Three Days in Joburg

It's already our last night in Joburg and I am so excited to reach Durban. I really enjoyed Joburg as it provided a wonderful orientation and baseline for our time in South Africa. I realize how little I knew about the South African mentality before arriving, and I am blown away every single day. I am going to quickly tell you about my last three days in Joburg.

On Saturday, we visited the Hector Pieterson memorial. For those of you who don't know, Hector Pieterson was a twelve-year old boy who died on 16 June 1976 during the Soweto Uprising. This was a protest against the use of Afrikaans in the school system (a language associated with the brutal Apartheid). Students lead a peaceful protest which got out of hand when police open fired on the group, killing students like Hector Pieterson. His image became iconic for the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Here is a link: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/hector-pieterson

The museum was interesting because it provided multiple views of the catastrophe. Many police officers felt that they were cornered and surrounded by stone-throwing students and had no choice but to shoot for self protection. Many of these police officers were Black officers who were employed by Apartheid and were only doing their job in harsh economic times. Other completely innocent and anti- Apartheid White South Africans reported physical and verbal harassment from protesting Black students.

The Soweto Uprising was both unique and representative of South Africa under the Apartheid: it was incredibly complex. People often simply the South African struggle from Apartheid as a purely racial conflict, which it was not. Race was certainly an issue, and the main issue, but the conflict crossed the lines of race notably when the Apartheid regime employed Black South Africans. Further, there were White South Africans who valiantly fought for the end of Apartheid, and likewise there were Black South Africans who supported Apartheid.

This visit prompted me to think about the complexity surrounding commemorating a disaster. While the Soweto Uprising was fighting the incredibly oppressive and horrific Apartheid regime, they fought the regime with violence. Is violence against violence really going to solve anything? Well, it seemed to. However it certainly makes you question the way we celebrate wars, victories of wars, veterans, etc. Anyways, now 16 June 2013 is National Youth Day and is a day that celebrates the country's youth.

Afterwards, we visited one of Nelson Mandela's houses. He lived there for two years in 1994 with Winnie but never enjoyed his time there. Apparently he could neither sleep nor relax there. We didn't pay to enter because it is quite a tourist trap, but it was still interesting to see.

On Sunday, we visited the Voortrekkers Monument. This was very interesting and provided a different perspective on the racially divided history. To briefly summarize, the Voortrekkers were the Dutch colonialists who moved inland after the British colonialists came to the Cape. It is absolutely fascinating (and slightly disturbing) the similarities this has to the Pilgrims and Native Americans. The Dutch colonialists were very similar to Puritans and moved inland to focus on their religious practices. They were very much the bible-carrying and covered wagon driving colonialists. When they ran into natives (Xhosas or Zulus) they would often conflict with each other and often the Voortrekkers would kill the natives. Eventually, they established themselves in an area. They had massive conflicts with the natives. This culminated in the Battle of Blood River on the 16 December 1838 where 470 Voortrekkers fought 10-15,000 invading Zulu warriors. The Voortrekkers prayed to God before the fight, saying that if they could overcome this massive invasion, they would devote their lives to the lord. Alas, with horses and machine guns, the Voortrekkers won the battle. Afterwards, they had a celebration which was disturbingly similar to Thanksgiving. Afterwards, the 16th of December was the national day celebrating the Voortrekkers.

Even more interestingly, as opposed to the U.S. who blatantly deny committing a horrific genocide against Native Americans, today this monument stands as a remembrance of the past. It was fascinating that the Voortrekkers dressed, travelled, worships and lived JUST like the pilgrims. It was one of the most bizarre situations I have ever had- a complete deja vu experience. Here is some more information: http://www.voortrekker-history.co.za/

On Monday, we visited Constitutional Hill. Here, the new Constitutional Court is built out of the very bricks that imprisoned the freedom fighters and many others unjustly and barbarically. The prison is made into a museum; we were able to visit the isolation cells, women's quarters, and several other places. This was where Ghandi was imprisoned and came up with his non-violent revolution theories. The most impressive part for me was the new Constitutional Court that was absolutely filled with incredible symbolism, from the prison bricks lining the walls to the trees symbolizing growth. South Africa is so devoted to remembering the past and moving forward in a positive and equitable way.

South Africa is so ahead of the United States in many ways. The common mentality is that "human rights are human rights"; the constitution applies to everyone, not just South African citizens. I have met so many people who are determined to fight for the plight of people who cannot represent themselves, it is extremely inspirational. People here are extremely forward thinking and have this wildness about them. So far, I am truly enjoying my time here.

Also- final comment: South Africans truly believe in paying taxes. Zed told us that he would not be able to live with himself if he didn't do his part to support the poor. He considers taxes as part of the solution, not part of the problem and a civil responsibility of privileged South Africans. The state is considered a social security system that supports its less fortunate and less privileged members. I really enjoyed this philosophy and resonate with it.

Again, like in Kenya, I apologize for grammatical or spelling errors - I'm posting this before bed!

Touchdown in South Africa!

Jambo! (Except not really- I need to learn how to say 'hi' in Zulu or Afrikans and not Swahili!)

I am pleased to announce that my flights to Johannesburg were uneventful and even quite pleasant! Despite being quite long (10+ hours) from Heathrow to Joburg, the plane was rather empty and I was able to sprawl out across the three seats next to me. The food was good too! We arrived in Joburg around 9:00, collected our luggage and called Rob, the owner of the Shoestring Lodge to pick us up. He came promptly around 10:00 and within three minutes were in the homey Shoestring Lodge! 

The lodge is basically a hostel with a very homey feel. I am staying in a nice room with eight others; there are sixteen of us total. While we waited for our directors to arrive, four of us took the tram to Mandela Square where they have an Apple store. Consistent with the theme of electronic problems, a fellow student's computer crashed in the airport. Its still there now and hopefully will be better soon. The mall was ridiculous and was nicer than most shopping centers in the U.S. or Europe that I have been to. It had everything from high end restaurants to Gucci stores and so on. We kept saying, "where are we?!!" Coming from Kenya this seems like a completely different world. It is so bizarre how evident the vast socio-economic inequalities are. I expected it, but I didn't realize how seemingly normative it would be for locals. Rob told us that the Mandela Square area is one of the richest areas in South Africa. 

This makes me think back to some comments I received when I decided to come to South Africa for the fall semester. While I got incredibly different responses, oftentimes people would question my choice, saying that South Africa is basically like going to England; why don't I go to "real" Africa? I thought about this again today, whilst walking through this deluxe shopping center. I came to the conclusion that the reason I was so determined to come to South Africa is because of this entirely false perception. While places like the Mandela Square exist and are wonderful, the impoverished populations in South Africa are vastly and often entirely overlooked because people consider South Africa "developed". Despite having a large GDP, South Africa's GDP per capita displays vast economic inequality. Further, they are facing healthcare problems that even countries far more poor than South Africa are addressing. For examples, maternal mortality rates are rising in South Africa, despite huge funding efforts to address MMR. There is a substantial disconnect between a country's economic prosperity and their ability to provide adequate healthcare to its citizens. The question remains, where is the disconnect? The social determinants of health? Racial? Cultural? Poor funding patterns/structure? I have no idea, but hopefully I'll begin to find out. My guess: a mix of everything. As per usual with public health, I'm learning: everything is interdisciplinary.

So far, the group seems very nice although I have only met half of them; the other half are arriving around 18:00. Our academic director, Zed, is great! He seems quirky, fun and very intelligent . He told us that we can refer to him as Zed or "ultimate professor". :)

Being in Johannesburg is like another world from Kenya and honestly feels as though I am in NYC. It's quite bizarre. The weather is COLD! I bet it is about 50 or 55 degrees F. I can't wait to get to Durban where there are two seasons: summer and summer! We are staying in Joburg for four nights and have our orientation here until Tuesday, when we drive to Durban! 

We have already faced several minor obstacles. Upon leaving to meet us at the airport, someone attempted to steal SIT's van and badly damaged it. Now, to get us all back to Durban on time we have to squeeze into a smaller vehicle and three people are flying to Durban. Also, one of the program directors has the flu and couldn't make it and another had to stop for three hours to fix a flat tire on the way here. Such is Africa! 

Anyways, I'm exhausted and jet lagged- time for bed! More tomorrow, hopefully.

XO

Also- Apparently I am living with a single mother, her sons Minenhle (29), Aslam (20) and daughter Simunye (9). Eek!

The Last Few Days

Tomorrow is our final day at KBC. The past few days have been incredibly stressful and challenging, yet inexplicably fulfilling.

On Friday we had our final presentations. In the morning, we all rose to help cook, clean and set up for the 140+ guests who were coming to listen to our findings. The audience consisted of Maasai warriers, Maasai men, Maasai Mamas, Kikuyus, Kongas, Luos, etc. The chiefs of the regions all came, as well as the district health managers including the district AIDS manager, chief public health official and many other high level officials. This was an incredibly daunting task, to create something worthy of this audience with succinct and helpful conclusions and tangible recommendations.

We had six sub-groups who were all examining the impact of the closure of the Imbirikani Clinic on the Imbirikani Group Ranch. The topics we explored were:

1.     Regional Ecosystems and their Implications on Public Health

2.     Water and Sanitation

3.     Maternal and Child Health

4.     Maasai Culture and Gender Roles

5.     HIV/AIDS Treatment and Management Strategies

I was in the fifth group, focusing on HIV/AIDS Treatment and Management Strategies. I was so excited to be in this group because I am so interested in the social determinants of health, and a large part of the complexity surrounding HIV is social stigma. I will post our final 69 page report on here once I’m home with better internet and I will describe our study and findings more, but for now I want to tell you about the incredible experience of giving the presentation before I forget.

The presentations began at 10:30 and lasted until 4:00. They were conducted in English and translated into KiMaasai by members of our staff (Daniel, Joyce and Ernest). We were divided into groups of four; two people would present while the others did not, just to simplify the presentation. From my group, Naom and I presented.

Going into this presentation, we knew that we would face many difficulties. Firstly, there was no baseline study conducted, so we were literally on the front lines of the study. This was incredible academic and research experience.   We also knew that we were addressing issues of incredible depth, many of which have extremely strong social implications. The Maternal and Child Health, Maasai Culture and Gender Roles and HIV/AIDS groups were expected to be the most controversial. This would be particularly evident given the large number of Maasai men and Chiefs in the crowd. We knew that they would not agree with a lot of what we had to say, particularly the sexually or culturally sensitive material. Before beginning, we were all incredibly nervous to stand up in front of this intimidating crowd presenting research that has never been conducted. The directors of our program were clearly very interested to see how this would go.

During the Maternal and Child Health presentation, we began to see the true gender roles at work. Even mentioning family planning methods brought giggles and snide remarks to the men in the crowd; it seemed as though we were surrounded by 13-year-old boys. We really began to be nervous going into the gender presentation. My friends Victoria and Tory were giving this presentation and we switched to Joyce as the translator. This was a strategic move because Joyce has this incredible presence and ability to command respect in a light-hearted and loving manner. Even Maasai men will stop talking and listen to her. So, Joyce translated the gender roles presentation, touching on topics like female genital mutilation, domestic violence, sexual violence, and so on. While men were making gestures and were clearly getting annoyed, Joyce and one of our other translators, Wiper, kept the men in line. When the entire row of chiefs stood up to walk out, Wiper stood up and with one wave of his hand that sat down. Finally, it was my turn to present. The crowd was somewhat sleepy by this point, since they had been listening to presentations for hours at this point. The presentation still went very, very well. I am quite pleased with it. One of the most wonderful parts was the question and answer session. A Maasai man posed one question that stood out. He asked, “In my village, we have a tough situation. A couple has just been married and we have found out that one partner is HIV positive. What do we do? Do we allow them to remain married or should the negative partner leave the positive one?” This was fascinating and daunting because it is real. This was not a posed question or situation and I knew that my response could have an actual impact on these peoples lives. Of course, we told them that the couple can absolutely lead a normal life with proper ARV management, viral load determinants, CD4 counts and effective management of pregnancy/no breastfeeding. After we answered, the district AIDS manager stood up and supported us, which was a great feeling. Friday was an incredibly long day, following an incredibly long week, but we did it!

On Saturday we spent the day at Amboseli National Park. Big cats are very rare here, but we saw two lions!! It was amazing. At one point they were preying on and chasing some warthogs, but they got away. We also saw a herd of 18 elephants cross directly in front of our land cruisers; they are breath-taking and majestic.

Saturday night we had a dis-orientation, as SFS likes to call it. This was a very interesting experience for me because at Franklin, we never had anything like this. Basically, our Student Affairs Manager went over certain situations and feelings that we might be placed in or feel when going home: reverse culture shock. While I have heard of reverse culture shock, I realized tonight that so many feelings that I have had when returning home from school are actually common and normal. I think they will probably be exacerbated when returning from this trip. Some of these feelings include an inability to adequately articulate your feelings and explain your trip. Also, feeling disconnected from “normal” life, boredom with seemingly arbitrary tasks, isolation, having difficulty talking to friends or family about your experiences and so on. I found that I already do many of the coping mechanisms that were suggested, which is nice.

Tomorrow we will be having a debrief session, receiving our grades and having a goat roast. We bought a goat from one of the Astaris, Oleman and are going to have a slaughter and goat anatomy lesson. On Monday, we’re off bright and early to Tanzania, where we have to hang out around the airport until our flight at 8 PM from Kilimanjaro. Then I will fly to Amsterdam, landing in the morning around 7 AM and I will have twelve hours in Amsterdam to explore and wander around. I love the city and this will be a welcome break from the long travel time. Then I fly to JFK and then on to Boston. I will certainly be tired but I suppose I will happy to be home. I really wish I was staying longer, but being home, seeing friends and family and eating some good food will be welcome.

The Last Few Days

Tomorrow is our final day at KBC. The past few days have been incredibly stressful and challenging, yet inexplicably fulfilling.

On Friday we had our final presentations. In the morning, we all rose to help cook, clean and set up for the 140+ guests who were coming to listen to our findings. The audience consisted of Maasai warriers, Maasai men, Maasai Mamas, Kikuyus, Kongas, Luos, etc. The chiefs of the regions all came, as well as the district health managers including the district AIDS manager, chief public health official and many other high level officials. This was an incredibly daunting task, to create something worthy of this audience with succinct and helpful conclusions and tangible recommendations.

We had six sub-groups who were all examining the impact of the closure of the Imbirikani Clinic on the Imbirikani Group Ranch. The topics we explored were:

1.     Regional Ecosystems and their Implications on Public Health

2.     Water and Sanitation

3.     Maternal and Child Health

4.     Maasai Culture and Gender Roles

5.     HIV/AIDS Treatment and Management Strategies

I was in the fifth group, focusing on HIV/AIDS Treatment and Management Strategies. I was so excited to be in this group because I am so interested in the social determinants of health, and a large part of the complexity surrounding HIV is social stigma. I will post our final 69 page report on here once I’m home with better internet and I will describe our study and findings more, but for now I want to tell you about the incredible experience of giving the presentation before I forget.

The presentations began at 10:30 and lasted until 4:00. They were conducted in English and translated into KiMaasai by members of our staff (Daniel, Joyce and Ernest). We were divided into groups of four; two people would present while the others did not, just to simplify the presentation. From my group, Naom and I presented.

Going into this presentation, we knew that we would face many difficulties. Firstly, there was no baseline study conducted, so we were literally on the front lines of the study. This was incredible academic and research experience.   We also knew that we were addressing issues of incredible depth, many of which have extremely strong social implications. The Maternal and Child Health, Maasai Culture and Gender Roles and HIV/AIDS groups were expected to be the most controversial. This would be particularly evident given the large number of Maasai men and Chiefs in the crowd. We knew that they would not agree with a lot of what we had to say, particularly the sexually or culturally sensitive material. Before beginning, we were all incredibly nervous to stand up in front of this intimidating crowd presenting research that has never been conducted. The directors of our program were clearly very interested to see how this would go.

During the Maternal and Child Health presentation, we began to see the true gender roles at work. Even mentioning family planning methods brought giggles and snide remarks to the men in the crowd; it seemed as though we were surrounded by 13-year-old boys. We really began to be nervous going into the gender presentation. My friends Victoria and Tory were giving this presentation and we switched to Joyce as the translator. This was a strategic move because Joyce has this incredible presence and ability to command respect in a light-hearted and loving manner. Even Maasai men will stop talking and listen to her. So, Joyce translated the gender roles presentation, touching on topics like female genital mutilation, domestic violence, sexual violence, and so on. While men were making gestures and were clearly getting annoyed, Joyce and one of our other translators, Wiper, kept the men in line. When the entire row of chiefs stood up to walk out, Wiper stood up and with one wave of his hand that sat down. Finally, it was my turn to present. The crowd was somewhat sleepy by this point, since they had been listening to presentations for hours at this point. The presentation still went very, very well. I am quite pleased with it. One of the most wonderful parts was the question and answer session. A Maasai man posed one question that stood out. He asked, “In my village, we have a tough situation. A couple has just been married and we have found out that one partner is HIV positive. What do we do? Do we allow them to remain married or should the negative partner leave the positive one?” This was fascinating and daunting because it is real. This was not a posed question or situation and I knew that my response could have an actual impact on these peoples lives. Of course, we told them that the couple can absolutely lead a normal life with proper ARV management, viral load determinants, CD4 counts and effective management of pregnancy/no breastfeeding. After we answered, the district AIDS manager stood up and supported us, which was a great feeling. Friday was an incredibly long day, following an incredibly long week, but we did it!

On Saturday we spent the day at Amboseli National Park. Big cats are very rare here, but we saw two lions!! It was amazing. At one point they were preying on and chasing some warthogs, but they got away. We also saw a herd of 18 elephants cross directly in front of our land cruisers; they are breath-taking and majestic.

Saturday night we had a dis-orientation, as SFS likes to call it. This was a very interesting experience for me because at Franklin, we never had anything like this. Basically, our Student Affairs Manager went over certain situations and feelings that we might be placed in or feel when going home: reverse culture shock. While I have heard of reverse culture shock, I realized tonight that so many feelings that I have had when returning home from school are actually common and normal. I think they will probably be exacerbated when returning from this trip. Some of these feelings include an inability to adequately articulate your feelings and explain your trip. Also, feeling disconnected from “normal” life, boredom with seemingly arbitrary tasks, isolation, having difficulty talking to friends or family about your experiences and so on. I found that I already do many of the coping mechanisms that were suggested, which is nice.

Tomorrow we will be having a debrief session, receiving our grades and having a goat roast. We bought a goat from one of the Astaris, Oleman and are going to have a slaughter and goat anatomy lesson. On Monday, we’re off bright and early to Tanzania, where we have to hang out around the airport until our flight at 8 PM from Kilimanjaro. Then I will fly to Amsterdam, landing in the morning around 7 AM and I will have twelve hours in Amsterdam to explore and wander around. I love the city and this will be a welcome break from the long travel time. Then I fly to JFK and then on to Boston. I will certainly be tired but I suppose I will happy to be home. I really wish I was staying longer, but being home, seeing friends and family and eating some good food will be welcome.