Christina's half marathon

So yesterday I ran a half marathon! I’m so proud to say that I got to accomplish my first half marathon here in Cape Town with some of the friends I’ve made on this trip. Since day one there have been a solid group of girls that have been registered and have been training. Meanwhile, Bernie and I have debated it always going back and forth on the matter. Neither of us have done one before and although we’ve been running frequently together and alone we’ve never really officially trained for it, at least I haven’t been. So the week of the marathon finally approached and honestly the day before Bernie and I decided to go for it!

Bernie & Christina

The morning of the marathon we had to wake up at 4:30 to be dressed and ready to leave. We had a cab come but because of all the traffic due to the marathon we had to get out early and walk to the starting line in Newlands. Already at 5am the streets were crowded with marathon runners and you could feel the excitement in the air. People were dressed in matching outfits, face paint, flags, and even rabbit ears for Easter weekend. Finally we got to the starting line and the gun went off and so did we! I never thought I would be so excited to run but there was music and fans already lined the streets cheering and taking photos from every direction. Bernie, Caitlin, and I all started at the same time but shortly after we started we lost Caitlin. It was up to Bernie and I, both first timers, and we were on a roll. The whole race almost seems like a blurr because it was done in Kilometers each time we passed a checkpoint I was trying to do the calculation in my head to see how many miles we had left. But even as the race was going on we would run through water stations and little points where radio stations would be, or bands, or tv stations. It was awesome, we would run by a camera and Bernie and I would see ourselves dancing by to the music. I was actually really surprised by the marathon and the ambiance through out the whole event. Having people on the side cheering and music playing really helped to motivate us and once we saw that we had one kilometer left we booked it. Bernie and I sprinted all the way through UCT and once we stopped running I was suddenly flooded with emotions. It was completely unexpected but Bernie and I hugged and I felt myself tearing up. I felt so accomplished and proud of myself and shocked quite honestly that I got overwhelmed with emotions.

           

Running a half-marathon was an amazing experience that I am so thankful to of accomplished here and share with my friends from UConn. 

Emily L's jam packed week

My past week and half or so of life abroad has been jam packed with different events that have taken me on (another) emotional roller coaster! On the Saturday before Easter, I was lucky enough to run in the Two Oceans Half Marathon along with 16,000 other people from all over the world. This was only my second half marathon, so I was a tad bit nervous as I knew this course was going to be significantly more challenging than the one in Hartford. However, almost as soon as I got to the start line, all nerves subsided. The positive vibes in this setting were practically tangible and I could feel the good energy radiating from everyone around me. Sure, some people were there to get a good time and compete. But even still, I felt nothing but joy coming from everyone around me as they wished each other luck and a great run. This just coincides with the general feel of people in Cape Town. It was the epitome of the attitudes people have here, wishing everyone well even if they’re strangers. It really was beautiful to witness as well as be a part of!

           

Right after the race, Onna and I went off to our activist project at Elonwabeni orphanage and children’s home in Mitchell’s Plain. Our activity for the day was the paint canvas’s with some of the older children that we plan on hanging on the wall in their sanctuary room. Although I was super tired from the run, the young women and men we worked with seriously lifted my spirits! Despite having been through so many negative events in their pasts, they were ecstatic to be there with us and had a great time. Seeing them work and enjoy their time expressing themselves was quite rewarding. I’m constantly grateful for the activist project portion of this program because being here in Cape Town exposes us to the severe needs of so many. The task of “doing something” always seems so daunting, but this required portion of our study has made it anything but that.

           

Jillian learning much about social work

The original social worker at Sarah Fox returned from maternity leave last week and I’ve already learned so much from her. I liked the previous social worker also, but I wasn’t given as many opportunities as I am now. I’ve been able to observe more counseling sessions and I have more independence to talk to the children and families. Last week, I went to Child Welfare to talk to another social worker about one of the patients at Sarah Fox. I really enjoyed that beacuase I was able to learn about another organization and learn more about child protection. My internship has been such an amazing learning experience, but it’s also been difficult to see so many children suffering because of neglect. Many of the children end up returning to the hospital once they’ve left due to malnutrition because they aren’t being properly cared for. It’s frustrating to see children neglected, but a lot of the time it’s because the parents aren’t educated enough. I experienced this firsthand when I attended one of the parent support groups at Sarah Fox. At the support group, the Sarah Fox staff educates the parents as best as they can on health, nutrition, and social services. I was surprised to see how uneducated the parents were and how important it is to speak in very simple language and keep things basic. When educating them on nutrition, many of them didn’t know what foods have protein or what foods were healthy in the demonstration. Sarah Fox is a great resource to educate families, but there are still so many people who aren’t getting a good education. This makes me question what South Africa is doing to help and why there doesn’t seem to be any improvement. My experience in Cape Town has been beautiful, but my eyes have been opened to the many struggles people face here and that only makes me want to help more.

Bernie's running and discovering

Today has already been a crazy day because I just ran the Two Oceans Half Marathon. This was something that I have been trying to accomplish for 3 years, so I am very excited to have completed it in one of prettiest places on earth! First half marathon and it was in Cape Town! That’s so awesome!!

Anyways this past week I have been reflecting a lot with everything that we have learned. In class we watched a video called “I Am’ and that is the reason I have been reflecting. This movie was a very eye-opening movie for me to watch. It was eye opening because it talks about everyone is connected when in our world we are all used to talking about how we’re different. This video asks what’s wrong with the world and it made me realize that I am what’s wrong with the world, people are what’s wrong with the world because we all find ways to separate ourselves when in reality our body tells us that were connected, nature tells us that were connected, but we don’t listen to that. What I loved about this video was that it was very scientific. Me as a lover of science I love hearing about experiments done and what the results are and what was found was that we are all connected by electromagnetic waves, through the heart, and through the air. It also said that science is finally catching up with spirituality. To me that is crazy because those two worlds have different views of how the world was made and topics of that matter but with the video saying that science finally caught up with spirituality, shows me that science isn’t always right, and that’s a hard thing for me to admit because I always see science as the main answer to questions. Spirituality always said that were all connected and now science is saying that too. I wish that more people knew this information in order to embrace it more. I very much enjoyed the “I Am’ video that we watched and it really made me rethink the world.

We go to Johannesburg tomorrow and I am so excited to see a new area and learn some new information! It should be a really fun week and we get to it end it with Kruger National Park and get to see the Big 5 hopefully!

John finding hope in story of working for change

Before coming here, my definition of poverty was much father from the reality. I think I’ve been very fortunate in the sense that I’ve never had to worry about where my next meal is coming from nor have to drop out of school to get a job to help support my family. It wasn’t until I got here that I found out what it truly meant to live in poverty. After seeing the conditions people live in I wondered how people manage to stop the vicious cycle and how they can ultimately get out of the townships and that state of poverty. Every way I looked at it, there was some sort of barrier that made it nearly impossible. It wasn’t until class that I found such an inspiring character that exemplified all of the qualities needed to break the poverty cycle. There was a guest speaker during our class and he told us how he managed to start an organization that allowed him to get out of the township as well as finding a positive outlet to the youth in his community. His dance program, Happy Feet, allows the youth of his community to spend time with likeminded students and not give in to the many negative and detrimental possibilities they have access to. As soon as the students get out of school, they go to the dance studio where they remain most of the day. They get their homework done there as well as practice their dance, and twice a week they get home cooked meals. I think stories like that need to be broadcasted throughout the many different townships in order to inspire some of the residents. It would allow them to have something to look up to and maybe give them a way to better their community as well as give them a way out of poverty.  

Molly reflecting on her actions and decisions

I really have just been appreciating being in South Africa more and more over the past few weeks and still feel like I am on the greatest journey in my life. I have had so many experiences here that will teach me things that will follow me for life and I cannot be more thankful for that. I think class this week really made me think about my actions and reflect. The talk about distractions seemed congruent with me for the discussions we have been having about values. Reflecting on my values was challenging for me because I had to really think and face my day to day actions and decisions instead of just forgetting about them. Having distractions like phones and computers and things are so common especially in our generation. I watched a video this past semester talking about phones and the amount of time we spend on twitter, Instagram, and Facebook instead of interacting and we have thousands of Facebook friends but those relationships aren't real and we aren't really connecting with people. I have always had the pet peeve where if someone is on their phone at dinner or if my boyfriend is on his phone when we are together I cannot stand it and I always make a point to ask them to stop. I do check my phone and computer more than I should because it is the culture we live in but what I have been reconsidering is, will I miss out on anything by not checking it? Is there anything on there that is more important than taking in the world around me? These are questions that I am going to continue to reflect on. 

Emily E learning about South African hair culture

I finally let my natural hair out in Cape Town. It was bound to happen, and honestly, I was excited for the reactions I garnered during the week I’d let it out. As I’ve said before I love the natural state of my hair, but that was put into question.

           

Like I’ve said in an old posting, the typical style of those classified Colored and Black are braids or chemically straightened hair. Obviously my hair would stand out for being in it’s fro, especially at my internship and UCT. At my internship, the teenage girls thought it was so hip and were amazed at its length. One of them said because it was so long that it was time to chemically straighten my hair. I was stunned and told her kindly I would never go back to relaxers. However, the adult females’ reactions were slightly different. They did not say much and when they did it was strange. For instance, one of them asked if I purposely meant to have my hair in a curly fro. When I said yes, she laughed nervously as if to double check that I wasn’t having a bad hair day or something like that. After that happened, I felt very self-conscious. I quickly made a hair tie, ran to bathroom and put up my hair. For the first time in a while I felt ashamed of my hair texture, but I quickly recovered. Throughout the week, this one boy kept persisting I should relax my hair or iron it at the very least. To be honest, I was annoyed because I tried telling him I had no desire to. I never struggled so much to defend how I took care of my hair. Twice I had to explain what the natural hair movement meant in the U.S., and I don’t think the girls I told understand its significance.

We, as ethnic girls, have been systemically set up to try to match the beauty of white females. It’s damaging and stressful on our well-beings because we know it’s impossible. I’m not saying I’m against women who do relax their hair. Many know how take to care of their natural texture, but they personally choose to do so because they prefer the style. However, I’m against the fact that it’s been pushed on us so much that it is no longer a personal choice. It’s to make us “blend in”, and so we are uncomfortable with our racial/ethnical characteristics.  I’m almost happy that I did this experiment of sorts because it taught me a lot about South Africa’s hair culture. While this was going on I wondered when South African women of color will join this hair movement. I believe it will happen, but there is no telling when.