who's interested in travelling to Africa this fall?

I've mentioned him in previous posts, but my mentor Prexy Nesbitt, will be bringing a group of people to parts of Southern Africa this November. As a past participant of his trips, I fully recommend them. This particular trip sounds like it would be a good experience for mothers and daughters to take together.
A benefit of traveling with Prexy, is that you get to meet his important and famous friends. Anyone's who has traveled with him before, knows what I mean by this. After 40 years of work on the continent Prexy's list of colleagues is quite extensive and impressive. For instance, members of this journey will have a meeting with Graca Machel. In addition to being a wonderful advocate for children's rights, and the chancellor of the University of Cape Town, Grace is also married to Nelson Mandela - cool!
So far I know that the trip is from November 19- December 1, traveling to South Africa and Mozambique, possibly Swaziland

If you have further questions, or would like the write up of this trip, Steve is helping Prexy organize and can be emailed at: Kaya41083@gmail.com

settings...

Hi everyone,

I changed a setting on my "comments" section that I think will allow all users to comment on my blogs. Please try it out and see if it works. Otherwise, the blogspot.com authorities will be receiving a rigidly worded email from me about their service. I have a way with words...

comments?

it's come to my attention that Steven Aguilar is the only user capable of commenting on my posts. Why this is the case, I cannot say. However, I do appreciate it when people send me private messages regarding my posts, it makes me feel that Cape Town Swank is not a completely useless operation. 

Keep them coming! 

p.s.

Thank you for your comments Steven Aguilar. I treasure them...

long distance

I just wanted to share this photo because I think it sums up the nature of my long-distance relationship. I watch Steve do stupid/funny things over Skype. The pink umbrellas are my desktop background...

on another note: 

I've had a sore throat for 4 days but could not get in to see the free nurse at school because they are swamped dispensing swine flu vaccinations. However, I woke up this morning with a serious earache to accompany the sore throat and hoarse voice - the kind that brings tears if you burp or swallow, etc. 

At 9am I called the pharmacy to see if they knew of a doctor that takes patients on Saturday. The pharmacy referred me to a doctor that is a 7 minute walk from my house. I immediately went to see these Saturday miracle doctors. When I got there, their waiting room was full but they took my name anyway and I sat down to wait. Literally 5 minutes later I was called into the doctors office. Dr. Nicholas checked me out, diagnosed me with tonsillitis and ear infection (neither contagious) and gave me an ample amount of prescriptions to take care of the whole thing. I went to the pharmacy -waited in another line with lots of sick people - and had my prescriptions filled in minutes. 

I wanted to relay this story because it draws such contrasts to the medical care experiences I've received in the states. I do not have insurance or deep pockets but in South Africa, they are accommodating to both. The doctor visit plus 5 prescriptions cost me out-of-pocket $49.30, and the whole thing was taken care of in less than an hour. 

This experience makes me really think about how messed up medical expenses in the United States are. I shudder when I think about going back and dealing with insurance companies once again... with all of their fine print, loop holes and massive amounts of paper work. 

I'm not saying South Africa's system is not flawed. For the poor, R380 is a lot of money, and there needs to be cheaper options. However, I am still thoroughly impressed. 

 

Hotel Rwanda... a short film review

I just watched the 2004 film, Hotel Rwanda for the first time tonight as part of my research weekend. I have been avoiding this film for years because as far as I was concerned, it would be yet another Hollywood film about an African conflict that is completely out of political context and littered with "senseless" torture and killings. 

To my disappointment, Hotel Rwanda lived up to my expectations. It falls in line with The Last King of Scotland and Blood Diamond as another "true life" African horror flick complete with a noble savage, white guilt and black demons. 

In his essay entitled, "Hotel Rwanda: too Much Heroism, too Little History - or Horror?" Mohamed Adhikari puts it in a nutshell for us:

"Hotel Rwanda's simplistic approach to the genocide is more likely to perpetuate rather than dispel stereotypes of Africa as a place of senseless violence and tribal animosities. The absence of a well-founded explanation of the genocide is bound to result in many viewers falling back on shop-worn, racist conventions of Western attitudes toward Africa. Indeed, the film inadvertently reinforces such mystification."  

My research weekend is shaping up already!