What we've been doing in Monwabisi

So I guess a post about the work I'm doing here would be appropriate. Its kind of hard to explain, but I'll do the best I can. So, instead of writing our IQP report, our professors decided that we should combine all the group work and create an Atlas of Monwabisi Park. Since I am on the Communications Team, our job has been to initiate a co-researcher program in the park, and make it sustainable. We also had to analyze communication among the sectors involved (see diagram that I had to create to do this) and create a database logging all communication and contact information among the groups. We are also responsible for updating and re doing the Cape Town Project Centre website so that it is useful to current students, alumni and prospective students. Right now, its kind of useless. The other component is to create a "voice" for the community by using photos and their words to tell their stories which will be used in sponsor presentations and in the atlas. We work 40 hours a week on this project, or about that much and have weekends completely off to travel.

Tomorrow is the big Indaba/Charette involving all of our sponsors, advisors and other members of the park, and the rest of the students. In the morning, we will be giving our presentations about our projects (there are 6 groups of three or four students) and in the afternoon we will be drumming, getting our hair braided and eating. It should be a very good time, as well as a productive one.

Today I toured the Shabeens (or bars) with a member of the Mapping team and three co- researchers. Some were nicer than others, some had clients at 9 am on a Thursday. Deb got a marriage proposal (some man asked what he would have to do to make her stay in Africa and be his wife), we both got hit on quite a lot, but I guess we stood out in the bars, as definitely foreigners and probably Americans. We also got handed condoms by AIDS prevention workers, and this got our advisor Scott very excited and asking lots of awkward questions. But this is a step in the right direction, as very recently South Africa was denying that AIDS was a real disease and refused outside help.

We finally got to work out our presentation with the Co-Researchers, and we shall see how it goes tomorrow.