I hope at this point thanks to my recent uploads, I will be leaving Kimberley for 3 weeks, with you all in possession of finally some reading material. Sometimes it just takes that spark, or me forcing myself to sit down and write something.
I leave on Tuesday night for Tanzania. I will be flying into Dar Es Salaam, spending some much needed time resting and relaxing on Zanzibar island and then seeing where else the wind blows me. I will probably be checking email every once in a while during my time away, but I cannot making any promises. I will be back in Kimberley for work on the 3 January 2011. I cannot believe 2011 has arrived. The year that when my brother was entering pre-school was given to his graduating class and we all laughed at the thought that 2011 would ever arrive. So I guess I will be seeing all of you around the corner of yet another year in my life. Scary and I am only 22.
I wish you all a very wonderful and safe holiday break. I am sad that I will be missing Christmas with the family for the first time, but there will be many more to come. Love you all and to all a good night!
Also knowing my history with writing sometimes, especially long breaks away from the computer, I make no promises to write every detail about my trip upon my return. PEACE...
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Take a Stand
In the Grassroot Soccer Skillz curriculum, at the beginning of every practice we ask the kids to take a stand. We say a statement and ask the kids to either agree or disagree with that statement and then explain their position on the issue. An example of a statement would be “In my culture it I okay for boys to have more and one girlfriend as long as they use a condom.” Eight years ago I took my very own stand of a slightly different nature. A stand against alcohol and drugs through a pact I made with my best friend at the time saying that we would never drink or do drugs. At some point we both fell off that bandwagon, hers was a far deeper fall than mine which lasted about 2 months in total, but I renewed that pledge and retook my stand the day before my sweet sixteen birthday party 6, almost 7 years ago now. For some reason, all that information got through to me and I realized that my health and my passion for a sport (that I know no longer play, but still uphold to utmost respect for) far outweighed what alcohol and drugs were ever going to give me.
Today, as I was completing the blog in which I explained how I question the work that I am doing and the program that we are using, I got some truly tragic news. 2-time winner of ESPN’s Academic All-American and a personal friend of mine passed away yesterday. Kyle Conrad, a 21-year old business and sports management student, and I haven’t had all that much interaction since we both moved on from our TCU travel soccer days, but that doesn’t mean that it was not entirely crushing to hear this news. Though he was a year or two younger than me, I spent a lot of time with him and his teammates because I practiced with them on the nights that I was not practicing with the girls, I traveled to London with him and all of our fellow teammates when I was 15, and I cheered on his high school soccer team as they crushed my own boys high school team. He, along with Edvin, a mutual friend and teammate, were nearly unstoppable together, and two of the best soccer players the state of Florida has seen.
What was even more distressing for me, aside from the fact that I am currently in Africa unable to attend the funeral, is the way that he died. According to an article in the Palm Beach Post, he fell off a bridge in Fort Lauderdale around 2:30 in the morning. While no cause of death has been stated, one can make a fair share of assumptions that may be true or not true as to what he was doing crossing a railroad bridge at 2:30 a.m. While I pass no judgments and truly mourn the world’s loss of yet another incredible young man, I urge you to look back a blog or two at the statistics about Substance Abuse and review my personal interaction with drugs and alcohol at the collegiate level. I believe that in our youth, we really do believe that we are invincible, that nothing will happen to us, but it can, it does, and it will. Sometimes we really need to wake up and smell the coffee; we need to face that fact that there are consequences for our actions.
While some of what I am saying might sound heartless or soulless in this moment, I cried for the first time today in what seems like forever. The role that substance abuse a played in my life and the people that it has hurt is huge. So I am using right now the only possible place I have to voice my opinion and try to evoke a conversation, to get someone to seriously consider the other side of what seems like harmless fun in the moment. Again I have no idea, if alcohol or drugs were involved in this situation, but either way I am finally stating to the world how I feel.
If the world is going to take someone like Kyle Conrad from us, we are going to learn something from it and his death will not just be a loss, but a light. I am begging and pleading that next time you head out on the town, you take just a moment and think about your goals, your dreams, all of the things that you are capable of in this world, and take a stand for Kyle’s life and so many others who have lost lives because of alcohol and drug abuse. Whether you are taking a stand not to drink and drive, not to drink in excess, or not to drink at all is up to you, but it is time that we all try to take action.
Today, as I was completing the blog in which I explained how I question the work that I am doing and the program that we are using, I got some truly tragic news. 2-time winner of ESPN’s Academic All-American and a personal friend of mine passed away yesterday. Kyle Conrad, a 21-year old business and sports management student, and I haven’t had all that much interaction since we both moved on from our TCU travel soccer days, but that doesn’t mean that it was not entirely crushing to hear this news. Though he was a year or two younger than me, I spent a lot of time with him and his teammates because I practiced with them on the nights that I was not practicing with the girls, I traveled to London with him and all of our fellow teammates when I was 15, and I cheered on his high school soccer team as they crushed my own boys high school team. He, along with Edvin, a mutual friend and teammate, were nearly unstoppable together, and two of the best soccer players the state of Florida has seen.
What was even more distressing for me, aside from the fact that I am currently in Africa unable to attend the funeral, is the way that he died. According to an article in the Palm Beach Post, he fell off a bridge in Fort Lauderdale around 2:30 in the morning. While no cause of death has been stated, one can make a fair share of assumptions that may be true or not true as to what he was doing crossing a railroad bridge at 2:30 a.m. While I pass no judgments and truly mourn the world’s loss of yet another incredible young man, I urge you to look back a blog or two at the statistics about Substance Abuse and review my personal interaction with drugs and alcohol at the collegiate level. I believe that in our youth, we really do believe that we are invincible, that nothing will happen to us, but it can, it does, and it will. Sometimes we really need to wake up and smell the coffee; we need to face that fact that there are consequences for our actions.
While some of what I am saying might sound heartless or soulless in this moment, I cried for the first time today in what seems like forever. The role that substance abuse a played in my life and the people that it has hurt is huge. So I am using right now the only possible place I have to voice my opinion and try to evoke a conversation, to get someone to seriously consider the other side of what seems like harmless fun in the moment. Again I have no idea, if alcohol or drugs were involved in this situation, but either way I am finally stating to the world how I feel.
If the world is going to take someone like Kyle Conrad from us, we are going to learn something from it and his death will not just be a loss, but a light. I am begging and pleading that next time you head out on the town, you take just a moment and think about your goals, your dreams, all of the things that you are capable of in this world, and take a stand for Kyle’s life and so many others who have lost lives because of alcohol and drug abuse. Whether you are taking a stand not to drink and drive, not to drink in excess, or not to drink at all is up to you, but it is time that we all try to take action.
Questioning the Glorified Aid, Part Two
So I question a practice and then I question the whole curriculum, and then I become utterly frustrated with Headquarters and our USAID grant. For me, and I’m pretty sure for our CEO and visionary of GRS, Tommy Clark, this is about the children that we work with and protecting them from this destructive disease also known as AIDS. So why is it that I feel like decisions are motivated by money and by numbers?
I’m pretty sure because that is just how it works. Money makes the world go around and in the non-profit world, grants and funding are the only way we can make it. Now in order for us to have and keep and potentially get more money from USAID, we have to reach certain targets of learners graduated from our programs and people in our communities tested. While it is slightly infuriating because it leads even the most compassionate people to make decisions based around only graduates, I understand that sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
It wasn’t too long ago that I told you the story about Practice 6 and our problems with the school Greenpoint. There were so many problems in fact that we were just going to work through two more practices to get to Practice 6 and be done. This is the perfect example of a time where we were motivated and influenced solely by the fact that we needed numbers. All of a sudden these kids with faces and names and horribly distressing home life situations, are typed into a computer and become nothing more than a number and a statistic to be submitted to USAID. Here we are on the ground, working with these kids for 9 days of their lives, teaching them about a very difficult disease and in the end they become nothing more than a number.
Luckily after a little fight, we did end of getting to work with the kids for 3 more practice, complete the curriculum, and have a graduation for them, but I am pretty sure that is where it ended. Stories of girls being raped, children being left alone at 12 to take care of younger sibling when their parents died, and we didn’t even have a system or path in place to lead these kids to the help they very severely need.
Phew, I think we are all in desperate need to vacation right now to recharge, refuel, and renew. I realize that many of these blogs, thought I would like to be slightly quirky and goofy with them, have been more on the serious side of things. But I feel like it is important that I share as I learn and explain some of the questions that pop up as I move along. I am sharing more my thought processes around issues as opposed to my day-to-day happening because a lot of my days are very similar. Sometimes we get busier and other days I have plenty of time to chill out, but either way I seriously doubt me telling you about all the receipts I reconciled or the number of shirts in our inventory I counted would be of any more interest than what I am discussing now.
I’m pretty sure because that is just how it works. Money makes the world go around and in the non-profit world, grants and funding are the only way we can make it. Now in order for us to have and keep and potentially get more money from USAID, we have to reach certain targets of learners graduated from our programs and people in our communities tested. While it is slightly infuriating because it leads even the most compassionate people to make decisions based around only graduates, I understand that sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
It wasn’t too long ago that I told you the story about Practice 6 and our problems with the school Greenpoint. There were so many problems in fact that we were just going to work through two more practices to get to Practice 6 and be done. This is the perfect example of a time where we were motivated and influenced solely by the fact that we needed numbers. All of a sudden these kids with faces and names and horribly distressing home life situations, are typed into a computer and become nothing more than a number and a statistic to be submitted to USAID. Here we are on the ground, working with these kids for 9 days of their lives, teaching them about a very difficult disease and in the end they become nothing more than a number.
Luckily after a little fight, we did end of getting to work with the kids for 3 more practice, complete the curriculum, and have a graduation for them, but I am pretty sure that is where it ended. Stories of girls being raped, children being left alone at 12 to take care of younger sibling when their parents died, and we didn’t even have a system or path in place to lead these kids to the help they very severely need.
Phew, I think we are all in desperate need to vacation right now to recharge, refuel, and renew. I realize that many of these blogs, thought I would like to be slightly quirky and goofy with them, have been more on the serious side of things. But I feel like it is important that I share as I learn and explain some of the questions that pop up as I move along. I am sharing more my thought processes around issues as opposed to my day-to-day happening because a lot of my days are very similar. Sometimes we get busier and other days I have plenty of time to chill out, but either way I seriously doubt me telling you about all the receipts I reconciled or the number of shirts in our inventory I counted would be of any more interest than what I am discussing now.
Questioning the Glorified Aid
Starting out, this yearlong internship was merely my best option after graduating college. The job market isn’t so hot right now for the recently graduated, but let’s also be honest and just admit that knowing how this opportunity lined up with my resume thus far, I knew it was my easiest option. Easiest, in the sense that I had a pretty good chance of getting the post, not easiest in it’s requirements for application. Essays cover letters, references, and resume. But that wasn’t necessarily the only lure of working for a non-profit. I personally glorify non-profit organizations and aid agencies. As you all may recall from my first post, in my first year of college, I saw myself as a high power corporate player or lawyer, then a couple years into college, I dreamt of making it into the United Nations. I have absolutely no idea how you get there or what exactly it as an entity does, but I wanted to be there and I wanted to be on top.
I have heard, read books and articles, and discussed the negativity around the idea of AID (not AIDS, AID, you know grants, money, help). I am no saint, and I have always had my doubts about certain things, but never when it came to this concept. Aid has always been a way to help, a form of relief and how could that ever have any negativity attached to it. Hmmm, maybe this process it not only leaving me confused about my life, but also creating the cynic within me. But, I have some bad news. Over the past few weeks, not only have we dealt with World War III in the office (there was a lot of arguing among everyone for a while there), but we have all come to an equal frustration towards grants and the headquarters of the organization we are working with.
For me it started with my doubt for practice 6, which I have discussed earlier, then it moved to a little doubt about the program itself. If anyone recalls their 6th grade days of D.A.R.E. you may understand where I am coming from. First, I must say this is weird for me because I am the 1 in 100 that actually took something from the D.A.R.E. and similar alcohol/drug related programs and assemblies and to this day I remain alcohol and drug free. The part that that must be noted is the 1 in 100. Another part worth noting is that I don’t believe that the reason I stand as the 1 in 100 has all that much to do with any of those seminars, programs, and lectures we had throughout school, but rather it has a lot more to do with a stern discussion my soccer team had with one of the best coaches and mentors I have ever had in my life.
According to research by Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base that “almost half of Americans aged 12 and older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2000 survey (46.6 percent). This translates to an estimated 104 million people. Both the rate of alcohol use and number of drinkers were nearly the same in 2000 as in 1999 (46.4 percent and 103 million). It also shows that young adults aged 18 to 22 enrolled full-time in college were more likely than their peers not enrolled full-time to report any use, binge use, or heavy use of alcohol in 2000. Past month alcohol use was reported by 62.0 percent of full-time college students compared to 50.8 percent of their counterparts who were not currently enrolled full-time. Binge and heavy use rates for college students were 41.4 percent and 16.4 percent, respectively, compared with 35.9 percent and 12.1 percent, respectively, for other persons aged 18 to 22.” Additionally I found that 10% of Americans age 12 and older in 2000 had driven under the influence of alcohol at least once in the 12 month prior to the interview and of the youth aged 18-25, 19.9 percent has driven under the influence of alcohol in 2000.
First of all, I have to say, what 12 year olds are driving and driving under the influence no less? Now here is the rest of my discussion on this topic, the point I am trying to make and how this relates to GRS will follow shortly. I was a college student from the year 2006-2010, which in this modern day and age pretty much makes this research obsolete and while my shortage of access to the internet prevents further research, I will give you my personal interaction with alcohol in the last 8 years of my life. Out of all of the traveling I have done, all of the people I have met, I actually know 4 people who do not drink or do drugs at all, 4 out of about 500+ people that I know (I am talking about 500 people within the range of 16-30). That is .008% and that percent includes my brother, who like the other 3 people I believe is telling me the truth when he says they don’t drink of do drugs. Of the 99.992% of people in my life who do drink, I can say that a good amount of them are safe and socially responsibly drinkers, maybe to put a figure on it, 20-30%. So while statistics say one thing about alcohol and drug consumption my personal interaction with it paints a totally different picture. I cannot count the number of times I have been pressure to all different extents to drink, congratulated on my strength and decision for not drinking (though they could never do it is usually how that sentence ends), and was told that I am 1 of maybe 3 people maximum that they know that chooses not to drink or potentially, as has happened, the only one. Keep in mind that most Americans have gone through the D.A.R.E. program in their middle school years or a similar program and these are still the statistics.
Now maybe my own research is slightly skewed, as is all research, because while I choose not to drink or do drugs, I still enjoy going out to parties, bars, and clubs on occasion with friends. It definitely makes me the odd man out, but I like to show people that you can go out, be silly, dance, and have a good time, and still be able to drive yourself home sober when it is all over. So it is possible that 35% of college kids do not drink, but I would then have to guess that those students found each other and have decided to hide themselves from any college kids I’ve ever come into contact with.
Ok so now back to D.A.R.E and the point I was trying to make. In my mind, I have made a connection between the D.A.R.E. that a majority of middle school American students endure and the Grassroot Soccer Skillz Curriculum. While one drills safe social drinking and abstinence from drugs the other teaches safe sexual activity and just plain abstinence to stop the spread of a deadly disease (p.s. Alcoholism is a fatal disease and like AIDS you have to live with it for the rest of your life). Let’s see if you have started making any connections of your own. I am 1 in 100 from my school’s D.A.R.E. program (if that), so how can I not wonder how many children we are getting through to with our Skillz program. How much of difference are we really making in the HIV/AIDS game?
Right now I wish I had the anonymous quiz we gave to our newly hired coaches about their personal sexual behavior. I will try to get a hold of it, if it can be released. But, I say this because these are people who are teaching this curriculum, they are the voices of Skillz and they, like so many people, also engage in risky sexual behavior. Luckily/hopefully they keep this away from the kids they are teaching.
But still it makes me wonder, if oodles of information about HIV/AIDS and the position of role model in this fight cannot deter someone, then what will? I cannot help but look at this Skillz curriculum and think of its ineffectiveness due to the fact that I see so many underlying causes to the spread of HIV/AIDS, which we barely even touch on in the Skillz curriculum. Cultural norms (can’t touch them too much), age old alcohol abuse, lack of education, lack of foreseeable opportunities, a lack of a healthy social environments, not to mention a strange mix and split of first and third world, community and country leaders that do not practice what needs to be preached, and most importantly the slow disappearance of an entire generation that should be the parents and guardians of the current youth or the future.
Sometimes I see myself just getting more and more cynical and skeptical of the world around me as a learn more, but then I have to go back to that 1, that 1 in 100. Let me share with you a story that has touch me a few times over the past few years, some of you may have heard before: the Starfish Story.
“Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?" The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man. To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
So, this is what I have to keep telling myself, that if I came out the 1 in 100, that someone else will probably emerge in the same position. And so, the fight continues, as slow and grueling as it can be and the fact that everyday, we never really get to see if the cause we are volunteering ourselves to is really having an impact.
I have heard, read books and articles, and discussed the negativity around the idea of AID (not AIDS, AID, you know grants, money, help). I am no saint, and I have always had my doubts about certain things, but never when it came to this concept. Aid has always been a way to help, a form of relief and how could that ever have any negativity attached to it. Hmmm, maybe this process it not only leaving me confused about my life, but also creating the cynic within me. But, I have some bad news. Over the past few weeks, not only have we dealt with World War III in the office (there was a lot of arguing among everyone for a while there), but we have all come to an equal frustration towards grants and the headquarters of the organization we are working with.
For me it started with my doubt for practice 6, which I have discussed earlier, then it moved to a little doubt about the program itself. If anyone recalls their 6th grade days of D.A.R.E. you may understand where I am coming from. First, I must say this is weird for me because I am the 1 in 100 that actually took something from the D.A.R.E. and similar alcohol/drug related programs and assemblies and to this day I remain alcohol and drug free. The part that that must be noted is the 1 in 100. Another part worth noting is that I don’t believe that the reason I stand as the 1 in 100 has all that much to do with any of those seminars, programs, and lectures we had throughout school, but rather it has a lot more to do with a stern discussion my soccer team had with one of the best coaches and mentors I have ever had in my life.
According to research by Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base that “almost half of Americans aged 12 and older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2000 survey (46.6 percent). This translates to an estimated 104 million people. Both the rate of alcohol use and number of drinkers were nearly the same in 2000 as in 1999 (46.4 percent and 103 million). It also shows that young adults aged 18 to 22 enrolled full-time in college were more likely than their peers not enrolled full-time to report any use, binge use, or heavy use of alcohol in 2000. Past month alcohol use was reported by 62.0 percent of full-time college students compared to 50.8 percent of their counterparts who were not currently enrolled full-time. Binge and heavy use rates for college students were 41.4 percent and 16.4 percent, respectively, compared with 35.9 percent and 12.1 percent, respectively, for other persons aged 18 to 22.” Additionally I found that 10% of Americans age 12 and older in 2000 had driven under the influence of alcohol at least once in the 12 month prior to the interview and of the youth aged 18-25, 19.9 percent has driven under the influence of alcohol in 2000.
First of all, I have to say, what 12 year olds are driving and driving under the influence no less? Now here is the rest of my discussion on this topic, the point I am trying to make and how this relates to GRS will follow shortly. I was a college student from the year 2006-2010, which in this modern day and age pretty much makes this research obsolete and while my shortage of access to the internet prevents further research, I will give you my personal interaction with alcohol in the last 8 years of my life. Out of all of the traveling I have done, all of the people I have met, I actually know 4 people who do not drink or do drugs at all, 4 out of about 500+ people that I know (I am talking about 500 people within the range of 16-30). That is .008% and that percent includes my brother, who like the other 3 people I believe is telling me the truth when he says they don’t drink of do drugs. Of the 99.992% of people in my life who do drink, I can say that a good amount of them are safe and socially responsibly drinkers, maybe to put a figure on it, 20-30%. So while statistics say one thing about alcohol and drug consumption my personal interaction with it paints a totally different picture. I cannot count the number of times I have been pressure to all different extents to drink, congratulated on my strength and decision for not drinking (though they could never do it is usually how that sentence ends), and was told that I am 1 of maybe 3 people maximum that they know that chooses not to drink or potentially, as has happened, the only one. Keep in mind that most Americans have gone through the D.A.R.E. program in their middle school years or a similar program and these are still the statistics.
Now maybe my own research is slightly skewed, as is all research, because while I choose not to drink or do drugs, I still enjoy going out to parties, bars, and clubs on occasion with friends. It definitely makes me the odd man out, but I like to show people that you can go out, be silly, dance, and have a good time, and still be able to drive yourself home sober when it is all over. So it is possible that 35% of college kids do not drink, but I would then have to guess that those students found each other and have decided to hide themselves from any college kids I’ve ever come into contact with.
Ok so now back to D.A.R.E and the point I was trying to make. In my mind, I have made a connection between the D.A.R.E. that a majority of middle school American students endure and the Grassroot Soccer Skillz Curriculum. While one drills safe social drinking and abstinence from drugs the other teaches safe sexual activity and just plain abstinence to stop the spread of a deadly disease (p.s. Alcoholism is a fatal disease and like AIDS you have to live with it for the rest of your life). Let’s see if you have started making any connections of your own. I am 1 in 100 from my school’s D.A.R.E. program (if that), so how can I not wonder how many children we are getting through to with our Skillz program. How much of difference are we really making in the HIV/AIDS game?
Right now I wish I had the anonymous quiz we gave to our newly hired coaches about their personal sexual behavior. I will try to get a hold of it, if it can be released. But, I say this because these are people who are teaching this curriculum, they are the voices of Skillz and they, like so many people, also engage in risky sexual behavior. Luckily/hopefully they keep this away from the kids they are teaching.
But still it makes me wonder, if oodles of information about HIV/AIDS and the position of role model in this fight cannot deter someone, then what will? I cannot help but look at this Skillz curriculum and think of its ineffectiveness due to the fact that I see so many underlying causes to the spread of HIV/AIDS, which we barely even touch on in the Skillz curriculum. Cultural norms (can’t touch them too much), age old alcohol abuse, lack of education, lack of foreseeable opportunities, a lack of a healthy social environments, not to mention a strange mix and split of first and third world, community and country leaders that do not practice what needs to be preached, and most importantly the slow disappearance of an entire generation that should be the parents and guardians of the current youth or the future.
Sometimes I see myself just getting more and more cynical and skeptical of the world around me as a learn more, but then I have to go back to that 1, that 1 in 100. Let me share with you a story that has touch me a few times over the past few years, some of you may have heard before: the Starfish Story.
“Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?" The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man. To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
So, this is what I have to keep telling myself, that if I came out the 1 in 100, that someone else will probably emerge in the same position. And so, the fight continues, as slow and grueling as it can be and the fact that everyday, we never really get to see if the cause we are volunteering ourselves to is really having an impact.
A Brief Glimpse of Myself
Cape Town for me was a little less of a touristy vacation (been there, done that) and more of a chance to get back to myself. As someone who spends most of her time engaged in some form of exercise and eats blueberries everyday, Cape Town gave me an opportunity to get back out there and start taking care of myself again…at least for 5 days. I hadn’t even seen a blueberry since I got here almost 4 months ago, but they had them in Cape Town. Oh, and tofu, raspberries, and hummus, and a number of vegan and vegetarian restaurants. Yoga studios, food markets, beautiful hikes, and of course, the beach. Just looking at those words makes me feel better. I think these are the things that define me. I am learning how to live comfortably without the latest in fashion and uncomfortably without a well-decorated home space, but living without all things that make me healthy proves to be a challenge everyday. I live in the red meat capital of the world, most people wouldn’t eat a vegetable to save their lives (it would save their lives), and most have never even heard of celery.
I went down to Cape Town for Thanksgiving and to have a little break from the dry desert that is Kimberley. As soon as I arrived I felt a little more like myself again. The first day we went to a middle eastern/Asian bazaar for lunch (hello hummus and tahini) followed by a lovely hike to the top of Lion’s Head, ocean views from every side. On Thanksgiving I went for a wonderful run and then we hit up Camps Bay beach (could have been Southern California, Miami, or Hawaii) and as cold as the water was I wanted to stay in it forever…I can’t believe how much I miss and love the salty ocean water. Friday, Lizzy (Port Elizabeth intern) and I did a lot of exploratory walking around Cape Town’s city center and the V & A waterfront and then spent the afternoon relaxing on a quieter beach with Emma and Jeremy (Maseru, Lesotho interns). Saturday was the last string for Emma and I; it was at the Old Biscuit Mill food market that we decided that we would not be returning to our sites (unfortunately as I am writing this, I have to admit that I am back safely in Kimberley). We finished off my last day in Cape Town with a picnic on the beach.
I went down to Cape Town for Thanksgiving and to have a little break from the dry desert that is Kimberley. As soon as I arrived I felt a little more like myself again. The first day we went to a middle eastern/Asian bazaar for lunch (hello hummus and tahini) followed by a lovely hike to the top of Lion’s Head, ocean views from every side. On Thanksgiving I went for a wonderful run and then we hit up Camps Bay beach (could have been Southern California, Miami, or Hawaii) and as cold as the water was I wanted to stay in it forever…I can’t believe how much I miss and love the salty ocean water. Friday, Lizzy (Port Elizabeth intern) and I did a lot of exploratory walking around Cape Town’s city center and the V & A waterfront and then spent the afternoon relaxing on a quieter beach with Emma and Jeremy (Maseru, Lesotho interns). Saturday was the last string for Emma and I; it was at the Old Biscuit Mill food market that we decided that we would not be returning to our sites (unfortunately as I am writing this, I have to admit that I am back safely in Kimberley). We finished off my last day in Cape Town with a picnic on the beach.
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