So I'm an idiot.
Last night, during a thunder storm, I decided to move my laptop, and in doing so took it out of the surge protector (I don't have a battery for it), plugging it directly into a wall outlet. Lightning crashes. Power surge. Laptop now acting screwy.
I'm writing this from an Internet Cafe on the outskirts of Jo'burg's tiny Chinatown, otherwise known as Cyrildene. My laptop is in getting inspected and I'm hoping it's not completely fried.
Anyway, expect my blog posts, e-mail responses and Skype chats to be irregular for the immediate future.
Talk to y'all later.
BK
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Work update
I haven't written much about my new job on this thing, so I should probably give you a bit of an update.
The placement itself is by no means perfect, but I'm being exposed to more interesting stuff and it's more flexible.
So I work for The HIV/AIDS and the Media Project , which is run out of the School of Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. If you click on the link, you can learn more about what the project does generally. My job is mostly as an administrative assistant, helping the project coordinator, Kylie, with the project's daily operations. Sometimes that means writing press releases or contacting local media, other times it means dealing with caterers and putting up posters.
I'm also supposed to monitor the print media for HIV/AIDS coverage and then blog about it, but I haven't been able to do very much of that because we've been busy getting ready for a couple of big events. I've written one blog so far, and you can read it here.
I have a few more blogs almost ready to go, but, like I said, we've been so busy with other stuff that I haven't been able to get them refined and then uploaded.
Seems like a good time to segue into talking about the project's upcoming events.
Tomorrow we will be hosting a large-scale discussion forum entitled "Democratising Science: Science reporting and HIV-prevention trials," which is the event that has been tying up most of our time since I arrived at the project.
The forum aims to open discussion on the reporting of clinical trials for HIV-prevention technologies, with a particular focus on microbicide trials. The forum's participants include researchers currently involved in microbicide trials, HIV-vaccine researchers, health journalists, HIV/AIDS activists, academics and people living with HIV. To read a press release for the forum, go here.
And we will be streaming the forum LIVE, tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST, HERE. I've been told that you'll see a link to the stream somewhere on the site - and you'll need Winamp to listen.
If you've never heard of microbicides as an HIV-prevention technology, I'm sure you can wiki it. In short, it is a cream or gel that can be applied to the vagina to protect a woman against sexually transmitted infections. Currently, an effective microbicide has not been developed, but several clinical trials are in advanced stages. If an effective one is developed, it has the potential to dramatically reduce infection rates among women, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, by allowing them to protect themselves against HIV infection without requiring male assent--potentially life-saving for women who are unable to negotiate safer sex with their partner.
The following day, Friday, we'll be hosting a much smaller seminar talk to showcase the work of some of the project's current fellows, Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, Mike Saneka and Sabelo Zondo. Their seminar is entitled "Can abstinence kill you?" and it looks into issues of morality, infidelity and the media. You can get a taste of their subject matter here. But we're not streaming that one, so that taste will have to suffice.
After this rather hectic week, I'll be heading out of Jo'burg for a few weeks, mixing some business with some pleasure. Next Tuesday I'll be traveling with my supervisor, Kylie - and her husband and two-year-old child - to Durban to see Suzanne and co. present some more of their findings at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. We may stop for a day or two around Drakensberg, but we're not sure yet. After staying in Durban for a few days, I'll be heading to Port Elizabeth and then after another few days I'll head to Cape Town for a week. In each city I'll be interviewing local HIV/AIDS workers, caregivers, activists, as well as people living with HIV, to ask them what they think of local coverage of HIV/AIDS issues. When I get back to Jo'burg I'll write some kind of report about it and use any recurring themes to make key suggestions for the direction of the project.
So that's my job, pretty much. I'm mostly an administrative and logistical assistant, but there are obviously outlets for more challenging work. And Kylie is wonderful, so I'm very happy.
I think that's a pretty good update. If you have any other questions about my work, you can ask them in the comments section of this post, or just e-mail me.
BK!
The placement itself is by no means perfect, but I'm being exposed to more interesting stuff and it's more flexible.
So I work for The HIV/AIDS and the Media Project , which is run out of the School of Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. If you click on the link, you can learn more about what the project does generally. My job is mostly as an administrative assistant, helping the project coordinator, Kylie, with the project's daily operations. Sometimes that means writing press releases or contacting local media, other times it means dealing with caterers and putting up posters.
I'm also supposed to monitor the print media for HIV/AIDS coverage and then blog about it, but I haven't been able to do very much of that because we've been busy getting ready for a couple of big events. I've written one blog so far, and you can read it here.
I have a few more blogs almost ready to go, but, like I said, we've been so busy with other stuff that I haven't been able to get them refined and then uploaded.
Seems like a good time to segue into talking about the project's upcoming events.
Tomorrow we will be hosting a large-scale discussion forum entitled "Democratising Science: Science reporting and HIV-prevention trials," which is the event that has been tying up most of our time since I arrived at the project.
The forum aims to open discussion on the reporting of clinical trials for HIV-prevention technologies, with a particular focus on microbicide trials. The forum's participants include researchers currently involved in microbicide trials, HIV-vaccine researchers, health journalists, HIV/AIDS activists, academics and people living with HIV. To read a press release for the forum, go here.
And we will be streaming the forum LIVE, tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST, HERE. I've been told that you'll see a link to the stream somewhere on the site - and you'll need Winamp to listen.
If you've never heard of microbicides as an HIV-prevention technology, I'm sure you can wiki it. In short, it is a cream or gel that can be applied to the vagina to protect a woman against sexually transmitted infections. Currently, an effective microbicide has not been developed, but several clinical trials are in advanced stages. If an effective one is developed, it has the potential to dramatically reduce infection rates among women, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, by allowing them to protect themselves against HIV infection without requiring male assent--potentially life-saving for women who are unable to negotiate safer sex with their partner.
The following day, Friday, we'll be hosting a much smaller seminar talk to showcase the work of some of the project's current fellows, Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, Mike Saneka and Sabelo Zondo. Their seminar is entitled "Can abstinence kill you?" and it looks into issues of morality, infidelity and the media. You can get a taste of their subject matter here. But we're not streaming that one, so that taste will have to suffice.
After this rather hectic week, I'll be heading out of Jo'burg for a few weeks, mixing some business with some pleasure. Next Tuesday I'll be traveling with my supervisor, Kylie - and her husband and two-year-old child - to Durban to see Suzanne and co. present some more of their findings at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. We may stop for a day or two around Drakensberg, but we're not sure yet. After staying in Durban for a few days, I'll be heading to Port Elizabeth and then after another few days I'll head to Cape Town for a week. In each city I'll be interviewing local HIV/AIDS workers, caregivers, activists, as well as people living with HIV, to ask them what they think of local coverage of HIV/AIDS issues. When I get back to Jo'burg I'll write some kind of report about it and use any recurring themes to make key suggestions for the direction of the project.
So that's my job, pretty much. I'm mostly an administrative and logistical assistant, but there are obviously outlets for more challenging work. And Kylie is wonderful, so I'm very happy.
I think that's a pretty good update. If you have any other questions about my work, you can ask them in the comments section of this post, or just e-mail me.
BK!
My Zulu chief ...
... is the one on the left, otherwise known as Mpho. The dude in between us is his friend Clement who tagged along for this week's lesson.
Clement was pretty hilarious: he ate about 19 popsicles over the course of the two hours that we hung out, and he was all hyper-active and fidgety through the whole thing. He was also not as patient as Mpho; every time I stammered or struggled with something Mpho was quizzing me on, he'd be all like, "Oh my God, that's soooo easy."
Anyway, I thought I'd post a pic to show y'all who's behind my weekly Zulu lessons.
Clement was pretty hilarious: he ate about 19 popsicles over the course of the two hours that we hung out, and he was all hyper-active and fidgety through the whole thing. He was also not as patient as Mpho; every time I stammered or struggled with something Mpho was quizzing me on, he'd be all like, "Oh my God, that's soooo easy."
Anyway, I thought I'd post a pic to show y'all who's behind my weekly Zulu lessons.
For Bert
Sorry it took me so long. Click the photo for a zoomed-out shot. I'm also about to post photos of a bunch of interesting walls from my neighbourhood. You might find them interesting, too.
... and I added a pretty hilarious photo of Erin standing next to the Church of Scientology to the blog about her leaving (scroll down a bit). The Church is actually only about 10 mins from our place. Erin and I talked about going in one day to see what it was like, but we never got around to it.
... and I added a pretty hilarious photo of Erin standing next to the Church of Scientology to the blog about her leaving (scroll down a bit). The Church is actually only about 10 mins from our place. Erin and I talked about going in one day to see what it was like, but we never got around to it.
Have some extra money lying around?
I'm a little late on this, but I read on Meghan Sheffield's blog about Tidal Mass going on in Kingston a little while back, and it got me thinking (not for the first time) about the potential for Kingston to sustain a decent alt-weekly. It seems that now would be the right time to start thinking about it anyway: the new entertainment centre should be done by the new year, Queen's looks like it will be expanding over the next decade, the Artel is now in its second year, this Apple Crisp music series seems to be pretty cool, King-Can and reelOUT film fests are still going strong and I know music venues have been closing almost annually, but there seems to be a really vibrant core of young, creative people living in the city these days.
But it's basically hopeless if Kingston can't support it on its own, because it's too close to major centres and not close enough to any other middle players. See, 'cause I know Guelph, Kitchener and Waterloo share an alt-weekly called the Tri-City something, and that might be the problem with one working in Kingston: there's nobody to share it with. And I do worry a little about what an alt-weekly might do to the Journal's music coverage.
Maybe I'm being totally naive.
But if anyone is in the mood to make a super risky investment in me and any friends I can arm-twist into this potentially hopeless endeavour, you know how to find me.
(Why am I writing about this? Didn't I make a pact to not write about non-SA issues a while back?)
But it's basically hopeless if Kingston can't support it on its own, because it's too close to major centres and not close enough to any other middle players. See, 'cause I know Guelph, Kitchener and Waterloo share an alt-weekly called the Tri-City something, and that might be the problem with one working in Kingston: there's nobody to share it with. And I do worry a little about what an alt-weekly might do to the Journal's music coverage.
Maybe I'm being totally naive.
But if anyone is in the mood to make a super risky investment in me and any friends I can arm-twist into this potentially hopeless endeavour, you know how to find me.
(Why am I writing about this? Didn't I make a pact to not write about non-SA issues a while back?)
"All I have to say is that my life is pretty plain"
You got it, "No Rain" by Blind Melon.
And there's been no rain in Jo'burg ... until tonight. I was going to write a blog about how the last time we had any precipitation was that crazy day when it snowed. Other than that, it had only rained once since I arrived - and that was in early June - until tonight.
So I was going to write about how it was so dry and dust was getting into my eyes and throat when I was walking around and how much we just really needed the rain. (And how tragically ironic it is that East and West Africa -- mainly Ghana and Uganda, it seems -- are dealing with horrible floods at the moment while Swaziland and Lesotho are suffering through devastating droughts.)
But tonight it rained. You want to know how I noticed? I'm downstairs, listening to music and checking my e-mail when I start hearing a sharp, crackling noise snapping every second, regularly, like a metronome. I go outside to see what it is, and it seems that the electric fence surrounding my house is, kind of, shorting out or something because of the rain; sparks are flying and everything. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't really turn out.
Wild.
Anyway, I may not have my usual home protection tonight, but at least the rain has finally come.
And there's been no rain in Jo'burg ... until tonight. I was going to write a blog about how the last time we had any precipitation was that crazy day when it snowed. Other than that, it had only rained once since I arrived - and that was in early June - until tonight.
So I was going to write about how it was so dry and dust was getting into my eyes and throat when I was walking around and how much we just really needed the rain. (And how tragically ironic it is that East and West Africa -- mainly Ghana and Uganda, it seems -- are dealing with horrible floods at the moment while Swaziland and Lesotho are suffering through devastating droughts.)
But tonight it rained. You want to know how I noticed? I'm downstairs, listening to music and checking my e-mail when I start hearing a sharp, crackling noise snapping every second, regularly, like a metronome. I go outside to see what it is, and it seems that the electric fence surrounding my house is, kind of, shorting out or something because of the rain; sparks are flying and everything. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't really turn out.
Wild.
Anyway, I may not have my usual home protection tonight, but at least the rain has finally come.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Hilarious
So last night I took a cab home from the northern suburbs that cost me more than the plane ticket I bought earlier in the day that will take me from Cape Town to Jo'burg.
Rosebank to Kensington by cab (about half an hour) = R170
Cape Town to Jo'burg by plane = R159 (I found a wicked seat sale)
From Oct. 2 to Oct. 19, I'll be mixing some business with pleasure as I travel to Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and then back to Jo'burg. The project is covering my travel from Jo'burg to Durban and Durban to Port Elizabeth, and I found a great, last-minute seat sale to nab cheap seats on flights from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town and Cape Town to Jo'burg. Those two flights, in total, are only costing me R420, which is, like, $60 CAD.
We'll be visiting with the project's current fellows in Durban, then I'm going on a bit of tour to talk to local HIV/AIDS advocates to interview them about local media coverage of HIV/AIDS issues. I'll also be reading newspapers and clipping stuff along the way. Yeah, it's a pretty sweet deal, but I'll be paying for most of it myself.
Yeah, so last night I went to see an American doc called Have you Heard From Johannesburg? which was playing in Rosebank as part of the Tri-Continental Film Festival. I think the film takes its title from a Gil Scott-Heron song, "Johannesburg."
It's so weird: all these cool film festivals always take place in the fancy northern suburbs which are such a hassle for me to get to. It's like instead of going to Bathurst and Bloor to see a cool movie, you'd have to go to Richmond Hill or Vaughn. Or, for my friends in Kingston, it'd be like going to Sharbot Lake or Napanee instead of Princess and Montreal.
Anyway, the film was great - one of those gripping docs that makes you disappointed when it's over. It was one part of a multi-part series about the global anti-apartheid movement, which I imagine will make it to PBS one day. The part they screened at the fest was only about the movement in the U.S. in the '80s, and specifically the divestment movement.
The filmmaker was in attendance and their was a pretty lively Q&A after the film, mostly, I think, because the South Africans watching the film seemed to think that some might perceive the film as suggesting that post-apartheid South Africa is a big happy place and all the struggles have been won. But it was a film about a specific time, place and event, and I don't think you can expect a filmmaker to tell a comprehensive story about a country. The filmmaker was an American, who was telling an American story, and she had a great response to the person who was upset at how the film didn't talk about the ongoing struggles; she said, "I hope you make that film."
Rosebank to Kensington by cab (about half an hour) = R170
Cape Town to Jo'burg by plane = R159 (I found a wicked seat sale)
From Oct. 2 to Oct. 19, I'll be mixing some business with pleasure as I travel to Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and then back to Jo'burg. The project is covering my travel from Jo'burg to Durban and Durban to Port Elizabeth, and I found a great, last-minute seat sale to nab cheap seats on flights from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town and Cape Town to Jo'burg. Those two flights, in total, are only costing me R420, which is, like, $60 CAD.
We'll be visiting with the project's current fellows in Durban, then I'm going on a bit of tour to talk to local HIV/AIDS advocates to interview them about local media coverage of HIV/AIDS issues. I'll also be reading newspapers and clipping stuff along the way. Yeah, it's a pretty sweet deal, but I'll be paying for most of it myself.
Yeah, so last night I went to see an American doc called Have you Heard From Johannesburg? which was playing in Rosebank as part of the Tri-Continental Film Festival. I think the film takes its title from a Gil Scott-Heron song, "Johannesburg."
It's so weird: all these cool film festivals always take place in the fancy northern suburbs which are such a hassle for me to get to. It's like instead of going to Bathurst and Bloor to see a cool movie, you'd have to go to Richmond Hill or Vaughn. Or, for my friends in Kingston, it'd be like going to Sharbot Lake or Napanee instead of Princess and Montreal.
Anyway, the film was great - one of those gripping docs that makes you disappointed when it's over. It was one part of a multi-part series about the global anti-apartheid movement, which I imagine will make it to PBS one day. The part they screened at the fest was only about the movement in the U.S. in the '80s, and specifically the divestment movement.
The filmmaker was in attendance and their was a pretty lively Q&A after the film, mostly, I think, because the South Africans watching the film seemed to think that some might perceive the film as suggesting that post-apartheid South Africa is a big happy place and all the struggles have been won. But it was a film about a specific time, place and event, and I don't think you can expect a filmmaker to tell a comprehensive story about a country. The filmmaker was an American, who was telling an American story, and she had a great response to the person who was upset at how the film didn't talk about the ongoing struggles; she said, "I hope you make that film."
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Steve Bantu Biko, 1946-1977
Stephanie Nolen wrote a great piece in the Globe today on the 30th anniversary of the death of Steve Bantu Biko, one of South Africa's most famous anti-apartheid activists and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, who was killed by South Africa's security police about a month after he was arrested--without charge--under SA's Terrorism Act of 1967.
She offers much more than a tribute, providing a solid, contextual reflection about Biko's legacy in South Africa today.
Here she writes about the dissolution of the Pan-African Congress ...
It's kind of weird; in South African politics, there's an official floor-crossing window for MPs. I don't fully understand its origins, but from the editorials and op-eds I read around the time it was going on, I gather that it was once a valid and desired part of the system but has since become extremely undemocratic: like in floor-crossing scenarios in Canada, the floor-crossing MP's constituents feel jerked around and robbed of their vote. Zapiro sums it up pretty nicely here.
This part is also pretty interesting:
I can't find the story now, but back in June, the Mail and Guardian's lead feature story was about how already there was something like twice as many person-days lost to strike in 2007 (in June) than any previous year. The story looked at the growing wealth gap in South Africa and while an elite few are reaping the benefits of BEE, the majority of people aren't experiencing the supposed rapid economic growth of SA, which was causing the unrest among lower classes.
And then, in the factbox ...
I always read that Helen Zille, former reporter at the Rand Daily Mail and current mayor of Cape Town and leader of South Africa's Demoratic alliance, was the one who vigorously investigated and exposed how Biko was actually killed by security police and did not die of a hunger strike. I hadn't heard of Donald Woods before. That's kind of crazy how Biko predicted what would happen. I guess apartheid's security police were kind of predictable in some ways, though.
Weird aside: Helen Zille was arrested a couple of days ago (yes, the mayor of Cape Town was arrested in Cape Town) for her participation in an anti-drug protest. Wow, there's already something about it on Wiki. Her statement about the arrest is here. Now that's a mayor.
She offers much more than a tribute, providing a solid, contextual reflection about Biko's legacy in South Africa today.
Here she writes about the dissolution of the Pan-African Congress ...
The political party that grew out of his ideas, the Pan-African Congress, was officially declared dead a few weeks ago, when its last handful of members defected to other groups.
It's kind of weird; in South African politics, there's an official floor-crossing window for MPs. I don't fully understand its origins, but from the editorials and op-eds I read around the time it was going on, I gather that it was once a valid and desired part of the system but has since become extremely undemocratic: like in floor-crossing scenarios in Canada, the floor-crossing MP's constituents feel jerked around and robbed of their vote. Zapiro sums it up pretty nicely here.
This part is also pretty interesting:
"That goes fundamentally to explaining why we've got massive protests all around the country... poor communities protesting the lack of services delivered to them," Mr. Hamilton said.
I can't find the story now, but back in June, the Mail and Guardian's lead feature story was about how already there was something like twice as many person-days lost to strike in 2007 (in June) than any previous year. The story looked at the growing wealth gap in South Africa and while an elite few are reaping the benefits of BEE, the majority of people aren't experiencing the supposed rapid economic growth of SA, which was causing the unrest among lower classes.
And then, in the factbox ...
His friend, journalist Donald Woods relentlessly investigated his death. Mr. Biko had told him that if the state ever claimed he had died on hunger strike or by his own hand, Mr. Woods would know it was a lie.
I always read that Helen Zille, former reporter at the Rand Daily Mail and current mayor of Cape Town and leader of South Africa's Demoratic alliance, was the one who vigorously investigated and exposed how Biko was actually killed by security police and did not die of a hunger strike. I hadn't heard of Donald Woods before. That's kind of crazy how Biko predicted what would happen. I guess apartheid's security police were kind of predictable in some ways, though.
Weird aside: Helen Zille was arrested a couple of days ago (yes, the mayor of Cape Town was arrested in Cape Town) for her participation in an anti-drug protest. Wow, there's already something about it on Wiki. Her statement about the arrest is here. Now that's a mayor.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
So long, b'y
So I just came back from the airport after sending Erin off on her way home.
Like I said in a previous post, she decided to quit CMFD as well, but she did so after taking a full-time reporting gig at the Cape Breton Post. (She was working with CMFD on behalf of Journalists for Human Rights.) ...
Shame.
No longer will I be able to make fun of her accent or sing Stan Rogers to make her homesick.
I think we actually helped to quell each other's homesickness by talking in Canadian accents about mythical Canadian characters: she adopting a full-blown Cape Breton one, and me mimicking the guys in FUBAR or Dave Little (a family friend who farms in Saskatchewan).
"Donnie, drop your net, grab the charrgh-ter, we're going to the barrrgh"
"Hey Dougie, can you get me a double-double and a coupl'a crullers?"
"How's goin?"; "How's she going?"
"Lord thunderin' b'y, would you look at that."
It would probably be annoying to do it in Canada, but over here, it was pretty entertaining meal-time banter.
...
At least now I'll get to resume talking to myself.
Hambe kahle, Erin.
PS ...
Erin: "That year I took Criminal Law and the Charrrgh-ter."
BK: "the what?"
Erin: "Shut up."
Erin: "I've got to make payments on my carrrrgh."
BK: "You've got to make payments on what?"
Erin: "Shut up."
That's how it usually went down.
She also frequently referred to my "fancy Toronto" things or "fancy Big City" whatevers. I've never thought of the North York-Scarborough border as fancy, but I've never been to North Sydney.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Country of Babel
South Africa has 11 official languages. 11!
The official languages are, in alphabetical order:
Afrikaans
English
Southern Ndebele
Northern Sotho
Sotho
Swati
Tsonga
Tswana
Venda
Xhosa
Zulu
Now, the status of all the languages as official is mostly symbolic; signs and labels don't have to be in all 11 languages. But I'm pretty sure the government is required to provide translators for every language, if requested. And the official version of the national anthem actually includes a verse in each language, but that version is rarely used.
In most cases, signs are just in English, or, occasionally, Afrikaans and/or Zulu.
Because of the close proximity of SA to former Portuguese colonies Angola and Mozambique, there are also a lot of Portuguese speakers, as well as Portuguese cafes, bakeries, restaurants, etc., especially in Kensington, my neighbourhood.
At one point, I was trying to learn basic greetings and pleasantries in all 11 languages, but that proved to be too confusing (there's a fair bit of overlap between the African languages, enough to make it more confusing than helpful), so I decided to focus on Zulu.
I picked up bits and pieces from people I met and tried to complement it with this book I bought in Toronto before I left. But the book sucks, and is mostly just frustrating.
So my progress was pretty slow until about two months ago, when I met a kid in the park near my house. I was reading and feeding some ducks bits of my banana peel because I didn't know what else to do with it. The kid joined me and we hung out for a while.
Then, a couple of weeks later, I saw the same kid, and he said he usually hangs out in the park on Sundays. So I asked him what his home language was (a question I ask pretty much anyone - cab drivers, servers, etc. - to make small talk), and he said it was Zulu. So we made a deal then, that he would teach me Zulu every week.
Since then I've been meeting him at the park every Sunday afternoon for my lesson. It's pretty sweet: he's totally patient with me (especially with my initial incompetence with the language's various clicks) and all it costs me is a few slices of pizza.
The kid's name is Mpho, he's 11 and he lives in Yeoville, a neighbourhood north of Kensington.
When I was in KZN (the ancestral home of the Zulu people) a couple of weeks ago, my lessons with Mpho seriously paid off. I never needed to speak the language, but it was a lot of fun to practice anyway. I was usually able to sustain a conversation with someone for about 2-3 mins until I'd used up all of my vocabulary, but it was enough to impress most people. It's also a great icebreaker, and an extremely satisfying way to show up everybody you're traveling with.
I use it occasionally around the city, mostly simply to say hello, but sometimes to practice, and like I said, to break the ice. For the most part, my attempts are met first with confusion and disbelief, and then what seems to be genuine appreciation or laughter.
I get the sense that despite the fact that many black people in South Africa learn Afrikaans in school, few white people attempt any African language. I know for a fact that Afrikaans is part of the public-school curriculum in the country, as are some African languages; but, as far as I know, none of the predominantly white private schools teach any African language.
My favourite times are when I come upon a large group of older women and say "Sanbonnanie" (hello to two or more people), because without fail, they'll literally sing their response back, in unison, always drawing out the penultimate vowel: "Yeeeeebo!". (Sanbonnanie, or Sawubona to one person, literally translates as something like, "Are you alive?" so a common response is simply, "Yes!" or "Yebo!")
I'm telling you this because I'm about to head out to another lesson with Mpho, and I realized I've never mentioned him on this thing.
If you don't believe me, or would like to test my extremely limited vocabulary, feel free to holla at ya boy on Skype.
BK
The official languages are, in alphabetical order:
Afrikaans
English
Southern Ndebele
Northern Sotho
Sotho
Swati
Tsonga
Tswana
Venda
Xhosa
Zulu
Now, the status of all the languages as official is mostly symbolic; signs and labels don't have to be in all 11 languages. But I'm pretty sure the government is required to provide translators for every language, if requested. And the official version of the national anthem actually includes a verse in each language, but that version is rarely used.
In most cases, signs are just in English, or, occasionally, Afrikaans and/or Zulu.
Because of the close proximity of SA to former Portuguese colonies Angola and Mozambique, there are also a lot of Portuguese speakers, as well as Portuguese cafes, bakeries, restaurants, etc., especially in Kensington, my neighbourhood.
At one point, I was trying to learn basic greetings and pleasantries in all 11 languages, but that proved to be too confusing (there's a fair bit of overlap between the African languages, enough to make it more confusing than helpful), so I decided to focus on Zulu.
I picked up bits and pieces from people I met and tried to complement it with this book I bought in Toronto before I left. But the book sucks, and is mostly just frustrating.
So my progress was pretty slow until about two months ago, when I met a kid in the park near my house. I was reading and feeding some ducks bits of my banana peel because I didn't know what else to do with it. The kid joined me and we hung out for a while.
Then, a couple of weeks later, I saw the same kid, and he said he usually hangs out in the park on Sundays. So I asked him what his home language was (a question I ask pretty much anyone - cab drivers, servers, etc. - to make small talk), and he said it was Zulu. So we made a deal then, that he would teach me Zulu every week.
Since then I've been meeting him at the park every Sunday afternoon for my lesson. It's pretty sweet: he's totally patient with me (especially with my initial incompetence with the language's various clicks) and all it costs me is a few slices of pizza.
The kid's name is Mpho, he's 11 and he lives in Yeoville, a neighbourhood north of Kensington.
When I was in KZN (the ancestral home of the Zulu people) a couple of weeks ago, my lessons with Mpho seriously paid off. I never needed to speak the language, but it was a lot of fun to practice anyway. I was usually able to sustain a conversation with someone for about 2-3 mins until I'd used up all of my vocabulary, but it was enough to impress most people. It's also a great icebreaker, and an extremely satisfying way to show up everybody you're traveling with.
I use it occasionally around the city, mostly simply to say hello, but sometimes to practice, and like I said, to break the ice. For the most part, my attempts are met first with confusion and disbelief, and then what seems to be genuine appreciation or laughter.
I get the sense that despite the fact that many black people in South Africa learn Afrikaans in school, few white people attempt any African language. I know for a fact that Afrikaans is part of the public-school curriculum in the country, as are some African languages; but, as far as I know, none of the predominantly white private schools teach any African language.
My favourite times are when I come upon a large group of older women and say "Sanbonnanie" (hello to two or more people), because without fail, they'll literally sing their response back, in unison, always drawing out the penultimate vowel: "Yeeeeebo!". (Sanbonnanie, or Sawubona to one person, literally translates as something like, "Are you alive?" so a common response is simply, "Yes!" or "Yebo!")
I'm telling you this because I'm about to head out to another lesson with Mpho, and I realized I've never mentioned him on this thing.
If you don't believe me, or would like to test my extremely limited vocabulary, feel free to holla at ya boy on Skype.
BK
Blog help
Does anyone know why I can't edit my linked lists anymore? I can't seem to delete the current ones or add any news ones.
Also, why is the text in my most recent posts so scrunched up?
Also, why is the text in my most recent posts so scrunched up?
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Hluhlwe-Umfolozi National Park
So on our third day, we hopped back on the bus and headed to South Africa's eastern coast, settling in Durban. We didn't get into Durban until about 6 p.m., and we had to be ready to go the next morning at 5:30 a.m., so there wasn't much time to explore the city. Even still, Erin and I were determined to see the Indian Ocean, so we walked the half-hour from our hostel to the beach. It was pretty dark by the time we got there, but we did get to do a little wading (see photo at Flickr). Just before we got on the beach, two women warned us that they had been mugged about 10 minutes earlier on the same beach, so we mostly just got our feet wet and then got the fuck outta dodge.
As I said, the next morning we were up at around 4:30 a.m. and on the road by 5:30 a.m., heading north to the Hluhlwe-Umfolozi National Park in northern Kwazula-Natal. We got to the park around 9 a.m., where we spent the first half of the day on a land safari through the park and the second half on a water safari. For the land portion of the day, we shared our ride with two nice English people: Chris and his daughter whose name I can't remember.
Weird but illustrative story: As part of our package, we had lunch at a B&B in a town called Mtuba-Mtuba, about a half hour away from the park. The place was a little uncomfortably swanky and I was happy that we were only there for lunch, especially after meeting the owners. The man was a big, white South African with a shirt buttoned far too low. The conversation went like several others I've had over here: people seem nice at first, but then the veiled racism comes out, and it gets less and less ambiguous as the conversation goes on.
"You like Jo'burg?" he says to me.
"Yeah, well, it took some getting use to and stuff, but it's really grown on me," I reply.
"How much longer are you there for?"
"Until the middle of December."
"Well, by the time you leave, you'll be a racist."
That was one of our clumsy interactions.
Luckily, Chris and his daughter were equally uncomfortable, and we were able to talk about it after.
Back to the safari ... On land, we saw one elephant; lots of giraffes and zebras; a few distant rhinos; lots of impalas, nyalas, kudus and baboons; a few warthogs; and several packs of wildebeasts; but no cats. Still, I thought it was pretty good for a half-day. On water, we saw tons of sleeping hippos and a few crocodiles. Click on the photo to see crappy versions of all the ones I've uploaded.
The one elephant we saw was a pretty lucky thing: We were literally 30 seconds into our drive when we saw it; I could actually see the park's parking lot in the distance. So when that happened I was like, "Alright, this place must be full of elephants." And that was the only one we saw. But the day was still pretty thrilling. The park itself was so beautiful that even when we couldn't spot anything, it was still a fun ride.
BK
As I said, the next morning we were up at around 4:30 a.m. and on the road by 5:30 a.m., heading north to the Hluhlwe-Umfolozi National Park in northern Kwazula-Natal. We got to the park around 9 a.m., where we spent the first half of the day on a land safari through the park and the second half on a water safari. For the land portion of the day, we shared our ride with two nice English people: Chris and his daughter whose name I can't remember.
Weird but illustrative story: As part of our package, we had lunch at a B&B in a town called Mtuba-Mtuba, about a half hour away from the park. The place was a little uncomfortably swanky and I was happy that we were only there for lunch, especially after meeting the owners. The man was a big, white South African with a shirt buttoned far too low. The conversation went like several others I've had over here: people seem nice at first, but then the veiled racism comes out, and it gets less and less ambiguous as the conversation goes on.
"You like Jo'burg?" he says to me.
"Yeah, well, it took some getting use to and stuff, but it's really grown on me," I reply.
"How much longer are you there for?"
"Until the middle of December."
"Well, by the time you leave, you'll be a racist."
That was one of our clumsy interactions.
Luckily, Chris and his daughter were equally uncomfortable, and we were able to talk about it after.
Back to the safari ... On land, we saw one elephant; lots of giraffes and zebras; a few distant rhinos; lots of impalas, nyalas, kudus and baboons; a few warthogs; and several packs of wildebeasts; but no cats. Still, I thought it was pretty good for a half-day. On water, we saw tons of sleeping hippos and a few crocodiles. Click on the photo to see crappy versions of all the ones I've uploaded.
The one elephant we saw was a pretty lucky thing: We were literally 30 seconds into our drive when we saw it; I could actually see the park's parking lot in the distance. So when that happened I was like, "Alright, this place must be full of elephants." And that was the only one we saw. But the day was still pretty thrilling. The park itself was so beautiful that even when we couldn't spot anything, it was still a fun ride.
BK
North Drakensberg
So we started our eastern sojourn by spending two nights in North Drakensberg, which is located along Lesotho's eastern border. We stayed at this beautiful little backpackers' hostel, which seemed as if it was just dropped in the middle of nowhere; there was nothing but fields and mountains all around. We spent the first day walking around in Royal Natal National Park and the second day doing a full-day hike to the top of the Drakensberg Amphitheatre. We also hiked to the top of Tugela Falls, which is apparently the second highest waterfall in the world ... but it was totally dry. Our hiking guide, when telling us our itinerary, would say "... and then we will be heading to the top of the second highest waterfall in the world, with no water."
Despite all the stunning scenery, one of the highlights for me was sitting just outside our hostel on the morning of our third day, before the bus came to take us to Durban, with a pot of rooibos tea, reading, breathing fresh air and just staring.
When Erin and I first arrived in North Drak, we were kind of in shock. After spending so long just in Jo'burg, the fresh air and expanse of the Drakensberg landscape was actually kind of jarring. Bur jarring in a beautiful, serene, peaceful kind of way.
I really wish we could've stayed longer.
You can click the photo to see more.
BK
PS - As an aside, it was hilarious to hear that the typical hostel soundtrack hasn't change since I last traveled in 2002. Five years ago, when I traveled through Scotland with my brother Dan, it seemed like every hostel had the same soundtrack: Coldplay; David Gray; Bob Marley; anonymous ambient trip-hop. But maybe it's not that it hasn't changed, but that it took a while to make it to SA. Hmm.
DISCLAIMER: Because I have a weird USB Internet connection, through which I pay by how much I download and upload, I didn't upload all of my photos. I also compressed them to about 1/10 of their digital size, so their resolution and their actual size have been compromised. Rest assured, I'll have the originals to show y'all when I get home. Oh, and my Flickr photos are kind of disorganized.
Despite all the stunning scenery, one of the highlights for me was sitting just outside our hostel on the morning of our third day, before the bus came to take us to Durban, with a pot of rooibos tea, reading, breathing fresh air and just staring.
When Erin and I first arrived in North Drak, we were kind of in shock. After spending so long just in Jo'burg, the fresh air and expanse of the Drakensberg landscape was actually kind of jarring. Bur jarring in a beautiful, serene, peaceful kind of way.
I really wish we could've stayed longer.
You can click the photo to see more.
BK
PS - As an aside, it was hilarious to hear that the typical hostel soundtrack hasn't change since I last traveled in 2002. Five years ago, when I traveled through Scotland with my brother Dan, it seemed like every hostel had the same soundtrack: Coldplay; David Gray; Bob Marley; anonymous ambient trip-hop. But maybe it's not that it hasn't changed, but that it took a while to make it to SA. Hmm.
DISCLAIMER: Because I have a weird USB Internet connection, through which I pay by how much I download and upload, I didn't upload all of my photos. I also compressed them to about 1/10 of their digital size, so their resolution and their actual size have been compromised. Rest assured, I'll have the originals to show y'all when I get home. Oh, and my Flickr photos are kind of disorganized.
I'm sorry ...
... for being such a bad blogger and keeping-in-toucher.
Thanks to all who sent "Are you alive? Replying with yes or no will suffice" e-mails.
My excuses are that the last few weeks have been a little topsy-turvy busy and it took me a while to compress the photos from my trip and upload them to my Flickr.
So I offer this photo from the Africa Remix exhibit at the Johannesburg Art Gallery as part of my apology, hoping that it'll make you laugh a little. (If you can't read it, the text is "WE ARE ALL POST EXOTICS" and then there's a mirror. I had to stand kind of far away to get it all in.)
...
So, there's lots to update you all on:
1) I quit my job at Community Media For Development
2) My roommate, Erin, has decided to go home
3) I found a new job at the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project at Wits University
4) I'm staying in Jozi, keeping my funding, still getting credit and still living at the same place
5) My mini vacation to the KwaZulu-Natal province was great, but I'll blog about it in a separate post
1) As some of you know, I wasn't very happy at CMFD. I don't want to write too much here because of the public nature of this thing, so if you're really interested you can Skype or e-mail me. But don't get your hopes up; there aren't any juicy, controversial stories. In short, I didn't feel that I was getting the learning experience that I thought I would, so I decided to look for other options. My dissatisfaction with CMFD stemmed from both the work I was being tasked to do and my bosses.
2) Erin, my roommate since July 18, who was working with CMFD on behalf of Journalists for Human Rights, also decided to quit. She decided to go home after she got a full-time reporter job at her hometown paper, the Cape Breton Post. She also wasn't happy at CMFD, so I'm sure that played a part in her decision to head home early; but she was also worried about missing out on an opportunity for full-time employment, which doesn't come very often in the Maritimes, and especially on Cape Breton. So my bachelor pad is back in operation, and I'll once again be able to stretch my falsetto to absurd lengths while dancing in my underwear.
3) Before I handed in my resignation letter to CMFD, and even before I made any contact with Queen's or my funders, I made sure I found another job. I sent e-mails to five organizations operating in Jo'burg that seemed interesting to me and fell under the media-development banner. One of the organizations that got back to me was the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project, which is run out of School of Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand ("Wits" to everyone here) in Jo'burg. After a few more e-mails and a couple of phone calls, they offered me a position. My job is basically to be a general assistant to the project, helping out with logistical stuff and minor tasks; but I'm also supposed to blog on their website - www.journaids.org - about HIV/AIDS coverage in the print media. This new internship is by no means perfect; it isn't part of a formal internship program, the project is pretty disorganized and most of my work will be of the administrative/logistical nature. But I'm a lot happier because even though I may not be doing the most thrilling work, I feel like I will be exposed to a lot more learning experiences - even simply from being at Wits. The new job is also a lot more flexible in terms of hours and time off and stuff, which will give me a better opportunity to do some more traveling. I'll take a separate post to write more about the project and what I'll be doing with it.
4) So, yeah, it's all cool; I'm not getting deported or having my funding taken away or anything like that. I've actually been amazed at how supportive everyone has been, both at Queen's and at the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (my funders). Most of the administrative paperwork stuff has been dealt with, but I still have to have an official re-approval. For future reference, I'm pretty sure at least one of the reasons why everyone has been so supportive of my decision was because I had another job lined up and ready to go. My guess is that's why the transition was relatively smooth (I quit CMFD on Aug. 30 and started at Wits on Sept. 3). Even still, mad props go out to Queen's Global Development Studies, Queen's International Office and the folks at the Students For Development branch of the AUCC.
5) See above.
Alright, now I'll get to what everyone is waiting to see: pictures of animals!
BK
Thanks to all who sent "Are you alive? Replying with yes or no will suffice" e-mails.
My excuses are that the last few weeks have been a little topsy-turvy busy and it took me a while to compress the photos from my trip and upload them to my Flickr.
So I offer this photo from the Africa Remix exhibit at the Johannesburg Art Gallery as part of my apology, hoping that it'll make you laugh a little. (If you can't read it, the text is "WE ARE ALL POST EXOTICS" and then there's a mirror. I had to stand kind of far away to get it all in.)
...
So, there's lots to update you all on:
1) I quit my job at Community Media For Development
2) My roommate, Erin, has decided to go home
3) I found a new job at the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project at Wits University
4) I'm staying in Jozi, keeping my funding, still getting credit and still living at the same place
5) My mini vacation to the KwaZulu-Natal province was great, but I'll blog about it in a separate post
1) As some of you know, I wasn't very happy at CMFD. I don't want to write too much here because of the public nature of this thing, so if you're really interested you can Skype or e-mail me. But don't get your hopes up; there aren't any juicy, controversial stories. In short, I didn't feel that I was getting the learning experience that I thought I would, so I decided to look for other options. My dissatisfaction with CMFD stemmed from both the work I was being tasked to do and my bosses.
2) Erin, my roommate since July 18, who was working with CMFD on behalf of Journalists for Human Rights, also decided to quit. She decided to go home after she got a full-time reporter job at her hometown paper, the Cape Breton Post. She also wasn't happy at CMFD, so I'm sure that played a part in her decision to head home early; but she was also worried about missing out on an opportunity for full-time employment, which doesn't come very often in the Maritimes, and especially on Cape Breton. So my bachelor pad is back in operation, and I'll once again be able to stretch my falsetto to absurd lengths while dancing in my underwear.
3) Before I handed in my resignation letter to CMFD, and even before I made any contact with Queen's or my funders, I made sure I found another job. I sent e-mails to five organizations operating in Jo'burg that seemed interesting to me and fell under the media-development banner. One of the organizations that got back to me was the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project, which is run out of School of Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand ("Wits" to everyone here) in Jo'burg. After a few more e-mails and a couple of phone calls, they offered me a position. My job is basically to be a general assistant to the project, helping out with logistical stuff and minor tasks; but I'm also supposed to blog on their website - www.journaids.org - about HIV/AIDS coverage in the print media. This new internship is by no means perfect; it isn't part of a formal internship program, the project is pretty disorganized and most of my work will be of the administrative/logistical nature. But I'm a lot happier because even though I may not be doing the most thrilling work, I feel like I will be exposed to a lot more learning experiences - even simply from being at Wits. The new job is also a lot more flexible in terms of hours and time off and stuff, which will give me a better opportunity to do some more traveling. I'll take a separate post to write more about the project and what I'll be doing with it.
4) So, yeah, it's all cool; I'm not getting deported or having my funding taken away or anything like that. I've actually been amazed at how supportive everyone has been, both at Queen's and at the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (my funders). Most of the administrative paperwork stuff has been dealt with, but I still have to have an official re-approval. For future reference, I'm pretty sure at least one of the reasons why everyone has been so supportive of my decision was because I had another job lined up and ready to go. My guess is that's why the transition was relatively smooth (I quit CMFD on Aug. 30 and started at Wits on Sept. 3). Even still, mad props go out to Queen's Global Development Studies, Queen's International Office and the folks at the Students For Development branch of the AUCC.
5) See above.
Alright, now I'll get to what everyone is waiting to see: pictures of animals!
BK
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