First Two Weeks of June

After returning from our trip to East London/Cintsa I had a lot on my plate. When I got back to my room I found it an absolute disaster. While I was away my 350lb package of donations from the States had come. Since the package was so huge they couldn't fit it through the door so they had to unpack it and individually put everything into my room. It was a mess and I had a lot to deal with. In one day I was able to separate everything and box it up for all the organizations I was taking it to. The following two days I worked with Dani from the Rhodes Centre for Social Development (where the volunteer program runs out of) to distribute my items throughout the township. It was a really rewarding experience. I got to meet a lot of the people who the supplies were going to affect.

One of the places we went to we had just randomly passed. Dani, who works with all of the organizations in the township didn't know this preschool, but we went in anyway. As I explained to the woman there what I was doing she started to cry.

"It's as if you knew," she said.

"Knew what?" we asked.

"That this is all we have left," she replied. She walked through the crowd of 25 or so toddlers to grab a tupperware container. She handed it to me. Inside were 3 broken crayons. I was so grateful for the support I got at home that enabled me to provide for this school. It was wonderful. "Can we take a picture?" she eagerly asked. And we did.

Once the distribution was taken care of I had to focus on getting ready for Festival. I mounted all of the printed 8"x10" photographs on 5 squares of cut foam board. It was so tedious. I had to cut them all with scissors because I couldn't find an X-acto knife here. It was awful. After they were all cut I had to spray mount them all on. In total I did almost 50 pictures on my own. Then I solicited Tracie's help (the American from VA that lives in my res). She read me the women's stories and I typed them to be printed for the exhibit. It was great hearing their stories. The women opened up so much.

After that was completed I actually had to study. Since I only had one exam this wasn't too bad. I just had to do a little reading and preparation for art history.

Grace and I also got to visit the boys at Eluxolweni. I had extra cameras from my project so we took three up there and let the boys play with them. They took a lot of fun pictures.

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(1.) Sine's self-portrait (2.) Simphiwe's self-portrait (3.)Siyavuya and me (at his request)

The week of June 9th I just studied and packed. Neither were fun. I took my art history exam on June 11th and it went well. On the 12th I picked up Dave from the PE airport and we began our coast to coast journey which I will post about ASAP.

The Exhibition is Official!

Today the booking kit for Festival was made official and put online. The project, Defined by Four Letters, is now listed with a venue. The venue is just up the road here, so it's not far at all. It's actually only a block from the Raphael Centre, which is good for the women. They can get a ride to the Centre then walk down from there. I'm very excited that this is ACTUALLY happening. I had my doubts along the way, but it's for real now! The photos are on their way, as well. I picked up the pictures from the first camera today. They're pretty good. I'm excited to get the rest back.

To see the Fringe Booklet from Festival: Defined by Four Letters, page 40.

Pictures & Narratives

Yesterday I gave out the cameras at the Raphael Centre. The women were all very excited. I also gave them an assignment to write about life with HIV/AIDS. I wasn't expecting the narratives back too soon, but today when Grace went up there to do her English class two of the women gave her their papers saying that they "stayed up late" to do their "homework." I never expected them to take it so seriously, although now I'm glad they have. I've posted pictures from when I gave out the cameras and the two narratives on my other blog. Click the link below to check everything out.

Art for AIDS Blog

Thank you, Gracias, Danke...

I want to quickly thank all of the people who have helped me here by donating art supplies, cameras, beading materials, clothing and money. I am so appreciative of the help and am honored that so many people want to help make a difference, even if it's in a small way. Many people have had things sent to me and I'd like to acknowledge them here and they will be acknowledged in my exhibit at the Arts Festival, as well.


A Very Special Thanks To:

The Bead Society of NJ

DHL Shipping

Ms. Everett

The Gsellmeyer Family

Helby Imports/Beadsmith

Miss Horowitz

The Hye Family

Kodak

Mill Lake Elementary School

Mr. & Mrs. Mitchell

Ms. Modell

Monroe Township High School National Arts Honor Society

The Mulvey Famiy

Ms. J. Paulkovich

Ms. P. Paulkovich

Rhodes University - St. Mary's Hall

The Roman Family

Ms. Ruggerio

Ms. Schamberger

Ms. Spang

Ms. Sprague

The Artisan Framer, Jamesburg, NJ

Mr. Torreano

Mr. & Mrs. Ungerlieder

Ms. Van Hise

Washington College Fine Art and Psychology Departments

Thank you again for all of your help. It is not only appreciated by me, but also by those you are helping - the women of the Raphael Centre, the boys of Eluxolweni, the children of Amasango and Nyaluza, as well as the greater Grahamstown community.

[If I have missed anyone, please let me know, as I would like to be sure to acknowledge everyone at the exhibit. Thank you]

Still Alive

Last Friday Grace and I taught for the first time at Nyaluza. It was an interesting experience. We got picked up by the principal at 7:15am. He drove us up to the school. We were introduced to the students at their morning assembly. We were then led to our classroom and waited while the kids cleaned up the filthy room. The students hadn't had a teacher for over a month so the room was a mess and the kids were restless. We weren't told what grade were with or what subject we were teaching, so we had to figure it out on our own. We led introductions by having the students tell us their name and grade, their favorite subject, their life goals and a special fact about themselves. Our first class was tenth grade English. The majority of the class was interested in economics and wanted to become accountants. The kids were respectful and helped us figure out where they last left off and what needed to be done next. Our second class was eleventh grade English. They were a little bit more difficult than the first class. The boys were a riot. The girls were your stereotypical sixteen year old high school girls, chatty and self obsessed. Our last two classes were eighth grade history/geography. Our introduction session went by very quickly with these classes so we actually had to do some teaching. They were learning about settlements and the next topic to be covered was civilizations. We had to talk about the beginning of civilization in Mesopotamia. It was horrible. We looked very silly. In our last class we knew one of the students from Eluxolweni and he just shook his head at us while we taught. It was embarassing. Considering the amount of preparation we had (none) and the amount of direction and guidance we were given (none) I think we did OK.

We plan to prepare some worksheets for next week so that we can really start teaching. We have to prepare the students for their exams in June, which is a scary idea. I can hardly prepare myself for my exams in June, none the less prepare high school kids for an exam I've never seen in subjects I haven't covered in years.

Between our third and fourth class we got a visit from our favorite freshman, Sanele. He came to hang out. We told him about our horrible teaching skills. He made fun of us at first, but then gave us a demonstration of how to properly teach. He spoke loudly and moved around the room pointing out things in the textbook. "Teach like Jason," he said as he jumped around the room, his voice booming. He clapped his hands a lot and kept his imaginary class in line. This inspired us for our final class.

We only had four classes so we got to leave before noon. The walk from the township into town took forever, but we got to see parts of Grahamstown we'd never seen before.


Wednesday at the Raphael Centre I planned the beginning of the beading at the centre. They will start on Monday. The women are very excited. I will get to go up there and lend a hand, which will be nice. The arts festival is right around the corner, so I'm spending a lot of time trying to collect funds to help pay for the photo printing which was given by Kodak at a steep discount. Also, I'm trying to prepare the women to get the cameras and let them know what we expect and how to take a good picture. It's hard because many of the women do not speak English, they only speak Xhosa, so I have to find a Xhosa translator to translate my worksheets and then their narratives in the future. No one wants to do it for free, and I can't afford to compensate anyone. I'm also waiting for some important packages to get here, but everything is getting stopped in customs, which is both annoying and upsetting. I hate the customs system here. Everything takes forever and often packages get stolen.

This week we had three days off for public holidays. Sunday was Freedom Day, celebrating the first democratic elections in 1994 and yesterday was Worker's Day, like our Labor Day. It was nice to have two days off. Since there was no school Thursday, Wednesday ended up being a big night out. It was fun night spent with all of my favorite South Africans.

We only have three more weeks of school, which is mind boggling, but I guess what blows my mind more is that WAC is done with classes and only has exams next week. That makes me a little homesick. I wish I was going home, not because I don't love it here, but because the idea of being home is so appealing. I'll be home before I know it, though, and then I'll be wishing I was here!

Next weekend the WAC kids are going to Hogsback Mountain. It's about three hours from here, I believe. It's supposed to be beautiful. I'm excited to get away. A lot of people went away for this long weekend, but we couldn't drop that kind of money. We're saving up to go away during the last week of May when there are no classes. We want to fly up to Johannesburg and go to Kruger Park. We can't leave South Africa having not visited the famous park. I'm really excited for that trip.

Other than that there's not too much going on. We're enjoying Grahamstown while we can. Today we went to Mad Hatter's, our favorite coffee shop. We were eating our brunch (at 4pm), when the waitress came over with two shots. "The manager sent these over for being such great customers," she said. Grace and I just laughed and exchanged looks. We toasted to Mad Hatter's and downed our shots. This is the third time he's sent things over for us. He's a great guy. The restaurant has an Alice in Wonderland theme so I am planning to draw a few scenes to give them before we leave. Grace has selected them and I will draw them. I'll take photos before I give them away.

This weekend will be spent getting some things done. I have three papers due this month, so I need to start preparing for them. Other than that there's not too much going on.

Overdue Update

I've been back in Grahamstown for awhile now, but have been drowning in a wave of laziness. I don't know why my problem is, but I've been very lazy. It's been nice being back. I've been to the Raphael Centre a few times now and everything is going very well. We're just waiting for the large package of donations from home to arrive. When the package comes I'll finally get to start the photography project which will be exhibited at the National Arts Festival. Finally everything is coming together. We titled the exhibit "Defined by Four Letters," and hope that it will make the impact we want it to.

Also, we finally got back up to Nyaluza and Eluxolweni on Friday. They've been out of school so last week was their first day back. Grace and I headed up to Nyaluza to find out about helping out around school since Jason's gone now. We then were told that we were need to teach English, Life Orientation, and History/Geography. Needless to say we were pretty overwhelmed. I think we'll be starting Friday, we're just waiting for Mr. Mushwana (the principal) to give us the teacher's guides. It's such a surreal idea, me in front of a classroom. I can barely take myself seriously, I don't know how to get them to take me seriously. We were also told that we will need to prepare the kids for their big exams in June. That's pretty nerve wracking.

After we left the school on Friday we met up with some of the students we knew through Jason. We got to walk with them for awhile and catch up. It was nice spending time with them again! Grace and I headed up to the shelter to see the kids. We haven't seen them in forever. Luckily the were all there. It was amazing seeing them again. We spent awhile there listening to music, dancing, talking, cracking jokes. It was great. I really missed those kids. There were a few new kids and a few kids who have left. We got permission to come up every Friday after we're done at Nyaluza. It will be great. We plan to play games and listen to music. It's a lot of fun hanging out with them.

Aside from the volunteering I haven't been doing too much. I'm only taking Art History and my WAC Course now, so I've had a few papers to do, but not much other than that. Weekends are great, I really look forward to them. This past weekend Grace and I randomly met a kid who lived in NJ for awhile working as a camp counselor. It was great talking to him. He's the first person that I've met here so far that doesn't hate NJ. I don't know what the deal is. I certainly didn't think the stereotypes would follow me all the way here! I still get the "armpit of America" stuff here. It was nice to laugh about it with someone though.

Two weeks ago the WAC kids took a trip to Nieu Bethesda. It was fun and relaxing. Nieu Bethesda is an artist community about four hours away from here. It's famous for the Owl House, which was a pretty interesting place (http://www.owlhouse.co.za). It was very beautiful, but rather spooky. We also got to see a lot of fossils. The fossils were pre-dinosaurs which was pretty mind blowing. They are unique to the Karoo (where we were) and prove a lot about the history of the world. Also, the farm where we stayed had old bushman cave paintings that dated back over 7000 years. That was incredible. It was amazing to see artwork that old that was just painted on the walls of a cave.

Other than that I haven't been up to too much, but hope to spice things up soon. We have one last WAC trip to Hogsback Mountain, which should be very nice, but cold. We also have a very long (almost week long) weekend coming up in a few weeks. We want to take a trip then to the beach perhaps. Up the coast a bit it's still warm enough to swim. In fact, in Durban, where we might go in June or so, you can swim all year. That's pretty wild. We're also hoping to plan a trip to Kruger Park during the week before exams. That will be our last big adventure before we go home. I don't want to leave South Africa without having seen Kruger.

First Visit to the Raphael Centre and Blogging Lessons

This morning I had an appointment with the head of the Raphael Centre, Jabu. I thought that we were just going to discuss the logistics of what I am doing there, but on the way out the door I grabbed some supplies, too, just in case. I made the long trek up the hill to the Raphael Centre and spoke with Jabu about my ideas. She is more excited than I am. We talked about doing drawing and painting, leading up to a photography project in late April, early May. Between now and then I will use the other sessions to get the women thinking about art and photography. The photography project will be a sort of photo journal that will illustrate the daily life of someone living with HIV/AIDS in Grahamstown. I want the women to photograph symbols of their life. The best part is that Jabu will be getting me exhibition space at the National Arts Festival here in June/July. This is the most exciting thing I can think of. Grace and I booked our flights especially so that we could attend the festival, as it begins just after school is done. I couldn't be more thrilled about this opportunity.

After speaking with Jabu she thought that I should be introduced to some of the women and we decided once I got down to the room that I would start working with them here and now. I thought I would begin with talking about symbols. I asked the women to draw something that they believed symbolized who they are. Many of the women struggle with English and they asked me to make an example for them to see.

I drew a brain. "I drew a brain," I explained, "I think this symbolizes who I am. I value my education. I work very hard to feed my brain. My brain is why I'm here in South Africa at Rhodes." This helped them understand and they got to work.

The ladies then asked of they could write as well as draw.

"Absolutely," I responded, hoping to encourage them to really put themselves into the work. I couldn't have imagined that I would end up getting the response that I did.

At the end of about 45 minutes of drawing and writing the women began to share their projects. Each woman got up and showed her drawing and explained what it meant. They were all incredible. The common theme was family. Everyone really believe that their family symbolizes who they are. Some women became emotional as they told their tales and you could tell this was the first time they were sharing some of these things with these people that they see everyday.

I have typed up the narratives that the women wrote and posted them on a new blog which you can view here. Each week I will update this with the work from the Raphael Centre. They ladies seemed to be very excited about the work that we did and they asked that we paint next time. That should be easier to photograph, so I should be able to post images next time.

I was really surprised that the majority of the women wrote their stories in English. Even women who did not speak English to me wrote in English on their page. I had a Xhosa translator with me for awhile, but once we all got comfortable together she left and the English-speaking women helped me with translating.

This was an amazing experience. I never thought that our first session would be so successful. The women were very receptive and really used the project as a medium for self-expression. I was so proud. I'm looking forward to next week. We'll be painting and I think we'll talk about family, since it seems to be a big theme in their lives. Apparently there will be about 25 women regularly, so not all of them have told their stories, I hope perhaps a change in media will allow the women who I worked with today to tell more.

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Later in the afternoon Jason invited Grace and me to help teach three students from Nyaluza how to make and use blogs. Grace and I were very excited to join. We met Asie and Nopinki, and were excited to again be in the presence of Sanele, an inspiration to both of us (see the entry from last Friday to learn more about Sanele). Grace and I were paired with the girls, I had Pinki and Grace had Asie, while Jason worked with Sanele. We helped them set up an email address, showed them how to send and read email, then helped them set up their blogs. Pinki was very excited to write on her blog and after we finished her first entry and she saw everything published her face lit up. She's 16 years old, but very different from the 16 year old girls I know. She's smart, sweet and reserved. She was very nice to be with. When I told her that her blog could be seen all over the world she couldn't believe it. I have put links to the three blogs on the right. They each have very little written, but hopefully soon they will be updating more and more. I am looking forward to reading more about these kids. All three of them are truly inspirational and I think that I have a lot to learn from the kids in this area, especially those in the Township.

On Friday Grace and I will be returning to Nyaluza and Eluxloweni. Sanele asked us to come back to Nyaluza on Friday and we couldn't refuse. He is so sweet and charming. An entry on his blog is titled, "Charmer Boy," and he is just that! I'm glad that we've already been able to make an impression on the kids that we've met and I wish there was a way for them to know the effect that they've already had on me. This is going to be a wonderful few months full of excitement, change and realization. I can't wait to see what else South Africa has to offer and what I can give back.

Quickie.

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Addo Elephant Park where we will spend the night on a game reserve. We're going to be camping and having a real South African braii (BBQ). It should be a lot of fun and we're going to get to see some real game! I'm excited. I'll be sure to post pictures Sunday night.

Also, I start teaching art classes at the Raphael Center on Wednesday. That should be exciting. I'm hoping to start receiving donations of art supplies for the classes that I will teach there and at Amasango. It's really hard to get things going without art supplies, but I have faith that I will receive enough donations to do my classes and then have new supplies to leave them with. At the Raphael Center I'm going to be doing a photo-journal project that will put a face to HIV/AIDS. I want to show the real lives of real people dealing will the virus. For that I would like to provide each person with a disposable camera to take pictures of their homes, their lives and what may be left of their families. This is going to be a costly project, so I'm especially asking for donations for this. I think that it will be well worth it since the head of the Raphael Center, Jabu, has now told me a couple of times that she will be getting me exhibition space at the National Arts Festival in June/July. This will be huge. I can't think of anything more exciting! Grace and I flew here separately from everyone else in order to attend the festival and this is the second biggest arts festival in the world. I couldn't be more pleased.

Things are really moving for me here and so far I've had some really enriching experiences, especially because of Jason. No one else has experienced anything like we have, so far. Grace and I were just saying today how lucky we were that he was asked to give a talk in our WAC class. I would never have gotten to meet these really special kids and I can't wait to be a part of their lives!



[anyone interested in donating art supplies please email me at karenhye@aol.com. thank you]