The Last Days in South Africa

Molweni,

I have now returned to Chicago and I have been home for three weeks and one day. People have been asking me if it has been difficult to adjust to being back in the United States, but after returning from Ghana to the United States nothing is a culture shock. While saying this, I realize that probably nobody is reading this, because I have been back for so long. So at this point, this last post is for my posterity.

The last couple weeks of school were pretty hectic. In the last couple weeks I had my final reflection paper, applications, and my Capstone paper to finish. I finished my reflection paper on time, got accepted into the Oberlin Business Scholars programs, and finished my Capstone. It was obviously a huge surprise that I accepted into the OBS program because I have no background in business, but it will be a completely new interesting experience. I was able to get a good enough start on my Capstone I that was not too freaked out about turning it in on time. I was able to get a draft done early enough that I was even able to have Joey at EE and Gerald from CIEE to take a look at it. Their feedback and meetings definitely helped with the writing process. I think it turned out pretty well and I am proud of the work. At completion it was a total of 72 pages, which to me feels like a lot, but when I am writing my thesis years down the road, I will be laughing at this post. Regardless, I hope the information will be helpful to the organization.

Aside from the work I was doing I got a few messages from Zackie Achmat, who I mentioned in the previous post. I ended up helping him out with a project that he was working on. He was compiling all of the letters he wrote and received while he was imprisoned in 1980, for "terrorist activity." It was extremely interesting to talk and work with him. It is rare that you get to work with a leading anti-Apartheid activist, so I jumped at the opportunity to help him out. We had discussions about my future, the future of the United States, and he let me read a book he is currently working on about his life during the Apartheid. For me it was like the equivalent of working alongside Stokely Carmichael (before he started hating Jews).

That work made my schedule a bit more hectic, but it was worth the later nights. However, this was not the only thing I was doing outside of school and service. We still had some closing ceremonies for our group, which included our final at Moyo and celebrating Angela's 50th Birthday. It was special for us and I think her that we got to be the first CIEE group to celebrate her birthday with her. Moyo was also a great time. It was my second time at Moyo, the last time being in 2008 during Winter Term, but it was not any less special. How could you not like African buffet all night?

The last day in South Africa was filled with many tearful goodbyes. Eva and I were the first ones to depart, but it was nice to have someone to hang out until heading back to the United States. I had a slightly earlier flight than Eva to Johannesburg, but we were able to hang out in the Jo-burg airport because our flights were not that different. In fact they were short on seats when I checked in, so I got to ride in business class for the first time in my life. I sat next to a nice guy from the States, who ran his own NGO in Philippi. We chatted the whole way to Jo-burg about our organizations. On the way to New York I sat next to a South African student at UCT named Dean, who happened to be doing an internship in New York. For the majority of the trip we either talked or I slept. I warned him of people not understanding South African slang such as, lekker, just now, now-now, howzit, and bru. However, I should have taken some of my own advise because I find myself using some South African slang.

The final leg of the trip was heading from New York to Chicago, which was complicated by a heavy charge for bringing bags on Delta, but after was put in order I made it on my way. Just a short time later I was home in the Chicago, where my parents picked me up.

The biggest surprise about this whole return travel was that my Springbok skull made it all the way back the United States, through customs and everything. They did not even check to see what it was. The Springbok skull I found on the game reserve, which I then boiled and cleaned with a toothbrush to remove the remaining skin. But luckily it made it home in one piece.

South Africa was an amazing trip. I had a great time. I did amazing things, met incredible people and made great relationships, and got to be a part of a top notch organization. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything and I attribute that to CIEE staff such as Ronel and Angela, my house mates, and friends made in SA. I could also see myself living in Cape Town in the years to come. I hope to return shortly after graduation with Fulbright but that is a whole other discussion.

I want to say enkosi (thank you) for reading my blog and the positive messages along the way. South Africa is an amazing place, filled with natural beauty. The people are some of the nicest people in the world. The country has a long way to go, but I think it is heading in the right direction. It just needs guidance from organizations such as EE.

I highly recommend that if you have the opportunity to go to South Africa or anywhere in Africa DO IT! It will be a unique experience, different than anything you have ever done, and you will learn everyday you are there.

Also I ran from a pack of Baboons while hiking in the Tokai Forrest. No big though.

And for the last time.

Salani Kakuhle.

Amandla! Owethu!

My Knee/Table Mt./Rugby/Strat. Plan./Homework

Hello Everyone,

It has been quite sometime since I have written. This is mostly because I have been pretty busy lately, as the year comes to an end. I am leaving in a little over 3 weeks, which is crazy to comprehend at this time.

First of all I though that I should update you all with the state of my knee. Two weeks ago today, I went back to surgeon to check out my knee. After messing with it, he determined that it is just a severe bone bruise and I do not need surgery. This was definitely good news. I was just not suppose to run for a month and it would heal completely in 3 months. So the day following I was able to do some work on an exercise bike. That same day we had another dinner party to celebrate Sam's mom being in. Once again, it was a great success and there was so much food. The next morning I woke up early and me, Brianna, and Maddie climbed Table Mountain which was amazing. I was concerned that I would go to Cape Town twice and not visit the most prominent site, but those concerns were dashed upon reaching the top. The walk took us about 1 1/2 hours and then we took the Cable Car down. We returned at about 1PM and took a short break before heading off to the Rugby Game. Six of us went to the Blue Bulls vs. Western Province semi-final game. We cheered for WP who's chant was WP Jou Lekker Ding (Which sounds like V-P jew lecker ding and translate roughly to Western Province you the nice business in Afrikaans). It was a good game, but WP lost by 2 due to a penalty field goal with 2 minutes to go. However, we did get the opportunity to see Bryan Habana play for the Blue Bulls. Habana was the 2007 IRB International Player of the Year, the year he was the star player on the South African Springboks Rugby World Cup championship team.

The next day we all took it pretty easy after the rather hectic weekend. All I did was do homework and hang out around the house. That work week I got all of my data back from my questionnaires about different races views of Apartheid. I will be sure to keep you updated in how those results turned out. That same week I distributed my questionnaire about homework to the Youth Group. The day that I distributed the questionnaire was the day of our biggest Youth Group in history. Over 400 learners attended the meeting so I was able to get a rather large sample size. Unfortunately, I only had 350 questionnaires, because we had not planned on that many people being there. We had initially planned on approx. 220, which is normally a pretty big group, so when 400 showed up it was a pleasant surprise. I have since tabulated the results and I will also keep you up to date on those results.

That weekend we went on our reflection retreat out in the bush. It was in the middle of nowhere. There we reviewed successes and failures of the program. Fortunately the majority of the things were successes. We did have time outside of meetings and we went on a game drive and saw a bunch of animals. I also brought home the skull of a dead springbok that we found on the drive. So after I clean it up, I have to figure out a way to get it back to the States. The reflection weekend was good, but it was back to work this Monday.

This week I got some good work done on both research projects. In fact, I turned in my first draft for my Social Research methods research paper. I still have a bit of work to do for my Capstone, but I have close to 30 pages at present. Also tonight, I turned in my final reflection paper for my Understanding Cape Town class. So it is really crunch time now.

At Equal Education, we had an interesting day yesterday. We had a strategic planning session in Muizenberg at Zackie Achmat's house. Zackie is one of our board members, but he is more famous for his work a prominent anti-Apartheid activist. His is also the founding member of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a community based organization work on the behalf of people living with HIV and AIDS. Since its inception, the TAC has developed into a large nationwide organization. Zackie himself is living with HIV and continues the fight. Zackie is also a leading Gay Rights activist and the founder of the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality. The meeting was to talk about the plans for Equal Education in the future. These are exciting times to be apart of Equal Education, because there are so many exciting plans for the future. The meetings yesterday really made me want to stay at Equal Education because so much is happening just as I am leaving. I at least feel that I am leaving with the organization moving in the right direction.

Today, I did not go into work because they were having more Strategic Planning meetings, but they were just for Admins, so I did not need to be there. This gave me the opportunity to work on my reflection and Capstone.

Well thats it for now. My posts will probably be less frequent as it is getting busier around here as of late.

Regardless, I will talk to you soon.

-Pat

Schministim cont./Robben Island/Productive Week

Molweni,

Since last week I have been pretty busy, but also fairly productive. After the Ashley Kriel lecture the kids from the Schministim came to the Youth Group meetings that we have at Equal Education every Tuesday and Thursday. At the YG the Schministim kids spoke to the Youth Group about their experiences and gave the background of Israeli/Palestinian conflict. After their talk the YG members had the opportunity to ask questions. After several questions about their experiences, one of the Equalizers asked if the Schministim kids if they would join Equal Education. To which the the Schministim kids responded that yes, they would join Equal Education, to the applause of the YG. It was a learning experience for everyone, because the YG kids also gave a presentation to the Schministim about Equal Education.

The next day we had a lecture about the politics in contemporary South Africa. During this talk the professor broke down the history of South African politics and how it has evolved into what it is today. It was interesting being about ask him about the of the strength of ANC (African National Congress) and the legacy of Thabo Mbeki. The ANC currently is overwhelming ruling party in Parliament and President Zuma is the head of the ANC. The ANC is the Party of famous South African's such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Thabo Mbeki, and they symbolize the party of liberation from Apartheid. As a result they win elections by a 80% majority. (It would be like the Democrats winning the presidential election with 80% percent of the vote and controlling the Senate 80 to 20. However, it becomes more complicated because seats are awarded differently so there are multiple parties with members in parliament. So it would be like 80, 7, 5, 4, 2, 1,1) As a result, there does not appear to be any end in sight for the ANC as the ruling party. There is not a strong enough minority party to unseat the ANC, especially because the next largest contender is the DA (Democratic Alliance) which has support mostly from Whites and so called Coloured people. So their support will pretty much never get larger than what that populous size is.

As for Thabo Mbeki was the president following Nelson Mandela. He did many great things for establishing Africa and South Africa as a major world player. However, he was also famous for denying the connection between HIV and AIDS (and questioned the existence of AIDS). During his time as president he made it difficult for HIV/AIDS patients to receive IRVs and as a result thousands of South Africans died. Regardless, the professor still though that Mbeki's legacy will be his masterful handling of foreign policy.

Following the lecture we went to Robben Island. Robben Island is the place where political prisoners were held by the Apartheid government for their alleged terrorist activity. This is where people like Nelson Mandela, President Jacob Zuma, Walter Sisulu, and Robert
Sobukwe were held during the Apartheid. During our trip there we visited Nelson Mandela's cell for 18 of his 27 year prison term. We also saw the place where the prisoners did their outdoor prison labor. This was also the place where much of the planning for the post-Apartheid government took place among these major anti-Apartheid leaders. One of the most interesting places we visited was the former prison house for Robert Sobukwe. Robert Sobukwe, he had his own house built, separate from the rest of the incarcerated population. There he was not allowed to have any human contact. His food was dropped off by guards and he was only allowed to see his family once a month under tight supervision. He was thought to be such a threat to the Apartheid government that they had to hide him from the rest of society.

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed besides a trip to long street with Bre, Sam, Amira, Nikhil, and his sisters. We had lunch and hung out around town.

The week so far I have been fairly productive. I have been able to get 10 pages into my Capstone project, finish my final reflection paper, finish my RA application, send a bunch of emails, write and send a congratulatory letter to the newly elected General Secretary of SADTU (South African Democratic Teachers Union), draft a letter that will be sent to all 800 secondary schools in South Africa, and start my application for the Business Scholars.

So all in all it has been a good week. Pictures to be up soon from the trip to Robben Island and other adventures.

Salani Kakuhle.

-Pat

The Walk in Review/Stellenbosch/Ashley Kriel Commoration

Molweni,

Since the Walk for School Libraries things at the office have calmed down quite a bit. The week following the Walk everyone in the office reviewed the successes and challenges of the march and gave recommendations for the next event. After we got into small groups and discussed all the topics, I complied a report from all of the groups. I later included students input about the walk into the report. In these meetings we also set out our 6 month strategic plan to continue the Campaign for School Libraries. We meeting with the MEC for Education, Donald Grant (the guy in charge of education in the Western Cape), in November. This will be a discussion similar to a town hall forum, where we will be bringing our Equalizers to confront the Minister about getting libraries. Then in March of 2010 we will making a presentation to the National Government and President Jacob Zuma demanding a national policy for school libraries. So far we have had success and the WCED (Western Cape Education Department) has promised to delegate 10% of public school funding to libraries or creating libraries.

Apart from the meetings planning for about the next 6 months and reviewing the march, we had a report about this organization called Haki Elimu in Tanzania. The week before the walk 4 Equal Education staff members went to visit Haki Elimu, which is a organization very similar to Equal Education, but it is more established because it is 8 years old. They are really good with using the media and they have nonstop commercials on radio and television (at one point it became too much advertising because they had commercials running once every hour). They all have an extensive list of material that they have published. We are what they want to be at in a few years. So we picked up quite a few pointers from them. However, the thing that we do much better than them is that we have an extremely strong youth movement. Haki Elimu does not have the ground movement that we do. So both organizations had some things to learn from each other. One of the cool things about working at a really young organization is that you see it change right in front of your eyes. Over the last two weeks I have seen Equal Education make some really serious changes and plans for the future.

I have also had the opportunity get going on my Capstone Project for the semester. My project will center around the issue of homework. I am trying to find out where learners do homework and if there sufficient resources for them to do their homework. I will be interviewing 4-5 learners in-depth and giving a larger questionnaire to 200-400 learners. If this research turns out to be successful and I do enough, it would be published and be submitted with the report to the National Government.

Besides EE news, two weekends ago we had a braai where we invited all of our host families to. It was successful and everyone seemed to have a good time. Also this last weekend we went to Stellenbosch for a conference on social research. At the conference, I presented my proposal for my research for my Social Research Methods class. My research's aim is "To discover what racial group is most willing to talk about and discuss Apartheid and race separation history in University of Cape Town classrooms." I presented in front of professors and others who have done a lot of work in the field. Most of them seemed very interested in my topic and liked it. They did have a lot of opinions and suggestions about it, which was good. My topic created a frenzy of discussion and at one point the moderator had to jump in and confront some of those asking questions about there methods of giving advice. The moderator was afraid that people were prescribe instead of giving suggestions, so a disagreement broke out between the moderator and those asking questions. It was a good discussion and there was many a laugh shared.

After the conference we went on a tour of the University of Stellenbosch campus. The university is primarily white and the majority of the classes are taught in Afrikaans. The school also has a troubled history, as the plan for Apartheid was generated in its university walls. The Afrikaner history at the school is rich, but rife with controversy. That night we saw an Afrikaans rapper among a group of Afrikaners which was an experience for the ages. The things that marked his performance were that he was wearing a hat with a brim that was at least 2 ft. long, every thing was in Afrikaans, and his finished every song with "awey (exclamation of excitement)" and "lekker (nice/good)."

The next day we did a wine tasting and went to the beach. It was a pretty relaxed day overall. The last week has been pretty low key, but tonight we all went to this Ashley Kriel Commemoration event. Ashley Kriel was a Colored activist during the later years of Apartheid (1980s) who was assassinated by the Apartheid Government. There were four speakers at the event. There was a Equalizer from Equal Education who gave a talk about the state of Education in South Africa. The next three speakers were from an organization called the Shministim (12th graders in Hebrew). They were 3 twenty year olds from Israel who were conscientious objectors. In Israel there is conscription for men and women after they finish high school. These 3 boys and girls refused to join the military based on their belief that what the Israel military was doing the Palestinians was inhumane. They had all been jailed at least twice and they had faced harsh criticism from the government, friends, and family. It was an extremely interesting talk and it is great to see young people fighting against what they view to be an oppressive system. Whether that system is education or the military there are leaders out there.

That's it for now and I will talk to you soon.

Sala Kakuhle.

-Pat

WALK FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES

Hello Everyone,

So the big news this week is that we just had our Walk for School Libraries. It was a great success and we had an amazing turnout. We had over 2,000 people in attendance and lots of press, including the New York Times. In fact, our organization, Equal Education, was featured twice in the New York Times. Most recently for our Walk for School Libraries. It should be in the NYT either on 24 Sept or 25 Sept so try and find the article. If you cannot find it, it is on the front page of the New York Times world section of the internet newspaper. The link is http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/world/africa/25safrica.html?scp=2&sq=Celia%20Dugger&st=cse

Unfortunately, I was unable to walk in the event due to complications I am having with my knee. I rode in the car in the front march for the majority of the walk. I had been having back problems for about a week so I was relying on my legs a lot. My legs were really tight as a result and stretched leg towards my butt and I felt a twinge. It was nothing too serious, but it swole up pretty big so I went to the doctor at Student Health. The doctor sent me to an orthopedic surgeon to get it further checked out. The doctor drained my knee so the swelling, but he thought that I had a torn meniscus. So he sent me to get an MRI and after looking at the images he was pretty sure that I had torn my meniscus and I would need surgery. However, I got a call about 30 minutes after returning home from the doctor, he told me that the people who did the MRI did not see a torn meniscus, but instead it was a bone bruise with some other complications. So I have to wait weeks and see how things turn out, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is just a bone bruise.

This injury took place last Saturday while I was on a my weekend home stay I was staying with a family in the township Langa. It was a good time, besides the injury and it was a different experience than my home stay in Vereeniging last time in South Africa. The only thing that left a bad taste in my mouth was that we only stayed with the family for 2 days and 2 nights. It was just a short time, so it was hard really get a feel for the community.

But that has been the last week or so. I suggest everyone check out that New York Times article. It gives a little insight to what I am doing for my service over here.

Talk to you soon

-Pat

My Second Spring Break of 2009!

Spring Break!

Hello everyone.

I am currently still on Spring Break but this is a recap of the last weeks events and our trip to and from the Eastern Cape.

Our Spring Break started at 6AM Saturday morning. A group of groggy service-learners piled into a van driven by Mark, the guy who drives us to service. Mark would be our driver for the entire vacation. We made our first stop at the Cango Caves in Kynsa. We took the adventure tour of the caves. There were some tight squeezes and some wet areas in the caves, but I enjoyed my time. I was one of the few who enjoyed the caves, but I thought it was pretty cool to check out the different formations. After the lunch at the caves, we traveled to an Ostrich Farm. At the farm we had the opportunity to feed the ostriches, hug the ostriches, and the most fun thing of all, ride the ostriches. You jump on the back of the ostrich and hold on for your life while two of the handlers hold you. The ride lasts between 5 and 10 seconds, but it is well worth it. We then had a chance to watch the handlers ride the ostriches. They were much better than us and they steered the ostrich by moving its neck like a joystick. Apparently people race ostriches competitively out here. An interesting day at the races that must be. We then drove to what would be our home for the next 4 days, Wild Spirit. We arrived in late due to road closing, but dinner was ready when we got there. We shortly retired for bed after a long day.

On Saturday, we started our day ziplining. We ziplined from platform to platform in the Canopy. We were approximately 15 to 30 meters in the air for most of the trip. We had lunch at the Tsitikamma Canopy Tours and then headed over to the Elephant Sanctuary. The we had the chance to hug, feed, pet, and walk the elephants. Theres nothing like standing next to creature that could kill you if it stepped on you. We returned for the to Wild Spirit for dinner and drumming around the camp fire.

The next morning we woke up early and went to the bungee jumping place. The group excluding Mark and myself did bungee jumped. It is the highest commercial bungy jumping bridge in the world. It was higher than 230 meters. Everyone had an amazing time and afterwards we piled all of the adrenaline high group into the van and made our way over to Monkey Land. At Monkeyland we were able to walk amongst the monkey and take pictures. There we saw tons of Lemurs (my favorite), Capuchin monkeys, and Gibbon monkeys. We had lunch at Monkeyland and then went across the way to Birds of Eden. This was a similar set-up to Monkeyland where you could walk around with the birds. This however, was an unfortunate set-up for me as I got bit by a bird on my chin and finger. There was a fair amount of blood but it was hilarious to think that among all of the animals that I have met so far, the one that got me was a little bird. Not the leopards or cheetahs that we got to meet after the Birds of Eden. That was amazing, because we were just feet from leopards, cheetahs, caracals, other wild African cats, and the most dangerous of the creatures at the sanctuary, birds (once again). As we reached the end of the tour we had to walk through a group of storks and other large birds. Our tour guide was terribly afraid of these birds because they did not like her and they tried to attack her. Instead I was once again bitten by one of the birds in the butt. Luckily for the bird, there was no blood, or else there would have been hell to pay. We all retired to Wild Spirit and played board games. This was probably the most action packed day of the trip.

Due to Monday being so busy, we took a rest day on Tuesday and we just hung out at the beach. This was a lot of fun and we got to swim in the Indian Ocean. We spent the majority of the day there, before heading back to still recover from the day before. Unfortunately, the beach that we were at is the final resting place of my Boston Red Sox hat. We believe that it got covered under sand or carried away by the wind. It had a good run. Just over five years old, it was pretty beat up. At least this will put an end the question: "if you're a White Sox fan... Why do you have a Red Sox hat?"

The next day we left Wild Spirit and went to Cape L'Agulhas. This was my second time to the southern-most tip of Africa. It was a much different experience this time and we saw the sun go down over the ocean. I also touched both oceans at the same time. It was crazy to think that the only thing between us and Antarctica was ocean. We then pulled into our destination for the night. A small hostel in Hermanus. We went out to a saloon for dinner, because it was the only thing that was still open after 9PM. The saloon also doubled as a Karaoke bar, so we got to see some interesting performances, including one from our own group.

The next day we were up at 630AM for what was one of the highlights of the trip for me. This was Shark Cage Diving. We took a boat out about called the Barracuda. After about 25 minutes we were at Shark Alley where we would be for the majority of our time. After about 20 minutes we saw our first Great White Shark. The guides attracted the sharks with chum and a tuna head. They then dropped the cage into the water. As the sharks appeared they piled groups of six into the cage. You would kneel just above the water until the guide screamed down. At this point we went underwater and watch the great white pass just inches in front of our faces. I got to go underwater twice for about 10 minutes each time. I was in the first and last group. I got to see the shark finally take the bait that was being dangled in front of its nose for 3 hours. Watching the sheer size and power of those creatures was amazing. From there we took a short detour over to Dire Island where the 60,000 of the sharks favorite prey, seals, lived. The whole experience was unforgettable. Afterwards we returned to Cape Town after our adventurous trip.

On Friday we were still kicking in Cape Town as we woke up early and went to the beach. The beach was covered in white sand and I played catch with the newly attained gloves that I got in a package from my mom that day. We came back to the house and watched a movie that I fell asleep during.

Today, everything kind of caught up with us. This morning we went to Old Biscuit Mill, which is like a farmers market type deal. There I got the biggest piece of 1/4 chicken and fries, which was delicious. Besides that we have been around the house and Rondebosch. We made a trip to get ice cream, but besides that it has been a rather uneventful day. Which for a change was nice.

Well that has been my Spring Break thus far. I am not done yet, but I have enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Until next time.

Hamba Kakuhle.

-Pat

Midterm Week

Molweni,

It has been an over week since my last post. Since then we had gone to see President Zuma speak at Parliament. We sat in on a session at Parliament where representatives were able to ask the president questions. It was interesting to see how the session was run, but nothing was really got accomplished. Typical bureaucrat stuff. Following the session at Parliament, we went to a book launch party for Manuel Castells. The Social Sciences Citation Index, ranks Manuel Castells as the world’s fifth most-cited social sciences scholar, and the foremost-cited communications scholar. Many people compare him to being as important as Karl Marx. Angela, one of the women who runs the program is close friends, so we had the opportunity to talk to him. His speech was amazing and it was cool to talk to him.

The next day I was at Equal Education all day. We had our second march for school libraries, this time it was in Khayelitsha. It was a great success and we had tons of people in attendance. There were probably about 500 people marching. Which is small compared to what the march on the 22nd of September. At the end of march we went to a town hall where we had lectures talk about the importance of libraries and why we need them. So the night was overall successful. Friday there was not much happening and we stayed around the house. On Saturday we went down to Long Street and hung out around there. Before we went to Long Street we gave Ronel her birthday present, which was a cake and Eva's friend came in from home on Saturday and we all met him on Sunday. On Sunday we celebrated Ronel's birthday by going to Mzoli's. We had meat and listened to music for a couple hours. It was pretty fun, but it was an experience trying to order and pick up the meat on our own. You have to pay for the meat by the weight and you have have to give the cooks a little extra if you want your food ready in less than 2 hours.

On Monday I spent the majority of the day packing up stuff for the move at Equal Education. We finally moved out of our very small office. The office that we used to be in was extremely small was about 30ft by 8ft and we have about 12 people working in there. It was so crowded, but now we moved into a larger set of offices. We now have about 4 offices spread out through an apartment complex. The offices are nice, but we do not have internet or telephone lines hooked up yet. In the long run it will be advantageous, but at the moment it is a bit of a pain.

Tuesday at Equal Education we ran a bunch of errands had a Youth Meeting where we showed the Dangerous Minds to the "Equalizers" (youth group members). I didn't get to stay though because I had to make it back for class. Unfortunately class was canceled, but this gave me time to prepare for my exam in my Social Research Methods. Wednesday was especially interesting because this was supposed to be the day of the march. The press still wanted us to do something on that day becausee it was the 33rd anniversary of the march in Cape Town by Coloured students in solidarity with those in Black students in the Soweto Uprising. As a result the whole office went to Cape Town and petitioned and handed out fliers for the campaign. It was a success considering that we handed out all of our fliers and filled up all of the petitions. We had a group of our Equalizers in attendance and Die Burger (an Afrikaans newspaper) took pictures and interviewed some of the staff.

Thursday I went into the office for only a short time, because without the internet there was not much I could do. My two bosses were also not in that day so I went home early. That night we went to the ballet to see Giselle. It was well done and I actually understood a fair amount of what was going on, but ballets aren't really my thing. I came back and worked on my Social Research Methods paper that was do on Friday. I stayed up with Alice, Emily, and Brianna until about 2AM working on the paper, but we all could have finished much earlier. There were some distractions when we all tried to learn how to do the worm.

I got done with it and was able to relax on Friday before we took off for Spring Break. The week was pretty hectic, but we got everything done. I was ready for a much needed break.

Sharp-Sharp. (cool, alright, goodbye in South African slang)

Pat