Soweto is Sa-sweeto!

This past weekend I was able to fit in the last of my travels around Jo'burg.  I went on a bicycle tour around Soweto (short for South West Township), which is one of the largest townships, certainly the most famous in South Africa.  Soweto is the famous site that District 9 was shot in, although its anything far from it.  I thought it was one of the most "vibey" places I've been to in Jo'burg and I would highly recommend anybody to go visit it.  The townships were developed for the non-whites to live in.  Although Soweto has a bad reputation of being dangerous, being there it was far from it.  In fact, one of the girls I met at the hostel told me about how she ventured into Jo'burg and got mugged!  In addition to Soweto, I visited the Sterkfontein Caves in the Cradle of Human Kind (second world Heritage Site I've been to in 2 months!).  Being the dork that I am I had to visit the caves because this is where they found one of the earliest human fossils, it was also referred to in the book "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson.  Ha, yes I am a dork!  Anyway, here are some pictures from the trips and around Jo'burg.  Since today was my last day of classes, I am off to travel for the remainder of March.  Here's what I have planned so far: safari in Kruger National Park, diving in Sodwana Bay, party in Cape Town, surfing the Garden Route and then back to Jo'burg! Please feel free to give me advice!!

Dolphins in Durban

Italian with the Italians

World Cup Stadium-Jo'burg.  This is where the opening and closing ceremony will be, and yes that is massive construction outside...

Entering Soweto

The tall lamp post was used as curfew lights

Stopped for a drink at the local "shebeen" or drinking place in the township

Thirsty!

"Cow Head Meat" Yummm

Plaque at Hector Pieterson Square remembering the student uprising (protesting the teaching of Africaans in the black schools) in Soweto where 13 year old Hector Pieterson was shot dead along with many others.

Plaque outside Nelson Mandela's house that was converted into a museum in Soweto

Bunny Chow in Durban

Bunny Chow in Soweto

That Anna's so hot right now

Speaking in Clicks with the Zulus

Classes I am taking at WITS: Storytelling, Strategic Finance, and Negotiations. Yes it's a hard schedule. What makes it harder (that's what she said) is the fact that I have classes for like 3 days straight then no class for a week to recuperate! :-D Anyway, as a result of this awesome schedule, I get to take the whole month of March off to travel. Hooray!

Anyway, so far Johannesburg has been absolutely amazing! It really does remind me of living in Australia, at least with all the partying! Although it is very interesting the way the clubs work. The clubs that we have gone to have been either predominantly white (~95%) or predominantly black. Even after the end of the forced segregation it seems that the people still segregate themselves. We went to a predominantly white club recently and our friends (who were black) had a hard time getting served by the bartenders because of their skin color. Yes, race is still an issue here. One of the white guys in our storytelling class was telling us that his dream is to buy a farm eventually but he doesn’t know if he wants to do that since his farm might get taken away from him.  Guess it affects both sides somehow.

This past week we took a vacation and went to Durban, which is a beach town five hours away from Jo’burg. The town boasts to have the largest Indian population outside of India. We took a walking tour of the city and it was interesting to learn that back in the day, there was 4 basic separations: whites, coloreds (black and white mix), blacks, and Indians (no group for Asians since there wasn’t that many of us here!). At the end of Apartheid, the Indians was given rights first over the blacks and as a result a lot of the shops in Durban are owned by Indians. Some of the Indian guys in our class were saying that they didn’t get to meet people of other races until they went to high school and that was the first time they got to interact with them. How crazy is that? Our tour guide was Zulu so she taught us some Zulu words which involve some clicking, it’s the hardest language I’ve ever had to learn!

In Durban we also got to going out to the shark nets with a boat to tag the sharks that have been caught in the nets.  I guess Durban is one of the few places that have shark nets to protect the surfers and other beach swimmers (no we did not get to go surfing because the blue bottle jelly fish were being blown in and they were EVERYWHERE).  On the boat we learned that there was a recent shark attack at Cape Town where a guy was just standing in the water and the shark came up and ate the whole person, like it would a seal!  They were saying that the reason there's more shark attacks is because of all the shark cage diving that happens here.  Since those boats feed the sharks and then the humans get in, the sharks begin to associate human heartbbeats with food, hence the attacks.  I was originally planning on going shark cage diving but after learning about this I'm not sure if I want to.  It sucks then the sharks get hurt because we humans trained them to attack us!

New Friends

My New Pet Simba

Yes, the giraffe is licking my hand

House Picture! There are 9 of us here from the US, Italy, Switzerland and Nigeria, we're so international!

Johannesburg, South Africa: Initial Thoughts

So I've been in Johannesburg for 4 days now and I thought I would write about my first impressions for my one reader, my mom, oh wait she can't read English.... :-P  First of all, it's definitely not as dangerous as people say it is.  There are definitely sketchy areas but also some really nice areas.  I am living in the dorms in one of the nicer areas (Parktown) , although it does border the most sketchy area in Jo'burg (Hillbrow).  The campus is a gated campus with a guard at the front so no need to be too concerned about muggings and what not.  There are nine of us exchange students here which makes for a crazy good time every night. The first day, and I guess every night since, I've been in town we went to a dance club around here which was awesome (my liver has been very angry with me)! I would say Jo'burg clubs and the city remind me alot of California, including all your modern conveniences with the addition of some very attractive people (male and female).  I am pleased to say that even the guys in the group love going dancing :) It is very refreshing that the clubs here have such diversity of people, with a healthy mix of white, black, and other, which is another difference between here and Cali.  Although I must admit the whole "western" culture is taking some getting used to.  People have said that South Africa is "Africa Lite" which seems to be very true to me.  I do miss the simple life in Ghana and how down to earth everyone was there, even all the travelers I met.  Anyway, pictures of the apartment and people to come! 
 

Goodbye Ghana!

So I have just arrived to South Africa and thought I should put a quick post on saying goodbye to Ghana and list some of the things I have learned while there.  Throughout the project I have always wondered how much profit the beneficiaries would be making with selling the Gari that they make out of the casava and how those profits compare to selling oranges or other goods.  I was finally able to speak to the NGO's finance officer from whom I learned alot about the donation process. 

Essentially, the cost benefit analysis was never done for this project or, for the most part, typical NGO projects.  The way it works usually is the donors ask the communities about what they need then sends out a request for proposals to the various NGOs in the area to see who can implement it.  So in this case the French Embassy went to the village and found out the number one thing they would like to have is cassava processing equipment.  Then HFFG won the bid to then implement the project.  No where along this chain of events is the cost benefit analysis, or other analyses, done to ensure that this project is the most beneficial project for the community.  So in the end the machines are put in place and the ladies end up not using the machine because either some of them have to travel further to process cassava now, some of the communities don't get along with the other communities, or they don't want to work as a "team" to produce the gari to sell. 

However, the other side of the story is that even if the analysis was done and it was determined that the best thing for the village would be to sell orange juice, the project would also fail miserably.  The reason is if its not the idea of the village, even with much education of the benefits, the majority of the people would not understand and would dismiss the solution.  There was even one instance of a village that complained about walking for an hour to the river to get water.  So in working with an NGO the village put in a pump where they can get the water.  After the installation the village ended up still going to the river for water.  The reason? The water from the well tastes funny. 

Through my experience here I have definitely learned that all the business stuff you learn in school don't always apply in real life.  The ladies are not always motivated by the idea of making more money and sometimes don't understand the concept of long term planning.

The people I have met in Ghana have been extremely generous and hospitable and I will miss them tremendously!  Although, my first hot shower in a month did feel AMAZING.  On a side note, I went to meet up with Micheal in Accra on one of my last days there.  On the way there I was lost and asked for directions to the tro-tro station from some strangers on the side of the road who then offered to take me to the meeting place.  "Ok, strange men, I will jump into your mini-van, thanks for the ride!" Hahaha.  In retrospect, I could be dead. : )

Asiamah and I at the Wli Waterfalls in the Volta Region

PS.  Yes it is true what they say about guys in South Africa, that and they have faux-hawks.  I'm never leaving here :-P

 

Pictures!!

 

The Ajumako Office

 

Benchmarking Meeting

Cape Coast Castle

 

Door of No Return

Fort Overlooking Cape Coast and Friend Michael

Elmina Castle

Obamania! (Hanging inside a tro-tro)

One of these don't belong

Need a Crocodile Machete? It's been tested and strong!

 

Fufu!

Outside of the House in Ajumako

Roommate Mona

Greeting the Chief (done before meeting with the community members)

Typical Community Meeting (this one was for the Abor community)

Honorable Bank Man

We finally had our meeting with the villagers and a representative from the bank today. The ladies had a lot of questions regarding the repayment periods and the risks associated with the weather and its impact on their crops. But, in general, there seemed to be support and enthusiasm for taking on the bank loan to finally buy the raw materials (cassava) they need to produce the gari that they can then sell in the market. My only concern is that I’m not sure if the ladies would actually follow through with the loans or if they were just feigning interest since we (the organization) was present. We were also able to meet with the Ministry of Farming and Agriculture (MOFA) and the Business Association to gain their support on the project. The MOFA promised to teach the ladies how to properly cultivate the cassava and also provide them with the right species of cassava to get started. This way eventually the ladies will not need to buy the cassava but can farm their own to produce the gari. The Business Association also promised to market the gari product to other businesses and at tradeshows once the ladies start producing it. All in all it seems like we got the ball rolling and that the ladies will start manufacturing soon!! I really hope this is the case, the staff promised to keep me updated seeing as how I won’t be here to actually see the start of manufacturing :(