First Glimpse at the "OTHER" South Africa

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore..."

After the first ten days or so enjoying life in the "southern suburbs" (ie, wealthy and white), yesterday I had my first taste of the other South Africa. What is amazing about the success of the apartheid system, is that they were able to create two very separate societies, with very little contact with each other. In fact, for the whites, you could almost never know what existed on the other side of the tracks.

So, my colleagues from the School of Pharmacy at the University of Western Cape were going to visit two of their community service sites, so I joined them on the trip. Both sites were in the Cape Flats township, a huge sprawling area where millions of people live, barely. Here's an intersting article about the Cape Flats: http://www.capeflats.org.za/modules/journey/townships.php

The first stop was a health clinic in a neighborhood called South Delpht; and the second stop was at a "day hospital" in a neighborhood called "Mitchell's Plain." At the first stop we took one of our students who is in her 5th year "internship" at the clinic. We drove through what seemed like miles of shanties, homes made out of corrugated metal and pieces of cardboard, through miles of "new public housing" (small boxes built out of cinder block with tin roofs), and ultimately got to the clinic. There were a couple of hundred people in the waiting room, hoping to see a doctor --one of the three available. As you sit in the waiting room, you eventually get called up and given a number. And if you are one of the first 300, you get an appointment. If not, you have to come back the next day. We went with the student to see her supervisor in the HIV unit. The student's job is to talk with the patients, and look for signs of contra-indications from the HIV medicine that the patients are taking. The issue is that the doctors are so busy, that they just don' t have the time to really notice these signs, and so the UWC school of pharmacy is developing a project that gets the pharmacists more directly involved in patient care, and not only in drug dispensing.

Here's the amazing thing. This was virtually a brand new facility. New paint on the walls; clean floors; windows and doors intact. And yet, given the volume of people who came through, it already felt tired. You could feel the tension on the nurses and doctors faces, as they did their best in what was clearly an overwhelming situation.

Then we said goodby to the student, and went to the second stop, the hospital at Mitchell's Plain. We were introducing the new UWC "facilitator" to the staff. He is a pharmacist from Zambia named Daniel, and his job will be to supervise the service learning students when they are at the hospital. We met with the chief pharmacist, a man named Nordeen, who was incredibly nice. He had been working at the hospital for over 20 years, and supervised a crew of 4 pharmacists and 8 assistants. There were 4 windows of drug dispensing counters, each manned by 2 people, and they were filling prescriptions and handing out drugs like you wouldn't believe. The hospital has 3 doctors, and sees over 1,000 people/day. Many, struggling with HIV and/or TB. You can imagine what it is like to try and treat this many people, especially with such complex medications as the anti-HIV "cocktails." And especially with a population that is not very literate.

As you can see from this linked article, Mitchell's Plain has about 1 million residents, mostly unemployed. This is the ONLY hospital serving the area! http://www.southafrica.info/doing_business/economy/development/urban/mitchellsplain-complex_231003.htm

Overall, I was amazed at how helpful the staff were; how they were able to deliver services with such grace and compassion, when facing such an onslaught of need.

Truly, this was my first glimpse into the OTHER South Africa. Unfortunately, this OTHER world is how the majority of the population lives here, completely out of site (and out of mind?) of those who live in neighborhoods like ours --the plush and comfy amongst us.

More on the service learning project of the School of Pharmacy later.

Blog ya./.

Seth./.

Workplace Stress, Talk Radio and Racism...

So, I was on my way to my first day of work at the University of the Western Cape, a few butterflies in my stomach as I drove alone (on the LEFT SIDE of the road) across town, past some of the poorest parts of Cape Town, to the university. I had on my nice work uniform --not as nice as Alex's tie, blazer, v-neck combo, but my typical button-down shirt, vest, and khakis. the first time that I've been this dressed-up since coming to Africa.

I found a talk radio station on the radio, SAFM. The topic was "workplace stress" and the host was mc-ing a discussion about the various causes of workplace stress, the costs to companies in lost productivity, and what kinds of programs different companies have implemented. The host brought in a local expert (I forget what organization he was with), and his first statement was something like this:

"I think one of the real causes of stress in our society is this radio program. It is horrible. All you do is focus on depressing, horrible news. I don't even listen to it anymore. And what is even worse, you don't even know how to speak proper English..." The "expert", with his lovely British accent, went on to criticize the host, using specific examples from the program's first half hour of how the host didn't know how to speak "proper English." He then went on to rant about violence and crime in South Africa, and to begin to tell a story about a colleague of his who was mugged in a public park over the weekend. Eventually, the host (in a strong African accent) breathed a very long and audible sigh, and redirected the caller to address the topic of "stress in the workplace." With that redirection, the "expert" started to share his data about workplace stress, as if his previous slam hadn't even occurred.

What an insight into the deep layers of racism and cultural conflict that exist in South African society. A simple talk radio show on workplace stress quickly became a conversation about what was considered to be "proper English," and what was proper commentary for a radio show. Needless to say, most of the subsequent callers to the program spoke about the expert's SLAM, and not about the topic of workplace stress.

I'm curious to see what kinds of layers of issues we'll uncover with our service learning work. More on that to come.

Blog ya later.
Seth./.

Greetings from "The Mother City"

2 hours from Monterey to San Fran. 6 hours from San Fran to New York. 3 hours trying to store our 8 50-lb bags at the airport and then get the shuttle bus JFK to the hotel. A few hours of semi-decent sleep. A breakfast with Nana and Papa. And then 18 hours from New York to Cape Town. And then finally, the months of planning, e-mailing, on-line house-hunting, and expectations were over, and we landed in "The Mother City." Can't believe it.

Some initial thoughts...

Keys, Gates, Fences, Razor-Wire, and Security Systems

When we arrived at 15 Sylvia Road, our landlords greeted us with a keychain of 20 keys; a symbol of life in the big city in South Africa. The house has a number of doors, and each has a sliding metal gate. The walls around the house are topped with razor wire and sharp pointy metal. The house has an alarm system, and the landlords encouraged us to sign up with ADT, the security system that patrols the neighborhood. That way, if the alarm goes off, they will be here within 2 minutes --there are ADT guys on bikes all around, working out of wooden "guard shacks" that are located at various corners in the neighborhood. We were told that when we are home and want to keep the doors open, to close and lock the sliding metal doors! Yikes. It is hard to make sense of all this, and not to feel like we are in our own Robben Island prison --not to show any disrespect to Nelson Mandela's 27 years in prison. Inequality: everyone feels like they are in prison.

"Madiba's 90th B-day"

We arrived in South Africa the day after Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday. The sunday newspapers were filled-with articles about his life and his influence. It was amazing to read. Some "activists" were talking about their disappointment that he was so conciliatory to the whites. You could definitely feel their pain. Many wrote that Mandela was the only person who could have helped the country move out of the hateful, repressive past, and that his conciliatory and ultra-respectful nature were essential at the time. They also wrote that the country's future could not ride on Mandela's laurels from the past, and that real change had to occur. People have been talking about the big election to come --and they don't mean Obama vs. McCain. But, in 2009 there will be a national election, which should be very interesting.

Location, Location, Location, but...

We love the location of our current home (15 Sylvia Road, Upper Claremont, 7708 Cape Town, South Africa), but the house itself isn't as wonderful as we had hoped. As you can see from the map, we live in Claremont, which is a pretty central "southern suburb." Alex's school is in Newlands, the next suburb north, and the University of Cape Town is in Rondebosch, the suburb after that. The house is 3 blocks from Maya's school, and a 5-minute drive to Alex's school, and also a 5 minute walk to a shopping center and the busy life on "Main Road.

However, the place is 70 years-old and needs some TLC. The landlords are very nice, but not ready to put the money into the place that it really needs. So, we've been looking around at other options. We'll tell you more about that later, but don't be surprised if we soon have another address.

First Days at School

Maya was the guinea pig, and started at "Grove Primary" yesterday. Alex had her first day at "Westerford High School" today. And Naomi and I had lunch with my new colleague Janice at UCT today. Alex was the only one to have to wear her uniform (maroon blazer, tie, button-down shirt, maroon v-neck sweater, grey skirt, brown stockings, and brown "school shoes." Yikes! Maya gets to wear a white polo-shirt and a "track suit" --perfect for her-- which is their winter uniform. She has to wear a blue dress in Spring and Summer. I was the luckiest, and got to wear my fleece.

Well, that's all for now. Lots more to share, but just wanted to get a hang for this blogging stuff. If you want to write me back, please send an e-mail to: seth_pollack@csumb.edu

Blog ya later.

Seth./.

Our new home at 15 Sylvia Road

Well, today is July 8, and we have 9 more days befoe we leave California. The girls are at camp, and Naomi and I have been burning the candle at both ends packing, cleaning, and spending money --latest purchase was a cool SLR camera for Naomi.

We just got our first pictures of our new home at 15 Sylvia Road in "Upper Claremont" in Cape Town. Check out the slide-show on the blog. Lillian and John, our new landlords, have been incredibly wonderful, re-modeling the house after some less than ideal tenants, and furnishing it with lots of TLC. We can't wait to get there and settle in. It looks really comfortable, and Naomi and I are thrilled. It's going to be a great home for us.

More to come.

Seth./.