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crashing.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

11.30

I realize it's been quite some time since I've posted anything, but the last two weeks have actually proved fulfilling.  At first, I was going to type frustrations have melted away but that isn't necessarily completely true.  We did, however, get a rental car and that has made things exponentially easier.  

I've spent the last two weeks really pushing the Women's Group to finish their disposable cameras, which they have and I've finished editing most of the photos and have sent a preview around to local academia to (hopefully) get a grant to finish the printing and (possibly) get a few of the images into the local paper in Chatsworth.  Matt and I facilitated a discussion about the issues surrounding the community and we all came up with a title for the project, See Our Voices.

After walking around to take pictures of the women who participated in the project and nearly melting, since it was actually sunny out for once,  we hung around for a feeding scheme on Thursday, which happened to be on Thanksgiving for you Americans.  After this run-on sentence, the kids sang and danced for us in Rebecca's (an American who is doing research on drug abuse in the community) flat.  

Let me interject here and say that Matt has been working diligently on his interviews as well.  He's been talking alot about international solidarity and what that means to various people.  I get incredibly excited when he talks about the middle-class lefty's forming their own movements.  I strongly agree and think that although it is helpful for us to become involved with movements that our not our own, we must fight out against anti-globalization and the lack of healthcare in the states for artists/independent contractors/whoever isn't working a disgustingly corporate job.  I think this is something we need to work on when we're back in the States.

Now back to Durban.  Finally this past Friday, Matt and I came upon the "hipster" culture of South Africa located in the Willowvale.  Music was pumping and pants were tight, tight, tight.  It was fun to be around a "scene" again but for only half an hour, as we left shortly after we arrived.  

We're off to Cape Town on Tuesday for (atleast) two weeks before heading back to Durban.  Probably won't write in the interim.  Wish us well.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

11.16

At this point, I've tried to reach out to my parents a few times to show them or describe to them what I'm doing in South Africa. All I get is an "Uh-huh" or an "I'm too busy to look at these pictures/reply to your emails" type of response. Now, I realize I'm 26 years old and should probably get over this and accept that my parents are either never going to get me or be proud of me. Hard as I try, it's still disappointing. Somehow I feel I've failed them because I am not a manager at some big douchey corporation on my way to becoming a high paying top employee...or, still worse, a CPA. Actually, it's not disappointment that I feel. It's anger. Anger coupled with frustration.

I convinced Matt to get a car and it's been much easier getting around. His first day of driving stick on the wrong side of the road went off pretty well, with the exception of a few screams from yours truly. Overall, I'm very proud of him.

I spent Thursday in Chatsworth with the ladies taking pictures and had intentions of going Friday but, of course, pulled a neck muscle and have been out of commission since. Typical this would happen to me right in the middle of a major project. There is a meeting today that I am going to have to drag myself out of bed for.

Last night there was a rugby game and the entire city was outside our window drunk, smashing bottles, drag racing and yelling at about 5am in the morning. It was quite lovely. Really. Who needs the sounds of tropical birds waking you up when you can have drunken debauchery? We also found out that a man jumped from the second floor down to the first floor and entered a woman's room here, it seems that he wanted to "make friends". Luckily some guys in another studio had seen him do this and ran down to wake the staff and help the woman. Scary.

In other news, Matt and I tracked a cockroach in our room and killed it. It took us taking the entire bed apart and smoking him out, but we did it. We even have footage of this, however we haven't quite figured how to load movie files.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

11.12

www.miriamnouri.com/siyanda.html

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

11.10

Quick note while Matt is making coffee, while videos are downloading from the camcorder. Last Thursday & Friday was the court case between Abahlali and The Slums Act. On Thursday, Matt and I went out with cameras in hand to capture members of Abahlali coming together. Many of the members had red t-shirts with slogans against the slums act and we were promised our very own shirts, which was incredibly touching to me. Unfortunately, no decision was made at the time of the hearing for or against Abahlali and we are told the judge has nearly 6 months to make her decision! I will not go into detail here about what I've heard of her behavior during the trail, only to say it was appalling.

Friday evening, Bananas gave us an incredible send off since we were leaving to go stay with Bongani and his family. I think (I can't quite remember) that I started taking shots of whiskey. Matt did me one better and had a combination of tequila, jager, whiskey, and beer. Which is why he was so much worse off the next day than I was. We showed up to Bongani's a bit drunk and rather embarrassed but we all enjoyed a glass of wine and headed off to bed. We were excited about our new room and completely passed out.

We woke up Saturday and made Bongani and Mangi a vegan breakfast, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Nalee, their daughter, even had a few spoonfuls though it was painfully obvious she was only eating to impress us. Matt went up to Abahlali and I ran errands with Mangi in her then undamaged BMW. We dropped Nalee off at her grandmother's house which was situated on a beautiful, pristine hilltop in Kloof. For more information on Kloof visit the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kloof. After working with such poor people, in South Africa 50% of the population works under the poverty line of R20 per day (which is approx. 2 USD), it was strange to see such an immaculate house with so many different rooms that it had its own wings, its own maid, its own possible zip code. I won't mention that they actually cook the meat that they're going to feed their three dogs. That same evening we went out to dinner, where Matt and I were left footing the bill for Bongani, Mangi and their 2 friends. I'll spare you the details, but the evening deteriorated as Mangi was upset that her friends did not join us and did not want to drive Matt and I home. Bongani took the responsibility of driving us but at that point was way beyond the legal driving limit. He revealed a number of personal relationship issues, which were probably best kept to himself and made me realize how lucky I was to be with someone that I cared about so deeply and who returned that same affection to me.

Sunday, Matt and I awoke in a state of utter stress and immediately left the apartment to hunt for coffee and food. 4 eggs and 2 very unhappy vegans later, we decided we could no longer stay with them. We took a walk up Florida Rd in search for another backpackers (in vain). I should mention that Florida Rd is a sort of restaurant row in an area of Durban called Morningside. We called Banana and darling Sabine answered the phone and said we must come back. I should also mention that at this point we noticd a series of unidentified dents in Mangi's car, which we can only assume were from the previous nights escapades. We returned to Bongani's apartment, picked up supplies for the Chatsworth Women's Meeting and headed out. We had a terrible taxi ride there and back, I somehow always end up nauseous. Once in Chatsworth, we had a quick (and amazing) bite of veggie curry and rice at our usual spot and rushed over to the meeting. I handed out 8 disposable cameras for the women to use this week in document their everyday living experience. They were so excited that it made all the cockroaches I've endured worthwhile. That evening, Matt and I packed our bags and rushed out of the apartment and right back into Bananas arms. This time around we have a bigger room, but also exponentially more cockroaches. Last night, Matt woke up about 4 times and killed a small army of them.


Monday was the Abahlali March to the municipality to issue a memorandum for the municipality to hear their concerns. It went off wonderfully, though it took our bus a bit to locate the march. We eventually caught up to them and joined in, again cameras in hand. I hope to turn over all the footage to Abahlali sometime today or tomorrow and get it up on the website soon! Matt and I were so tired after the march that we completely passed out and woke up only to respond to Bongani's email about his disappointment and declaration that he would not return our deposit of R1,000 (approx. 100 USD). We implored him to atleast give whatever he has left to someone who truly needs it.

Today, we were supposed to venture out to Pietermartizburg but the weather is terrible and our clothes are still wet on the laundry line. Matt is busy painting his nails and we must obtain arms against the cockroaches. We've decided that our only hope is Doom and roach motels. We grappled with this issue, but it is time. The war has begun. More importantly, we are also heading into the upper class suburbs for some leafy greens as we haven't found anything even remotely acceptable in any markets in the city. Wish us luck!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Saturday, November 1, 2008

11.1

Just enough time to write a quick entry before I head to the beach...what's happened the past few days? Lets see...Thursday, Matt and I went to Chatsworth and that was an incredible experience. The residents are currently upgrading the homes and are working with the municipality. We were welcomed into the community. The Women's Committee seemed interested in my photography and I am going back for a meeting tomorrow. I've also finally heard back from Sizani with a contact for HBC groups and another contact at the US Consulate is going to meet with me sometime this week. Things are looking up.

Friday we went out with the Director of the Durban Art Gallery, Bongani, and had a wonderful time. He's awesome and invited us to stay in the extra room he has, which I hope was sincere because last night we woke up and there were roaches in bed with us. Ick.

It stopped raining yesterday so I was finally able to go to the beach. Had 2 major attacks of hiccups yesterday but I've made it through!!! Spent most of the day nursing a hangover with Matt and we looked at flats to rent for the next two months but to no avail. I'll have to comment more on our experience with that later, suffice to say I was horrified.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

10.29

at&t phone bill for the month of october: $646. that's all from calling matt the one week we were apart. that's $2.50 per minute, $2.50 per text. oh, yes. ouch.

tomorrow we are going to chatsworth to visit a contact of matt's. it is home to the temple of understanding and i hope to get a peek at it.

other than that, matt is on the phone with all our banks because they've all frozen our accounts. they didn't know we were out of the country and we've been trying to get to them for nearly a day now. but with phone cards and all that business, it's taken us way long.

matt tells me he had a really great meeting with this fellow david who was just in brazil, which is fantastic. i think his project is really taking off and that's exciting! next week there is a court case followed by a march and i'm hoping to get some great footage of that, weather permitting.

we've decided to go hiking so i can get the hell out of the city for a few days which is extremely necessary to my state of mental health. and matt's, probably.

it's a bit past 5 here which means everything has shut down, no cafe's and no hang out spots so i'm gonna go make myself comfy in bed with a book until dinner time. oh, also! i've been on antibiotics for a few days now because i have some sort of a something that is making me feel something other than wonderful. hopefully after all this damn medication is over i'll be back to my chipper self, but don't hold your breath.

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