Back Home

Well, I've been home just about a week now. I have to say, Michigan isn't as exciting as Muizenberg...but it is nice to be home. It's great to see people that I really didn't have a chance to see after coming home from my spring semester in Syracuse. Plus, I do have to start seriously getting ready to leave for Ireland and then London. I have some homework already (yikes!) that is due the day I leave for Ireland (August 20th.)

I do miss everyone that I met in South Africa. It's good to know that I will see some of you very soon.

To anyone who is reading this blog and considering a placement with IVHQ:

I get asked by potential volunteers frequently asking me if I would recommend the program. I have to say I would, but with a few strong reservations. The best summary of my experience is that I LOVED Cape Town and South Africa, but the management of the program was hard to deal with. If you can find a different way of getting to South Africa and volunteering, perhaps explore that. OR, if you are dead-set on volunteering with IVHQ, I have faith in them as an organization. Their other placements seem to be more stable than ours was.

The main issues I had with Volunteer in South Africa were just due to a lack of follow-through and professionalism, some things that I think they at least know (I hope) that they need to work on. In the short time I was there, we were witness to a lot of staff turnover for an organization that only has 4-5 employees, we were kicked out of our original house and moved into an apartment with one bathroom between 20 people, and we were frequently ignored as people with concerns.

It's just not how most of us had pictured a community-based organization to be run, either...the focus of the management there is on their own inflated profits instead of on the concerns they set out to deal with - something that reminds me of a lot of American companies in the media these days, but obviously on a much smaller scale.

Anyway, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED my time in South Africa, so you will love it regardless of any issues you may have in-house. The country, specifically the Cape Town area, is alive. There is a lot to do, and a lot of exciting people to meet. Some of my favorite moments included: skydiving, bungy jumping from the world's highest bungy bridge, WORLD CUP, traveling to Mozambique, visiting Robben Island, and just meeting all of the great people that visit and live in Cape Town)


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The biggest thing I have taken away from this is an appreciation for what I have been given. I do not think that my work there was enough to make a large impact, I have to be able to admit that. I was only there for two months, part of a never-ending cycle of rotating people reaching out a temporary hand. These kids are worth more than that. Some of them (in time, obviously) would be just as successful as most of the 20-year olds I know if they had just been given the same opportunities that we (that I) have been given.

If anyone is ever at the program with IVHQ and works with grade 6B in Christian David, tell them Adam says hello!!!

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Here are a few of my favorite pics. (Yay! I can finally upload pictures!) More to come.


The view from the balcony on our first house


An example home in the townships, within a five minute walk of where we lived/worked

Me on the bike tour through South African wine country...later without bikes



Urban Cape Town during the day


A few kids from school and me :)

Leaving so soon?

Wow - it hit me. I'm LEAVING tomorrow. This can't actually be happening. I knew this day was coming, but I never really planned for it. I've had the idea in my head for the past week that I was leaving soon, so I made sure to do a few things that I hadn't had a chance to cross of my list just yet. I spent a lot of time in Cape Town going to a few museums, and I also spent some time just taking the train to different areas around Cape Town doing some last minute exploring.

A lot of new people that arrived at the house this weekend asked me if I was excited/ready to go home. I say that I'm excited, but only because this was the first leg of my little travelling stint I am on. As sad as I am to leave South Africa, I am thrilled to be arriving in Ireland in about a month and London shortly after that. I also, of course, am excited to see my parents, friends back home, etc. I guess I'm ready, but...not really. If I didn't have to leave, I honestly think I would have strongly considered the option of either staying a little longer or travelling elsewhere in Africa before heading home.

I have some parting words about South Africa as well as about my volunteer experience. (speaking of which, I had to break up a fistfight between two kids at school the other day - not fun) I think I'm going to save these final thoughts for a blog post after I get home so that I can actually look back and reflect. Plus, I want to FINALLY UPLOAD PICTURES which will really get me talking. I made a huge effort to not look at a single picture after I took it; I think this will really make looking over them a fun experience. So except from the few that past volunteers have uploaded on Facebook, I haven't seen any pictures from the past two months.

So this is probably my last blog post from South Africa - my flight back home leaves tomorrow night.

Next stop: Michigan (technically Amsterdam, then Boston, then Michigan...but you get the idea)

Fooooood

So today was an exciting day for me at least. My friend, Vince, and I went into Cape Town for the afternoon to sort out his arrangements for going home and to go to the District Six museum, all about the transformation of an area of Cape Town from a thriving neighborhood to a segregated slum - really interesting stuff. But the best part of the day came later. We took a lengthy walk to an organic food store that I had heard of, and they had a lot of gluten free food! I got a sandwich on gluten free bread, some muffins, a loaf of bread, and some animal crackers. This has been the first time in like...two months...that I have had bread, or anything with flour for that matter.

Truly a happy day! :)

Back in South Africa

Lots to report here.

The end of my trip to Mozambique was really eventful. First of all, we went snorkeling and swam within three feet of a twenty-two foot whale shark...pretty exciting. The rest of the time in Tofo was pretty relaxing, lots of beach time. After leaving Tofo we had an eight hour bus ride and then we stayed in Maputo (the capital city) for about a day and a half, there wasn't much to do there.

When we finally left was when everything got crazy. We had another eight hour bus ride from Maputo to Johannesburg. However, we didn't quite make it all the way. About two hours into the bus ride is the border from Mozambique to South Africa. There was a problem with our passports, and apparently we didn't have the proper visas to visit Mozambique...we must have missed something when we entered the country. So in reality we were illegal immigrants, and the customs officials were not happy about it. After a few people yelling at us for a good hour, we realized that we were going to be stuck there for quite a while. The bus that took us had to leave, so we had to get our bags off and just sit at the border until they decided to let us leave. We talked to many officials and they kept telling us that we needed to pay a fine, but every time they told us that we needed to pay they would increase the amount we owed. The first few times we argued with them a little bit because we knew that they were corrupt and just wanted to pocket the money. We asked to see any sort of document or form or anything that shows a breakdown of the fines, but they told us that asking for this was "disrespectful." We kept telling them that we didn't have enough to pay the amount they wanted, so they said that we would have to wait for the "big boss" to come back from a meeting in South Africa and deal with him. After waiting for a good portion of the day he finally showed up and demanded 48,000 Meticais (about $1,500) which we didn't have. After talking to him for a short period of time we finally worked out a smaller amount (basically we pulled out our wallets and emptied them...every cent.) He agreed to that amount, so after about a half hour of paper-work time we finally were able to leave Mozambique.

Our next problem was that we had a flight leaving from Johannesburg that night and no way of getting to the airport, which was six hours away. We were a little worried, but luckily as soon as we left customs a man approached us and asked if we needed transportation, so we piled into a mini-bus filled with people and we were off to Johannesburg. After the long bus ride into the city and then an hour cab ride to the airport, we finally made our flight. I was so relieved to get home. But, the next day I checked my bank account and realized that I will need to start spending as little money as possible. I've been spending a decent amount of money on food for myself here because they aren't able to accommodate my food allergies (and yet refuse to refund the money I prepaid for food, even though I can't eat half of the meals they make.) So it looks like I will be hungry for the next three weeks I'm here, but I spent all of my money on things like skydiving, so really it's my fault.

Money problems have not stopped though. Somebody used my credit card information to buy $300 worth of prepaid airtime for a cell phone, so I am in the middle of disputing that charge with my bank. (Words of wisdom: don't enter credit card information on a public computer, as I am not the only volunteer here who has had this issue.) And to top it all off, I had brought some american money with
me for emergencies, and I left most of it in one of my bags in South Africa while I was in Mozambique. When I arrived home I found that somebody had gone into my bag and stolen the money, but left the empty bank envelope in my bag as an insult to me. So basically I am broke. So...anyone who wants to mail me food or money will be my eternal hero.

On a final note, I am really starting to have issues with the staff here, as is pretty much every other volunteer. In the month and a half that I have been here, two volunteer managers have been hired and then quit, the original cook quit, and we were actually kicked out of our original house and had to move...our new house has ONE SHOWER for over twenty people. I think that the staff here could really benefit from a few classes on how to run an organization. Several of the other volunteers here have emailed IVHQ (the international umbrella organization overseeing the local organization here) complaining about the staff, the conditions, and a few other things, but they never seem to care. I really feel like all they care about is getting our money and not about our actual experience.

Even with every issue that I have from border issues to problems at home, I am still loving it here. I can't let small things like money and the house ruin the fact that I am in South Africa having the time of my life. I have less than three weeks here, but I wish I could stay a lot longer.