The weather is so cold at night and in the morning and I froze in my sleep in the tent last night. I hope tonight will be better and I am more prepared this time.
I do not think I will have internet for the rest of the trip but we will see. Take care!

At the orphanage, we spent the day working on a run down playground and tiling a room. We worked hard for 4 days and then at night we played with the kids. They were so cute and we all fell in love with them. Also, in the evenings, the older kids who are in a choir called the Young Zulu Warriors preformed for us. They just returned from a 5-week tour in the UK and they were amazing.

Overall, the experience at GGA will be unforgettable and it was so beneficial to my time in South Africa to understand what some other aspects of life are here. Next on my journey is to leave for Victoria Falls/Zambia Sunday morning to start my 10-day safari/trip with Rosie. I will be out of Internet while I’m on the trip but I will update when I get back. After that it’s a couple of days in Cape Town and then back to the USA.

The following day we went to volunteer and build houses as TSiBA’s 5^th anniversary service building day. It was so nice to work on these houses and then eventually present it to its new residents. I felt as if we were on extreme home make over. It was such a nice feeling to do something like that.

The next day we went to a place called Khayelitsha Cookies. Khayelitsha is one of the biggest townships in South Africa and Cape Town with over 1.2 million people living there. This cookie factory hires women from the area that are single moms and are on the verge of giving up because they have no skills to get a job. Khayelitsha cookies employs them in order to teach them skills and give them jobs so that they can make money to support their families. The cookies were delicious and they certainly do not charge enough for a variety pack. I think that they would do great in whole foods because they have no artificial ingredients and they are for a good cause. I also supported their business.

So…the next couple of entries are to catch everyone up and are separated into sections of the trip.

To finish the last week of Cape Town, we began the week by going to an orphanage called Priceless honor, which was run by an entrepreneur that we were working with at school. We made a huge meal and played with the kids for HOURS and we were all exhausted by the end of it. Most of the children at the orphanage were there because they did not have family to take care of them or they were also there as part of the community center so it was nice to be able to help them out. The shocking part was that out of the 200-250 children that were there, based on statistics, 12 will graduate from high school and 1 will go to college. These facts were pretty hard to grasp and understand after we left the orphanage/children’s center.

The next day we went to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope—the most southwestern part of Africa. It was so beautiful there. We started out by going to this place where all these penguins live by the beach (I can’t remember the name) and then we went on a bike ride for 17 kms to get to cape point. Then we went on a really long hike where I was able to go to the top of a light house where the “Atlantic and Indian oceans meet” however it actually wasn’t the spot. This day was one of the best days because it was so beautiful and not like any of the other trips that we had done.

It is part of one of my assignments that I am working on with 3 girls and we have been keeping the photo journal. You can view it in order to put some pictures to some of my stories.

Her website (www.41oncedar.co.za) does not give the place justice in that it was much nicer than the pictures portray which is something we plan on improving. We are basically supposed to help her with some short term improvements during these next 2 weeks and also propose long term plans that will help her in the next 6-12 months. She is a 2 star b&b and mainly because 3 rooms share a bathroom. She would be considered a 3 star if she did not have that problem. She has that problem because she has no money and she has no money because she is not constantly full and shes not full because she doesnt have much advertising and exposure since she doesnt have any money. 

So it all goes in a circle and there have been times that my group just looks at each other in confusion because we dont know where to start and we have only completed 2 official working days on the project and have already come up with a efficiency plan to teach her before the weekend. We have inputed all of her financials that were previously receipts in a tissue box and put them in excels and also created a customer data base as well as a customer service plan. I definitely think that all of our work experience in our group has been able to help us get so far in 2 days. 

Its hard because we feel like we cant do much for her but really we can. Once she gets to a point where she has money and more guests, then she can hire a lady to do the cooking and cleaning who can then feed her own family and support them thus creating a larger social impact. Although we will not be part of this when it happens, we will know that we were able to help her get off her feet. 

We have also started classes this week and our professor from Northeastern is amazing. I have learned so much so far and its only been 2 days of our social entrepreneurship class. I have even signed up for his micro finance course in the fall. I am really excited that northeastern is starting social entrepreneurship as a major and that I will be half way done with it after this program so that I can do more with my education. I know that we, right now, are part of something that will be huge in the next 6 months and that it is going to be in my life for the rest of my life. 

Now I have to get some rest because its hard to work 8 hours a day on very little rest.

We also went to seal island before dinner that night and went on a boat to see this small island where all the seals gather. It was wonderful but I did feel a bit sea sick. I realized that I havent been on many boats before. The waves got to me. It was cold as well. That night was the start of the bad weather.

Saturday we were supposed to hike table mountain but it was so cloudy and the clouds hung around the mountain so we decided to reschedule that. It was a good thing because although we did take a different hike it started to pour towards the end of it. Saturday night we all went out for my friend Gwen’s birthday and we had a lot of the TSiBA students stay with us because they could go home that late at night for transportation and safety issues. I went into this crazy hospitality mode and really wanted to make sure everyone had a nice place to sleep and it felt so nice to give them the opportunity to stay with us and have a nice relaxing sleep after a night of partying. I had a great time. Sunday we went on a wine tour of a really nice wine estate and we saw BABOONS! that was basically our first african wildlife. I don’t think my excitement will end even after a few days on safari. I love animals.

Tomorrow we meet our entrepreneurs that we will be working with and I am so excited!

Next we headed over to the Desmund Tutu AIDS Foundation. From what I understand, the main doctor (who was very young) was in a rush and we were very lucky to have him speak to us. He started by explaining what HIV is, how it becomes AIDS in stage 4 and at what point a person can start taking the ARVs. While I wont go into everything I learned, I will admit that I had very little knowledge on the subject until sitting there for those 45 minutes or so.  I learned so much and how it affects the people in South Africa and how many people have it. We also learned about different forms of education and how the lack of sex education to children and teens needs to dramatically change for anything to change in SA.  

We then went to a township where there was a research clinic for different types of HIV/AIDS treatment. While waiting our chance to go inside (for the privacy of patients) we were abel to for the first time walk around the township on our own with the students. This township was a bit different because we were where most of the shacks were. There was a group of boys and some adults standing around and Sizwe, a TSiBA student, explained to me what they backgrounds most likely were and that the children were playing games to remain from being bored. He has started a youth empowerment program that plans activities to get boys to participate in them so that they can stay away from drugs. He explained to me that those boys were the ideal bunch that he would approach and try to get them to be involved. 

The research clinic was a different expereince in that they would try new treatments out but the only way to test them is to see if people contract HIV. And I know this is wrong, but basically, although they teach them about HIV and safe sex, they are in a way hoping that people wont listen (and they don’t) so that they can see if it is working or not. I also don’t want to get into that on here but everything about this trip is from a different angle. 

On a more social and fun note, last night we had a dinner party at our apartments and it was so wonderful. Everyone got together and had a great time….as if we dont spend enough time with each other. tomorrow we are continuing our HIV/AIDs education and we will be learning about education within schools. I am excited to see how it compares to the United States.

This morning we had 2 lecturers, one on the politics which was very interesting in learning about the current political situation and the future for Africa and then we were given a lecture from the COO from Business Partners from which we learned about SME’s (small and medium enterprises and the way that they affect South Africa in creating jobs. He said that they receive 50 applications daily (or weekly..cant remember) about business that people need assistance to start and that they start on average 5 business in Cape Town per week. AMAZING. 

After this we went to the Gugulethu township for Mzoli’s Meat. This is basically a place where you go purchase the meat and then wait round for over 2 hours to get to eat it while they cook the meat. Obviously not a place for me but actually many people couldnt eat it as some students dont eat pork or anything cooked where pork was cooked. This was a fun day as we could just hang out with the students and relax instead of go on a walking tour or something that we have been doing in the past days. It seemed like a very touristy place and is also in the tourist books even though it is in a township. I also learned that Mzoli’s is a place that the locals in the township will go in the evening and it is considered a club or a bar in their social scene. 

I have enjoyed so much learning from the TSiBA students. they are so welcome to sharing their stories with us and listening to our stories as well. I find myself explaining a lot about what communities are like in the US so that they can better understand where we came from. Most of them have lived in the Western Cape for their entire lives. I think only 2 have come from the Eastern Cape, hence the reason they speak Zulu instead. Also, most of them have not traveling outside of the Western Cape and have moved from township to township or suburb so they cant picture where we come from. As students from the US, we all come from different backgrounds since we are from all over the US.