still here.

Just wanted to send out a quick post.  I'm still here.  Still learning, still seeing, still feeling.

And in the end, it's all so so good.

More will come, as the busy-ness settles.  I typed business but then realized that's not what I meant.  Maybe it was, as busy-ness can but business.  Maybe that's why they call it business, because it's usually busy?

Quick ramblings.

I feel each and every one of you with me, even if we have not been in touch over these past few months.  Know there are moments when all of you who read this, yes, you, come into my mind as I see, hear, smell, and feel the feelings of world distances.  Sending hellos and hugs into the universe like messages in a bottle.  Did you feel it?

separation.

I just read:  "Research shows that more than 80% of the poorest of the poor in South Africa never socialise with people from other races."  (Conference Report: The politics of restorative justice in post-conflict South Africa and beyond)

Apartheid is still very much present in South Africa.  But I question, is it necessary to develop partnerships between races and classes to get anything done?  This toilet queue we're holding in April - one of the goals is to recruit more members of the middle class and increase support from people in positions of power.  After all, people must give up some of their privilege in order for the oppressed to increase their stance in society.  But how do we get the privileged to care about things that don't impact them on a daily basis?

The townships are isolated for a reason.  Out of sight, out of mind.  The level of legal and political equality has been increased here, but so much failure in regards to economic  and social equality.  It's interesting to me that in a society that was so far 17 years ago has to choose which rights are the most important to satisfy first.  Which rights will help the society to move forward the fastest and not take too much of the privilege away from the privileged.


There also seems to be huge lack of communication between those that make the decisions and those the decisions impact.  This is why I'm a community organizer.

Not being critical by any means (although this may seem so), but just pondering progress and the hinderance.

roots of the grass.

Another great article, this one discussing the toilet queue protest held last year in March.

The SJC will be holding one this year at the end of April, right before I end my time here.  The planning for it is beginning to begin and I find myself looking forward to the display.   Hoping for triple the amount of people this year.

Feeling thankful for the opportunity to work with such an incredible grassroots organization.  Honestly don't think I could have found a better community organization focused placement here - this is the bare-boned, roots of the grass!

The next few months will be full of networking meetings with other community based organizations and NGOs in and around Khayelitsha.  Community outreach will be done, passing out of fact sheets, recruitment of protest participants.  And I even get to be involved with the strategic planning of the organization which feels super cool and educational.

Excited - work.

read me.

A heartbreaking, yet blatantly truthful article on the toilet situation in Khayelitsha.  I encourage anyone who reads this to read the entire article - it sheds like on a situation many of us take for granted in the States.


According to the research, approximately 128 000 households out of the City’s 884 000 households (14.5%) live in informal settlements. Of these, approximately 37% do not have access to any sanitation system at all. Of those households that do have access, 68% are supplied with one of the four types of bucket sanitation technology, with container toilets supplying two-thirds of these households.

emotional hug.

Been struggling with this sense of going crazy because I've been so emotional these past few week here.  Even been hesitant to write (hence the sporadic nature of posts).

And yet it hit me today, yesterday, recently - the emotion is a good sign.  I shed tears almost every day here, simply recognition of the intensity of what I see.  The poverty, the struggle, the little children, all of the above.  And yet I'm finally feeling things, deeply, for the first time in what feels like forever.

I remember before I embarked on this journey feeling frustrated, stuck, at my inability to feel depth and intensity.  And here I am, scared and critical at the passion.  Gut reaction is to do what I can to make it go away.  Sudden thought: what if I give it space, welcome it home?  After all, passion is what motivates us to act, to behave, to change, to love, to truly live.  So why fight it?

Because it's scary as sh*t.  Feeling like the tears won't stop, worried about the distance to home, freaked out about the images of oppression that replay in the mind.

And yet it's reality.  It's depth, it's what makes life live.  I could walk through this experience with my eyes closed, but I refuse.  I refuse the desensitization that comes as a gut instinct to the horrific.  I see you, I cry, I panic, I want to run away, shut my eyes.  But I keep looking, because there's a lesson there. There's a validation.  There's a recognition that is so desperately deserved by the struggled.

I let it out, I embrace, and I remind myself that emotion is powerful for a reason.  It's all good.  The pain allots for the pleasure, the depth of hope that wouldn't be felt without the emotional training pain gives our feeling sensors.

I hug you, even if you cannot feel it in the moment.

educate me.

Didn't realize how badly I needed academic supervision until I just met with one of the most wonderful social workers in the world.  And who would have known I'd find her at the Western Cape Network on Violence Against Women?  Everything happens for a reason, and when it does.  Feeling infinitely more connected to the social work profession now that things are falling into place with coursework and guidance.

A greater sense of organization and clarity about my work/learning here.  And most importantly, intense excitement!  I am incredibly privileged to be here and interacting with such an amazing population of individuals and communities.

Blessed, privileged for this opportunity.  It just hit me how lucky I am, like I finally decided to answer the door after the month of knocking.  I hear you, I welcome you into my soul home, and invite your education.

with myself.

People jokingly told me that I'd come to Cape Town and fall in love.

What they didn't tell me is that I'd come here and fall in love with myself.

...closer to the sky.

I keep reminding myself it's likely I won't know how much I have changed until I find myself back in the states, feet on previous ground.

I feel opened to things I've never seen inside before.  Wondering what this process will bring, but knowing above all it's growth, like growing taller, closer to the sky.

Maybe that's why there's so much beauty here, or at least in my eyes.  There's the really bad and the really good; the bad brings me tears while the good lifts my eyes to the sky, opening vision.  My vision is clarified as I take the toughness in and out with deep breaths.  The sun rises every morning, sometimes with slight clouds, but it always seems to come through to shine light on the darkness.

I glance above.

food for thought.

Found this in my reading for my class, CORG 5302: Theory and Practice of Social Movements for Community Organizing.  

Adequately touches upon my struggles with lack of internet, etc. despite being confronted with thousands of people who live in shacks just miles away.  Food for thought.  I'm hungry.

Relative Deprivation

The poor are not always the most rebellious people in a society; nor do people always protest during the worst of times.  Rather; people typically become angry an feel that their situation is unjust when there is a significant difference between the conditions of their lives and their expectations.  In other words, people judge the fairness of their social situation and of the society in which they live not against some absolute standard, but relative to the expectations that they’ve come to hold about themselves or their society.  Such relative deprivation may be found among quite comfortably-off and even privileged people.  Relative deprivation may also become widespread when a long period of prosperity is followed by an abrupt economic downturn (the J-curve theory).  When this happens, people cannot quickly or easily adjust their expectations to fit their new situation; instead, they may feel that something is badly wrong with the society in which they live.  
(Source:  The Social Movements Reader, edited by Goodwin, J. & Jasper, J.)

oppression.

Walked around the community today with my new buddy Yozi, finishing up his law degree.  He gave me a nickname in Xhosa so when we go into people’s houses he doesn’t have to say Jessica.  He named me “Nomthandazo” (nun-tun-day-ze) which means “woman of prayer”.  He said it’s not religious, just a nice name.  I like it.

You do not wait to be invited, hesitate, to enter a person’s house.  It is seen as an insult.  For respect, you enter and sit down.  

There are flies, in the double digits, that swarm the houses.  

Women wash their clothes in basins outside, the sand landscape absorbing the water after they dump their wash buckets.  Children’s clothes hang on the lines.   There is one tap for many houses; the average is 30 homes, or about people, to 1 tap.  Toilets are the same.  

It sounds semi-uncivilized.  And yet it is - they have yards designated by makeshift fences.  A woman had planted a garden of cacti in the sand.  Numbers of houses are spray painted on the sides of the homes.  Some doors have locks.

The ground is sand.  Inside the houses are floor coverings, sometimes carpet but most of the time something that looks like linoleum laid over the sand.  You can feel the humps.  The walls are patch work of metal nailed together.  The more “upscale” houses have one sheet of metal instead of a bunch put together.  

Yozi goes in and speaks in Xhosa about the Treatment Action Campaign, the prevalence of AIDS, TB, and rape in Khayelitsha.  I hand the people we visit a pamphlet.  

I learned to say hello in Xhosa today.  A woman smiled as she heard me utter the words.

A child, a young boy, smiled with his whole face when I smiled at him.  The kids stared at me, all the children I saw today, and I wonder how often they have white women in their homes.  They crawl on sandy floors with the flies.  But they smile and live, happy as it seems.

There are power lines that line the street, covering the ground that children walk. 

I must have seen 10 dogs that all looked the same despite their mixed ancestry, lying in the shade looking half dead.  I was afraid to pet them.  A few followed, looking for who knows what.  Food, water?  A kind pat on the head?   People cannot afford to feed their children, let alone adopted animals.  

Overwhelmed, but reminded of the beauty of people and the ability they have to persevere in the face of so much unfair oppression.

wheels.

Some thoughts from the last few days...internet is up and running at the moment, so finally time to post.

2.4.2011

One of the students has made it his goal here to get all the stories he can from locals, of any background.

Last night we heard the wonderful Vernon Rose explain his life to us.  What a phenomenal story.  I felt touched by his soul.

2.5.2011

I’ve obtained a car here, a little Toyota Yaris hatchback.  Drives beautifully, despite the driver’s side being on the right, shifting with my left hand, and remembering not only to drive on the left side of the road but also look the correct ways.  Turning right means glancing ahead to watch for oncoming cars.  Backing up looks over left shoulder, not right.  Just takes practice, already feel like I’m making strides.  Be a pro in no time.  Thanks the driving angels for keeping her and her passengers safe as the learning takes place.

SJC

Here's what I found on the SJC Facebook page.  This is some of what I'll be working on these next few months.  More to come!


The Social Justice Coalition (SJC) is a mass-member based social movement located in Khayelitsha (Cape Town), campaigning for safe communities for all. This is a right ensured to all people in South Africa, but is most deprived to those who live in poor and working class areas.

The SJC have two major campaigns within our broader call for safer communities. 

Many residents of informal settlements find that they are most at risk of being harmed in the process of accessing clean and safe sanitation facilities. Residents are routinely assaulted, robbed, raped and murdered on the often long and arduous journey to a toilet, which is often shared between 75 or more individuals. We are calling for Government to ensure improved delivery, maintenance, monitoring and coordination of sanitation facilities to mitigate this risk. Safer communities begins with clean and safe toilets.

Our second campaign is focused on addressing deficiencies in the Khayelitsha Criminal Justice System. Police often fail to protect residents, and once a crime is committed the justice system very often fails to adequately process the case through the courts. . We are calling for an audit into this system, and for improvements to be made where necessary. We must work to prevent crimes from occurring, but if they take place we must ensure that victims are not denied justice

All of our work is done on the basis that Government has a duty to be accountable, but that residents also have a duty to be active citizens and contribute to the betterment of their communities. Our work is fundamentally based on the rights enshrined to all people in South Africa in our Constitution; most notably those to Safety, dignity, health, Just Administrative Action, and Equality. We acknowledge the importance of not just lobbying for policy changes, but engaging with government, in order to maximize service delivery and the realization of rights.

While our campaign is focused on Khayelitsha, we encourage individuals from across the country to stand with us. Join the SJC today!