It seems for now that the winter has past and is due time for the unbearable heat, but for now it’s a great warm temperature and sunny skies. When they show the weather on tv, its not just warm fronts, but huge portions of South Africa with areas circled with the word Fire.
The new local sports council – Qha!
The meeting that happened a few weeks past went far beyond my expectation with more than a 100 youth from neighboring villages voicing their sport concerns to the municipality workers, and representatives were chosen for further training of a new local sport council. I have also been working with other villages with the hope of aiding the formation a general regional sport council in the future. Alas politics between community leaders seem to slow this process, “welcome to community development” my supervisor told me.
The past few weeks I’ve concentrated part of my work with key grade 10s from the high school in a program called Youth Leads. The idea is training youth to set up any kind of sporting event, tournament or leagues that they want – in the end they become the sport coaches or leaders – doing it on their own throughout the year. The youth decided on having a class vs. class leagues with volleyball, which is a relatively new sport here. I’ve spent the past few weeks doing workshops and practical lessons on volleyball and this week they have their own teams and will be practicing and running games for the next month and half until the big tournament – which the youth will organize themselves too. The youth leaders are psyched about it, and its great to see them doing this on their own.
A brief history lesson – a long blog update
Maybe up to this point, I have transformed your thoughts about Africa, “ahh South Africa is playing volleyball, excellent work nico, all is well!” – well not exactly. Being here for more than 2 months I’ve come to understand just the tip of the hippo of south africas complex history and dynamics between its people – So I’ll share with you some of the not so good news that is important to know. Please note, I am still having an amazing time here despite these points.
Racism is here. Its on both sides, whites and blacks. The apartheid system which ran from the 40s to the early 90s was a rigid segregation system that denied blacks any rights forced by the white minority. They weren’t allowed into the city without certain black passports – they created shantytowns on the outside of cities called townships to live in, and many still live there. I’ve heard some pretty horrific stories of torture, corruption and discrimination, which seem unforgivably similar to KKK acts in the states. Early 90s roll around, and Nelson Mandela who was locked up for wanting freedom of his people becomes president – peace? Well think, 15 years ago, as much as the law states that everyone is equal, it still needs a lot of time. The village people here keep preaching to me they are so happy to see me here, “we are all equal, white , black no difference” they say to me, like they have just come up with a brand new idea. And it is certainly freshly new to many people, and not recognized by others.
Wealth gap is here The 11% white minority which once ruled still earns 10x of what its black neighbors make. South Africa is modern you could say, Cape Town is rich, the medicine is some of the best in the world, I can buy whatever I want in Cape Town, even Maple Syrup. But the mansions you see on the hill with the great view look away from the thousands who live in metal shacks down the road. A teacher I worked with asked me a question about freedom – if a people were oppressed for 60 years, and not compensated afterwards, are they really free? Reminds me of North Americans history with its native people.
HIV/ Aids is here. Some know a lot about it, some won’t acknowledge it. Death is uncommonly attributed to aids, as those who have not been tested die of an aids related disease, but no one says this person actually had aids. Some don’t come forward about their results as they would be shunned by their family. The education is surely here in South Africa – but even 13% of the teachers are estimated to have HIV. Whatever the statistic, people are dying.
My village. Well, it’s poor. Up to the mid 80s, the whole area was booming with agriculture with rich soil. Many people were employed by the white farmers, communities never had to leave the village as their food was grown down the road and was cheap. During the rough turnover of power, things got a little wacky. Farmers were chased out by angry villagers, all the grounds, crops and machinery were burned down -* wikipedia recent Zimbabwe history/ Mugabe*18 years later the farms are still burnt down, the villagers have no money to buy new machines or the know how to begin the mass production that once stood from scratch. For most, villagers have had to take the 2.5 hour bus ride into the city of Queenstown to buy the food that once grew. There are no jobs in the village, after high school those with any ambition for further education leave their home for the opportunities of an urban lifestyle, why return? For the youth who stay, there’s one thing to do, drink all day and all night, every day.
Most of these kind of bleak “Africa” stories are seen on American news – BUT THERE IS OPPORTUNITY! Southern Africa is growing in the right direction despite these challenges – and I hope to share with you the great positive change that is happening right now.
Vacation?
After more than 40 days and 40 nights of being stranded in the village – my supervisor Mandla came to visit to make sure I was still alive. He informed me of my escape. Mid term is the 27th, where I’ll be meeting with other sport volunteers in the East London on the coast to discuss how things are going, maybe even get a hot shower. After that I’ll be taking off to Windtoek in Namibia with my fellow Canadians for Kicking Aids Out training (www.kickingaidsout.net) + extra time to road trip Namibia. 3 week vacation/training/therapy. Perfect.
i woke up early, cold and the sound of my mobile ringing, it was my good buddy Roger or “lucky” from down the road.
Roger: NICOO WAKE UP!!!
Nico: uhh, good morning?
Roger: NICO, LOOK OUTSIDE YOUT WINDOW, I TOLD YOU !!!
*i look out side to see it…snowing*
)
)
)