farewells

My farewell dinner at the Eastern Bazaar in town. from the left: Me, Sakina, "T", Mona, Nell, Katie, Tabitha, Nava, Bongani, Hannah. All have shaped my experience in Cape Town and made it incredibly difficult to leave :(
A note on Katie and Nell: Prexy sent them to me two weeks ago. Both were working in the states and quite their jobs to volunteer in South Africa. They are working five days a week between two organizations; one is a sustainable farming project in Gugulethu and the other is a group of foster homes for children. These girls are pretty rad - their politics on the whole "white Westerners volunteering in Africa" scheme are awesome. They're approaching everything with a lot of thought and consideration for the communities and people they'll be working with.

Nava the beach pod on my last Sunday afternoon in Cape Town. It's been a long summer and she's decided that she can't handle anymore sun. Me on the other hand, I'm the sun queen. Going back to Chicago mid-winter is not desirable, therefore I must take advantage of that beautiful vitamin D while I still can.


Me and Bongani at a gender festival my friend Katlego and others hosted in Observatory on my last weekend. It was such a cool festival. It was comprised of film screenings, workshops, and discussions surrounding issues of gender and race.

This is Nava dressed as a man at the Drag Workshop. I have interesting pictures of the other participants but I'm not sure I have their permission to post them on the interweb ;). This workshop led to engaging conversations about gender roles and how gender is appropriated by the body; what we wear and how we carry ourselves in those clothes.

Tabitha has just completed a law degree and is now geared up for a natural medicine degree. This is her proudly wearing her new lab garb. She's hardcore.

Tabs at one of our favorite Saturday markets hiding behind poisonous rhubarb. The Old Biscuit Mill market is incredibly bourgeois but the food is undeniably scrumptious.

I fly out of Cape Town Thursday morning. I have a short layover in Johannesburg before continuing on to Nairobi, Kenya to visit my good friend Cynthia who graduated from my same program in June. Very excited about that! Not sure when my next post will be, but Cape Town Swank will live on stateside, I assure you!