Rain on a hot tin roof...

So...we have had the most brilliant weather here until...this week.
The rain in Cape Town is truly an experience in itself~ you can be on one side of town and it's sunny and 2 minutes away it's pouring.
And when I say pouring, I mean can't-see-while-you're-driving pouring. I am intrigued... and can only wonder what it is like in a place like Samora Machel~ where homes are made of corrugated metal and timber. Judging from the sound of the rain on the roof of the YMCA building, I'm guessing that trying to sleep in a home in Samora is close to impossible during a rain storm.

Yesterday Becky and I had a really cool day~ we went with Monique to the Hanover Park Clinic where the YMCA has staff that work as "Lay Counselors"... these are women who are trained to meet with patients who come to the clinic for all sorts of issues, including pre/post HIV testing. Fay, the counselor who we met with, was a wealth of information about the position~ she meets with patients (free of charge) without appointments for any type of concern or need they might have. Generally, the needs are intense and it seems like a potentially heartbreaking job.

Fay has an incredible outlook, she loves what she is doing and told us of a client who she has developed quite an awesome counseling relationship with. This young man had just been released from 3 years in jail and entered into a relationship with an older woman in the community. He suspected he may be infected and came into the clinic for testing and met with Fay...turns out he was HIV positive. Fay encouraged him to have his girlfriend come in and bring their new baby... it turns out they are all HIV positive and they are now all receiving services from the clinic. The mother hesitates, but the child is progressing thanks to the workers at the clinic and the local Red Cross. The young man stops in each day to see Fay~ for counseling or a bowl of soup or just a quick hello. She is a critical piece of his life...

Hanover Park, where the clinic is located, is plagued with gang activity. The gangs in Cape Flats are incredibly toxic~ dealing and using "tik" (South African version of crystal meth, which is destroying the lives of many), stealing, mugging, abusing, raping, shooting, etc... it's not a peaceful area. However, the clinic and hospital workers (there is a hospital right across from the clinic) are highly respected in the area and are, in fact, escorted in and out of the area by gang members when the area is "at war." These are some seriously brave and dedicated people who are working in Hanover Park.

In the afternoon we accompanied Zandile, a YMCA Peer Education Facilitator, to one of his schools, Heideveld High. We were able to meet with the principal of the school in his office and learn that there are 1300 students in grades 8-12 and 41 teachers... That means that classes can have up to 60 students in them, depending on the subject. Imagine the challenge of managing the behavior of 60 teenagers (many of whom have children of their own) while trying to teach them literature when a large percentage of them cannot read... not much room for individualized attention here!! Not to mention that South Africa has a fully inclusive educational system, so no classes are divided on terms of ability. (anyone from Classical who is reading this should be feeling pretty lucky!!) Nonetheless, day in and day out, educators across the Cape Flats are making it happen...

The schools here are also quite different looking than ours~ from the outside they sort of look like 2 story motels~ long brick or concrete buildings with narrow porches running the length of the building and doors and windows evenly spaced along the length of the building. There is generally a common space (sometimes interior, sometimes not) in the middle of a complex of buildings like this... students wear uniforms at ALL schools, and pay fees to attend school (something like a tax, however we are still trying to figure this all out).

So... Zandile brought us to meet his group of peer educators and allowed Becky and I to conduct a session!!! We worked with about 20 students on a lesson about gender roles... the kids were awesome!!! They got so into the lesson and, I hope, took something away from it. We did some exercises about stereotypes/expectations/etc. of men and women in society (very interesting!) and then defined sex and gender. One of the activities centered around identifying specific roles of men and women... the students were very adamant about placing certain roles in the male column and others in the female column of our homemade chart... but then...could see that really, everything (except for "get pregnant") could go in either column. Becky and I were on fire... we were in our element... and had a lot of fun working with these guys.

Peer Education is a program that the South African government has started (under the Dept. of Health and the Dept. of Education) in an effort to prevent the further spread of HIV. The program is implemented in schools all over the country (particularly in areas of need) by non-profit organizations (including the Cape Flats Y!)... facilitators work with peer educators (students who are identified as potential leaders in their school) starting in grade 10. They go through the first level of the program basically learning about themselves and various issues related to HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, choice making, drug prevention, etc... (very much a combo of a health course and a guidance course!! right up my alley.) Then in their 2nd level they continue, but are responsible for conducting a certain amount of formal and informal sessions with their peers on these issues. In the 3rd level, this continues on a more intense level and they are responsible for mentoring new peer educators... (I hope I have all of this right!).

The Cape Flats YMCA has six peer education facilitators: Thabisa, Mwaka, Zandile, Judy, Fallon, and Alicia. They are actively running programs in ten schools in the Cape Flats. We will be visiting most of these schools (and conducting more sessions!) over the next few weeks.

On another note, I'm insanely jealous of everyone who is reading Harry Potter... I went to get the book and it was about $60 US... books are outrageously expensive here, so I opted against it. Am hoping Rayne will let me borrow her copy when I get home. PLEASE don't anyone tell me what happens!!!! Becky and I did go see the movie last night!! We loved it...

Today we spent time with Ayanda, visiting both of her schools in Samora Machel where we were last week. Samora Machel is one of my favorite places in the Cape Flats... I just really love the people that I have met there~ they are positive and full of life in the face of intense adversity. The schools that Ayanda works in are called Sophumelela (So-pu-may-lay-la), which means "we will succeed" and Zisukhanyo (Zee-su-khan-yo), which means "let us bring light to the people." Beautiful names for schools full of beautiful children...

Becky and I are both really interested in Xhosa~ one of the languages spoken here. It is gorgeous to listen to and incorporates clicks that are incredibly hard to master!!

Our experiences continue... we are really hoping that at least 2 folks from the Cape Flats Y will be able to come over to visit the Hartford Y at the end of this summer. Keep your fingers crossed... and anyone interested in helping to make that happen should get in touch with Hyacinth Douglas-Bailey at the Hartford YMCA.

Much much love from both of us (I have easier email access than Becky)... pictures coming soon!