sorry it's so long!

So here is a brief photo tour of my time spent since Saturday. I’ve learned so much about the history of this country, but I am realizing just how much I really don’t know. The great thing is that our tour guides are (what in South Africa) they call “coloured”. They have all experienced apartheid firsthand and can tell most deeply saddening stories. You see, in pre-apartheid South Africa there were four categories: white, coloured, indian, and black. Many problems arose from those categories, one of which being that Japanese people were considered white, while the Chinese were considered coloured.
My particular driver, Pat, was classified as coloured and grew up in a neighborhood called District 6. He has one of the most fascinating stories of anyone I know. His mother was fair skinned, as were his brother and sister, and were consequently classified as white. His father and himself were a bit more coloured, and were therefore categorized as coloured. This wasn’t too much of a problem until the “Immoral Act” was passed, which was a law prohibiting marriages between different races. He said in order to avoid being arrested, he and his father had to act as though they didn’t know his mother and sister in public. Can you imagine?
He also grew up in district 6, which was once a thriving multicultural neighborhood in the heart of Capetown. He and his family were forcibly removed, as well as all his neighbors and friends, once it was deemed a “white only” area however. The amazing thing about district 6 though, is that to this day, it stands as a wide expanse of unused land – prime real estate – in the middle of metropolitan capetown, because the neighborhood banded together to prevent turning it into an industrial area. I urge all of you read about district 6 b/c I can’t quite do the story justice here…

As you can see we also toured the townships on Saturday. Our tour guides are locals and know the area inside and out, and I really feel lucky to view Capetown with their insight. The townships are not what you think when you see the pictures… Yes, they are shanty towns housing millions of people – I’m not sure if you can tell just how far the shack housing goes on and on from the picture – and that is only one township of many – but there is also a real sense of community there. We were able to walk through the town, go to a local pub (yes, there was a pub in a shack in one of the townships), we played with the children (they loved to have their picture taken), and all without worry or fear of crime. There are barbeque’s – or braii’s – as they are called here, on every corner… the children attend school… it is just so amazing b/c after all that has been done to these people… all the wrong… there is this amazing sense of hope and spirit among them. It’s really hard to wrap your mind around as you’re visiting there. I expected desolation and crime, I though the people would be bitter- and thought they would be quite rightful in feeling so. But it wasn’t like that… I can’t explain it.

My clinical rotations are going great. This week I am at a hospital called Sommerset. It’s at the waterfront and so I’ve been able to do a lot of sightseeing at the same time. The doctor I am shadowing this week is final year med student from Ireland (imagine my surprise and delight J… he is really nice and very informative. Today we went to the aquarium where I saw my mortal enemy – the shark…

Yesterday we climbed Table Mountain – which is probably the hardest physical thing I have ever done. I hated every minute of it and thought I was going to die, but once I got to the top I felt like I had accomplished something really big. 1,000 meters and at some points almost vertical. I thought we would be going on a leisurely stroll up it and I can’t even tell you how bad we all cussed like sailors once we realized how hard it was going to be. I think I posted a picture from the top… if I haven’t, I’ll go back and do it now…. That is something I will never ever do again.

Alright, well I’ll write more later, time to go for dinner… Miss you guys!