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I doubt I will have much time to write tonight or tomorrow – we are hiking and picnicking today and our farewell dinner is tonight with all the folks we have met here that have made this journey so wonderful. Tomorrow we are spending the morning at a cheetah rehabilitation center ( we are told we will be able to pet and hold baby cheetahs). Then we head to the airport for a grueling 29 hour 3 flight journey back to LA – It has been quite an adventure and we can't wait for our new friends to come visit us at Chadwick next year!

Dancing Drumming and Drama

Thursday we went to a church and spent the day learning about and participating in various art forms. We learned dances of groups from the South African region and the kids giggled a lot but all did well. Our teacher was Khoisan and she sang some Khoisan songs as she danced and taught us how to make some of the click sounds our tongues are not accustom to. After dance we had 4 drummers come and bring lots of drums for the kids to play. We did a series of call and response drumming songs and the kids were totally transfixed. In the afternoon a young man had a drama workshop with us and we did a lot of praise poetry within the workshop – it was a lot of fun and the kids had a great day participating in all the activities. In the evening we went to the big theatre in Cape Town and saw a productions of Greese.

Arts-n-crafts / Robben Island

Tuesday was our arts day and we went to the green market, the gold museum and a diamond store. We learned about he significance of gold and adornment across Africa. At the diamond store we learned about the process of mining and cutting diamonds. We learned all about the clarity and size and the amount of hours that goes into the production of a single diamond. In the afternoon we went over to school and the pottery teacher spent the afternoon with us working on a clay project – elephant themed that should be ready to take home when we leave Saturday.

Robben Island

Wednesday we went to the harbor and played at the aquarium for a while the we boarded the ferry out to Robben Island – the prison where Nelson Mandela stayed for 27 years. It was fascinating and depressing to visit the island. The guide on our bus tour around the Island was very informative and he showed us the quarry where the prisoners worked and talked to us about the two different correctional facilities, one for the convicts and one for the political prisoners. We walked through the prison for political prisoners led by a former prisoner. It was disturbing and inspiring both at the same time to walk in and out of the cells many of which had a placard with a narrative by the the person who was in the cell – often for up to 20 years. We walked around the courtyard where Nelson Mandela buried his manuscript for his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom which he wrote on scraps of cement bags and smuggled out with his visitors. Some of the older kids seemed subdued and got the significance of the struggles and injustices this prison represented – some of the younger kids seemed more intrigued by the drivers dreadlocks and the penguins on the island. Amazing to realize that apartheid ended in 1994 and Mandela was elected president – all of the kids on this trip were born after 1994……

After Robben Island we headed up to school and met up with some of the host families and their friends and we played cricket and had a braai (BBQ).

Environmental Service

We went to the tip of the continent today – to the Cape of Good Hope and we hiked up to the lighthouse. The baboons were all over the road and there were many signs about their aggressive behavior – it seems the kids have become accustom to large animals as they didn’t seem too excited to see the baboons or the large ostriches walking among us on the rocky beach. We hiked up to the lighthouse and we learned about the geographic significance of the site and how both warm and cold waters meet there. There were tourists there and it made me realize how many places we have been on this adventure where we have not seen any tourists. After lunch we went to a national park and picnic area nearby and we spent the afternoon pulling non-native vegetation. The students worked hard and many got blisters. We had a contest to see who could get a plant with the longest root. After working in the park for a few hours we went, dirty and tired, to the harbor and sat outside and ate fish-n-chips as we watched the local fisherman load up their catch. The students now are eating their French fries with vinegar despite the easy access to ketchup. It was a great day and everyone went to sleep sore, tired and early!

South Coast

Sunday we headed up the South Coast along the Indian Ocean and the ride was spectacular. It made Big Sur look like nothing! The road was beautifully built with a stone wall on the cliff side and miles and miles of breathtaking ocean and cliff views – with an occasional baboon on the side of the road. We went to Harold Porter Botanical Garden and leaned about the flora of the Cape. The kids then spent some time with water colors painting what ever plant inspired them. We stopped in Hermanus – where all the Southern Right Whales come and calf in the winter months. We spent the afternoon at a farm/vineyard where Dave’s brother and family live. It was a perfect day. The kids ran around the farm playing in the damn and on the fields. We had a braai (bbq) and sat around the old farmhouse talking to the family – hearing stories from the “gogo” (grandmother) about South Africa in the old days. Everyone went back to the hotel, happy, full and tired!

West Coast

Saturday we spent the day traveling up the West Coast. We started in Blaauwberg and traveled a few hours up to a archeological site and the West Coast Fossil Museum. The guide there explained how the fossils were deposited 5 million years ago and we saw the excavation of an extinct form of animal the “short necked long horned giraffe.” It was hard for the students to comprehend the scope of five million years ago. After the fossil adventure we traveled deep into West Coast National Park and had a picnic on a secluded beach with white sand and a Mediterranean blue colored ocean. The kids, Tom and Dave played water soccer and we all enjoyed playing in the sand. Next we went to an ostrich farm and learned about the birds of the area and each of us had a turn sitting on an ostrich. Two parents had a ride on ostriches and we have funny video footage to show when we get home. On our way to dinner we stopped at SANCCOB a bird rescue refuge where Nickie’s partner Carolé works. Carolé came into the refuge to give us a tour of what happens when a bird is injured or covered in oil. She walked us through each stage of triage and showed us how the animals are treated. We saw many birds including penguins, cormorants and gulls. One penguin followed us up to the treatment center and we all got to pet him – the kids were mesmerized by the whole experience – some said perhaps when they are older they will volunteer in such a place. We ended up having dinner at a place in Big Bay by the lighthouse – the students now have their new favorite soft drinks – a bright green cream soda and appletizers.

Housing

Friday we learned all about settlement patterns in Cape Town. Dave gave us a presentation about the socio-cultural history of Cape Town and how housing reflects settlement patterns and what is happening in society. We went to the natural history museum to look at Khoisan (bushman) history and then we went to the District 6 museum. Elaine gave her report on Apartheid and we drove around the city finding examples of Dutch and British rule as well as apartheid. We saw high income areas, low areas, the townships, the shanty towns that host millions with no running water toilets and very little space. We saw spatially how people were relocated depending on their classification – white, colored or black and how the physical barriers of large roads were used to keep people apart. We also saw the governments housing buildings and the areas that effort is being made to integrate. The kids have now spent some time in District 6 and at the museum – it is a pretty powerful place and I think they will think more about neighborhoods when we return home.