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