sailors, all that great stuff. It was pretty shocking to see happen right next to me, especially when the woman was saying "CHING CHONG" to me and calling me Japanese and all that jazz. Somehow I was an accomplice to that fight then I suppose? Then the drunk older man starts putting the pastor on blast telling him that his father was a good for nothing alcoholic, and that he's a f***-up, etc... strong words, man. That was adrenaline pumping I guess... It was especially surprising to find out that the two brawlers are actually lovers and apparently they get into these wild cursing fights all the time in the street. Who woulda thought? 

Anyways, the church service was quite nice, the singing was fun- the majority of the sermon and songs were in Afrikaans so I didn't understand much, but I always find the continuity in Christian themes comforting (the pastor talked about King David and repentance), probably because I grew up in the Church. All the homeless people were really sweet to me and friendly (other than crazy drunk lady) and they seem like generally great people. The only thing I felt bad about was I was always afraid I was going to gag at the awful smell in the small service room due to all the unwashed bodies. It was really suffocating but I kept my cool and just breathed out of my mouth. It makes me sad we live in a society where its acceptable for people to have to live like that. Where's the dignity? So unfair. A couple of the people there said they want to come back to LA with me in my suitcase, so funny how people are so impressed when they hear I'm from LA as if its the coolest place ever. (It is pretty awesome though :D) After the service, we sorted clothes for another couple hours and made packets for the different people with the clothing items they had requested. It made me feel really productive to be doing something that has some sort of tangible impact in helping people- which is really rare when you're volunteering for a larger organization. The clothing I sorted through and packed is going to provide comfort to these underprivileged people during the winter and that's something I feel is time well spent. A problem I have with my PASSOP internship is that I seem to just be doing a lot of administrative office work- filling out excel sheets and doing research, which is all well and good to a certain extent. Hope to continue working at this Homeless Shelter and working with the Adonis Musati Project (refugee humanitarian aid), a lot more rewarding than PASSOP I think... I feel really blessed to have the chance to help people at all, it's so ridiculous the disparities of privilege in this world, I'm constantly reminded of it here (don't get me wrong, it exists just as tangibly in America as well). It's also nice to be in a Church- as much as I don't agree with so much of Christian doctrine and the institution, the church is such a great community asset in its outreach for those who are in need- whether that be spiritual, emotional, or physical needs. One problem I did have with this church is that one needs to attend service in order to get the meal- which is unfair I think, its a spiritual imposition, takes all the free will and beauty out of faith, really. Almost like holding food ransom for another "soul saved".  I think the Church has a lot of power to impact so much positive change, but it also has the power (and has in the past) to cause a lot of negative destruction- imposing patriarchal mindsets, destruction of indigenous culture, evangelical superiority over other religions, etc. A boy came up to me while I was waiting for the bus and tried to tell me some regurgitated stuff about Jesus and it really annoyed me. I think that religion can be such a beautiful positive thing if only extremist Christians weren't so fanatic and imposing about their faith. Religion is definitely something I will continue to grapple with throughout my life but I think for now my religion is completely my own- based on compassion, individual dignity, empathy, love, humility and human rights. That is where I find my peace.  Amen to that! :)

Oceanview Homestay

This past weekend we stayed with a family in Oceanview, a coloured township. Most of the families in this area were forcibly removed from Simon's Town to make way for wealthy white families who wanted private beaches. They were relocated to Oceanview, to small project-like apartments in the 1950-60s. I've been looking forward to this homestay the entire trip- it's supposed to be one of the highlights. My main worry came from the nagging suspicion that 140 privileged American students going to stay for a weekend in a poor township sounded a lot like poverty tourism. However, our project director, Quinton, is coloured and has a long relationship with the people of this community and through these connections was able to find families who truly wanted to educate students about their community. We are assured that the families aren't hosting us for the money (of which a small amount is paid), but rather that they do it because they love meeting international students and teaching us about their community. 

Needless to say, I LOVED my family. My "moms" name was Iris Abrahams. She is a petite sassy corn-rowed 30 something lady who lives with her boyfriend, Curly, and their 12 yr old daughter, Kelly. They live in a small, but comfortable 2 bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, living room apartment that used to belong to Iris' grandmother. Iris' grandmother was a diabetic and had to get her legs amputated toward the end of her life. During this time when she was bedridden, Iris was one of the only family members to tend to her and cook for her. After her grandmother passed away, she was so used to coming straight home from work to take care of someone that she says she still has no social life. Iris is a G. She also is the rock of her family (like many women...). Her sister, brother in law, mother, and nephews are over literally everyday. Random neighbors and friends from the area are also constantly popping by to just hang out or say hi. The house is always bustling with some new visitor or cooking or blaring music videos. Iris' boyfriend Curly is funny and opionated- we talk a lot about race in SA and politics, the corruption and the lack of faith in the system. Curly and Iris met in high school and they are still together- crazy! He used to be a gangbanger, but apparently cleaned up his act when Iris got pregnant with Kelly. Kelly is a shy, reserved girl who is already recruited to play for SA's national Badminton team. Iris' cute 2 yr old nephew, Ryan, is also over all the time. He is literally the cutest boy I've ever seen. He's a little hurricane and is so hyper- crying one second and laughing the next, I had so much fun playing with him. I thought he hated me because he would cringe when I hugged him, but apparently whenever he left Iris' house he would ask his mom where the "aunties" went (ie. Me and another American, Maria, who was staying with Iris as well) SO CUTE! He makes me want kids, which is a huge feat in itself. He is my new baby and his parents agreed to give him to me. The details of this arrangement will be worked out soon... 

Anyways, Iris and co treated us unbelieveably well- constantly making food for us, force feeding us box wine and taking us camel riding on the beach. haha, though their lifestyle was so different from mine and their struggle so much more articulated, their hospitality and generosity was more than anything I could have imagined. They are amazing people- can't wait to go back and visit- I'm going in a couple weeks. When I got on the bus to leave for UCT, they stood outside the bus and waved till we left and as soon as I got back to my room, Iris SMSed me "We're fighting over the last potato, miss you already!" How freaking cute is that? The whole potato reference is because I ate like a mountain of fried potatoes they made that day... Quinton says that the point of our study abroad experience is to gain "positive experiences of marginalized people". Mission Accomplished. 

Sibu Love

Just had an amazing discussion with my roommate Sibu. Sibu is my pink-wearing, shoe-addict, soaps-watching, giggly amazing South African roommate. We were talking about race and inequality in South Africa and he started telling me how he’s from the Eastern Cape, which is one of the poorest regions in South Africa. His father left when he was 2, moved in with another woman from the same community (very scandalous, apparently) and started a new family with her. Growing up, Sibu had to watch his father’s new children get new fancy clothes and go to private school while his siblings couldn’t even afford books or decent clothes. He is really resentful of his father and when I asked said, “That bastard is dead, thank god.” I wrote in an earlier post about the huge chronic problem of absent fathers and single mother households in African communities. Sibu and his 6 siblings were raised by his grandmother, who apparently is a force to be reckoned with. His grandmother’s marriage was arranged for her when she was 16 years old. She went walking to fetch water and was kidnapped by 5 men who then took her to live at her in-laws, according to custom. She believes deeply in education and wanted to be a teacher but couldn’t because she had to be a wife and mother at such an early age. So she always pushed education on her children and her grandchildren, whom she single-handedly raised on a government pension (a pension that she walked 3 hours to get). Sibu and I both agree that women are unbelievably strong….

Sibu’s community is so poor, many people have resorted to alcoholism or prostitution just to cope. He is one of two men from his community that go to college and he is the only person in his family to have gone to college. So when he goes back home he says everyone is so curious about college life. He is a Social Work major because he wants to effect some kind of positive change in the social climate. He was talking about how much he hates school but how much is riding on him. He wanted to drop out and become a police officer but I convinced him that its important to have a degree as a safety net- it opens up your options and its something that will always follow you. He threw the police officer application across the room and then started laughing- haha. Love this dude. 

Delving Deep into South Africa’s Bosom

I recently read Anthony Butler’s “Contemporary South Africa” (who is also my Policy and Admin professor) and through this book and a lot of my lectures, I’ve been able to get a better grasp of South African history and politics. It is really fascinating so here’s a bit of a crash course on the racially divided past of SA~

South Africa system of “apartheid” formally began in 1948 but had existed informally since British colonialism in the early 19^th C. The 1910 Act of Union embodied a racial politics, cementing an alliance between Boer and English-speaker by excluding non-Whites from political participation. Under this system of institutionalized racial segregation ended with SA’s first democratic election of 1994 when Nelson Mandela became president under the political party, the African National Congress (ANC). Apartheid in literal translation is the Afrikaans word for separation/division. This is the perfect way to describe the artificially constructed system of segregation that was used to divide South Africa into white and black zones. Black areas were called Bantustans and each Bantustan was a mini nation-state within SA. Africans were divided upon arbitrary ethnic and “tribal” lines that the whites in SA basically made up and put forcibly into these Bantustans. Whites remained in certain designated regions where land was more resource rich and the infrastructure was more developed. Only whites were accorded full South African citizenship rights. Blacks were given citizenship rights of their respective Bantustan (which remember, was COMPLETELY arbitrarily decided and imposed upon them by white’s conceptions and creations of African ethnicity, community, and tribe). It is actually highly contested whether African “tribes” are a realistic interpretation of the African community or if it is merely a European classification to make categorization of Africans easier. Butler states, “Africans were systematically ‘retribalized’, stripped of South African citizenship, their civic and political rights trampled in accordance with the ambitions of the architects of te Bantustans. Hundreds of thousands of people were forcibly removed to their ‘correct’ locations. The segregation of space and of public amenities were pushed to new extremes.” Black, Coloured (those who could not be definitely classified as either Black or White), and Asian South Africans were serviced by inferior administrations, which provided segregated public services and limited enfranchisement. Whites in South Africa are made up of the British colonialists who colonized the cape in 1806 and the Dutch Boer “Afrikaaners” who settled earlier beginning in the 17^th C because of Dutch trading posts in the cape.

Apartheid ended at the turn of the 20^th C when Nelson Mandela and then president F.W. De Klerk organized the first ever non-racilized election. In this historic election, Nelson Mandel was nominated South Africa’s president and he served for 5 years from 1994-1999. Mandela’s party, the ANC, has remained in power since and has a near monopolistic grasp on political popularity here. Thabo Mbeki was the president after Mandela but recently stepped down a year before his second term ended. South Africans are awaiting a new election in which the ANC’s candidate is Zuma who is a charismatic populist, who was also once charged with rape and corruption. However, people tell me that South Africans will still vote for him because its better than voting for “the National Party that supported apartheid”. South Africans need more political competition in order to have a fully functioning liberal democracy.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created at the end of apartheid in 1996 with the mandate to investigate apartheid era human rights violations, to grant amnesty to admitted perpetrators who fully disclosed their actions, and to make recommendations concerning reparations. In hindsight, the most important role that the TRC played was to elicit and record the testimony of thousands of victims of human rights violations and to establish on the historical record the extent and nature of such abuses committed during this era. The ultimate efficacy of this commission, however, is contested. Even after a 7 ear truth and reconciliation process, citizens remain severely divided.

In Desmond Tutu’s words, South Africa is a ‘rainbow nation’ filled with diverse peoples, languages and cultures. This is manifested in the 11 official languages that SA possesses. This is why its so common to run into Africans here who speak 7, 8, or 9 completely distinct languages. The most commonly spoken African languages are Xhosa which is a clicking language and Zulu. Afrikaans is also used frequently- it is a creole language combining Dutch, German, and other African languages and mostly used by Boers and Coloureds here. Clearly, however, English and Afrikaans are the privileged languages here and most African languages are only spoken informally. Those who can’t speak English or Afrikaans cannot advance in the formal labor market and African children are profoundly disadvantaged by their need to acquire scientific and technical vocabulary through English. While most of the urban Black population speaks several languages, many are most fluent in African tongues, which do not serve as economic resources in the way that English and Afrikaans do.

South Africa is not yet truly a “rainbow nation”, however, it is actually two nations- white and black (in the words of Thabo Mbeki), divided by culture, history and wealth. The inequality of South African society is striking. Almost all of the poor in SA are Black and almost all of the wealth are white. Changes in the labor market have resulted in an ever growing gulf between the wealthiest in society and the poorest. “…an asymmetry of power and walth still almost accompanies South Africans’ relationships across races. They often seem to be guided by racial stereotypes and the potential for politicization of racial difference is everywhere evident.” This is most evident in famous photographs of sprawling townships adjacent to vast golf courses as well as in the affluent suburbs and blatant consumerism. South Africa’s poor endure a condition that would not be out of place in some of the world’s poorest nations. The unemployment is 25% and this effects Blacks much more than Whites. Economy remains overwhelmingly dominated by white owners. In a ranking of countries per capita, South Africa is 52st place out of 173. In a human development index, however, SA is 107^th out of 173 countries. South Africa lies some 56 places below the ranking one would expect judging purely on income. This reveals much about the huge income gap in SA society and the inequity that plagues so many South African poor.  Almost half of the country’s people live in poverty in townships with no access to public services, modern sanitation, electricity, or clean water. In some areas, like UCT, the stark segregation between white and black is less visible and marked instead with a forced courtesy, But behind closed doors, blacks and whites are rarely more than acquaintices and do not mix socially. When me, a black friend, and a white friend were chatting on campus, someone who passed by said “Wow, that’s the most diverse group I’ve ever seen on campus…” The diversity I take so for granted back home is apparently a spectacle here. Inter-racial mixing is slow, but I believe with improve greatly over time.

With a large influx of refugees and immigrants into SA, the xenophobia in South African society has reached great heights. Estimates of this mostly illegal immigrant population is between 2-8 million. Mugabe’s repressive regime in SA’s neighbor Zimbabwe has caused many refugees to cross the border into SA. The infrastructure and economy of Zim is crumbling right now and this country is facing an enormous human rights crisis. This crisis is purely political, Mugabe’s regime is not at all accepting of opposing factions and political parties and there is huge violence and violations of civil liberties based on political affiliation. While I’ve been in SA, I’ve met SO many people from Zim who are studying or working here because of the Zim crisis. I’ve prob met even more Zimbabweans than even South Africans. The organization I’m volunteering with, PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty) advocates for refugee rights and against xenophobia in SA. One of the most surprising things I’ve learned is that xenophobia is the fierest and most violent when it is directed towards other Africans. Blacks killing blacks… another sad similarity to the US.  Hopefully, I can learn more about the situation in SA while working here.

HIV/AIDS is a HUGE HUGE monolithic concern in SA right now. SA has the highest absolute population of AIDS victims of any country in the world with over 4 million infected citizens It also has one of the highest rates of infection in the world- leaping up to 32% or even 50% in some of the poorer of SA’s 9 provinces. President Mbeki recently stated that he wasn’t sure if the connection between HIV and AIDS was strong enough. He also called anti retro-viral treatments ‘toxic’ and said that it is not HIV that causes AIDS, but rather poverty. He makes an important impact of AIDS mortality and poverty but he misses the important connection between life-saving ARVs. Considering the level of sexual harassment in this country, I wouldn’t be surprised if a strong contributor to this would be rape. Gender discrimination is quite a problem in SA. Apartheid has effected women harder than men. Though less than half of the population lives under the poverty line, 71% of African women live under the poverty line. This means a lot of women-headed households and absent migrant worker fathers. Another interesting similarities to the poor black community in the states- many absent fathers. Obama’s absent Kenyan father was a strong shaping force in his search for his identity (read about this in Dreams of My Father). The cycle being that young boys with no father have no healthy role model to base their own fatherhood upon- thus perpetuating a never broken cycle of negligence.

The system of racial segregation in SA and white supremacy has even worked itself into conceptions of culture. Butler says, “The distinction between high and low culture is the product of western historical circumstances and it carries with it the assumption that the artist, poet, or composer stands at some distance from everyday society. It therefore doesn’t help us understand societies like South Africa in which oral traditions, dance, religious practice, music, and other cultural artifacts are deeply woven into and sustain ordinary life.” European settlers in Southern Africa used their economic and political power to enforce their own conception of cultural value. Typically high culture is understood as an attainment of whites, which gives rise to the cultural supremacy of European civilization. African art was see as products of static tribal cultures, only significant for their role in perpetuating tribal distinctiveness and division. After 94, however, African arts have been more encouraged and some genres like dance and singing have flourished. There is a far way to go before these stereotypes about culture are broken in the memory of history.

“Apartheid has left a residue of bitterness and suspicion. While some individuals transcended the segregation that blighted the twentieth century, generations will have to pass before race is no longer an impediment to trust.”

Asian Invasion

Being Asian in SA is certainly a very interesting and often frustrating experience. In terms of the dating scene, as an Asian here, you have to keep in the back of your mind that this guy may only be interested in you because you’re “exotic” and some fetishized version of some Asian orchid or something gross like that. It’s hard enough to deal with in the US where the Asian population is significantly bigger than the ~2% population here. SA is a country where racism and sexism, though no longer institutionally sanctioned, are shamelessly blatant. Everyday without fail, I will get at least a sprinkling of racial slurs, and a irritating barrage of sexual harassment. These may be catcalls, arm caresses, or some man yelling “I LIKE CHING CHONG” leaning out of a van taxi window. Whatever form it may take, it can be very taxing to constantly have my guard up. Ultimately, this is the life of a minority, and I know I’m strong enough to handle it. Plus, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger right? It’s even strangely invigorating to be somewhere where at least the prejudice is out in the open to see and deal with, rather than lying deep under the surface and in the subconscious like in the States.

            There are some definite perks to being Korean in SA though. I met a Korean family today!!! I was shopping in a gift store at the big mall complex here and realized that the woman at the register was East Asian. She was definitely Korean but MAY have been Chinese and I didn’t want to make an embarrassing assumption. So I looked frantically around her counter for some sign of Korean-ness- a word, a flag, anything. Finally, I spot a small notebook on her register… there’s Korean on it!! A huge leap of happiness wells up in me when I ask her “한국분이세요??” – “Are you Korean?” She looked so stunned- the look on her face was hilarious. Then she asks me if I am- she’s so surprised that I am because she thought I was “from here.” Does that mean I look South African? I dunno, I have gotten pretty tan I guess… We chat about when she came to Cape Town, her two kids (one of which is a first year at UCT), my family, etc. She then tells me to come back anytime if I run into any problems in Cape Town. Such a sweet lady and her daughter is really cute and sweet too. I love how the Korean Diaspora reaches so far and no matter how elitist and obnoxiously nationalist we can be, we’re undeniably a tight and awesome race. A little bit of home away from home~