Reflections - Week 7 in Cape Town

Molweni,

Sorry that it's been about a week and a half since my last posting.  Last week was a bit of an odd week, as I'll explain more fully below, and I didn't have the time to pull my thoughts together to post anything before the weekend.  And, as I'll also explain in a bit, once the weekend sent in, I was off to Jo'burg for a day and then off to a game reserve near Kruger National Park for a four-day safari.  So, today is the first day that I've been able to sit down with a reliable internet connection and get a little something up.

So, why was last week an odd week?  The Scalabrini Centre is holding a week-long training session this week and, as a result, the Employment Help Desk (EHD) is closed to clients.  I had the option of attending the training session run by the Alternatives to Violence Project, but that would have meant that my eighth and final week of volunteer work would have been spent at the training session.  So, I offered to switch around some of the travel plans that I had after placement so that I would be out on "holiday" this week and then return to Scalabrini next week to work on the EHD my last week.  This meant that I formally had to end my Cross-Cultural Solutions (CCS) placement a week early -- the program doesn't allow for breaks during a volunteer placement (meaning I would have either had to attend the training session at Scalabrini or volunteer for a week with another community-based organization here in South Africa) -- so last week was my final week in the CCS Cape Town home base.  And now you have a little color as to why last week was an odd week.

Week seven in Cape Town would up being a week where I felt increasingly "settled" in the Mother City.  Captonians have made it very easy for me to fall in love with South Africa and I am finding it difficult to grapple with the thought of winding things up here.  As I've noted before, South Africa and South Africa's Mother City are physically stunning -- to the point of being almost intoxicatingly beautiful -- and I feel as if I have been welcomed with a genuine warmness and graciousness that has been as refreshing as it has been disarming.  And the people I've worked with at Scalabrini -- both the volunteers and the clients -- have taught me so much more than I feel that I have been able to offer in return.  So, I am trying NOT to think about my return . . . but the reality is that I will be sitting in Brooklyn in less than 20 days.

Leaving the CCS program was a bit harder than I'd envisioned.  First and foremost, the in-country staff at the CCS Cape Town home base were absolutely fantastic and I've gotten to know most of them and consider them part of my circle of friends.  Fortunately, I have the chance to head back to the home base next week to stop in, to say hello, and to give my personal thanks to the staff, and I will most certainly be doing so. 

Add to that the fact that I developed strong connections with almost everyone in the second group of volunteers who came to the home base in October, so that only added to the emotions.  Amanda, Krupa, Sheila and Tracy, here's hoping you either made it home safely and have been able to hold on to some of the spirit of CCS Cape Town as you return to work, or that you're enjoying your pre-return travels!  Dana, Elizabeth, Erin, Jessie, Kera, Laura and Nikki, here's hoping you get just as much -- if not more -- out of your extended stay with CCS Cape Town as I did!

So, I'm now in South Africa traveling a bit.  I thoroughly enjoyed my four-day safari and I met some fantastic people who I plan to keep in contact with.  I'm actually heading to the Apartheid Museum and taking a tour of Jo'burg with Dorinne and Elio, two of the other travelers who were on safari the same time I was, tomorrow.  And I should be able to meet up with Anneke and Owen (two other fellow safari travelers) for coffee, dinner or some more Amarula once I get back to Cape Town.  I'll post pictures from my last week with CCS, and from the safari, Jo'burg and this upcoming weekend's trip to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, as soon as I get through my travels.  I'll also have another blog post once I get back to Cape Town (so hopefully the post will be up on Sunday or Monday evening).  That post with have more on my travels in this part of the world.

I'll spend next week staying in the City Bowl and giving Scalabrini the eighth week of volunteer work that I came to South Africa to provide.  I can only hope that I'll be able to begin to collect my thoughts about this place and the people that have gotten to know in a way that allows me to convey those thoughts to you.  For now, I'll just wish you all well from South Africa, the place where the oldest traces of humankind have been discovered.

Sala kahuhle,

Troy