I went to Johannesburg the weekend before last to get my camera fixed and play ultimate frisbee. I stayed at a backpacker called Sleek (formerly called Acousticks) Friday night through Monday morning. I had planned on playing frisbee Friday and Sunday night but had no plans for Saturday (which I forgot was Mandela Day, the day Nelson Mandela was born).
After frisbee on Friday I went out and had some food and drinks with one of the guys and his grad school friends at their pub. I had gotten into contact with him because I wanted to play ultimate and he had organized pickup games in Johannesburg. He e-mailed me detailed instructions on how to get to all the places I needed to, picked me up at the camera place, brought me to frisbee on friday, dropped me off at a backpackers, then picked me up for and dropped me off from frisbee on Sunday. There is something about ultimate frisbee that creates instant camaraderie amongst those that play. It was refreshing to play again since it is one of the things I've missed a lot while being away from the U.S.
When staying at backpackers I am always able to find at least a few people I can relate to. People who stay at backpackers seem to share the same sense of camaraderie as those who play ultimate frisbee; must be because they have similar mentalities.
I met a middle-aged South African guy who upon introducing myself immediately pegged me as an American. Strangely enough, another guy named Nick, who was sleeping in the same dorm was also from NY. I woke up the next morning and the first thing I said to the guy who I presumed was Nick was "Are you from NY?". He was a little shocked but confirmed that he was.
Nick was here doing some climate research as an intern with the Red Cross. There was also a large group of people here with Global Studio whom Nick had joined forces with to do some non-related work with. Since I didn't have anything to do until Sunday he said I could join them. I had woken up at 8 am and contemplated going back to sleep since I've been a little lazy lately and sleeping until 10 on most days. I don't teach and I don't have pre-determined hours when I am supposed to be at work so it doesn't matter when I get up.
They were going to Diepsloot which is a squatter settlement just outside of Johannesburg. The settlement had a completely different feel than the village I live in. Squatter settlements are on government-owned land instead of tribal land which is controlled by a chief. Therefore it is a free-for-all so anyone can build a house anywhere. Most of the houses are shacks that are made of tin (tin shacks are the minority and brick the majority in my village). since a lot of people don't have yards they don't have water taps so more people share the same public tap. A large portion of the population is from Zimbabwe or Tanzania or other bordering countries.
Crime is much more of an issue there so we were instructed to never walk alone. I felt pretty confident and I would have been comfortable walking amongst the residents because I am so used to being the minority. Nonetheless, I heeded their warning and stayed with other people.
We helped plant some trees and left the pick axe and spades (shovels) as well as instructions for how to care for the trees. Since we had so few tools I spent a lot of time just observing or playing with the kids. Then the locals started to harass me since I wasn't doing any work suggesting I was too weak. Of course, they chose to have me "prove myself" when we had reached a large rock. After 10 minutes of chipping away at the rock they were satisfied and I was allowed to retire.
We spent the other part of the afternoon playing with the kids. They were supposed to build wire cars-cars made out of wire, screws, and shoe polish containers-but there was not enough materials or staff to instruct so we had to find a way to entertain 30 kids. We decided to introduce duck,duck, goose since that could be played with a large group fairly easily. I had forgotten the rules and it proved to be more difficult to get the kids to play "correctly".
The child that was "goosed" was, as most of you may remember, supposed to chase the other child around and try and tag them before they did a lap and sat down. The chasing child would more often than not forget to stand up and start chasing the other child. The chased child nine times out of ten forgot that they were supposed to sit down after doing a lap and kept running around the circle or realized they couldn't run fast enough in a circle so tried to lose them by running erratically away from the circle until they or the other child fell down.
Since they were having difficulty we explained the game to the older kids (around 13+ when most kids were 4-10) so that they could demonstrate it to the kids. The older kids were doing a good job engaging the kids doing the typical grown-up thing pretending to be unable to run faster than the child thus either getting caught by the child or being unable to catch them. This proved to be slightly counterproductive because the kids were enjoying chasing/being chased by the older kids so no one was picking the small children and they were just sitting there neglected and bored.
When I first got to Africa I would have probably been extremely frustrated that they didn't seem to follow my instructions. Since then, I have realized that when teaching kids (or adults) games it doesn't matter that they weren't playing by my rules. Everything seems to get Africanized once introduced here anyways. The important thing was that I was keeping the kids occupied and interacting with them.
Some people get this view that Zimbabweans and other immigrants are here to rob South Africans of their possessions or livelihood . It is true that some people who come here commit crimes, but so do South Africans. However, not ALL immigrants are criminals. I talked to quite a few non-South Africans who lived there and they took it as there home. To them, it wasn't just a squatter settlement that they were occupying. That was their home, they didn't like the crime, uncleanliness, or lack of nice areas to gather. It was refreshing and frustrating at the same time because many of them wanted to make change but they also lacked the resources and know-how to acquire those resources. An entire settlement of people falling through a gaping hole in the system.
And I almost rolled over and went back to sleep, good choice.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Reflections on my Trip to the U.S.
When I was about to go home to the U.S. I had mixed feelings. I very much wanted to see my family and I knew that they had looked forward to seeing me too. However, I was very into my work and it seemed that things were ready to take off. Regardless of how I felt before, I am definitely happy that I went home for a visit.
The two big events that I went home for were Cate and Mike's wedding and my and Cate's birthday. Given how far apart Cate and I have lived from one another since 2001, we seem to spend quite a few of our birthdays together. We went to Niagara Falls, walked the Cave of the Winds (I have some awesome sandals to remember it by) and rode the Maid of the Mist. It was a nice fairly relaxing birthday that I got to spend with part of my new family and more importantly my twin.
I'd like to give a shout out to Cate and Mike Dillon for an awesome wedding! I was standing at the back of the alter, watching Cate walk down the aisle and I became a little verklempt and felt a little teary-eyed. It was then that I realized that my twin sister was really a grown woman. My twin sister, whom I shared the womb with, lived with for the first 18 years of my life, and seem to share some sort of a "twin-sense" with was getting married! Other than when I get married (maybe) or when one of my children (maybe) get married, this is probably the most significant and meaningful weddings I'll ever attend. Your wedding was really nice too, Jill, but you're my older sister so it's not quite as big a jolt as when your twin ties the knot.
Between the rehearsal dinner, reception, after party, after after party, and the painful next day I think I got to talk to most of the people at the wedding. I really enjoyed seeing everyone; most of whom I hadn't seen for over a year. Before I left and while I was away I never really thought about how much I valued my friends and family. I value that when friends and family see me they see David and then they think about who I was the last time they saw me and then they talk to me; I come before all other parts of my identity. This was very refreshing because in South Africa I am first seen as white, then male, then presumed Afrikaaner (to Black South Africans) therefore, I must have money. Even some people who have seen me everyday in my village still look at me and don't yet see David, they just see Rs (South African currency is the Rand).
Throughout my time in the U.S. I noticed a lot of differences in my self. A huge difference is that I feel a lot more independent. For the first time, I felt like I was there as David Culeton, not David, Don and Deb Culeton's son. I became a lot more confident in my ability to talk to other people; I was very excited to share with others about the things that I was doing but then I realized I wouldn't learn anything. If you wander around a party just talking about yourself, you don't gain any new information. You just either gain other people's approval or indifference; neither is all that helpful.
I am more comfortable with myself and have realized that I spent a lot of time being worried about insignificant things; for example, dancing. I broke out of my shell during December break when I came to a seemingly obvious realization about dancing, it doesn't really matter what people you don't know think of you and at very least, your friends and family will be amused.
To my disappointment I noticed that I had let my ego grow a little too large. I know the work that I'm doing is good but I forgot that in the jar of life, friends and family are rocks but your work and the things that you do are only pebbles.
The two big events that I went home for were Cate and Mike's wedding and my and Cate's birthday. Given how far apart Cate and I have lived from one another since 2001, we seem to spend quite a few of our birthdays together. We went to Niagara Falls, walked the Cave of the Winds (I have some awesome sandals to remember it by) and rode the Maid of the Mist. It was a nice fairly relaxing birthday that I got to spend with part of my new family and more importantly my twin.
I'd like to give a shout out to Cate and Mike Dillon for an awesome wedding! I was standing at the back of the alter, watching Cate walk down the aisle and I became a little verklempt and felt a little teary-eyed. It was then that I realized that my twin sister was really a grown woman. My twin sister, whom I shared the womb with, lived with for the first 18 years of my life, and seem to share some sort of a "twin-sense" with was getting married! Other than when I get married (maybe) or when one of my children (maybe) get married, this is probably the most significant and meaningful weddings I'll ever attend. Your wedding was really nice too, Jill, but you're my older sister so it's not quite as big a jolt as when your twin ties the knot.
Between the rehearsal dinner, reception, after party, after after party, and the painful next day I think I got to talk to most of the people at the wedding. I really enjoyed seeing everyone; most of whom I hadn't seen for over a year. Before I left and while I was away I never really thought about how much I valued my friends and family. I value that when friends and family see me they see David and then they think about who I was the last time they saw me and then they talk to me; I come before all other parts of my identity. This was very refreshing because in South Africa I am first seen as white, then male, then presumed Afrikaaner (to Black South Africans) therefore, I must have money. Even some people who have seen me everyday in my village still look at me and don't yet see David, they just see Rs (South African currency is the Rand).
Throughout my time in the U.S. I noticed a lot of differences in my self. A huge difference is that I feel a lot more independent. For the first time, I felt like I was there as David Culeton, not David, Don and Deb Culeton's son. I became a lot more confident in my ability to talk to other people; I was very excited to share with others about the things that I was doing but then I realized I wouldn't learn anything. If you wander around a party just talking about yourself, you don't gain any new information. You just either gain other people's approval or indifference; neither is all that helpful.
I am more comfortable with myself and have realized that I spent a lot of time being worried about insignificant things; for example, dancing. I broke out of my shell during December break when I came to a seemingly obvious realization about dancing, it doesn't really matter what people you don't know think of you and at very least, your friends and family will be amused.
To my disappointment I noticed that I had let my ego grow a little too large. I know the work that I'm doing is good but I forgot that in the jar of life, friends and family are rocks but your work and the things that you do are only pebbles.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
A Whole New Level of Desperation
You hear about the high murder, burglary, assault, and rape rates in South Africa and would like to believe it is not true. Since I've been here many volunteers have been victims of burglary, assault, robbery at knifepoint and attempted murder. Thankfully I have not had to deal with this.
An Afrikaans man who I've been working with has said he believes that there are no criminals in South Africa, only poverty-striken people who resort to crime. I can comprehend people who rob and steal as a desperate act to support themself. But if rape and murder are also committed it is absolutely unexcusable.
I went to talk to a woman who recently opened an old age home to see how things were going. I saw a few familiar faces however she told me about her newest resident. She was found in her house on the floor, arms and legs bound, with bruises on her head and neck. A 25 year-old "man" broke into her house, raped her, left her on the floor alone, and stole her pension check. I would like to believe this was something that was made up but I saw the woman and I could see that it was not.
I am not sure who is to blame for this act. It is very commonplace in U.S. courts to hear a defendant claim that they were abused as a child or made fun of too much at school. This person was quite possibly raised by uneducated parents, or in a one or no-parent home because his parents were victims were killed by AIDS. His school was probably under resourced and may have had poorly-trained and demotivated educators. He may have been raised by a gang and surrounded by crime his whole life.
History shows that people of all races and ethnicities can be brainwashed into believing and doing incredible and indespicable things. Nazi Germany, Islamic Jihadists, the KKK, and Japanese Kamikazees all come to mind. It's not because he's black, or because he's African and because all Africans are barbarians (not something that I believe). History also shows that when ignored and neglected by their government people will do some crazy things (any oppressive regime depriving its people of their basic rights).
One thing is for sure is that there is a large portion of the population that is being left behind by their government. I refrain from saying forgotten because they know they are there they just ignore them so they can better serve themselves. The current administration endorses vigilante justice as a compliment to the ineffective (in many areas) South African Police Service.
These problems are so deep-rooted into this society that it is hard to fathom widespread change happening anytime soon. All I can hope is that in my time here I may influence a few children to stay on track and study hard, a few young adults to find jobs or get more training and skills, and motivate community members to make change happen themselves. In this way, change will perpetuate and eventually the changes that I was hoping to make while I was here will be fully realized.
An Afrikaans man who I've been working with has said he believes that there are no criminals in South Africa, only poverty-striken people who resort to crime. I can comprehend people who rob and steal as a desperate act to support themself. But if rape and murder are also committed it is absolutely unexcusable.
I went to talk to a woman who recently opened an old age home to see how things were going. I saw a few familiar faces however she told me about her newest resident. She was found in her house on the floor, arms and legs bound, with bruises on her head and neck. A 25 year-old "man" broke into her house, raped her, left her on the floor alone, and stole her pension check. I would like to believe this was something that was made up but I saw the woman and I could see that it was not.
I am not sure who is to blame for this act. It is very commonplace in U.S. courts to hear a defendant claim that they were abused as a child or made fun of too much at school. This person was quite possibly raised by uneducated parents, or in a one or no-parent home because his parents were victims were killed by AIDS. His school was probably under resourced and may have had poorly-trained and demotivated educators. He may have been raised by a gang and surrounded by crime his whole life.
History shows that people of all races and ethnicities can be brainwashed into believing and doing incredible and indespicable things. Nazi Germany, Islamic Jihadists, the KKK, and Japanese Kamikazees all come to mind. It's not because he's black, or because he's African and because all Africans are barbarians (not something that I believe). History also shows that when ignored and neglected by their government people will do some crazy things (any oppressive regime depriving its people of their basic rights).
One thing is for sure is that there is a large portion of the population that is being left behind by their government. I refrain from saying forgotten because they know they are there they just ignore them so they can better serve themselves. The current administration endorses vigilante justice as a compliment to the ineffective (in many areas) South African Police Service.
These problems are so deep-rooted into this society that it is hard to fathom widespread change happening anytime soon. All I can hope is that in my time here I may influence a few children to stay on track and study hard, a few young adults to find jobs or get more training and skills, and motivate community members to make change happen themselves. In this way, change will perpetuate and eventually the changes that I was hoping to make while I was here will be fully realized.
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