Update on volunteer work in Cape Town

Some of our concluding thoughts about our volunteer work

From Rob:

The volunteer organization I worked with, Paediatric AIDS Teatment in Africa, has been developing a data base.  I helped by entering data, reviewing reports from the clinics, and developing an outcome data base. I also researched potential funders in the business world.  South Africa requires all corporations to have a corporate social investment (CSI) initiative and report on its activities in its annual report.  Many of the companies focus on services to their own employees, but many of the larger ones provide dollars, services and volunteers to community based organizations.  Many US companies have separate entities for their corporate contributions, such as 3M, Ford, Land O' Lakes, and Volkswagen who have extensive CSI initiatives.  I looked for businesses that have made contributions to HIV/AIDS efforts and are doing business in South Africa as well as other Sub-Saharan African countries where PATA works. 

During my time in South Africa, PATA held two local forums in Uganda that focused on services to adolescents with HIV and disclosure to children with HIV. Four clinic teams comprised of four different staff attended each of the local forums.  PATA plans 10 local forums each year in different countries.  Namibia and Zimbabwe are the next countries who will host a local forum.  PATA also funds 40 clinics throughout Sub Sahara Africa for what are called "expert patients" (EP).  EP is a British term for a community health worker who has the same chronic disease as the patients they are serving.  In PATA's case the EPs are HIV+ persons who work in the clinic in a variety of low skilled jobs.  Not only do the clinics get additional support staff, but they get support staff who understand the special needs of persons living with HIV.

From Joan:

Despite all of my best intentions, I have learned that it is not so easy to be an effective volunteer in a developing country.  Things move very slowly and even though 3 months seemed like a long enough time to accomplish something, I now realize I was too impatient to “get on with the work.”  I did a quasi-needs assessment with Wola Nani shortly after I arrived, but the tasks we mutually agreed on didn’t ever come to fruition.  There were various reasons, many circumstantial.  For example, their budget year ends in March and up until the last days of March, they did not know if they were going to be awarded their contract from the Department of Health, which is what enables them to hire lay counselors for the public health clinics.  Naturally, the counselors experienced a lot of anxiety about continued employment and as a result, only two of them ever contacted me for a counseling session.  This was to be my main task during my time here.  As a result, I focused much of my effort on developing a programme model for their Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Programme, and investigated Life Skills curricula being used around the world with vulnerable populations, such as those they are serving.  They plan to use this model to articulate their goals and objectives and plan their activities.  I was able to do 4 short trainings with their OVC caregivers, which was well received.  After reviewing much of the data showing adolescent girls being 5 times more likely to be HIV+ compared to boys, and after reading more about the incredible gender inequities that drive these disparities, I focused a couple of sessions on gender inequities and offered suggestions for ways they could include this in their after school sessions.  This issue of gender inequities is a potential area of growth for their programme and the U.S. organization I represented here (SalusWorld) may be able to write a grant to help them expand in this area. I also provided a 12-hour Motivational Interviewing workshop for their supervisory staff.  This went very well and they were able to see how it could enhance relationships among staff in their organization. I received lots of feedback that this is already helping them manage staff more effectively. 

During the last week, I rolled up my sleeves and helped the income generation staff prepare a very large order for shipping to the US (West Elm  is the purchaser).  They were way behind schedule and had to bring in day labor for the packing, which I helped to supervise.  The Executive Director was surprised that “the professor was back there helping to pack boxes.”  There clearly is a hierarchy about who does what and I presume some of the staff viewed this as lowly work that was not in their job purview.  So, all in all, I draw closure to this experience with a sense of satisfaction and lots to ponder about what it means to be a volunteer for an organization in a country quite different from our own.

Sightseeing around Cape Town

We have continued our sightseeing in Cape Town – on weekends and whenever we have a chance.

Table Mountain is such a landmark in this city.  It rises 1000 feet to a large plateau (table) and sits right in the middle of Cape Town. It seems to have its own climate.  Some mornings it is topped with clouds, other days quite clear.  It also has a big influence on the winds coming off of it.  In the evening those of us to the east of Table Mountain have a much earlier sunset.  The mountain is the beginning of a range that runs down the Atlantic coast to Cape of Good Hope. Table Mountain is a national park and hence, no development has occurred on it except for a cable car to take you to the top where the vistas are incredible. There is also a restaurant on the top.  Many people walk up the mountain on trails, which include ladders in some spots.  Most ride up the cable car, as we did for the sunset viewing.  We waited in a line for about an hour and then had dinner on top as we watched the sun set into the Atlantic Ocean.

Another day we took a ferry to Robben Island, a former penal colony where political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, were held during apartheid.  The boat ride takes about 40 minutes and the views looking back toward the city are beautiful. On the island, we were taken around on a bus with a tour guide who liked to quiz us about how well we remembered what she had said.  It is a bleak landscape.  In the middle is a limestone quarry where the prisoners chopped limestone during the day.  The quarters were probably built in the 1950s.  Most were large dorm rooms, but Block B had individual cells about 6 x 9 for the high profile political prisoners such as Mandela, who spent 18 years there. There was a courtyard adjacent to the cell block where the prisoners used hammers to break limestone into small pieces.  The non-political prisoners did have a football (soccer) league, but the fields were built so that the political prisoners couldn't see them.  There is a small community on the island that was built for the guards and their families, but only a few homes are now occupied by the staff of the Robben Island memorial.  The sense of being in the cell block where Mandela and other honored leaders of the new South Africa were imprisoned was a moving experience.  It felt similar to the Derg Museum, which we visited in Addis Ababa.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.  On the eastern slopes of Table Mountain is a large park and garden, considered by some to be the best botanical garden in the world, or at least in Africa.  As the gardens climb the beginning slopes of the range, they have brought in and planted examples of Western Cape flora. It is extremely lush, maybe because this is summer, but the mild weather here allows for a huge variety of tropical plants. In addition to the natural beauty of the park, it also has a massive amphitheater setting that can hold up to 6000 people on the grass to listen to the 90 minute concert performances that occur each Sunday in the summer.  The concert ends just as the sun passes out of view over Table Mountain.  Everyone brings blankets and picnic food and wine.  So far, we have been to two of these concerts. The first one was a blues festival with a history of the blues presented through song. The featured performer was from the U.S. and he was excited to be making his first trip to South Africa.  During this performance, many people in the audience got up and danced, which just adds immensely to the whole experience. At our second Kirstenbosch concert, we saw and heard the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra playing light opera, with three wonderful opera singers.  In that setting, with mountains surrounding the exquisite sound and even a view of the ocean in one direction, it is an experience that defies description.  It was an incredible highlight of our sightseeing experiences!  Still on our “bucket list” for Cape Town is another visit to Kirstenbosch to do more walking throughout the park.

On another Sunday evening, we went to a performance by the Cape Town City Ballet, which was also performed in an outdoor park setting.  The performances of Solitaire and Graduation Ball drew on the talents of a large company of dancers. In this park setting, there were actual seats and lighting to enhance the experience.

We have only been to one movie and interestingly, here you purchase assigned seats.  The first time we attempted to go, we waited until we were ready to go in to buy tickets, only to find out that all the “good” seats were sold and there were only front row seats left. We planned ahead the next time. The movie we saw was “The Descendants” with George Clooney, which we both enjoyed. 

On Saturdays, we usually drive to a destination away from the city proper.  One Saturday, we drove to Cape of Good Hope, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans converge.  The Cape is renown for the large number of ships that have lost their way here and sunk. The vistas are quite wonderful, but similar to being by other oceans, you are nearly blown away.  Rob was able to get a sample of ocean water for the annual merging of waters ceremony in the fall at his church, Unity Church Unitarian.

The route we took when we drove to the Cape was along Chapman’s Peak, which is a toll road along the Atlantic coast that is cut into the mountain range.  The views are incredible, with many pull-off points. The day we took this route, we encountered a multitude of bicyclists, which made the narrow 2-lane road even more harrowing. We learned that most of these cyclists were in training for the Cape Argus Bicycle race, which was held on March 11^th.  Over 35,000 cyclists participated in this 105 km race. Currently, there is a lot of controversy in Cape Town about this toll road because the company that owns it wants to build a 2-story toll plaza on the site.  Low and behold this is a national park and residents have chained themselves there and gone on hunger strikes to get the city to halt the building.  A Norwegian living in Cape Town contacted UNESCO in an effort to halt construction, but yet it has continued.

Joan (Rob too, although he would deny it) has actively pursued visiting craft shops and craft production locations.  We visited a pottery factory that provides hand painted pottery and scored with some hardly noticeable seconds. It was interesting to watch the men doing the hand painting with minute, intricate designs.   We also searched for and found (but closed that day) a place that produces unique craft items composed of used tea bags painted with beautiful abstract designs.  We are bringing home some coasters, so look under your drinks when you visit.  The city has some large areas where crafts are sold in downtown and at the waterfront.  Lots of wood carved animals, wire creations, beaded items and masks. In many ways, it is remarkable how many different crafts are sold in this city.  It seems like many NGOs have launched income generation projects for poor, unemployed women who live in the shacks out on the flats and you wonder how there can be a market for so much of this stuff.  In addition to the shops, there are many craft fairs on streets and in parks, usually on the weekends. Near the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront are some of the nicer shops, most likely because lots of tourists are drawn to this area and of course, cruise ships dock here and their passengers disembark and enjoy the fine restaurants and shops.  In general, the waterfront is a festive area because there are several areas where there are street performers – a variety of musicians and dancers usually.

Joan has been to two of the townships (and Rob visited one) out on the Cape Flats where Wola Nani has an orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) after-school programme.  At one site, a large sea container has been fitted with a door and some windows and some drop-leaf tables.  Each day a couple of the staff prepare a meal, such as a meat and vegetable stew, to feed to the kids when they come. For many of the kids, this is their primary meal for the day. One site is adjacent to a government health clinic.  The ground outside the building is sand piles and gravel. There are the makings of a vegetable garden apparently started by someone at the clinic, but it appears to be dying from lack of attention.  Another adjacent building was a clinic for TB run by the Desmond Tutu TB agency.  The Phillipi township has an estimated 150,000 residents.  It was developed in the 1980s as a place for blacks to live when they were moved out of the central city by the Dutch. However, its historical roots apparently go back to a German settlement in the  mid 1800s.  The streets are paved with proper sewage. Some housing is three story cement buildings needing paint, but most are "informal houses," which are essentially tin roofed shacks that may or may not have running water, but all have electricity.  Along the main streets people have set up small shops, mostly small shipping containers for businesses, food, beauty shops, repair shops, etc.  Also within the boundaries of this particular township is a large growing area that provides about 80% of the fresh veggies for Cape Town.  Many people who live here work in the fields.  There is an ongoing struggle over who owns the land that the informal houses are on.

As people from the rural areas flocked to the cities, townships were formed outside of the main part of the city.  Some started in the early 1900s, but when apartheid was begun, blacks and coloureds could not live in the white-defined areas of the city and so the townships grew in size as blacks were sent out of the white areas.

It is amazing to us how the whites could ever had thought that apartheid was the right thing to do and to allow the millions of blacks to be relocated into these appalling townships.  Khayelitsha is another well known township west of Cape Town where over 500,000 folks live, mainly in shacks but with some middle class housing.  In Philippi (where the OVC project is), we saw some government housing as well, usually 2-3 story cement block structures that looked even worse than the shacks.  There is understandably a lot of tension in Cape Town around the lack of (or slow) progress to improve living conditions for the blacks primarily and the coloureds who live in these township areas. Unemployment is unacceptably high and of course, those with little/no education are disproportionately affected – 25.4% overall, but 59% for blacks, 37% for coloured and 3.6% for whites. Like most of the world, the recession has exacerbated unemployment and there are many articles in the newspaper with “expert” remedies.

One big danger is fires.  Almost every week there is a report of fires in the townships and they lose 10-15 shacks with every fire. The winds can be incredibly strong and when it is cooler in the evenings, people sometimes use candles to keep warm and these can be left unattended. One day at Wola Nani, one of the lay counselors (who works for Wola Nani in one of the public health clinics doing HIV testing) called to say that her shack had burned down the night before. She lost everything and yet she showed up at work the next morning!

Joan's Volunteer Work

Joan is volunteering for Wola Nani (http://www.wolanani.co.za/), a NGO focused on caring for those affected by and infected with HIV/Aids.  Wola Nani (which means “embrace” in Xhosa, the language of most black people here) began in 1994 and so they have a long history here and a good reputation for their work.  There are 4 foci to their work.  The first is managing a staff of 19 lay counselors who do HIV testing in in 9 public health clinics in the Cape Town area.  The Department of Health for the Province of the Western Cape (a province is probably equivalent to our state) contracts with Wola Nani to do this work.  These contracts are from year to year and the end of the current fiscal year is March 30^th.  There is a lot of concern that the Health Department won’t have sufficient funds for next year’s contract (understandably creating a lot of tension among staff).  The Cape Times newspaper reports that there is not enough money in the Global Fund, which is a major source of the funds the Dept of Health uses for this work. In addition to voluntary HIV testing, some of the lay counselors do ARV adherence counseling.  The Health Dept provides training for all of these roles and if you are certified to do ARV counseling, you get paid more.  Actually Wola Nani has a contract from the Health Dept to do the training for the finger stick HIV testing – they are the only NGO in the province with such a training contract.  I have visited all the clinics and met the counselors.  One of my roles here is to provided one-to-one counseling for these counselors, because most of them have challenged lives and over half are HIV+ (although there status is not known to me).

A second focus of their work is income generation for about 50 HIV+ women, who were unemployed.  The women produce crafts which are sold internationally (e.g., West Elm buys from them).  Their primary products are paper mâché bowls. (You can view these on their website, if interested.) This has become a big business for them and they are looking to develop this project into a social enterprise, the newer term to replace “income generation.”  They continue to grow this business and it supports the women and also increases the sustainability of the organization, which is, of course, a major issue for non-profits everywhere in the world.  Although I know nothing about enterprise development (besides what I am reading), I will be assisting the Executive Director in writing a strategic plan for Wola Nani’s future, which will be useful in fund raising. I am still waiting for the first draft, however.

The third area of their work is an orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) programme.  They currently have 2 sites in townships, which are the very depressed housing areas where black people were moved during apartheid.  Their shelters are primarily shacks and these townships experience much violence and crime. Over 50% of the people are unemployed.  This is the area of work that I am most invested in and feel that I can contribute most to.  I am meeting weekly with the Wola Nani caregivers to provide some training to them in working with the children 6-18 years who come after school for the programme.  They provide a nutritious meal, as well as food parcels to some of the needier families.  This programme is funded by the Provincial Dept of Social Development, again via annual contracts.  I hope to develop a logic model (with evaluation plan) for their programme and draft text that will be useful in seeking funds from other sources besides the government.  I am seeking books and supplies for the programme and so far have lined up 4 sources of book donations plus exercise equipment from a major sports club here.  A major problem is that the space for the programmes is dreadful – one in a “container” (think small trailer) with no outside land where the kids can play. The Exec Director has a wonderful vision for a community center with a building, food garden, crèche for young children, craft generation space, play area, etc.  The Prince of Monaco has promised the money to build a building as soon as Wola Nani can get a parcel of land.  I would really love to help Moira realize this dream for Wola Nani, but alas, my time will be too limited to get very far.  Maybe I will keep writing for them at home – or maybe come back!!

The fourth area of work, they call research and training.  So far the training for doing finger stick HIV testing is the only project, which they have demonstrated they can do effectively.  I would love to work with Wola Nani on some research projects (i.e., real evaluation), but I keep reminding myself that I have retired and that was in the past. Also, I don’t think Wola Nani is that interested in doing research, per se, although it would be wonderful if they could demonstrate the efficacy of the work they are doing.  Interestingly, the monitoring they do is primarily head counts of the number of people they serve – that is all the departments of health and social development want to know about.  I don’t mean to sound judgmental, but it would be good to know if the work being done actually makes a difference!!

I will be doing a motivational interviewing training with their staff in the office headquarters – a 12 hour training over 6 days.  This is the training that I do for the public health institute at UMN every summer and have done for several health-related organizations in Minnesota over the last 10 years.

I really enjoy what I am doing here.  The staff I work with are wonderful and engage with me every day in such a warm way.  It will be hard to leave them in 5 weeks. 

Rob's Volunteer Work in Cape Town

The last week of January began our volunteer work in Cape Town.  Rob is volunteering at Paediatric AIDS Treatment for Africa (PATA).  It focuses on a network of clinics that have accepted a proven approach to anti-retro viral treatment (ART) that was developed and evaluated at Groote Schuur Hospital at the University of Cape Town a decade ago.  It involves a team comprised of a physician, pharmacist, nurse, and social worker.  Clinics wanted to learn this effective treatment process so PATA was set up to create a network of clinics that have the capacity to set up a similar team to begin ART.  There are now over 170 clinics in sub-saharan Africa involved in the network.  PATA provides large forums in east, west, and southern Africa on a three year rotation where 50 or so clinics come for training in critical issues such as prevention of mother to child transmission, disclosure to children, care for adolescents, infant feeding, and advances in ART. 

 The country of South Africa has the highest incidence rate of HIV in the world.  With 17% of the population being HIV+ and only about 1/3rd having access to ARTs, they are devoting a lot of both public and private funds to preventing further infection as well as expanding treatment.  The disease is disproportionate in the young with 33% of all of the cases in persons under 15.  Thirty percent of pregnant women are HIV+ so interrupting the transmission to their newborns is critical.

I am helping the small staff (3 full time staff and 1 part time director) in identifying potential funding sources, entering data for evaluation, researching new best practices (i.e. sexuality training for adolescent HIV+ females) and helping with the monthly newsletter, website (teamPATA.org) and the forum proceedings.  I'm working five days a week from 8:30 to 4 pm and so it is really like a job.  I'm the only male in the organization so the work setting is not an unfamiliar one for me.

First 2 weeks in Cape Town

We arrived in Cape Town on 10/01/2012.  All 4 of our bags arrived with us this time – hooray!  We are living in a small apartment in a complex with 23 other units, mostly filled with young singles.  We have a bedroom and bath, kitchen/dining/living room combination with a small balcony off this room. The units and the parking lot are within a gated compound enclosed by a high security wall topped with an electric fence.  There is also a small "plunge pool" in one corner of the complex.  We are in Rondebosch, one of the “southern suburbs” of Cape Town.  Rondebosch is home to the University of Cape Town, which is nestled against Table Mountain.  It is quite a beautiful sight!  We look out our bedroom window at the mountain. Directly across the street from us is Rondebosch Commons, a large (about 100 acres) open area used by walkers and runners. It is renown for having Cape Flats sand fynbos, a vegetation type that exists nowhere else in the world. Interestingly, it was the site of a recent protest by advocacy groups for poor people who lack housing and employment and want the city/government to do more about the lack of equity and opportunity. The police were quick to disperse the crowd by spraying water dyed blue on the protesters and arresting some of them.   That aside, this is really a lovely area.  Most homes in this neighborhood (and actually most of Cape Town) are surrounded by security walls and gates. Most first floor windows and doors are barred.  The homes all have security systems and signs that say "armed response." Home invasions have been a problem and you read about one or two every day in the newspaper.

One of many unique features of Cape Town is Table Mountain, which rises 1000 meters.  It is an imposing line of peaks, a high plateau and mountains that run all the way south to the Cape of Good Hope.  The city is laid out around the mountain and it is a good anchoring point when navigating your way through this city of 3 million people. During our first week, we lived through what locals called a “heat wave” – in the 90’s during the day, although cool in the evenings due to ocean breezes.  There is always a breeze mostly coming out of the south.  While the breeze is pleasant, it also blows in the cooler waters from the Antarctic.  That means that the surfers are in wet suits and few people are swimming in the ocean.  The two oceans – the Atlantic and the Indian are another remarkable feature of Cape Town.

We have spent most of these 2 weeks sightseeing – first, by the city’s metrorail system or by foot, and then by rental car. On our 3^rd metrorail trip, we encountered on first robbery attempt (although we had expected this might happen).  After Joan was pushed into a crowded car as the train was about to pull out (and Rob followed), someone unzipped the pocket of Rob’s shorts and took his wallet.  He realized what was happening and immediately yelled, “He stole my wallet.”  A skirmish ensued where about 5 other black and coloured riders wrestled down the thief, who dropped the wallet even as the thief’s accomplice was trying to pull him off the train. The robber lost his hat, backpack and jacket!  As unnerving as this was, we were amazed (and gratified) by how quickly so many people responded to help us out. That is the part that stands out in our memories.

In addition to that bit of distress, we experienced the predictable stress of getting used to driving on the left side of the road, exacerbated by having an old rental car – a VW Golf with a stick shift, no power steering or air conditioning.  We quickly upgraded to a car with AC, power steering and automatic.  Cape Town is a charming combination of old and new buildings.  The road systems are modern and the city is geared to tourists.  Outdoor markets and long malls with shops and kiosks all provide opportunities to buy anything, from high priced clothing to cheap wooden giraffes.  The harbor has been developed into a restaurant and shopping mall area.  Large cruise ships dock there – most recently the Queen Elizabeth.

On our 2^nd day, we opted for a cititour so that we could get a good overview of all that was in store for us.  One moving site is vacant land adjacent to the City Centre known as District Six.  This was a housing area occupied by mostly blacks that was torn down (except for the churches) during the apartheid era.  Very little has been built on this land since the end of apartheid (1994), and it is a stark reminder of that period. Another stop on the tour was the cable car that goes to the top of Table Mountain.  On many days, the mountain top is in encased by clouds while the rest of the city is in bright sunshine. We have returned to City Centre several times to visit the Victoria and Alfred waterfront, the Company Gardens (a beautiful park in the city’s centre – somewhat like NY’s Central Park – although smaller) and adjacent to Parliament, see some of the historic churches and buildings, visit craft markets and artists' shops, the South African National Art Gallery, and generally take in the ambience of the Capetonian lifestyle. Fish and seafood are abundant.  At a nice fish shop close to our apartment, we found hake (the local white fish), as well as tuna, marlin, and swordfish.  We have sampled several restaurants and all of the food has been outstanding! So we have been eating well!  

After we upgraded to a better rental car, we began investigating the Peninsula area south of Cape Town.  On the west Atlantic seaboard side, we visited Houk Bay, a large fishing village and vacation home area.  From there, we drove north into the city, stopping at a quiet beach with lots of surfers and then into Camps Bay, an upscale neighborhood with a large beach.  There was sun on shore, but a tight fog on the water – so not a good day for a boat trip.  There are probably 10-15 different beaches along the Atlantic seaboard side.  While we have yet to see whales, sharks, or penguins, there are certainly reports of them.  The paper recently noted a shark attack that killed a swimmer and there have been several reports of drownings at some of these beaches. On another day we drove to the east side of the peninsula, the Indian Ocean side.  There are some older communities there including a township area.  Townships are the communities built to house blacks during apartheid and remain today as primary housing.  This township, called Cape Flats, is several miles of absolutely flat terrain just east of the mountain range.  We drove further south to Kalk Bay, another charming fishing village.  The city's metrorail service reaches these areas after passing through the southern suburbs.  We plan to adventure all the way to the Cape of Good Hope one of these weekends when there is not fog blocking the spectacular view from Chapman’s Peak we have read about.  Most of the peninsula is a national park that includes Table Mountain and the range going south to the cape.  Thus there is no development in these areas and few roads to travel on.

As you may know, SA is famous for its vineyards and wines.  Within one of the southern suburbs, Constania, there are several vineyards and we visited a couple to sample the wine and take in the beautiful rural landscapes where grapes are growing in neat rows with mountains in the background.  The buildings on the wine estates are also beautiful and several have highly rated restaurants – we will be visiting one on Valentine’s Day!

Some impressions.  While blacks, coloureds and whites mix together in the venues we have seen, white Capetonians seem to be the wealthiest.  Most of the government leadership is black since the ANC (African National Congress) is currently in power.  Yet, Cape Town government is from an opposition party, the Democratic Alliance or DA and the Mayor is a white woman as are most of her department heads.  South Africa is 79% black, 9% white, 9% coloured, and 3% Indian/Asian.  Coloureds are persons who are descended from slaves brought into SA and most are mixed race.  The Western Cape area has a slightly different racial mix with 50% coloured, 30% black, 18% white and 1% Indian/Asian.  The primary language spoken in the home in the Western Cape area is Afrikanns, a Dutch based language spoken by whites, coloureds, and blacks. English is their second language and the language used in commerce and government. Only about 19% speak English in their homes.

Condom messages and condoms are everywhere.  Since SA has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the world and since it is only recently that the government gave up its efforts to deny that there was a relationship between HIV and AIDS, they are way behind in both treatment and prevention.  So condom use is promoted on billboards and ads and free condoms are everywhere including in every train station.  Yet HIV/AIDS remains such a serious problem.  For example, 11% of all babies are born to mothers who are HIV positive.

Cape Town has both an English as well as Afrikaans language morning and evening newspaper. There are lots of ads for jobs as the SA economy is booming (at least compared to other parts of the world).  The papers carry stories and headlines that titillate.  There are many articles denouncing the lack of equity, injustices, and criminal activities. The TV channels we get are from SABC, the government broadcasting network and primarily offer SA soaps, old movies and several season-old US shows.  Rob watched a long, long, cricket match and still is trying to understand the lingo.  Football (soccer) and rugby are the other big sports in the area. Internet is available, but it is all run through the mobile phone system, and so it is quite expensive.  It is much faster than we experienced in Ethiopia.  We read the New York Times online and Rob checks MinnPost regularly for what's happening in MN.  There is very little US news in the Cape Times, with much more coverage about Europe.

We have just met with our respective volunteer organizations and are very pleased with the people we will work with and the opportunities we will have.  We will be writing more about this soon.