Green Mountains in South Africa

The very title of this blog is in reference to my love to my home state of Vermont aka the Green Mountain State. Its one of the things I miss the most about Vermont and I can not wait to do a sunrise hike up Camels Hump once I'm back home. I recently got the chance to explore some other Green Mountains in South Africa, the Drakensbergs. The Draks are a mountain range that divides SA from Lesotho and is a mecca for any hiking enthusiast. For the majority of the trip my jaw was on the floor, the scenery is outrageous and a totally different type of Green Mountains than Vermont. So without further ado here are a plethora of photos to show how amazing the Draks are.

Sunset at Amphitheater Backpackers

This is we're really lost look

Cloudy day of hiking

Our next album cover

Just chillin on the edge of a cliff

Dragons definitely live around here

The group doing a cliched taking it all in photo

Ali climbing some ladders

Matt messing up the ladies photo

SO MUCH GREEN

Cave camping

An elderly couple passed us with larger packs on their backs and made me feel like such a wimp

Oh....and we got to play with lion cubs :)

Transition Time: Move from Kimberley to Cape Town

I’ve now been living in Cape Town for a full two weeks and it’s has yet to feel like real life. Cape Town is magical. It has everything from beautiful mountains to hike, gorgeous beaches, botanical gardens, and soooo many amazing restaurants (not to mention awesome cheap wine). My wallet is already taking a serious hit. There is so much to do here especially in comparison to Kimberley. I’m now also living with 6 roommates who are all interns at headquarters with me. They are an awesome group and I’m incredibly psyched to be living with them. But all of these awesome things are still clouded by why I had to move, the closing of the Kimberley site.

We really had the best last week in Kim that you could ask for. We were incredibly busy with running a SKILLZ Street Holiday camp and also having an HIV Counseling and Testing soccer tournament the day before we moved. Each event was successful and we were able to get to say bye to all of the coaches. While we had to leave and move to Cape Town, the Kim staff is still hard at work. There are a few grant applications which we have been shortlisted on and we’re hoping to be funded. They had to move to a smaller office and suspend all programs, but if new funding comes in they can be up and running by the next month. I wish I was there to help them during this unstable period, and I still get a giant pant of guilt whenever I’m enjoying my time in Cape Town knowing they are trapped in Limbo.

It’s been a weird transition from Programs Intern to a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Intern at HQ. I am used to working on site and now I’m in an office setting looking at Excel spreadsheets and running reports on all of the numbers. I never thought I was meant for a desk job and this is confirming that suspicion. There are some cool parts of this new gig including me being the intern assigned to help with a randomized control trial (RCT) study being done with Grassroot Soccer participants. The study has been running for the past two years and is meant to see if participants who have gone through our programs are less likely to demonstrate “risky behaviors” than high school students who have been in our programs. Each year a survey has been given to these kids asking questions about different life style choices like their number of sexual partners, if they drink or use drugs etc. This is the last year that the survey is being given before the data is all looked at. The tricky part of this study is tracking down the same kids every year. When they first sign the consent form for the study the kids provide a contact number as well as their address, so if the team can’t find them in school they can meet up elsewhere to take the survey. When kids can’t be found in the school the team ‘traces’ them with that info.

I went with the team to shadow them while tracing kids in Khayelitsha. Khayelitsha is the biggest township in Western Cape and has zero signs. Trying to find participant’s houses was near impossible. During a full day we only found 1 kid. This is not a common occurrence, and the team is usually way more successful so you could see the frustration on the team that day. All of their hard work is so important in gathering information for determining whether our programs are having any effect which is rarely done with organizations similar to GRS.  

I’ll soon be providing a post on my trip to the Drakensbergs, a beautiful mountain range between South Africa and Lesotho. It’ll mostly be pictures because I really don’t think I can describe in words how incredible the adventure was.  

Taking a break on our drive from Kim to Cape Town

Playing soccer on the roof of Kloof (the other intern house). They have the most incredible view

Jeremy Loops concert at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Top of Lions Head

Fog rolling over the top of Table Mountain aka the tablecloth

Got up nice and early for a hike up Table Mountain

India Venster trail up Table Mountain has some interesting rock climbing parts

My cheese has so been moved

A lot of things have been happening in Kimberley since the New Year. BIG things. Firstly being the imminent closing of the Kimberley Grassroot Soccer site. We were informed in mid-January that our site would be closed by the end of March if no funding were found. This was a very different message than the one we were initially told in December before the break, which was there was enough money for us until June. With less than 2 months to go Kimberley went into hyper drive to find money. Hence, the lack of any blog updates. Sadly no money has been found yet. We’ve applied for so many grants as well as had meetings with companies and government officials in the Northern Cape and we’ve gotten zilch, nada, goose eggs.

This recent experience has shown me the dark side of non-profit organizations and a part that happens all too often. What happens when there’s no money? Even though the people at your site are doing an amazing job and reaching thousands of kids every year someone is going to take the hit, and unfortunately for Kimberley and Port Elizabeth we happened to be on the chopping block. I understand why we’re the sites being closed but to simply (and crudely) put it, it sucks balls. Even though the Kimberley site has been open since 2008, we have never been able to find local businesses to fund us, and that what’s leading to our closing, along with many donors putting money to larger sites in South Africa.

What does this mean for me personally? Well it looks like I will be moving to Cape Town on March 29 to work at GRS headquarters for the duration of my stay in South Africa. I considered going home early but quickly decided that I had committed a year to GRS and I was going to uphold that promise. Even though I’ve gone through feelings of betrayal and anger at Kimberley being closed, I know these feelings are misplaced and I still want to do all that I can for an organization like GRS especially when help is most needed.

So my plans for the next month is to live it up in Kimberley and tick off as much as our bucket list as possible. Nick and I have already gotten a good start since last week. Last week was my birthday and we finally did The Half Special, which is 1kg of beef, lots of pita bread, and 6 Heinekens. As you can see from the pic we finished every bite. During the weekend we also competed in the Hootgat Run. I completed my first 10km race and Nick crushed his first marathon with a time of 3 hours 15 minutes…I hate that kid. On Friday we are also expecting the arrival of some of our wonderful Intern friends and are planning an epic Kim weekend for them.

I still feel incredibly sick when I think about my new family losing their jobs but I hope they are taking advantage of a new door opening for them. I’m also trying to look at the situation as such, but let me tell you, it takes a lot of freakin effort. But anyway, here’s to trying to make lemonade.

Half Special before

Half Special After

Kids keeping Nick hydrated during the Marathon

Medals for everyone!

A Summer Turkey Day

On a gorgeous 90 degree day two interns embarked upon creating a turkey day to remember. With Fantastic Mr. Fox playing in the background, heat coming from the tiny oven and pots bubbling on the two electric burners on top, they dared to complete the impossible, a 8 person meal that would have them fed for days to come.

This was the first Thanksgiving I celebrated without my family, did a good chunk of the cooking and hosted. Lets say I was feeling the stress that I’ve seen other people have to deal with but never personally associated with Thanksgiving. We were lucky that we were granted the day off so we could fully commit to cooking. And that’s what we did…cook all day. I’m definitely an amateur chef with my only experience really coming from dabbling in a few recipes since moving to Kimberley. So I offered up my time making side dishes and leaving the heavy hitters (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean and sweet potato casserole, and APPLE PIE (for real he cooked all of that in 1 day)) for cook extraordinaire Mr. Barron.  I made mashed potatoes, quinoa salad, cornbread, broccoli fritters (not a great idea), gravy (not well executed), and a cake (burnt bottom). Still I’m very proud of myself, and if you had asked me if I would even ever attempt cooking so much in one day well lets just say I’d have committed you to an insane asylum if I could.

Still can't believe we found turkey in Kim!

Best apple pie ever

I really am so thankful for so many things. A lot of them are similar to what I’ve been constantly thankful for over the years, but this year in particular they’ve been highlighted since I’m away from home. My family being number one on the list. Without their support I would never be able to be in South Africa and working with GRS. I know it hurts them as much as me to be away from them for so long, but they’re the ones who taught me to take chances and also bred in me the need to see the world. So really it’s all their fault that I’m not a homebody. Number 2 has to be my friends who I've been in constant contact with thanks to technology. Every skype session, fb chat, and snapchat makes me feel so lucky that I have such crazy nutty friends that are always there for me even from the other side of the world.

Miss ya gang!

I’m also incredibly thankful for the Kimberley family I’ve gained. I really was anticipating a bittersweet turkey day with me wishing to be with my family in a climate that actually felt like Thanksgiving instead of the sweltering heat of Kim. But the dinner felt like any other great Thanksgiving, with people chatting, cracking jokes at each others expense and of course lots of eating. I really enjoyed myself and couldn’t have asked for a better day. It also helps that Thembi and Christa have the two cutest kids.

Good food, good people

Me with TJ, yes that is terror in his eyes

Post turkey coma

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home! Also 18 days until my family arrives in Cape Town!

See you soon Mom and Dad!

Can't wait to be chowing down with the sister

Sense of Normality

         It’s been a while since I’ve posted for the blog and I have a theory of why. I really believe its because things have lost their shock value. Things aren’t these crazy new adventures but have transformed into part of every day life, making it more difficult to find a topic that I think is worthy of posting on the internet. Which seems really stupid when you consider most of the stuff on the internet is pure garbage, but I guess you have to set a standard somewhere. For example of how I’m finding a groove here, I now look right then left when crossing the street, I’m not terrified of driving anymore, and I’m no longer shocked by everyone’s lack of being hyper aware of always being “PC”. But now I can give some updates.

            Lets see…what have I been up to. Two Saturdays ago was the longest day ever. It started off with me waking up at 6:30 to go and pick up Thembi and all the girl coaches to finish our last day at Barkly West for our Skillz Street program. The worst part of waking up so early on a Saturday was that my roommate and fellow intern, Nick, was the lucky schmuck who got to sleep in because he is not a girl and therefore was not allowed to be at the program. We had to fit in 5 practices in one day (1 practice = 45min usually), the most we’ve ever done before was 3 and it’s a stretch because we’re throwing so much information at them. We were supposed to start at 11 but of course nobody had showed up on time.  I along with Thembi and one of the school’s administrators ended up having to drive around the resort to knock on all of the doors to get the girls to join us at the classrooms. After another 45 min we had everyone present and started. We didn’t finish until 5:30 and then still had to do the graduation ceremony. I was so impatient to get a move on knowing that certificates always take a while and my chances of seeing the Arsenal v Liverpool was shrinking with every passing second.

            By 6 we were finally wrapping up and I was tearing my hair out knowing we still had to drive 40 km back to Kimberley and it would be almost dark so I’d have to drop every coach off at their house because its dangerous for them to walk around by themselves at night. My attitude took a 180 degree turn once we finished and all the girls started singing and dancing and hugging all of the coaches including me. It was so amazing to see how much fun they had with us, and their appreciation for what we do. It really was an indescribable feeling and zoomed my perspective back in on what was important and why I am in South Africa. So after taking another 20 minutes to take photos with everyone we were finally on our way home. And I made it just in time for the game  :)

Monkey spotting!!! Rooting through the garbage at Barkly West

All of our Skillz Street participants for graduation day!

Chuckin up the deuces and certificates

Waratwa photo bombing her Mommy

            The past week Nick and I spent a good chunk of time working on a mural in the office. For people that know me, I know I can’t believe it either that they’re allowing me to mutilate a perfectly good wall. Our concept for the mural is a map of Kimberley. We’ve drawn the different townships and the schools that we work in, each school is symbolized by a soccer field. So far it’s not looking like a total mess. We’re keeping it simple since our collective art skill is close to that of a 4^th grader.

Nick working hard on the mural at GRS Kim office

            Since last week it’s been hitting 90 degrees every day. I’m not use to this type of heat at all. Luckily it’s dry and not humid, but it’s hard to remember that blessing when you’re standing outside and you feel like an ant that is frying under the magnifying glass of a masochistic 5 year old. I am honestly always sweating and every time I go onto Facebook and see everyone in their cute sweater and scarf outfits I die a little inside. I want to go skiing sooooo bad and won’t have the chance until probably June. Apparently you can ski in Lesotho in the winter so I’m already planning my trip of course.

            Every day brings my family closer to visiting me in South Africa. I can’t wait for them to be here!! I’m such a mamma’s, daddy’s and sista’s girl. It’s been hard to be apart from them for so long especially since this is the first time I’ve been over 10 minutes away from home for over 2 weeks. Also here are some extra pics of Kimberley. Until next time…sharp sharp.

OBSESSED with Jacaranda Trees

Sunset over Long Street

Rekaofela

This weekend was work filled. On Saturday we had two programs running at resorts a little ways out of Kimberley. We worked at Warrenton and Barkly West with kids who are just about to matric (graduate high school).  I talked previously about these camps that have been housing these kids since August in another blog post. We had wanted to complete HCT’s but the Department of Education did not allow us to bring testers to the sites. Fortunately we are now allowed to go and complete our programs at these camps. Unfortunately this means that our next few Saturdays are devoted to GRS.

            Our day started off with Nick and I leaving the intern house and picking up two of our coaches from Platfontein, a small township about 20 minutes from us. It is a really beautiful place. The poverty is still present like in all the townships in South Africa, with people living in shacks, but the landscape is breathtaking. I swear it looks like a lion could creep up on you at any moment from the long blonde grass and trees sporadically growing here and there that surrounds Platfontein. It’s so close to Kimberley but at the same time it looks completely different to me.

Morning in Platfontein

            Anyway we brought them and our PC, Thembi, to the office where the Department of Education brought two bus taxis to transport our coaches the sites. Both taxis went straight to Warrenton which really made zero sense for the coaches that needed to go to Barkly West. Warrenton is 100km away from Kim and Barkly West is not in the same direction. We arrived at 9:30 at Warrenton and had to wait until 12 until a taxi was free to bring us to Barkly West, another hour drive. Safe to say I was already tired and frustrated with the lack of organization from the Department of Education. We had told the school at Barkly West we would start at 11, we didn’t arrive until 1 due to the Department of Education’s lack of urgency.

            We crossed the gate into the camp at Barkly West where the sign showed it was named Rekaofela. This is a perfect place for us to work at because we say ‘Rekaofela’ all the time during our practices. It’s our way to make sure the participants are listening by say ‘rekaofela’ and the participants answering with ‘rimoho’. It means ‘we are together’. Rekaofela is a really beautiful resort with a river running next to it and some nice green fields. There were even goats munching on the grass right next to the classrooms. What was even better was the enthusiasm of the girls. They’re all grade 12 so around 18 years old. I was happily surprised that most of them were participating instead of thinking they were too old for the games and information we wanted to share with them. It was a great way to bump me out of my funk from the morning. I can’t wait to go back next Saturday. I’m really interested to see how our coaches handle the issue of pregnancy with these girls because many were obviously pregnant as well as many shared that they had children already. Just in the class I sat in of about 30 girls I counted 3 that I could tell were pregnant. In Skillz Street curriculum a major point we try to teach the girl participants is to abstain or make sure they commit to having safe sex so they won’t get pregnant as well as not contract an STI. So much talk about avoiding pregnancy in order to reach your goals seems like a little too late slash also might offend these girls. I can’t wait to see how our coaches will approach this subject.

Goats at Rekaofela

Closing circle

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            After that Saturday, Sunday was completely devoted to vegging out. I did not even leave the compound. Just watched movies and read my book. If you haven’t read Cutting for Stone I would definitely recommend it, especially if you have any interest in the medical field. In the evening I watched the UVM women’s soccer team play UNH. Go Cats Go! Big cheers for all the seniors!

Biggest Cats fan in Africa!

So Many Tents

The past two weeks have been soooo much fun. First we had the Joburg interns come to visit Kimberley. We unfortunately have very little space for people to crash at our house so we set up our tent as extra space. Here’s a quick vine of building the tent for the Joburg interns when they came to visit.

A huge international skate competition happens in Kimberley every year called the Diamond Cup. Skaters from all over the world go to compete and luckily for us the skate park is about a 15 minute walk from our house. We had a full Saturday in Kimberley. We kicked it off by first going to the Big Hole. The Big Hole is just that…a giant hole in the ground, so big in fact that it is the largest man made hole on the planet. It used to be a functional diamond mine made by the De Beers company. A museum is attached as well as a small theater that depicted the history of Kimberley when it was a bustling city full of diamond prospectors. Afterwards we went back to the house and had a braai and then went out to the Maloof Skate Park.

We get there in time for the big air competition, which is completely insane to me. Traveling down a three story ramp into a half pipe is just screaming of ‘I want to see my head crack open like a watermelon being crushed by a mallot!’ Even more insane was a 12 year old kid competing in the event. Another competitor was a fellow New Englander from New Hampshire. I got very excited once that fact was announced and for the rest of the competition yelled “Live free, or die!” whenever it was his turn.  A very fitting slogan for big air competitors.

        

            After another week of work Nick and I took a bus to Cape Town. We got on the bus at 10pm Thursday night and arrived in Cape Town at 9:30am Friday. I was surprised by how easy the trip was. We both passed out for most of the trip. After grabbing lunch with a few of the Capeterns Nick, Claire and I grabbed a rental car and went to Cloof Wine Estate where the music festival, Rocking the Daisies, was being held. The drive is amazing! Rolling green hills everywhere you look with mountains in the background, very different then the desert of Kimberley.

            We parked in a field with thousands of other people and luckily for us our Spark lite car made it through the damp field, other cars were getting stuck all over the place. We then had to search for open tent space, not an easy task, especially when you need to find space for two tents. Right when I started to give up hope and was trying to spot the least creepy hippie to crash with, Nick ran into a friend and she led us to an open spot.  That night we saw a few shows including Good Luck and Jack Parow! This was already the second time we’ve seen Mr. Parow and his shows are awesome. He was in a tiger onesie with his signature hat (see my previous post to know what I’m talking about). The next day the Capetern ladies arrived with dope hats and so much energy, which helped push us out of our hangovered states. List of shows we saw are Al Bairre, Matthew Gold, Dirty Skirts, the Hives and ALT-J! All were incredible and Breezeblocks live gave me goosebumps.

Selfie time at rocking the daisies

View from one of the intern houses in Cape Town

Sunset in Northern Cape

            After such an incredible weekend Nick and I had to drive back to Kimberley. The landscape changed so drastically every hour. It started off with Cape Town’s beautiful Table mountain and green hills, to the wine country, to these jagged brown mountains, to plateaus in the desert, to the flat red sand of Kimberley. The sunset was incredible when we reached the Northern Cape.

           

Now that I’m back in Kimberley I’m excited to take it easy and recover from the past two weekends of awesomeness. I can’t wait to see everyone again in a few weeks in Joburg for the Soweto Derby/ Haloween get together.

I’m missing the fall in Vermont especially after my dad sent me this photo from a walk they took the past weekend at Shelburne Farms. Love and miss everyone at home!