The Reality of Cape Town

Friday, September 9th 2011.


So as you probably know Cape Town has a lot of areas that are poverty stricken and people literally have nothing. Today we took a tour of the “townships” or areas where people live in pretty much whatever materials and scraps they can find to make a home for themselves and their family. On average around 6 people live in one of these homes which may or may not have electricity. We went to the different areas around Cape Town including Langa (one of the oldest townships), Gugulethu (where we had gone last Sunday for church), and Khayletsha; which is one of the largest townships in Cape Town. I had seen the townships from the highway when we were driven around the area but had never really gone through them before and saw just how they really were. It was very emotional and difficult to see just how little these people have ot live with and definitely made me upset. But we were able to go to one of the townships community center where people of the town sell goods that they have made so I was able to contribute to the community by purchasing a gorgeous sand painting of table mountain.



In Khaylethisa we visited TAC (treatment action campaign), an HIV/AIDS Advocacy Organization that provides education, testing and treatment for residents of the area poth HIV+ or not. It was great to see that so much was being done to educate and prevent further spread of the disease but still sad to see that 33% of the community is infected.

After that we visited Elonwabeni Project, a residential facility for vulnerable children who were taken away from their families for usually between 6 months – 2 years until they have a stable home life. The home also has a job creation facility for mothers and other members of the community. We were able to see the work that the mothers do and even purchase some of their wonderful crafts that they make daily. The woman who runs the facility was so very welcoming to us and had us all hold hands in a circle and introduce us to each of the woman and explain exactly what they do there. We then got to meet the adorable children staying at the facility and even got to listen to them sing a song for us! SOO CUTE ☺

After that crazy busy day, we relaxed at Chai Yo an absolutely delicious Thai restaurant right in my town that I definitely will be frequenting a lot!

Tour of the Slave Lodge and visit to the US Consulate

Thursday September 8th 2011


Today was another interesting day. Departed in the morning to downtown Cape Town to spend the morning touring the Slave Lodge. I didn’t know much about South Africa’s history but this tour and museum enlightened me on the subject. In the 1600s many slaves from western Africa and mostly across the Indian Ocean came to Cape Town and served the colonists there. It was really interesting to learn about because I had no idea that South Africans come from so diverse a background. The tour was given by a woman named Lucy who was soo passionate about the subject. She spoke about the importance of knowing ones background and how the majority of the people of Cape Town do not discuss or know about their true background. The museum we were in was literally a slave lodge which was a warehouse back in the 1600s used to store company slave workers.

After the Slave Lodge, we had lunch at Mariam’s Kitchen where I had delicious middle eastern food! I’m doing a really good job at trying new foods and usually eat whatever is suggested by the workers at restaurants as their staple food!

After Mariams we got on the bus and went to the American Consulate of South Africa. It was pretty intense and they wouldn’t even let us take any pictures, but pretty much we were sat down in a room and told that the best way to stay safe in this country is to get on a plane to the US. Very nice! After the “scaring” of us, the guy giving us the speech invited us to a marine farewell party next weekend! Should be fun!!

Later tonight we went to a restaurant called “Blue Chip” where there was a live jazz band. Joe, the man who had given us a tour of the District 6 museum earlier in the week, was there and even got up and sang “What a Wonderful World” to us! He was an excellent jazz singer and had us all swaying and singing along! The original jazz band was soo great and even got all of us up and dancing including Vernon and Parks (our driver/body guard who pretty much resembles Mike Tyson). Over all excellent night!

Robben Island Adventure!

Wednesday September 7th 2011.


Today we went to Robben Island, which I had been looking forward too ever since I read Nelson Mandela’s biography “A Long Walk To Freedom.” It was a gorgeous day and we hopped on a ferry on the waterfront of Cape Town and began our journey towards Robben Island. The ferry ride was absolutely breathtaking. We had seals swimming alongside the ferry and looking behind us could see the entire landscape of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the background. I think I love my new home.

Robben Island is the place Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in for 18 years as a political prisoner. We were driven around the area and allowed to take pictures at places like the quarry where he would work during the day. We were then taken into the prison and allowed to see the exact cell that Mandela stayed in. It was pretty sad to see the living situation that these prisoners had but what touched me the most was that the tour guide was a former prisoner of Robben Island and because he could not find another job after granted his freedom, he was forced to come back and work at Robben Island as a guide.

After getting the full tour of Robben Island, we had a wonderfully delicious lunch on the waterfront at a reasonably priced restaurant. I had lobster bisque (actually crayfish bisque) but still tasty! Then we walked around the waterfront; which is an extremely touristy area which I’m not exactly a fan of but it was still nice. Very gorgeous and safe area to just walk around on a beautiful day!

After getting the full tour of the waterfront we came back to the house and met with our RA to go over some more legistics on safety in the city. Good times! ☺ Got to skype with my brother at night which was awesome!!! Love and miss you all!

What I did on Wednesday!

Old Parliament building where Nelson Mandela gave his first speech as a freed man!!


So today I got to learn a lot more about the history of Cape Town. Sounds like a boring day right? Wrong. Spent the morning exploring and touring the “District 6” museum in downtown Cape Town. In case you were wondering what District 6 is let me tell you! It’s one of the 9 districts in cape town that was established in the 1800s and for many years people of colour and whites both lived there if they could afford too. Then in the 1960s many new acts were established that determined that whites and coloured people should no longer live together and therefore forced the non-whites to leave their well established homes close to their jobs that many of them had lived in all their lives. They were forced to move to what is known as “the cape flats” a very under-developed area no where near their jobs and very impoverished. The abandoned homes in district 6 were then demolished in order to build up a “better” white area.

We toured a museum in memory of the district 6 before it got demolished and were given the tour by an amazing cape-townian named Joe who grew up in district 6 and had many great stories to share with us. He was actually at the jazz club last night and is a pretty ridiculously good jazz singer!

After the museum tour we went to Charly’s bakery for lunch. Charly’s is pretty much Willy Wonka’s factory in the heart of Cape Town. AKA paradise. We all had delicious quiches and pies for lunch but really it was all about the dessert!! Earlier this morning I had called Charly’s and organized to have two cakes (a wicked chocolate cake and double chocolate cheese cake) premade and decorated for Vernon (our wonderful guide/teacher) and his birthday we had just missed. He absolutely loved it!!! So glad we were able to do that for him because he is soooo great and good to us!

After a delicious binge lunch we spent the afternoon walking around downtown cape town and getting to know the area.(( There are so many options for transportation in Cape town and we were introduced to all of them. There are taxis, giant coach buses used to tranaport workers from the townships into the city, “mini-buses” or crazy bus-taxis that pack up with people and speed around the city (mildly terrifying). For the most part I’ll be using metered taxis to get into the city I think! The markets were amazing and I bought a South Africa flag that I hung in my room after bartering with the market worker!

For dinner we went to an Ethiopian restaurant, which we were told meant we definitely had to eat with our hands, but aside from that I did not know what to expect! The restaurant was beautiful and the food was amazing!!! We all sat around one communal table where they served us a sampler of Ethiopian food on a special kind of sour dough which we could end up eating as well. They poured the food out of the bowls so that we could all dig in together! We each had our own rolled up portion of sour dough that we used to pick up the different kinds of food and eat with our hands. SO GOOD. And not as messy as I expected actually!! All in all a great night!!

my RA and professor

they are absolutely adorable and i love them already!

Attending a baptist church in south africa

Today it finally hit me. I’m really in South Africa… We spent the entire morning at Sivuyile First Baptist Church in Gugulethu for praise and worship and it was by far one of the more life changing experiences I have ever had. The town of Guglethu is quite impoverished and the people there literally have nothing. The cross in front of the church was literally two pieces of plywood, and the homes surrounding the church had tin roofs and barbed wire on the fences in front. Despite all of these hardships we were welcomed with open arms to a community filled with faith and joy. The name Sivuyile means “rejoice” which is exactly what I experienced today. The choir was a group of youth singing and harmonizing beautifully in Xhosa while dancing and swaying in jubilation. When the church filled up a group of men were gathered in one area, the youth choir in another and all of the women and children were situated in the pews behind us. When the first choir member opened her mouth to sing and worship, tears filled my eyes. The emotion and enthusiasm in the group of people around me was almost too much to handle. These people who have so many hardships and burdens put them all aside and come to the Lord for relief and strength.

As each hymn was sung the 15 of us became more and more comfortable with the congregation and started to get into the dancing and rejoicing that was happening around us. It was so amazing how welcoming the congregation was they started teaching me their sweet dance moves and welcomed me with many warm smiles.

Afterward, we got to chat with the Reverend and a sister (nurse) who helps run the church and gave us many helpful words of advice about nursing in South Africa.

The most touching part of the day was the fact that this church which had so little had started a fund to raise money for a school not too far away where children do not have shoes to wear. They asked for donations and I gladly donated. It’s so amazing to see the kindness and selflessness so apparent in this culture…

I know I’m gonna love it here.

SOOO I'M IN AFRICA

Officially made it to cape town safely!! Sorry for the delay in blogging I literally just got internet working today and it has been insanely slow! Also we are incredibly busy doing anything and everything available to us in the area!


I spent my first full day exploring the area around my new home and getting to know the area I have to say it is amazing! I am living in an absolutely gorgeous house with 14 other girls in the nursing program from Uconn. The house comes fully equipped with two kitchens, many bedrooms, lounges, a pool table, personal bar and an in the ground pool! Not too shabby! I am staying in the “pool house,” which is separate from the mainhouse but has a kitchen and four big double-bedrooms each with their own personal bathroom. I like the space though it is extremely cold here because there is no heat and South Africa is just coming out of their winter. Unfortunately I only brought a couple of sweaters but I’m making due and it actually warmed up quite nicely during the day!

So last night I got to meet our RA, Ben Brown, an extremely fabulous and energetic guy who welcomed us with open arms and made us feel very at home. That night Michelle (my roommate) and I went out with Ben to Main St and had the task of ordering pizza on our own for 17 people in a very strange land. It was fun but definitely had to think and be aware of our surroundings!

This morning we met with Reverend Vernon Rose who is one of the coordinators of the program, a lifelong resident of Cape Town, and actually flew to Uconn last October to interview all of us. He is going to be teaching us a class on the culture and history of Cape Town and I know I’m going to love it! He went over our agenda for the next 10 days which included activities such as going to the winelands in Stellenbosch, petting cheetahs, visiting Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years) and of course a safari. No biggggie!

So those are just a few things you will be hearing about over the next couple of weeks, and I cannot wait!!! It’s been tough not being able to get in touch with anyone back home, but I just got my terrible nokia phone set up which always me to send very expensive text messages home and communicate with people over here. Tomorrow I will have internet set up and running for good so I will try and skype and chat with everyone!! Miss everyone back home but am still digesting the idea that I am literally LIVING IN AFRICA and have a GIANT-ASS mountain right outside my window!! (see picture above) Many more pictures to come!!


Headed to bed so I can attend church at Reverend Rose’s Baptist church tomorrow! Should be adorable, cannot wait to sing with and meet the people of his community!

Love and miss you all!!

<3 Kate