A Smash Hits! Compilation for Rotary

Below you will find a mix of writings I have done on this blog, as well as in academic work, and new material all cut and pasted together to create my first report that I have submitted to the Rotary Foundation about my scholar experience. Just like people who do not want to invest the time and energy mining an entire back catalogue of an artist, and would rather purchase a "best of" album, you can simply read this post to be brought up to speed.

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Chewing away at a mouthful of mixed fruit cereal clusters for breakfast this morning, basking in the sun on the balcony adjoined to my bedroom, I looked out at the beauty of Devil's Peak and Table Mountain. Mornings like this make me so grateful to be here. I awaken, groggy, reluctant even, but always with a reason to arise. To describe it as over-stimulus would be a way of lightly summing up my time thusfar in Cape Town, South Africa. But it is the kind of constant overwhelming experiential surplus that gives you lots to think about, a feeling of fulfillment, and also instills a deep sense of purpose.
Fellowship with the other North American ambassadorial scholars here in Cape Town has been great. Most of us actually see each other with regularity. This was especially true in my first two months when I was sharing a house with 3 other ambassadorial scholars. And two other ambassadorial scholars where staying in the house with us while they sorted out their own accommodation. We had many intense late night conversations, processing our experiences here, airing our triumphs and frustrations about adjusting to differences, and generally getting to know each other. It has been especially good to have a kinship with these people that I may not have otherwise befriended under different circumstances. We are all very different people with varying ideological beliefs, and different tastes and pursuits, but somehow we have found common bonds and are able to have dialogue across difference. As someone doing a program in diversity studies, this has been quite educational. This kind of network of students who are also struggling with many similar things, and also understand certain things about home that others here may not immediately, has a tendency to bring us together. Evidence of this pops up all the time. Four of us were having dinner and found ourselves singing television theme songs we all remembered from our childhood. So in way, while we are all discovering things about Cape Town and South Africa, we are also learning what it means to be American. Being away from home brings that out in relief. Funnily enough, because we are from all over North America, we share things about our hometowns that also demonstrate the amazing local and regional variety that we bring to the table. And we are already cooking up plans to visit each other upon return.
It has also been advantageous to spend time with these other ambassadorial scholars because it makes it easy to find people willing to do touristy activities. This has been great as I have been on a double decker bus tour of Cape Town with a Rotaract president from Canada who was my housemate at the time, and we also surf together at Muizenberg Beach. I have learned to ride some waves since I arrived, as surfing is extremely popular here. I joined the University Surf Club which allows me get lessons and cheaply rent a board and wetsuit. Surfing is a gruelling sport, constantly fighting against the tide to get far enough out to where the waves break. But when you are successful in getting up and gliding on the crest of a wave, that rush is unbeatable. And well worth suffering saltwatery abuse to achieve.
I have also gone to the top of Table Mountain with fellow scholars, heading out to Camps Bay beach, walking through Company's Gardens, going to the South African Cheese Festival and taking in the sights in Franschoek, checking out the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, going to multiple outdoor concerts in the world-renowned Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and even going on a 5 day road trip with Emily Kenney and Jennifer Hotsko along the famous Garden Route. Emily, Jen, and I saw wildlife at the Addo Elephant Park, visited the Ostrich Farm and an Afrikaaner arts festival in Outdshorn, took a tour of the famous otherworldly Cango Caves, ran into Rhodes University-based ambassadorial scholar Ben Hammond in Knysna and took a ferry out to the Knysna Heads, and stopped in places like Mossel Bay, Plettenberg Bay, Jeffrey's Bay, Grahamstown, and Port Elizabeth--where we hung out on the Boardwalk. We also stopped at the Bloukrans Bridge, the site of the highest commercial bungy jump in the world. I did not take the risk, but nearby, Emily Kenney and I did a zipline track high above the Tsitsikamma forrest, skimming the tree branches and dangling over waterfalls flowing with brown water, colored by the tannins but perfectly clean. We also attended a church service on Easter Sunday in Stormsriver, in one of the towns we stayed in on the road trip. We heard word about the service at our hostel and we ran into some smartly dressed Xhosa men who looked like they were headed to the church and they welcomed us heartily into the church community. It was an amazing and humbling experience. The church was in a small one room shanty with a dirt floor covered by carpet. Everyone sat on long wooden benches, and we were given seats as the front in chairs as the special guests. There was a lot of singing, and service was almost entirely conducted in Afrikaans and Xhosa. But as English speakers they made a few accommodations so we were not completely lost. And these people sang with so much joy and preached with so much passion, it was sight to behold. Even in a modest place as that, people always find ways to feel uplifted in the community of others, and I wonder if it is actually easier to find spiritual connections in such settings. And feeling extremely welcome, we assembled outside the church after the service and we sang and shook hands African-style in a circle with every member of the congregation.
So many of the key experiences I have had here have been shared with other ambassadorial scholars. And I cannot fail to mention that our scholar orientation run by the indomitable Trevor Wilkins, was an enjoyable experience. Not only was it neat to meet other scholars studying throughout southern Africa and also some planning to go outbound, but we did some really fun activities. They included climbing Lion's Head, a drumming workshop at sunset, dragon boat racing (which fondly reminded me of the active dragon boat racing community in San Francisco), getting to visit the gorgeous Rustenberg Wine and Diary Estate and eating grapes off the vine while rambling through the vineyards and gardens, and enjoying a delicious braai (South African speak for barbeque). We also learned more about this country and city we are in, as well as the amazing work that Rotary is doing here in South Africa. There are wide range of things from working on literacy in underserved communities to improving the quality of life in the townships through economic projects and health care. There is also incredible work going on in rehabilitating prisoners. We learned about the challenges faced by the economy here, which is resource rich but dealing with huge unemployment rates and drastic socioeconomic inequality. We also received a fascinating lecture about law here in South Africa and the groundbreaking constitution and its conception and what it means in a new democracy.
It is a big part of why I came here and what I continue to think about. The New South Africa" is a title that, post-Apartheid, signifies the advent of democracy. What does "New" mean for South Africa’s national identity? It is, in some sense, a celebration of the beginning of a supposedly new social order, since the end of Apartheid government. Though one may argue that for South Africa, this may not even be novel with the advent of democracy, so much as mobilization is even more pluralized than before, and the "common enemy" of Apartheid is no longer a rallying point of struggle. But how long will the "New" prefix last? What is its sustainability as the current social order becomes either more fixed, or is brought into heightened conflict? Thus, is there a kind of forgetting of the past, or some sort of reimagining of the past in the formation of this New South Africa? "New" seems to evoke a moving-on of sorts, which may allude to the process of transitional justice under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that is integral to current notions of national identity. Though it does differ from an active forgetting--and in fact there is the transitional justice maxim of "never forget"—in that the process is a part of rewriting history in a certain way, and the rewriting is still taking place.
In watching Truth in Translation these thoughts were very present in my mind. This was a play that I saw with other students in the diversity studies program. It is about the translators who worked during the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which held hearings for perpetrators and "victims" of politically motivated violence during the Apartheid era, and was instrumental in the peaceful transition to the new government. The creative work done in the play is rewriting and disseminating a certain interpretation of history. One powerful aspect of the experience of watching the play was bearing witness to this struggle of a diverse group of translators communicating/ interpreting/ translating narratives of violence simultaneously lived in the past and the present, across different languages and through their own different identities as a part of rebuilding a nation, but also rebuilding communities. But it was also creative work that was not afraid to show that there is still a great deal of friction. And, as a side note, it was a special treat to spot Nobel Laureate and TRC co-creator Desmond Tutu at the performance that I attended! It was made even better when there were jokes about Tutu in the play knowing he was in the audience watching.
But to return to the issue of the New Democracy, I have continued to engage in these issues, attending a lecture at the Iziko museum, with Jennifer Hotsko, about that that very topic of the state of democracy in South Africa. The two speakers were major architects of the new constitution, and while moving into the private sector, both have continued to work on meting out the principles outlined in the constitution they helped conceive. They concluded that while there is a lot of work to be done--as evidenced by the tough questions from the audience--that South Africa is on the right track and that the transition will take a very long time, several generations, to truly reach a point where those constitutional principles are realized more fully.
This is also at the heart of the program of study that I chose to take here at the University of Cape Town (UCT). As the website for the Diversity Studies Program says: "In South Africa, specifically, our on-going social transformation of an historically skewed social system requires that we approach diversity in our organisations in properly contextualised and helpful ways. Theories, models and approaches arising out of other contexts need to be carefully rethought to develop frames of references appropriate for the developing South African democracy....The intention of the programme is to develop capacities for engaging in critical reflection on the politics of difference and its effects on organisational, institutional and socio-political life. Courses engage multiple axes of difference-culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, HIV, nationality, class, age-and consider how these are thought about and articulated in daily life. A strong emphasis will be placed on understanding these issues contextually and comparatively. Graduates will acquire skills for managing diversity, and for analysing and facilitating conflict involving social identities and group dynamics, particularly in the context of transformation. The programme is interdisciplinary, and seeks to bring insights from various disciplinary bases into creative conversation."
Particularly in my Diversity Implementation and Practice course we are looking at how diversity and employment equity legislation are working in practice. Not only do we hear from many different lecturers who are engaged in Diversity practice, by working with diversity interventions in companies, in education institutions, and other organizations, but we are also analyzing case studies of different diversity interventions and also doing fieldwork to examine actual diversity policies and implementation in organizations. My group plans to interview naval officers to better understand what diversity work is being done in the armed forces. The coursework has proven interesting and also a lot of work, but all very relevant and fairly manageable. The grading system is unusual to me, as some of the vernacular, which is always true of coming to another country but the adjustment has been fine.
And I have made many connections with my colleagues in my program. Many of us have become friends, and there is group comprised primarily of students in my program in which we engage with issues of diversity, difference and social justice, outside of the classroom, and try to find small ways to turn our concerns into action outside of the classroom context. I knew this program was special when Melissa Steyn, the program convenor had all of us over to her house before classes started, and I already felt an instant rapport with my fellow students, who all had similar concerns, but also clearly came from widely varying backgrounds, coming from all over South Africa and internationally, truly reflecting diversity at its best. On a Rotary note, there is a student in my program, Antonia Porter from the UK, who also happens to be a Rotary Peace Scholar heading to University of California-Berkeley in August. I have shared some tips with her about life in the Bay Area, and if she is still there when I return to San Francisco it will be great to know someone there who has been a part of my Cape Town experience.
In terms of my own research and work with the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR), things have been nothing short of miraculous. I plan to do my minor dissertation for my Diversity Studies MPhil on a topic related to bone marrow/stem cell transplant donors and cultural barriers and cultural sensitivity in education, recruitment and retention of those donors. Ernette DuToit and Terry Schlaphof from the SABMR were the first folks I met after many months of anticipation. I have corresponded with Ernette for nearly two years in the hopes of collaborating, as I wanted to come to South Africa in large part to gain a stronger international understanding of the differences in challenges faced by bone marrow registries in trying to diversify the donors on their registries, since patients suffering from blood disorders who are in need of transplants are more likely to find donor matches with people of the same ethnicity--as the tissue types are genetically inherited and ethnicities are often more closely genetically related. There is a great need here in South Africa for more black, coloured, and mixed donors and the cultural challenges and resistance from both donors and patients is a complex issue that no one has formally examined in a academically focused study from a humanities-based approach. So the work I intend to do is groundbreaking. If it is carried out well, this could really have an impact on policy and the understanding of some of the areas where improvement can be made in donor relations here in South Africa. But I feel very strongly that what I learn here can be compared and elucidate the situation of needing more minority donors in the States and other countries concerned with diversification of their registries. There are different resource constraints in each situation, and different cultural landscapes, but I think blazing the way for more socio-cultural analysis around this problem internationally is a big part of what I hope to accomplish in the long run. There is also the possibility that my work will bring to light the important and inextricably entwined relationship between race, ethnicity, and life and death. I hope that when I talk about what I am doing that it gets people to critically engage with race and ethnicity as powerful forces that exist inter-/transnationally.
Practically speaking, Professor DuToit has connected me with many local resources since I've arrived. Thanks to her, I have visited the haematology department at the UCT hospital, Groote Schuur, also the site of the first heart transplant in the world. Dr. Singh, who heads up treatment of haemotology patients and oversees the transplants, was informed of my research plans through Professors DuToit and Novitsky, and has given me incredible access. My very first two days visiting the clinic only last week was a major breakthrough. I watched a donor undergo the lymphocyte harvesting process, and then watched the transplant the next day, which was performed on her brother. I spoke to both of them at length, learning about their lives. As people who are on public or state-sponsored medical treatment, they do not have much money and their access to treatments is limited. They are an example of the socioeconomic complications that many coloured and black patients are dealing with, and this is an important aspect which I must consider as my research progresses. I also met many patients and spoke at length with nurses and the social worker learning more about the day to day proceedings in the haematology ward. As my research plans become more focused I hope conduct interviews there.
I have also been connected to a woman named Adri-Joan, who is working on setting up a donor drive at the University of Western Cape for more black and coloured donors and I hope to assist with this initiative. I will additionally be contacting the Sunflower Fund, the major recruitment organization here as well as someone who has a lot of experience in donor education and outreach in Xhosa communities. In the meantime, I am seeking out a dissertation supervisor, most likely specializing in medical anthropology. It is going to be crunch to complete this dissertation, but it is work that I am terribly passionate about and all those who are giving me assistance from Professor Steyn, to my potential dissertation supervisor, and Ernette and the team at the SABMR, are incredibly enthusiastic.
While I have been here I have also begun to intern at an independent magazine Chimurenga. As the website describes the magazine: "Chimurenga, a publication, of arts, culture and politics from and about Africa and its Diasporas, has been in print since March 2002....Since its very first issue, Chimurenga has received excellent reviews; writers of fiction and non-fiction, poets, scholars, musicians and journalists, among numerous others, have lauded its originality, the quality of its content and its willingness to tackle subjects other publications might consider too difficult or controversial to address. It is widely viewed as one of the most interesting and important publications available in post-apartheid South Africa and is fast gaining supporters elsewhere in Africa, in Europe and the United States....Both the title (a Shona, Zimbabwe, word loosely translated as "liberation struggle") and the content capture the connection between African cultures and politics on the continent and beyond." I am excited to be working on this cutting-edge publication. I am currently working on a comprehensive list of stockists of the magazine, as well as digitzing back issues for archival purposes. My other project for the magazine is researching and conceiving an online audio component to the website. I hope to also do some editorial work in the future. The magazine's unique perspective and my engagement over the past few years on issues of culture and diaspora makes this a perfect opportunity to learn about how transnational, pan-African, and diasporic movements are forming through arts, academics and text, and the ways in which those movements mobilize through media. It is a nice complement to the sociological academic work that I am doing and also had provided me with great insight into the challenges of running an independent publication here in South Africa, while bringing my knowledge from previously working at a Chinese and Chinese American arts and culture non-profit in the United States.
And last, but certainly not least (and in fact most importantly), I have had a great time getting involved with Rotary. Since I arrived in Cape Town, the rotarians here have been a source of guidance, good advice, and fellowship. I have had the extraordinary luck to have been assigned the Cape Town Rotary Club, the flagship club of the greater Cape Town area. It is also known as the Mother Club, just as Cape Town's moniker is the Mother City. I delivered my first presentation to my host club recently as well. I spoke a lot about my experience as an Asian American woman with a disaporic consciousness, and how that is tied into my interest in issues of diversity and my work with the South African Bone Marrow Registry.
Pat Mayers, Rotary host counsellor extraordinaire, is so supportive. Pat has been wonderful throughout my whole time here thusfar, bringing me a fragrant rose from her garden when I arrived at the airport, going on a scenic drive of the peninsula, having a good chat over pizza, and taking me along to a meeting for the planning of the launch of the South African arm of the Global Right to Health campaign. She is a socially conscious and engaged woman who does a lot of really great work. Very straightforward and no-nonsense but also wonderfully warm and understanding, she has been a solid source of support through all the ups and downs. We see each other regularly and I see her husband Roy as well. In fact, we just had lunch last weekend, and they came and visited the new place that I've just moved into. I have also invited them over for tea and offered to cook Chinese dishes for them so hopefully, that will happen soon.
I was also lucky to spend some time with another Rotarian from my club, Geraldine Mitton, who invited me for drinks and tea at her home and dinner at her club, Kelvin Grove. We were joined by a doctor from California, who is in the same field as her, wellness and medical direction at spas. I learned a great deal about their particular speciality of work, and heard many great stories about the plethora of places that Geraldine has been to in her lifetime. It was tremendously interesting. And Dr. Wong and I talked a little bit about California. It was a nice reminder of home.
One of the first projects that I participated in was with 3 other ambassadorial scholars Jennifer Hotsko, Ilya Gokhman, and Jennifer MacKay. It was a project run at Bishops School with the Claremont Rotary Club. We were invited by Jennifer Hotsko's host counsellor and Claremont Club member Chris Rainer-Pope. The fun day was held at one of the top local high schools in Cape Town, and many young children from nearby townships were bussed in. They were treated to a day filled with games, obstacle course, and braai with burgers and all the fixings. I helped out with the donut eating contest and the obstacle course, and the kids showed off their tumbling and dancing skills. As a former gymnast, it took me back to those early days of flips and rolls. I also got to meet some of the Claremont Rotaract Club members and students from local high schools who had also come to volunteer.
Another project I helped with was serving the calamari at one of the food booths at the Cape Carnival, a big fair that is held every year, featuring delectable dishes of all sorts. The proceeds go to a foundation called the community chest that gives money to numerous local service projects. I chatted with the other volunteers, including some Interact members from the German School. Proudly, I wore my San Francisco Rotaract polo shirt and met some very cool Rotarians from my host club. But I came home and no one wanted to sit near me, as the stench of fried calamari clung to my clothes!
Also, I went to Glencairn with Ambassadorial Scholar Coordinator and super mountaineer Trevor Wilkins. Glencairn is a tract of land owned by my host Rotary Club, the Mother Club, bequeathed for the purposes of youth development. Currently there are youth camp facilities that are used by various groups. Trevor and I went to take pictures of the land because part of the property will be used for affordable senior housing, and the profits will go right back into sustaining and improving the youth initiatives. We great fun and I met lots of people who were there for the camp that was currently inhabiting the site. I talked with some teenage girls for a bit, and then two young boys, John and Cameron told me about a Baboon that had invaded the campsite the day before. Both enthusiastic storytellers, I heard marvellous yarns from these two articulate youngsters about betting on the South Africa vs. Australia cricket match for a prize of biltong (the South African version of beef jerky), their trips to America, who in their family has stitches, and experiences of being bitten by snakes. I later spoke to an eight year old named Jaymo, who made me spell his name verbally to get it right. We beat it on a conga drum for a while, talking about whoopee cushions, and laughing it up.
Flanked by fellow Ambassadorial Scholars Emily Kenney and Jon David Conolley, we were taken up in a plane by pilot and Hout Bay Rotary Club member Clair Fichardt, up above Cape Town and Cape Point, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans supposedly meet. Departing from the Cape Town International Airport, near a large group of hangars, we were all treated to a unforgettable experience. Literally, taking my breath away at the end, as we slowly reduced altitude at the end of the flight, my tummy flipped a few times peppered by a queasiness that stopped a conversation between Jon David and I about the quality of Public University state education in the states...
It was a once-in-a-lifetime thrill to be up in a plane like this peering down at a peerless landscape, from a bird's eye view, where few are rarely afforded such a clear day. Pristine sparkling ocean below us, the maze of urban and natural pathways making themselves apparent, sunlight everywhere. Looking down on it all, Jon David said repeatedly, "We are so blessed." And I agree with the sentiment. Upon stepping back and reflecting on my experiences so far, I feel like one of the luckiest people alive. This astounding opportunity I have been given to come to South Africa and realize many of my hopes and aspirations would not have been possible without Rotary. The flight above Cape Town was metaphorical; enabled by the experienced flight skills of a Rotarian we were taken to heights unseen before and realized new visions of what is possible.