41. Post masters, Drug users and Heroes

Monday was just another day of class, but sandwiched between my two classes was an interesting trip to the post office to try to find my care package, during which I was taken "behind the scenes" of a South African post office. The post master told me to "have a seat, your highness" which immensely confused me OBVIOUSLY. So I asked him to please explain himself upon which he asked if I was from the Netherlands, and I indignantly replied "No Sir, I'm American!" After which he said, "huh even more dangerous..." By this point, I was starting to feel a tad flustered and concerned. Why was I sitting in the back room of a post office in South Africa being called "dangerous" by a post master?! (do these things happen to other people? or just me? I'm so confused...) So I said, "can you please tell me what is going on, sir?!" And then he mumbled something about Americans being really demanding. Extremely peeved at this point with the governmental institutions I've encountered in this country within the past twelve days, I was not about to put up with such abuse from him. So I politely and calmly but firmly asked him point blank "How many Americans have you worked with in the past, sir?" To which he mumblingly replied, uhhhhh uhhhh mmmmm well errr. Mysteriously, his disposition changed after this. He suddenly became Mr Charmingly Helpful. He took me into the safe, which really wasn't safe, because he left me there listening on the phone which was on hold at the Customs Office - we needed to get the South African tracking number, I only had the American one. Sure I'm not a dangerous person (contrary to what he originally thought...), but I could've grabbed whatever I wanted to and run out of the post office with it if I'd wanted. I'm pretty sure that shouldn't be legal. But who knows...

So I stood there in a safe in the back of a South African post office, listening to some random music on the phone waiting for customs to pick up the phone. When they did, naturally the officer at the other end of the line was saying something in Afrikaans, so I was like ahhhhh wait a second please! and then  I called the guy over and he got the international tracking number for me....and then we found out that the package was in another post office in Stellenbosch. But naturally it was closed, so I'd have to wait until Wednesday to go there. Ugh! Pray for patience and you'll get plenty of opportunities to practice it!



Tuesday morning bright and early (oh wait, it was dark again...) we left for our public health field trip on psychosocial rehabilitation to go to Hangberg, a community in the Haut Bay area of Cape Town. En route, we had to suddenly turn around and take a different route because there was a service delivery protest (hmmm I wonder why) on the N2 (the main freeway that we always take) in the Cape Flats area and people were burning tires and barricading the road with burning tires and rocks and things. So we opted for the slightly longer, safer route to Hangberg. We got there and the first thing I noticed was --- oof, the smell. (Theme for the past couple weeks: Public Health stinks.) The town rumor is that certain fish parts are processed to make some KFC product...and that's the smell, the processing of the nasty fish parts. But who knows?

After a quick coffee and tea stop, we went up the hill to CARES, an outpatient rehab center for people recovering from drug abuse. We listened to the director speak for a while about drug abuse in the area. Unemployment. Violence. The oldest gang in the world. Ya know, the things that might make a community have a 60% drug abuse rate.
I also had the opportunity to listen to two recoverer's talks. Florence and Rosie told their stories of being young and on drugs, of having children some of whose fathers they knew, some of whom they didn't, of getting raped, of being the children in the house and their children having to play mother from as young as age 7. They told their stories of years of tik (South African for meth) and other drug abuse, 10 and 15 years respectively. They told of their moments of realizing that their lifestyle had to change, if they wanted a chance to be moms, if they wanted a chance to get to know their kids. They told of their relapses - they had each suffered one, and then of their final turnaround, just a few years ago. And then of their brave decisions to work for CARES, giving back to the community so that they could walk through the community with head held high, and show to Hangberg in a living, vibrant way that recovery is truly possible no matter how dire the situation looks. They are part of a FAVOR program, Faces And Voices Of Recovery, providing living witnesses to recovery.

In the middle of the lectures and personal story sharings, we had to stand up and do some laughter therapy. It's one of the many tactics CARES uses to help clients relieve stress and shut down trigger thoughts that lead to the emotions that trigger the brain to start craving messages to signal throughout the body.

We walked around the township, saw the clinic, which looked like that of many public health centers we've visited in lower income areas of SA.

Next, we walked down the hill to the Primary School where the principal, Amanda, spoke with us about her turnaround program she initiated here 18 months ago. This school had recently transformed from one of the worst performing schools in the country to an award winning school for the 2012 school year! Go Amanda! She talked about enforcing the school uniform policy as being her best ally in turning the school around. In enforcing teacher attendance policies. (Yeah, in SA, teacher truancy is just as much of a problem as student truancy.) In negotiating with gang leaders to leave the primary schoolers alone because they need their education. Amanda is a very tall, very big woman who seems very nice and sweet. But she could probably also transform into a Roald Dahl-esque terrifying towering big lady school principal figure that would legitimately terrify a gang leader. (The leader of the 28 gang is in prison, but he has personally killed over 1000 people...just to put things in perspective. This is the kind of gang Hangberg, and Amanda, deals with.) She also talked about involving the parents, most of whom are high out of their minds most of the time, but who - now that school is a big deal - sometimes even walk their kids to school or wake up to see that they have their uniforms on. She told us stories of middle school aged boys who go to school by day and poach by night just so that they can feed themselves and their drug abusing parents. She's used sport and art to try to get the kids involved in things for a few hours after school so they're not on the streets in danger of becoming victims or perpetrators of crime.

After lunch of fish & chips at a restaurant right on the water called Fish on the Rocks, we drove over to the Hangberg Church and listened to a presentation on the Hangberg Trust with a woman named Marguerithe. Marguerithe is one of the most inspiring people I have met in my life. She shared with us her life story, which was one of privilege and heartache. She came from a very wealthy family, but a few years ago, in the middle of very successful careers and with a baby girl, her husband was diagnosed with a disease which paralyzed him within 72 hours. And then her second child was born with cerebral palsy and other disabilities. And then her brother was killed in a bus accident.

She decided to quit her job as a very successful actuary at Deloitte and throw herself into working on early childhood development in Hangberg. And that's how she got where she is today. She established the Hangberg Educational Trust and has been working in Hangberg, promoting child care, safety and love through the Gerry the Giraffe program (http://www.gerrygiraffe.co.uk/), developing creches, establishing a safe soccer league for the kids in the community complete with an end of season awards ceremony which all the kids showed up to dressed up in their school uniforms because they wanted to look fancy in the nicest clothes they owned... The Trust also has adult computer programs which started a few months ago, and several individuals have already gotten jobs with their CVs and computer skills made and learned in those classes. Basically, you should watch the video I posted below (some brief parts are in Afrikaans), because I cannot possibly do justice to the program. I am pretty sure that several of the girls in my group were crying during her presentation. She was so passionate. So caring. So real. So human. So relatable. She's a housewife who's turning this community around. She's faced tremendous hardship. Her faith and optimism and strength are beautiful. Her honesty, humility and directness refreshing. And her dedication to and love for this community inspiring.

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile" - Albert Einstein (Marguerithe's hero)





On Wednesday, we didn't have class til 11, so I woke up early, did some homework, then set out for the bank to collect my money wire transfer from mom and dad. THANK YOU SO MUCH, MOM & DAD! I will now be able to eat and buy necessities!!! After that, I went to the post office and finally collected the package that I was supposed to receive on 10 May. It was 22 May. Good work, South African Postal Service. I guess that's what I should expect when the Service is usually on strike and has been on strike since January of this year. They also made me pay money to collect my package. I'm not sure that was entirely legal, but after almost an entire week of making daily trips to the post office, I was so ready to just collect it, that I asked no questions. Anywho, the care package was amazing, Mom!!!! How did you know exactly what I'd be missing from home? Magic. Well, I love you and thanks!
In the afternoon, we had a class about religion in South Africa, and compared it to our experiences in the US, with pretty much a unanimous agreement that this country is way more religious than America with something over 80% of their population professing belief in God and/or religious affiliation.