For Dad...

Love,
Ryan

Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela!

Today, citizens across South Africa are celebrating the 90th birthday of the man they so affectionately call "Madiba," Nelson Mandela. Mandela himself will be in his hometown of Qunu with thousands of people and what I've heard to be a humongous cake. In the same spirit, I would like to celebrate Mandela's life with all of you back in the States by sharing a quote:

"But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities."
- Nelson Mandela

Mandela's tireless efforts continue to this day with his work on "46664," a project dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. You can read more here: 46664 Website

much love,
Ryan

The Most Beautiful Blues & Oranges You Will Ever See...

Being here in Cape Town will turn you into connoisseur of sunrises and sunsets... maybe just sky in general. Almost daily (besides the dark & grey period we've been experiencing lately) as the sun is either peaking out or winding down, they atmosphere morphs between awesome shades of blue and orange, with hints of pink and yellow thrown in randomly. Although I never really have my camera with me, I am usually stopped in my tracks on each occasion of seeing the sight. It has become a welcomed 1-2 minute break in my day where I can halt everything I am doing and gaze up at the colors. I can now say I truly know the meaning of "the African sky."

Here are some times when a camera was around (not all in the same day, although they very well could have been!):



Enjoy!

much love,
Ryan

District 6

I've been waiting on this post to try and acquire some photos from random cameras, but no luck so far. So you'll just have to use your imagination (and whatever pictures I can find on the internet!) A few weeks ago I had the opportunity of joining in on a SAEP field trip for our gap year students (recent high school grads) to the District 6 Museum in downtown Cape Town. The museum commemorates a part of Cape Town known as District 6 that was dismantled during the apartheid era by the government. The museum:

Many similarly unfair actions took place during the apartheid era, but District 6 stands out as an intriguing story because it was a thriving, fully-integrated community before its destruction. And not even solely on racial lines. District 6 was a happy home to multiple races, religions and cultures, all living together in harmony. This uncommon solidarity was the reason the community was targeted by the apartheid governments, as it was a direct slap in the face to those pushing that races must be divided and that certain races were inferior human beings.

District 6 was ordered to become a "whites only" community in the 1960's, and all other races were forced to leave their homes. Most were relocated into Cape Town's townships on the outskirts of the city. After much of District 6 remained vacant for many years, most of the homes and buildings were eventually bulldozed to leave a giant flat patch of dirt where so much joy once lived.

Above: Original District 6 Sign
Below: District 6 today

Since the fall of apartheid, a pledge to bring District 6 back has been made and has (very slowly) begun to be carried out. Houses are being rebuilt, and original residents are being given priority on returning. However, as you can tell from the photo above, much of District 6 is still flat.

An interesting story on its own, but I especially enjoyed taking all of this in with our students. All of them live in the townships where District 6 residents were relocated, and some had stories of people they know that were original District 6 residents. You could tell though, that the powerful meanings of these stories and the implication of what these people had gone through had not really set in for the students until coming to this museum.

For a much more detailed description of District 6, check this out: Wikipedia: District 6

Hiking of the Mountainous & Urban Varieties

Day 3 of Blog-Fest! I'm catching up! (slowly...)

The weekend of June 14th was extra special for it was a 3 day weekend in honor of Youth Day on Monday the 16th. To start the weekend off right, SAEP volunteer Liz planned a student hike on Saturday in a cool part of Cape Town known as the Newlands Reservoir. After making 7 loaves of peanut butter or cucumber & cheese sandwiches, SAEP volunteers Liz, Jane C., Asanda, Seychelle, Heloise & Ryan (me) led 19 students from one of the township high schools from Newlands Reservoir into the city's botanical gardens. As you can tell from the photos below, the hike was beautiful:



It was also fun to experience the trek with children that have never hiked before or been hiking only a handful of times. A few just came to get out of the house, but many were excited and interested in all of the nature and outdoor goodness. The mentality behind planning the hikes is to allow the children of the townships to experience nature, as many never get to, and to maybe spark their interest in careers or studies in science, preservation, or other environmental avenues. Some of our outdoor adventurers:

Bottom: Sandwiches!!

Sunday was rainy and grey... Breakfast was had at a local cafe, Settlers of Catan was played, and a trip to the cinema followed... All great rainy day activities.

On Monday, Sanford and I did a bit of urban adventuring. As the ladies visited a local spa, we hiked about downtown. First we ventured through Greenmarket Square, a market featuring local goods and many vendors very eager to take your money. Next we walked up to an area of Cape Town known as Bo Kaap. Similar to Rainbow Row in Charleston or La Boca in Buenos Aires, this part of town is known for it's brightly-colored houses. It was a bit of a cloudy day, but the buildings were still very cool to see:

The colder weather has begun to cramp our style a bit on outdoor activities... Not that that is impossible to get outside, but backup , rainy day plans have become essential in planning any outdoor adventure. (Remember this when I get to the update about the rugby game!) Other than somewhat dreary weather though, I'm loving every minute of being here and am already dreading the thought of leaving in 6 weeks...

Other updates: I will be teaching trigonometry in a local high school next week! Wish me luck as I try to remember sines and cosines from 10th grade... I will blog in further detail later, but the political situation in Zimbabwe has had an incredibly troublesome week. If you haven't read anything about the elections, it's worth checking out... Rugby is awesome!... So is (most) South African food...

much love,
Ryan

Collecting Randomness

Above: Cape Town Waterfront

As promised, here is Day 2 of the Ryan Blogging Spree! Its madness here in blog world, so lets get right to it...

Many of my professors at the Clinton School of Public Service have impressed upon me the idea of outsourcing. So in tribute to Thomas Friedman and all the flat-worlders out there, I am going to borrow from many sources for this update. Contrary to the usual post describing weekend adventures, I would like to use this space to describe some of the random, relevant events going on in South Africa life.

First off, Boots The Cat. Sarah has discovered the true story of Boots, and why she is always daredevil-style jumping into our house. (Boots is currently sleeping under my bed inside of my backpack.) Check out her Boots blog post here: The Story of Boots!

Second, on Monday June 16th, South Africa celebrated Youth Day, a national holiday dedicated to the memory of thousands of students that were killed during peaceful protests for equal education in the apartheid era. My classmate Marquita Little, who is serving at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy outside of Johannesburg, recently sent an update to our students and faculty about Youth Day that I feel summed everything up very well. Here is a snippet of what she wrote:

"Youth Day – June 16, 1976.

In September 2007 we were all there for the historic celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the integration of Central High. Central High was integrated on 1957 and nine brave students changed a nation. They were ridiculed, spit on and shoved, but they marched on. Central High was integrated. Almost 20 years later students in Soweto made the same attempt. In addition to a separate school system for blacks, the decision was made that all instruction would be given in Afrikaans. In the face of an already inadequate education students would now be forced to learn in a language that their ethnic group did not speak. On June 16, 1976 the students of Soweto organized for a peaceful protest. What was intended as a peaceful protest ended with the deaths of thousands of students (the youngest reported to be 8 years old) when the police begin to open fire on them. Many recounted stories of the green car that road around pointing a rifle and randomly firing the gun at groups of students. Two nations. Twenty years apart. One history. One purpose. All in the name of equal education.

Today I learned a lot. I learned more about the horrible impact of apartheid and how its continuing to affect lives even today (which is not surprising since it was not outlawed until 1994). We celebrated Youth Day and discussed the true value of education…an education that many died for today’s youth to have. I also had a wonderful visit with Molly Banks the creator of the documentary Testing Hope that chronicles the lives of South Africans preparing for the matriculation exam. It’s an exam that must be taken after completing grade 12 and the score basically determines what your lot in life will be. The lowest scoring students won’t attend college and will most likely work as laborers. All South African youth take the same exam, but they don’t all get the same education. Many of the schools located in black townships have inadequate facilities, little supplies and no access to technology. These students’ chances of making it are slim to none. Two of the students from the documentary were also present. The both passed and are attending college."

Next up, surgery. Many things happen here in our lovely house on 12 Cambridge Rd. including family dinners, Settlers games, and lots of screaming about shower thievery. A new activity can now be added to this list: minor finger surgery! The other night I successfully removed a deep hangnail from Sarah's finger, armed with a Red Cross first aid kit and the knife we chop vegetables with (sterilized, of course.) There are no pictures, as I didn't allow cameras inside the operating room (bathroom,) but pretty I'm sure it looked exactly like ER...

And finally I'll give you the "Ryan Driving in South Africa Update." As I have mentioned, driving takes place on the left side of the road here. Surprisingly, its pretty easy to drive on the wrong side of the road when no other cars are coming. Usually Sanford and I barter with Heloise to let us drive her car- for an unsupervised drive, all we must do is pass the grocery store and buy her some chocolate. This seems to work out well for all parties involved... Here is a post (and song) from Sanford about our last driving experience: We are Bad Drivers!
* A quick update: since this night, I have also successfully driven on the highway! Still no idea whether or not my California Driver's License will do anything if I'm pulled over...

Back to the usual format with pictures on the next post.
much love,
Ryan

2 weekends ago... (catching up!)

Wine Tasting, Tree Climbing, & Experiencing History...

I know, I know... I haven't blogged in 11 days, and am now 2 weekends behind on stories. So to make it up to the few blog fans I have out there, I'm going on a blogging spree! I'm promising one blog entry a day, for the next 3 days! Or Buy 1 - Get 2 Free, whichever you prefer... Extra sorries to Mr. Russ Swearingen, as he has declared his love for Boots the Cat stories on his blog and I haven't provided any recently. Your luck is about to change, buddy!

So this update goes back to the lovely weekend of June 7th - 8th. Sanford's wife Amanda was just beginning a 2-week stay, the weather had officially become "chilly to freezing," and six South African resident-tourists set out for a weekend of adventure (those six being Sarah, Sanford, Amanda, Heloise, Pauline, & Ryan.) First stop was another trip through Muizenberg Beach and Kalk Bay for some amazing lunch and pictures:


Top: Scouting the perfect picture, Kalk Bay
Bottom: The picture! Kalk Bay

Following lunch, we headed out to Constantia for a wine-tasting and the beautiful views of the vineyard and mountains at Groot Constantia. South African wine is already fantastic (although you shouldn't take my word, I can't smell) but the Groot is great! (not an official slogan) The sun was heading down as we left, so photo guru Sarah led an impromptu tree climbing session to capture some great shots of the scenery:

Top, Middle, & Bottom: Awesome

The next morning we woke up for a tour of Robben Island, the former island prison of the coast of Cape Town where Nelson Mandela and all other political prisoners fighting apartheid were held. The tour is a fantastic and saddening learning opportunity, as you are led through the facilities by a former political prisoner and told the horror stories of the prison and the apartheid-era.

Top: Political Prisoner Museum at ferry dock
Middle: Prison Entry
Middle # 2: Buildings
Middle # 3: Nelson Mandela's jail cell
Bottom: Guided Tour

The stories of what the prisoners endured, and how they maintained their strength and unity through such hard times are very inspiring. Two of my favorites were the secret cave teaching lessons, and the tennis ball information-pass. Prisoners were forced to mine limestone during their sentences for 8 hours a day. During these work sessions, the prisoners would sneak into a nearby cave for "breaks," in which they would hold classes for fellow prisoners in a variety of topics. Knowing that knowledge was power, the prisoners maintained the ability to learn and teach each other although it was strictly forbidden. The tennis ball info-pass involved recreation time, in which tennis was allowed. In order to communicate news or messages with other sections of the prison, tennis balls were cut open and filled with information. They were then "accidentally" hit into the next prison yard, where they were opened, re-filled, and sent back.

Another cool story involved the pile of rocks pictured above. After all of the political prisoners had been released, and Robben Island was turned into a national historic site and tour, a ceremony was held for Nelson Mandela and all of his comrades that had served time at Robben Island. After the ceremony concluded, without saying a word to anyone, Mandela walked into the limestone mines, picked a rock out of the hills, and set it in the middle of this walkway. Also without saying a word, each fellow political prisoner followed Mandela's lead and selected a rock to stack. The end result was this pile, a symbol of the solidarity of those imprisoned on Robben Island over the many years.

The other great (& windy) part of the tour was the boat ride to and from the island. Although very rocky, it provided for some amazing views of Cape Town from the ocean:


And finally, my favorite picture of the weekend:


The sunset over a busy, Camp's Bay street. Yep, I live here. Pretty great...

Next time on Ryan's Blog... Surgery at 12 Cambridge Rd., Youth Day, and the true story of Boots the Cat! Stay tuned!

much love,
Ryan

Howzit??!!

Howzit? = Best greeting ever! Very good for yelling from far distances.

So I have fun weekend stories from adventures to Robben Island and other spots, but haven't loaded pictures yet so they will have to wait for next post.

Here is a quick look at an average day in the life of Ryan in South Africa during the work week:

7:30AM: Wake up, shower, toast & jam, catch a ride with Heloise & Pauline (fellow SAEP volunteers) to the SAEP office in Rondebosh (about 10 mins. from Observatory where I live)

8:30AM: Buy the morning paper, tea time, and emails! Also the best time to catch me available on gchat (11:30 PM California time, 1:30 AM Arkansas time.)

9:30 AM: Get down to work... I'm currently working on a few projects for SAEP. Furthest along is developing a system of program evaluation for the Gap Year Intern Program, a post-secondary preparatory year for high schoolers from the townships outside of Cape Town. Down the line is developing the initial projects and strategic plan for SAEP's Centre for Innovative Education, and contributing research to a general funding request presentation for the organization.

All day: Random breaks for iTunes duets by Ryan and Sanford, usually a mix of Chicago, Neil Diamond, and Motown's greatest...

5:00PM: Catch the train back to Observatory. Every other day I go for a run, which began as laps around the field hockey rectangle and has now evolved into exploration of the city. I recently accidentally ran into a psychiatric complex thinking it was a rich gated community with nice views of the city.

7:00PM-ish: Dinner at the house, which most every night is shared with Heloise and Pauline
and sometimes with our roommate Antoine. Antoine's cooking nights are glorious occasions, as he is our very own French master chef. Boots the cat usually makes at least 2-4 appearances during dinner, usually in the form of daredevil leaps over doors and windows trying to get inside.

10:0oPM: Various activities occur at this hour, but most common is reading. Coinciding with my reading the local paper every morning, I've been trying to fully immerse myself into South Africa and have been reading works on the current state of the country. I just finished "To the Brink: The State of Democracy in South Africa" by Xolela Mangcu, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the failings of the Thabo Mbeki administration and the implications they've had on South Africa's people, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Zimbabwe situation, and the current presidential elections. Other activities known to happen after 10pm are movies on Sarah's computer, emails, and catching up on baseball news...

Thats all for now, I'll post soon with stories and pictures and from recent adventures.

Also, a disclaimer: Most of the awesome pics I've been using are from the camera of Ms. Sarah Argue, the official SA photo guru.

much love to all,
Ryan

Braii Heaven

After spending most of our first weekend volunteering for the relief efforts, Team USA (Sanford, Sarah, & Ryan) set out for a weekend of exploration and fun in the “Mother City.” Here is a recap of the adventures:

Friday Lunch: African salad prepared by Asanda, a township favorite. The ingredients? Corn meal and sour milk. This will probably be the last time I ever consume African salad.

Friday Night: After two nights of salsa dancing training with Isabel and her “quick-quick-slow” gang, the moves were taken to the public for an evening at Fiesta (tapas, salsa dancing). Well not really… Sanford, who has become quite the salsa pro, got some dancing in. However, Sarah and I discovered from the previous night’s lesson that we should never be allowed to dance in public, and chose to enjoy the view from the table instead.

Saturday Afternoon: To the beaches with Heloise and Pauline! First stop was Muizenberg, the local surf spot and home to some amazing views of the town & water. Further south was Kalk Bay, where a stop for Cuban food was made. Through Fish Hoek and into Simon’s Town, a small beach village with tons of penguins roaming around the rocks and making very odd noises. All cameras were out of order, so only one shot of the penguins and scenery was obtained.

Saturday Evening: After a nice dinner at 12 Cambridge Rd., Sanford, Sarah, Heloise, Pauline, Antoine, and Ryan decide to stay in and draw miniature versions of themselves (on Flat Stanley’s.) For anyone not familiar with Flat Stanley, it is a little blank cutout of a person from a children’s book that you color and take pictures with across the world. Ginger Beebe, the first lady of Arkansas, gave them to each Clinton School student to take on their projects, with many blanks for sharing. Here are some of the participants and their flat counterparts (complete with Flat Stanley half-smile):

Sunday Afternoon: On Friday, Asanda told us that he really wanted to take us out for a day in the townships, and especially for braii at M’zoli’s Meat. Braii in South Africa means barbecue, and some research of M’zoli’s Meat turned up pictures of people sitting around tables eating from trays of barbecue. Sounds fantastic, right? What we had no idea about was the quantity of meat served on your tray. This is what our table of 7 ended up with:

Upon arriving and grabbing a table, you tell the meat counter approximately what you want. They then load piles of beef, pork, sausage, and chicken upon your tray and carry it to a room of 8 giant fire pits in the back. After, you are told to go across the street to a trailer to purchase six-packs of beer, and you sit in the sunshine all afternoon drinking beer and eating chunks of meat from the enormous barbecue platter. The whole block fills up with tables holding hundreds of people eating, drinking, dancing, and playing music. This was definitely not the most sanitary of eating experiences, and multiple meat comas were induced, but it was a truly awesome and one-of-a-kind day.

Sunday Night: Much-needed sleep.

Other fun developments of late:

12 Cambridge Rd. has a new mascot, Boots the Cat (he has little white feet.) Boots sits at our front or back door, depending on which side of the house we are making noise on, or in the closest window to where we are eating. Boots never leaves. Boots likes to run through our house when we don’t pay attention. Boots can also climb the bars on the outside of our windows to get in the top portion if it is open (about 8ft. high.) Usually a night of hanging out in the kitchen has about 3 occurrences where Boots must be forcefully removed, but we all still kinda love him anyway.

I have twice driven a car, and only once went down the wrong side of a major street (South Africans drive on the left side of the road.)

I hope all is well in your respective pockets of the world, more soon!

much love,

Ryan

Molweni

1. Lion's Head Peak, Cape Town

2. Sunset over Camp's Bay, Cape Town

3. Table Mountain, Cape Town

I know it has taken me a little bit to get this first post up, and for that I do apologize. We don’t have internet in our house yet so I have indeed been lazy about blogging. But this will be an extra long one to make up for it…

So this is the start of Day 9 in Cape Town and all 8 until this point have been action-packed. I’ll start with the small amount of bad news and move toward the better. The mood of the country is very dark right now. The violence and recent xenophobic attacks have cooled, but have left large scars. Refugee camps are being constructed outside of Cape Town to house the nearly 20,000 foreign-born Africans that have fled or been forced out of their communities in the southern portion of the country. Unfortunately, many of these families now want to leave South Africa as soon as possible. Until now, South Africa was known as “the Rainbow Nation” for its past acceptance of all peoples and extremely multicultural landscape. Many have speculated that this crisis speculates the end of the “honeymoon” of the fall of apartheid, when South Africa realizes that although equal by law, the country is still heavily and unequally divided by race. Many are frustrated, and a hotly contested presidential election awaits later this year. Some of the country’s largest papers are already calling for the current President’s resignation.

I recently attended a rally against the xenophobic attacks, in which some of the leaders in the Cape Town community spoke about the new challenges facing South Africa and the possibilities for reversing the inequalities that manifested themselves through the disgraceful actions of the last weeks. I hope this mood overpowers the feelings of hatred and frustration that currently hold such a toxic grip upon the country.

Other bad news thus far is that Sanford, Sarah, and I had a slight airport emergency when arriving in Johannesburg for our connection flight to Cape Town. The airline we were booked on went out of business a month and a half ago, but no one bothered to let us know. Luckily we found a rush flight into the Cape for $100, but it was a bit of a startling beginning to our stay here. So the lesson here for all world travelers: Double-check the existence of your airline company before leaving if you book a flight on Orbitz!

On to the good news! Cape Town is quite possibly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. (See sunset and Table Mountain pictures…) I have seen random sections of the city, but all have been equally breathtaking. Unfortunately it will soon be full-blown winter here, but the weather has been mild thus far. Walking out my front door every morning I can look up to see the peak of Lion’s Head, one of the many mountains towering over the city.

The people of South Africa are warm and welcoming, and the youth I have met thus far are so in tune with their country and its triumphs and struggles. I have a lot of exposure to the culture of people that live in and near Cape Town, the Xhosa (say it with a tongue click!)

Hard to ignore is the disparity between the beauty of the city and the terrible conditions in the townships of shacks that surround it. There are huge populations of incredibly impoverished people, commonly living without electricity or running water, within a 10 minute drive of the city’s edge. The schools in these communities are serviced by the organization I am working for.

Working with SAEP is fantastic, relaxed and challenging. I’m surrounded by a very positive environment of great and fun people. Right now the SAEP family of twenty-somethings includes myself, Sanford, Sarah, Liz, and Seychelle from the USA, Heloise & Pauline from France, Mark from the UK, Isabel from Germany, and Danielle, two Asandas, and Zandile from South Africa. Sanford and I have dubbed our office “The Nucleus” and can be heard singing Neil Diamond and Chicago tunes throughout the day.

12 Cambridge Rd: The house that Sarah, Sanford, and I are staying in is very nice, and has been home to a few appetizer and wine nights with Heloise, Pauline, and our French roommate Antoine (complete with French soundtrack.)

Other fun stuff about South Africa: traffic lights are called “robots,” great South African wine is about $4 a bottle, there are a lot of British accents, and Nando’s fast food chain serves amazing chicken & rice bowls.

I used most of my first weekend in the city driving out to the refugee mini-camps or at a donation center, but we slipped out to Camp’s Bay on Sunday evening (near the Cape of Good Hope, the southern-most tip of Africa) with Heloise and Pauline to see this amazing sunset and walk in the cold ocean. We also went to an Africa Day celebration to hear some good local music, enjoy the sunshine, and make ourselves targets for pigeon poop (Sanford got hit.)

So all in all, life is great and I am truly enjoying the adventure.

More stories soon!

much love,

ryan

1. Tiny Ryan & Tiny Heloise in a place that looks far more natural than it really was... Camp's Bay, Cape Town

2. Cold, swirly ocean

3. Dinner at 12 Cambridge Rd!