Spring 2015 - Day 80: South Africa
Today was a day that I have been anticipating for a long time. I love TOMS shoes. I own a pair of them and I think their business model is awesome: buy one pair of shoes and they will donate a pair to a person in need. I had read plenty of articles about how their shoes weren't really helping or they weren't going to people who really needed them, things like that. So when SAS announced a service trip with TOMS to hand out shoes I jumped on it right away. (SAS has partnered with TOMS for about a year and a half now, my first voyage was their first together.)
I also loved the idea of the trip because we would be working with local rotarians in Cape Town. Rotary is a service organization that business men are apart of. My dad is in the Rotary chapter in my hometown! And when I told him about the trip he arranged for me to get a South Windsor, Connecticut rotary chapter flag. It is tradition for you to bring your flag to a chapter you visit and sometime you can receive a flag in return.
Stephanie was also on the trip with me as well as Fiona, a friend from my art class.. We boarded the bus early in the morning and drove to the spot where we were scheduled to meet the rotarians we would be working with. While we waited we walked along the beach and explored the tide pools.
As we got back on the bus I let both our trip liaison and the tour guide know that I had the flag. There were four rotary men with us, each from different chapters, so I didn't know who the best person to give it to was! So for that moment, I didn't really worry about it.
The nice thing about working with the different rotary chapters was that they took us to projects that they already had relationships with. Sometimes, on these service trips, you go somewhere with the intention of doing something nice but it can be awkward and uncomfortable because they don't know you and don't really want you there. But all three places we went on this day had been working with the rotary chapters for years. They had excellent relationships with them and so were excited to have us.
We visited three different projects. The first was the Christine Revel Children's Home. They house abandoned children up to age 5. It is a semi-permanent home but they try to rotate the children through as quickly as possible.
When we arrived we found out that they were having their annual fair where they raise money for the home. We got out of the bus and went inside to say hello and take a little tour of the place. It was a really nice facility and the people who were working seemed really awesome. One of the women told us that the children were upstairs waiting for us so we went back out to the bus to get the shoes. We carried the boxes up to the second floor to a large common area. There was about twenty children there waiting for us.
As soon as I walked into the room a little boy attached himself to me because I was also wearing a red shirt like he was. He would let go of my hand, even when the women asked for all of the children to sit against the wall. It took some convincing for him to go over there.
Having them quiet down and sit against the wall worked until we started opening up the boxes. Then there was too much excitement. Each box was labeled with the sizes and all of the shoes were rubber banded together in pairs. We started to try and put them on the children but they were all way, way too big. Something must be wrong. We either brought the wrong sizes in from the bus or were not given the correct sizes in the first place.
Since we couldn't exactly put the shoes on their feet we turned to playing with the kids. Which was just as much, if not more, fun. The kids were obsessed with my camera. All they wanted to do was look through the lens and take pictures. It was hard to control the situation with four different pairs of little hands grabbing for it.
At some point I found myself talking to Judith. She was the representative from the charity that directly partners with TOMS to get the shoes. They are based in Johannesburg so she flew down just to spend the day with us. We asked her if the get the wrong sizes often and she said no, they don’t, this is really rare. She said she would most likely try to have them exchanged.
She said that they have handed out more than 1 million shoes to children and adults around the country. She also said that once an organization or family is in the program they can continue getting shoes even if they grow out of them. Which is awesome. That is one of the criticisms I have read about TOMS; that they “fix a problem” for 6 months and then nothing else happens once the shoes are too small.
She also said representatives from TOMS visit all the time to evaluate and talk about ways they can improve the shoes they are giving to these communities. She loves the program and thinks that TOMS does an excellent job. I definitely agreed after I talked with her. Learning about the program from the other side was definitely eye opening and made me love the organization even more.
After a while the room with all the children started to feel very crowded so Fiona and I went down to the fair. They were having a tag sale and a bake sale, there was even live music. I took a picture of the guy playing guitar and then he dedicated the next song he played to “the camera girl.”
We bought some cupcakes, which cost only about 0.05 USD. Soon other SASers came down to the fair and bought a lot of baked goods and different things from the tag sale. It was awesome that we were able to go on that day and support their program in more ways then we planned.
After we had been there for over two hours we piled back on the bus to go to our next destination.
The second place we went was the Nonceba community center. It is a counseling center for abused and raped children in the Khayelitsha township. Nonceba means ‘concern’ in Xhosa. The center was established in 1998 but grew considerably in 2008 when it got the finances for a new center.
The center is there because the township has an unusually high number of child rapes. It is estimated that one in three children will suffer from serious sexual abuse by the age of 18. This is because of the legend that states that having sex with a virgin will cure you of AIDS. They sometimes get children as young as 6 months old. The legend has since been squashed but their abuse rate still remains high.
About 150 kids come to the center during the week, not all of them are abused, they also welcome other children to give all of the children as normal of a place to be as possible.
On our arrival there we were greeted by Don Peters, a rotarian who works closely with the center. He told us about Ashley, a teenage who visited the center one day and became so moved that she decided to make a documentary about the high rate of abuse. She showed the movie to raise awareness and, after a exchange program to Japan, she managed to get it shown on national television. Tragically, she was killed by drunk driver at the age of 19. In honor of her her family and friends raised the money to build the center that stands there today. The center is dedicated to Ashley.
Don told us about how they help children that come into the center. When they arrive they are given a little care box that holds things like a tooth brush and a doll. They then are given a place to sleep and go to counseling sessions. The center doesn't actually work to remove children from their home. Instead, they try to rehabilitate the home with the goal of having the child return to their family.
After Don gave his presentation and answered our questions about the center we were served lunch. It was the most delicious lunch I have ever had. We had chicken, salad, and potatoes. For dessert was ice cream with peaches. So delicious!
Don sat at our table to eat so we asked him more questions. Then our tour guide, who was also sitting with us and also happened to be a rotarian, told me that I should give my flag to Don. What a great idea! He was very bubbly and personable, he seemed like the perfect person to give it to.
I told Don that my dad was a rotarian as well and presented my flag to him. He received it graciously, writing down mine and my dads emails and insisting that we take a picture together. He later emailed me and my dad and thanked me for my visit. I definitely chose the right person to give it to!
As soon as we were finished eating lunch it was time to go again. Since it was a Saturday where were not many kids at the center so we did not hand out shoes, but we did leave some there for them.
The third place we went was Iliitha preschool. It is a preschool in a different township. We could only take the bus so far into the town ship and then we had to walk through the small narrow streets to get to it.
We visited on a Saturday but the teacher had the parents bring their kids to school especially to see us. As we walked in they started singing for us. It was adorable.
We were able to hand out the shoes to them directly. We opened the boxes and it became a mad house. I was sitting on the ground with a pile of shoes in front of me and a group of kids in front of me. I would put a shoe on a foot, decide if it fit, and then hunt around for one that would fit better. As soon as kid had a pair of shoes that fit they would run around like the crazy kids they are. It was so hands on, it was incredible. Their joy was so wonderful to see.
But although it was a wonderful experience to hand out the shoes it was also very strange. Because they had arranged for the kids to come to school on a Saturday all of the parents were there. It felt far more staged and it was uncomfortable at times.
The worst part was the videographer that had come with Judith. He was there to record the day, which was awesome, but he became so obnoxious by the end that we all were embarrassed. The women who ran the preschool wanted to say something to thank us and he made her start over multiple times so that he could capture it. It was so annoying. We all wanted him to go away, he ruined that last place.
But handing out the shoes was very fulfilling and wonderful. That last stop was my favorite place we went because of that simple interaction.
Once we left the preschool we headed back to the ship. I definitely took a nap on the way back. Stephanie, Fiona, and I were going to hike Lion’s head and I was so tired from the day already.
Back on the ship I took another nap. Although I was still really pumped up so it was hard to relax enough to sleep really deeply.
When Stephanie got back to the room I got up and changed into some workout clothes. Since my tattoo was brand new and healing I couldn’t really wear a sports bra that would rub against it. That would ruin it. So I had to hike a mountain in a regular bra. Worst decision ever.
Stephanie and I were going to hike with three of her friends and Fiona. I invited Fiona along during the TOMS trip and was glad to have a buddy that I knew.
We all met in Tymitz square a little bit earlier than we planned because they got back sooner than we thought. So I had to run down to Fiona’s room to get her. Then we had to make a pit stop to fill up our water bottles.
As we got off the ship we noticed a really, really strong odor. It smelled like some chemical and it was suffocating. We all held our breath until we got out the where the taxis were.
We were told that it is better to take a taxi to the base of Lion’s Head and then from there it would be an hour and a half hike. Our goal was to make it for sun set.
We found a cab and all piled it. We gave the guy directions and off we went. We got up to Lion’s head and saw what looked like a good drop off point but the taxi driver went past that and ended up dropping us at this curve in the road that was probably a half mile from the mountain. We trusted him so we paid him and all got out.
Then we started walking.
Where he dropped us ended up being really, really far from the mountain. We were so angry that we had let him drop us there instead of the actual dropping point. It probably added a half an hour to our time.
Half way to the base of the mountain we ran into people paragliding off of the base of the mountain and landing down in the town. It was a company that was running it and as we stopped and watch some people go Stephanie’s friends decided that they wanted to do it.
So they asked, and they would be able to take them, but it would be a bit before they went and then it would take about an hour to get them back up to the point we were at.
So we left them behind. Our group was down to 4.
Hiking the mountain was hard.
Really, really hard.
I knew that it was a lot more difficult to hike than table mountain but let me tell you. It was hard.
The beginning wasn't so bad because it was sloping nicely, but then the sloping got a little steeper, and then the sloping didn't go away. Soon I was panting and having difficulty breathing and felt like I was dying.
Hey, I know I am somewhat of a runner but I trained for and ran my half marathon in Florida. Where it is flat. As in no hills.
I don’t do hills.
And this was a hill.
Why did I agree to it again?
Jared and Fiona eventually were really far ahead of Stephanie and I. Then Stephanie pulled ahead of me.
I was the slow hiker. But that was ok, I just found a pace and stuck to it.
Every once in a while Stephanie would stop and wait for me to catch up because she had my water.
But then the sun started setting and we weren't anywhere near the top. So I told her to just go and I would get there eventually.
I told her that right before it started to actually become mountain climbing. And when I say mountain climbing I mean that I was actually going vertically.
I had to step up and find a hand hold. Which wasn't too bad.
And then I got to the foot holds and chains. The path split off and there was a little sign that advertised one way as shorter but more challenging. So I chose the more challenging way because I was by myself and that sounded like a good idea right?
Well, the more challenging way involved a sheer cliff face that had some metal foot hold drilled into it and some chains for you to hold on it. And people were going up and down this cliff.
I made it, but it was extremely terrifying and the encouragement and direction from the random strangers around me was the only thing that got me through.
And when I made it to the top I ran into Stephanie. Guess it really was a short cut.
We were about 100 yards from the summit when the sun was really setting. So I stopped to take pictures. It was gorgeous. It was right over the water and it was colorful and sparkling.
Reaching the summit felt like I had accomplished something amazing. I had powered through some tough moments. Most of them physical but some of them mental. And it felt great. I climbed a mountain. Me, the person who doesn’t do hills, made it to the top of a really challenging mountain. It took almost exactly an hour and a half.
Going down was a different story.
After we celebrated our success and took some pictures we decided to start the hike down since it was going to get really dark really fast.
We all decided to go descend using the chain cliff. Which was a terrible, terrible, idea in the dark. Stephanie and Fiona both had head lamps so Jared and I walked in front of them so they could light our way. But it was really hard to light a cliff enough to see where the foot holds were.
We were surrounded by really nice French strangers so whoever was below the cliff would give the person descending directions. They helped us out and we helped them out.
Once we were below the cliff it was much easier but it took about 40 minutes to get back to the non-cliff hiking. Maybe even longer because we kept stopping to take pictures of the city all lit up.
It was soooooo pretty.
Hiking down took almost the same amount of time it took to hike up. And we curved around the other side of the mountain after the cliff part, taking a different trail than we had hiked up. There was no one on it and we were able to attempt to take pictures of the moon. It only worked a little.
On our hike down we learned from Jared, who had a working phone, that the ship had been moved out of its dock because of an ammonia leak. Remember the awful, suffocating smell we experienced? Yeah, that was real. And apparently really bad.
It was leaking in the building that the ship was docked right next to and there must have been a lot of it because eventually the whole ship smelled.
Their plan was to move the ship to the next dock over but we got an email about an hour later saying they had contained the leak so the ship had only pulled back and was remaining in the same bay.
Why does everything always happen in South Africa? Last time, a baby whale was trapped between the ship and the dock and this time an ammonia leak.
Anyway…
When we got back to the road we found a bunch of taxis in a row. We had set up for our guy to meet us but we took way longer than we told him and we were no where near where he dropped us off. Which was an issue.
We managed to get one of the taxis waiting for other hikers to call a friend. The friend showed up about 20 minutes later and took us to the pier. We needed food.
Fiona and I really wanted to go to Ferryman’s because I had never been and Fiona went one of the nights and really loved it. Stephanie and Jared wanted something different so we split up.
I got a liter cider and a mushroom cheeseburger that was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. Maybe it was because I had just hiked a mountain but I wished I could have eaten the whole thing. We got an appetizer with hummus, cheese, olives, and tomatoes that was also delicious so by the time the best burger in the world came I was too full. But I shoved as much of it into my mouth as I could.
But of course I had room for dessert. I think I remember the waiter convincing me to get dessert. How ever it happened, it was a great meal to finish a great day.
We headed back to the ship right after dinner. Tomorrow…wine tour!
