Cold, Coworkers, and Casino

It has been cold and rainy the past three days. Highs have struggled to get above the mid-50s, and it's rained hard off and on since Friday evening. I heard on the news today that about 60 homes in the shack areas of Guguletu, Philippi and Mitchell's Plain have been lost due to fire or floods and well over 100 people are homeless because of the weather. It's supposed to be in the 50s all week, with a couple sunny days coming up and then more rain.

Fires are a problem because people will start fires in their shacks to keep warm. Paraffin heaters, just like kerosene heaters, are also used. There's a tendency for these heaters to tip over or be knocked over by kids, and it's not uncommon to hear of kids getting badly burned in shack fires. As you can imagine, a shack fire can quickly spread because of the extremely cramped conditions in the informal settlements (i.e., shack areas) and the materials used to build the shacks.

Floods are a problem because there's nowhere for the water to go during a heavy rain. Nearly all ground is covered by structures, and people build shacks right up to the edge of swamps and marshes. A walk through the informal settlements during a rainstorm is like walking along dirt roads near farms: There are puddles everywhere and sandy muds get all over everything. One man I talked to said that during the rainy times he will have to place milk crates all over the floor of his shack and walk, sit and sleep on them to stay out of the water. It takes about 2 days for his shack to dry out after the rain stops.

Just having a watertight house is a big problem. Roofs are attached to shacks with bolts or nails. They are rarely hole-free, and most that I've seen have big gaps where the wood or zinc doesn't quite butt up right. Noloyiso, the girl who takes care of her brother on her own, has a roof that leaks so bad they wear damp clothes for days until the rain ends. A luxury is a big piece of plastic or a tarp to cover the roof, and then you just have to worry about it blowing off in the 35 mile-per-hour wind gusts.

For those of you that fight with your coworkers about thermostats and temperatures, imagine working in an office without heat. Both the clinic and JL Zwane are unheated. I think the temperature in the pharmacy was about 60 today, if that. At JL Zwane everyone wears their jackets all day. I'm lucky because I have Minnesota blood in me, but I can tell it's not going to be too long before I start wearing a sweater all day. It is good sleeping weather, though...

Staff photos

Here's a few photos of the people I work with at JL Zwane. People are not into posing here, so most of the pictures I have are action shots.

Edwin is Associate Pastor. He is in charge of visitor programmes and helps with some administrative work.

Cacisa (it looks easy but her name is very tough name to pronounce, even the locals have a hard time with it) is the administrative assistant and receptionist. She lives very close to the Centre and is a great source of knowledge about growing up and living in Guguletu.

Yvonne is Director of Ministries. She is in charge of all outreach programmes and is leading the child-headed household project. Yes, this is the best picture I have of her as she doesn't ever stop moving.

Mama Nqo is the head cook. She manages all of the meal programmes, including the HIV support group and the after-school programme. She also makes lunch for the staff everyday, a big reason why I need to keep exercising.

Mama kaToni or Mama Baps is the assistant cook. She has a son named Toni (kaToni means mother of Toni), which can sometimes cause great confusion in the kitchen if people are saying something about me and she thinks its about her son.

I will introduce you to the rest over the next few weeks.

Nightlife

A couple weeks ago my dad asked me what I was doing for nightlife. Sadly, the answer is not much. I am not a big drinker and I get up really early so bars are not a big deal for me. I'm actually somewhat of a homebody. Last Saturday, though, I decided I'd better get out of the apartment so I went to Cape Town's big casino, GrandWest. It's like any Indian casino you've ever seen. It had thousands of slot and video poker machines, with titles just like you'd see in the U.S. They had very few blackjack tables or other card games. Roulette must be big here, though, because they had more than I've ever seen in a casino, Vegas and Atlantic City included. Sadly, no craps tables, though, and no sit-down restaurants that I could find (no buffets!). They did have a big indoor ice rink and it was pretty crowded. The crowd was about half Whites and half Coloureds, with very few Blacks playing games (most of the workers were Black, though). I played roulette for about 30 minutes, won R100, and left. I probably won't go back.

More to come.