I had an eventful weekend, I rented a car with 3 other girls interning in Cape Town, and we made the drive partially up the Garden Route. We got a late start on Thursday, due to some problems Margo was encountering with her passport, but we got on the road at about 10 am. I did the initial driving, which was extremely scary. Driving around Cape Town was mostly a challenge as I was not used to driving on the left side of the road, however, as we got on the highway I experienced a new challenge. For most of our drive we were heading east on the N2, a main highway, which was unlike any other highway I have driven on.
There are some rules for driving here, the main one is: everyone thinks they have the right away, all the time. It doesn’t matter if you have a green light, or the other person has a stop sign, the goal is just to avoid hitting anyone. On two lane highways you indicate that you want to pass someone by simply tailgating them as close as possible, the slower car than is obligated to pull partially on the shoulder, and the faster car can dodge around them whenever. I generally felt like I was driving in Mario Kart at all times.
Thursday we made it to Oudtshoorn, about a 5 hour drive from Cape Town, where we visited an Ostrich farm, the Kango Caves, and stayed at a great little hostel. On Friday morning, we made the drive father east to Plattenberg Bay, where we went on a horse back safari, and stayed in another great hostel. Saturday morning, Caroline and I went Bungee Jumping at Bloukrans Bridge, the largest commercial bungee jump in the world at 216 meters. It was probably the most terrifying and exciting thing I have ever done. I loved it. Caroline and I caught a ride back to Plattenberg Bay while the other two girls visited Monkey Land, and we spent our last night in Wilderness, a beautiful coastal town.
The entire drive on the N2 east is gorgeous, passing through many small unknown towns and continuous beautiful beaches spanning as far as the eye can see. However I was constantly reminded I was in South Africa, as about 5-15 minutes outside of every remotely large town were shanty towns. Those farther east were generally a little nicer than Cape Town shanty towns, however they were still spans of tin shacks with stolen electricity.
It was great to be out of the city though, living in Cape Town takes a lot of energy and it was a relief to have a short break.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
A little update...
The view of Cape Town from Table Mountain. 
Part of the trail hiking up Lion's Head, this was the "non-recomended" route, but we couldn't find the recomended route. Hi all.
I am sorry it has taken me too long to post another entry, communication is not my forte. I have been enjoying myself though, working on many things at the School of Public Health, and getting my footing in Cape Town. I have continued to do work with the PURE study. Mostly what I have been doing has been organizing the data we have, to see which participants have completed all surveys and tests, and then returning to their homes and trying to collect the remaining data. It is a continuous challenge and only now am I realizing how hard it is to implement ideals here.
First, it is a challenge to find people, whether to finish gathering data or to recruit new participants. Most do not have cell phones, and if you do find a way to contact them before traveling to Langa, they most likely will not be where they said they would. They are at a friend’s house or late coming home from work. They are also very transient people, and a participant who said would be in Langa at their sister’s house for the next 4 years, actually is in the Eastern Cape indefinitely.
Second, it is hard to run a non-bias survey and worry about details that are discussed in-depth prior to running it. For instance, I have started helping with a study connected to PURE, EPOCH, which looks at environmental factors and their effects on lifestyle and health. So we want to administer a survey or interview people about how much advertising they see, and where their normal grocery store is. So we work a question, “How often do you see nutrition labels on food packaging?” This seems to be non-bias and we will get a perception from all that we interview. But what if people do not know what we mean by nutrition labels? What happens when find that everyone says they never see nutrition labeling, can you say that labels are too small, or was the question simply misunderstood. Therefore each question must be looked at with the eyes of a participant, in order to find how to implement the ideals of science.PURE and all global studies face another layer of challenges in aligning the methods used here to the other study locations. So the questions for interviews must be the same here as in Canada. This is both a challenge with translation and common understanding.
Along with this work, I have been enjoying myself touring around Cape Town as well. A few weekends ago I hiked up Table Mountain and Lions Head, the two main features which both have fantastic views of Cape Town and beyond. The trails are pretty good, but have sections that would not pass in the US.
Last weekend, I went to my first Rugby Tournament, it was a relaxed tournament. Most of the players were retired South African rugby players. It was fun; I met a couple of ex-rugby players who explained the rules, which was great. It is an exciting game to watch, and makes American Football seems a wimpy with all that padding and stop time. We also saw a few famous people who were in Invictus, I did not know who they were, but I saw them.
I went Wine tasting yesterday in Stellenbosch, which was beautiful and a great way to spend the day, sipping wine in the sunshine.
This Thursday I am renting a car with some friends and driving up the Garden Route. There is a lot of pretty cool things to do along the way, there is bungee jumping, zip lining, tons of beaches, some safari places and much more. I will write again once I get back, and let you know how it was.
I hope all of you are well and you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day.
Love,
Chelsea
Along with this work, I have been enjoying myself touring around Cape Town as well. A few weekends ago I hiked up Table Mountain and Lions Head, the two main features which both have fantastic views of Cape Town and beyond. The trails are pretty good, but have sections that would not pass in the US.
Last weekend, I went to my first Rugby Tournament, it was a relaxed tournament. Most of the players were retired South African rugby players. It was fun; I met a couple of ex-rugby players who explained the rules, which was great. It is an exciting game to watch, and makes American Football seems a wimpy with all that padding and stop time. We also saw a few famous people who were in Invictus, I did not know who they were, but I saw them.
I went Wine tasting yesterday in Stellenbosch, which was beautiful and a great way to spend the day, sipping wine in the sunshine.
This Thursday I am renting a car with some friends and driving up the Garden Route. There is a lot of pretty cool things to do along the way, there is bungee jumping, zip lining, tons of beaches, some safari places and much more. I will write again once I get back, and let you know how it was.
I hope all of you are well and you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day.
Love,
Chelsea
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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Friday, January 22, 2010
Well hello again.
It is the end of my second week in Cape Town.
Yesterday I went with colleagues to do ECG's, cardiovascular measurments, on some of the participants of the PURE study. We went to Langa, a township about 15 minutes by car from the city center. As this is a long term study, the participants have worked closely with the University staff, completing surveys, blood tests, and many other health measurments. In order to organize which participants we were to see, we called about 20 people living in Langa, close to where we would set the equipment up. However, when we arrived, close to ontime, we found that about 1/4 of those whom we had contacted had arrived. In order to make our trip worth it, we ended up walking to participants houses and asking them to come with us to complete their ECG's if we gave them a ride there and back, about a 10 minute walk.
The township of Langa is quite large, and a very tight knit community. Children run up and down the streets, playing games and splashing in small brightly colored plastic pools. Men, just returned home from work, sit drinking a beer while women chat to their neighbors and sho children from their kitchens. Four kids run up the street all in one hulahoop, the game being whoever is not dragged along behind wins. In the afternoon sunlight the township is a show rich in culture and community.
However in Langa, and all other townships, infrastructure is visibly beginning to fail with the pressure of growing populations. On the drive home I was given a tour of the real Cape Town, formed of many townships and shanty towns, from a man who grew up here and has returned. As a result of the lack of jobs, corruption , and failing politics in the Eastern Cape province people are looking for a place to move to. So one family member moves to Cape Town, in the western province, builds a shed in a shanty town, gotten a decent job and invited the family. These areas have a huge population influx, up to 200 new people daily.
Shanty towns are government land where people have moved in and build homes out of medal and wood. Water generally comes from one pump which supplies about 50 homes, and electricity is skillfully wired from a "near by" light post or traffic light. Electricity is stolen as a result of the government not ackloedgeing people living there and providing it. Therefore the lamp posts have tanlges of wire which wrap around and around the pole, and then could stretch accross the road, in a few ditches and than be split to provide 5-10 houses with electricity. Some Townships have been recognized by the government, and as a part of their constitution, the government is required to provide adequet housing, including electricity, for citizens.
One of the largest problems with the townships, is that they are placed so far from the city center, where many jobs are located. Buses are pretty expensive, therefore trains are generally the only option. Townships are also the center of much violence in Cape Town, which generally occuring between locals in the townships.
However, despite the many problems with infrastructure, those living in townships have a much richer community than most areas in the U.S. As a colleague who grew up in a township said, "They may live in a shack, but they are not a shack. They go to work and sit next to you on the bus, they just go home to a shack."
I have not taken any pictures of these communities, but if you look up townships or shanty town in Cape Town, there is a mass of information, this is just my first impressions and thoughts so far.
The experience has left me pondering, my instinct is that they are living in terrible conditions, and this must change. But when the problems are so large, and there are so many, where do we start and how do we learn from the richness and support found in these communities? How will the segregation and unfair facilities resulting from Apartheid change, and when?
I hope to have more experiences, rather than just glances of townships while I am here, and I hope to meet more people who live here in order to further understand the culture.
I would love your thoughts on all of this as well.
I have also posted a few pictures of the view from my apartment and the beauties in and around Cape Town.
Much love.
Cheers.
It is the end of my second week in Cape Town.
Yesterday I went with colleagues to do ECG's, cardiovascular measurments, on some of the participants of the PURE study. We went to Langa, a township about 15 minutes by car from the city center. As this is a long term study, the participants have worked closely with the University staff, completing surveys, blood tests, and many other health measurments. In order to organize which participants we were to see, we called about 20 people living in Langa, close to where we would set the equipment up. However, when we arrived, close to ontime, we found that about 1/4 of those whom we had contacted had arrived. In order to make our trip worth it, we ended up walking to participants houses and asking them to come with us to complete their ECG's if we gave them a ride there and back, about a 10 minute walk.
The township of Langa is quite large, and a very tight knit community. Children run up and down the streets, playing games and splashing in small brightly colored plastic pools. Men, just returned home from work, sit drinking a beer while women chat to their neighbors and sho children from their kitchens. Four kids run up the street all in one hulahoop, the game being whoever is not dragged along behind wins. In the afternoon sunlight the township is a show rich in culture and community.
However in Langa, and all other townships, infrastructure is visibly beginning to fail with the pressure of growing populations. On the drive home I was given a tour of the real Cape Town, formed of many townships and shanty towns, from a man who grew up here and has returned. As a result of the lack of jobs, corruption , and failing politics in the Eastern Cape province people are looking for a place to move to. So one family member moves to Cape Town, in the western province, builds a shed in a shanty town, gotten a decent job and invited the family. These areas have a huge population influx, up to 200 new people daily.
Shanty towns are government land where people have moved in and build homes out of medal and wood. Water generally comes from one pump which supplies about 50 homes, and electricity is skillfully wired from a "near by" light post or traffic light. Electricity is stolen as a result of the government not ackloedgeing people living there and providing it. Therefore the lamp posts have tanlges of wire which wrap around and around the pole, and then could stretch accross the road, in a few ditches and than be split to provide 5-10 houses with electricity. Some Townships have been recognized by the government, and as a part of their constitution, the government is required to provide adequet housing, including electricity, for citizens.
One of the largest problems with the townships, is that they are placed so far from the city center, where many jobs are located. Buses are pretty expensive, therefore trains are generally the only option. Townships are also the center of much violence in Cape Town, which generally occuring between locals in the townships.
However, despite the many problems with infrastructure, those living in townships have a much richer community than most areas in the U.S. As a colleague who grew up in a township said, "They may live in a shack, but they are not a shack. They go to work and sit next to you on the bus, they just go home to a shack."
I have not taken any pictures of these communities, but if you look up townships or shanty town in Cape Town, there is a mass of information, this is just my first impressions and thoughts so far.
The experience has left me pondering, my instinct is that they are living in terrible conditions, and this must change. But when the problems are so large, and there are so many, where do we start and how do we learn from the richness and support found in these communities? How will the segregation and unfair facilities resulting from Apartheid change, and when?
I hope to have more experiences, rather than just glances of townships while I am here, and I hope to meet more people who live here in order to further understand the culture.
I would love your thoughts on all of this as well.
I have also posted a few pictures of the view from my apartment and the beauties in and around Cape Town.
Much love.
Cheers.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
First Week
Hi everyone
I safely arrived in Cape Town a week ago, after a long trip. I flew from Seattle To Chicago, Chigago to London, and London to Cape Town. With layovers this was about a 32 hours trip.
I am living in an apartment right in the center of Cape Town, with two girls who are also interning in Cape Town, one is from Australia and the other California. My room mate from Australia has been here since mid-November, and will be leaving Mid-Febuary. However my other room mate will be here for the same amount of time as me, until end of March.
I have spend a lot of time this week wandering around town, and figuring out where main aspects are located. The city center of Cape Town is small while the rest of Cape Town is very spread out, and can be reached fairly easily by train, bus or taxi. The city seems very European and is full of museums and gardens to visit.
I began my internship on Tuesday morning at the University of Western Cape Town. I have been taking a train every day to commute, which takes about 20 minutes. The Campus is great, and full of students as their new term is just beginning. I am interning at the School of Public Health with a research project called PURE. It is a long term study located all over the world looking at the health effects of development. My superviser at UWC wants me to experience all aspects of medical research, so I will be doing a large variety of tasks. This week I worked in the office doing data input and working with a few statistical analysis programs. The PURE study has many aspects, and this week I worked with the stacks of surveys which have been completed on food frequency. All the data from the surveys has to be put into a computer program, SPSS (similar to Excel), in order to understand the significance.
Along with interning and wandering around the city, I have been doing some tourist activeties. I have been to the National Gallery and the Natural History Museum, both of which are excellent. The Natural History Museum is enormous, and has information on geology, plant and animal life, as well as native groups who lived in Africa. There was also an incredible photo exhibit from photographers around the world . Yesterday I went with some other interns to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. It is rumored to be the most southern point of Africa as well as where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. This is not true. However it was beautiful landscape and we were able to see Ostrichs, baboons, and many species of birds.
There is a big night life scene here as well, with a lot of people from around the world occupying bars and clubs almost every night of the week. It is an interesting combination, as the city center has a lot of tourists and bars, which the townships that surround Cape Town the poverty and inequality is abundent. The effects of Apartheid are readily seen in predominantly white or black neighborhoods.
Overall I am enjoying Cape Town. It is a beautiful place. Thank you all for your support. I will keep you updated in the near future.
Chelsea
I safely arrived in Cape Town a week ago, after a long trip. I flew from Seattle To Chicago, Chigago to London, and London to Cape Town. With layovers this was about a 32 hours trip.
I am living in an apartment right in the center of Cape Town, with two girls who are also interning in Cape Town, one is from Australia and the other California. My room mate from Australia has been here since mid-November, and will be leaving Mid-Febuary. However my other room mate will be here for the same amount of time as me, until end of March.
I have spend a lot of time this week wandering around town, and figuring out where main aspects are located. The city center of Cape Town is small while the rest of Cape Town is very spread out, and can be reached fairly easily by train, bus or taxi. The city seems very European and is full of museums and gardens to visit.
I began my internship on Tuesday morning at the University of Western Cape Town. I have been taking a train every day to commute, which takes about 20 minutes. The Campus is great, and full of students as their new term is just beginning. I am interning at the School of Public Health with a research project called PURE. It is a long term study located all over the world looking at the health effects of development. My superviser at UWC wants me to experience all aspects of medical research, so I will be doing a large variety of tasks. This week I worked in the office doing data input and working with a few statistical analysis programs. The PURE study has many aspects, and this week I worked with the stacks of surveys which have been completed on food frequency. All the data from the surveys has to be put into a computer program, SPSS (similar to Excel), in order to understand the significance.
Along with interning and wandering around the city, I have been doing some tourist activeties. I have been to the National Gallery and the Natural History Museum, both of which are excellent. The Natural History Museum is enormous, and has information on geology, plant and animal life, as well as native groups who lived in Africa. There was also an incredible photo exhibit from photographers around the world . Yesterday I went with some other interns to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. It is rumored to be the most southern point of Africa as well as where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. This is not true. However it was beautiful landscape and we were able to see Ostrichs, baboons, and many species of birds.
There is a big night life scene here as well, with a lot of people from around the world occupying bars and clubs almost every night of the week. It is an interesting combination, as the city center has a lot of tourists and bars, which the townships that surround Cape Town the poverty and inequality is abundent. The effects of Apartheid are readily seen in predominantly white or black neighborhoods.
Overall I am enjoying Cape Town. It is a beautiful place. Thank you all for your support. I will keep you updated in the near future.
Chelsea
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