Being that all that goes up must come down and all that is deposited must be withdrawn, I started my day on Friday with a late beginning to the commute as I waited for the passport office to open. When they did,I drove over there, found a parking spot (without the help of a "parking marshall," an informal post occupied by poor men who will watch over your car for a small fee), and picked up the McClungs' (my boss' family) passports, newly endowed with permanent residency visas. Then it was off through the rain and wind to the office.
When I arrived I had already missed a call from our insurance agent. Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm heading up the insurance for Africa House, and I was pleased to hear that the agent had called back. Sadly, she was already in a meeting when I called back. No matter, I had been tasked with other projects, including figuring out the best and cheapest on-site storage for the complex, as well as heading up an order of Bibles in the native languages of Zulu and Xhosa (pronounced "Kosa"). I'm quite pleased with what I've been given as work, and the feelings of purposelessness from earlier in the week have subsided. I'm finding that I am indeed integrating into the social system here and being of some help.
In the late morning, an old friend of All Nations dropped in with her older son. I was privileged to have a conversation with her about what she is doing these days. Let me enlighten you, Reader, of her amazing occupation. She is, shockingly, living in Harare, Zimbabwe, working as an intern for Farming God's Way, a nonprofit up there. She told me about how the founders of the organization were recently the most prosperous and wealthy farmers in all of Zimbabwe, but as Mugabi began his property theft campaign, they not only lost the huge amount of land that they were farming, but also ALL of their financial assets. Essentially, they went from being highly successful to having nothing, literally, because the government had decided that whites should not have property rights. Though this is obviously a great reason to curse the government and abandon Zimbabwe to its apparent fate, these men started Farming God's Way.
The organization, so I'm told, trains locals to farm in a significantly more natural way than is common. They don't do any plowing whatsoever and instead cut a plain's grass to a certain level and dig individual holes to plant seeds. When they plant them, they bury them only about one centimeter below the soil's surface which allows the sun to be more effective in their sprouting as well as decrease the amount of time it takes for the crops to sprout. Apparently this method not only speeds up the entire process of growing crops, but it also increases the harvest's yield. The reason this is such an uncommon practice is that it takes a large amount of manpower- they don't use machinery, just basic tools. This way, they can hire more people, providing more employment in tumultuous areas like Zimbabwe. Being an obviously Christian nonprofit, I think they somehow pair the agriculture training with some biblical teaching. I think it's a fantastic idea- any way of helping out the poor in a way that is sustainable and creates jobs instead of giving away money makes me happy.
Unfortunately the woman couldn't stay for long, but I really enjoyed speaking with her. She told me that she had lived in Zimbabwe back when it was still Rhodesia, which I found fascinating. Comparing then and now must be mind blowing. After finishing up the interning program, I believe she will be heading up the organization's expansion into Botswana. I hope they will continue to be successful in uplifting these countries through practical and powerful means.
As the workday came to a close, I continued my aggregation of Zanzibar-related research. Fun fact: though only about 30% of Tanzania is of the Islamic faith, 99% of the population of Zanzibar is Muslim. No wonder there is such a large movement for their independence- their demographics are so different from the mainland's. My research has been greatly improved with the use of all the insane databases that Columbia provides me access to. I used to think Google was the best way to get information, but private databases really do take the cake. As I was looking around what the school offers, I found a database of tens of thousands of letters and diary entries just from women from Britain and Ireland from 1500-1800. How crazy is that?
After dropping one of the house's construction workers off in Masephumalele, I drove back home in the continuing deluge. It was alright, though, because it was Friday! Though it was officially the weekend, I ended up going to an internet cafe after I got home to work a little for the Columbian office back in NYC, CTICE, since I'm supplementing my All Nations income ($0) with 5 hours of paid work a week. For them I'm compiling research regarding virtual business incubators that specialize in green technology. They're thinking of starting one, and rightly so- there are very few in the United States, as far as I can tell. For those who aren't familiar with the term, a business incubator has traditionally been a large office building that houses various small business startups, usually within one genre, and gives them cheap rent as well as access to entrepreneurial experts and resources to help them grow their business. In virtual business incubators, startups have access to the same resources, except they don't physically have offices in the same area, which saves a lot of costs.
For dinner, Toukam and I (successfully!) made a chicken/tomato sauce for some twirl pasta, accompanied with carrots. Toukam, it turns out, knows a little something about cooking, which is probably the reason behind the success. Since I finished Against All Enemies, I've started on the second part of Atlas Shrugged, and it's looking just as good as the first.
On Saturday morning, I woke up early-ish to continue my work for CTICE at the local internet cafe which, though not the most relaxing start to a Saturday, proved educational and productive. To be honest, the more I work for CTICE, the more I learn about all the resources available for entrepreneurial businesses which is beginning to get me thinking about starting a business just for the sake of taking advantage of them!
Toukam and I made some PB&J sandwiches and headed out for a nice walk around the city, since he hadn't really seen it since his arrival. It was a nice day to do so, with the sun showing its face for the first time in a while and the temperature being ideal. We revisited the waterfront, passed by the convention center (where we'll be going to church tomorrow) and explored the Pan African Market. At the market, we were the only customers, which made for awkward shopping as well as a confirmation that winter in Cape Town is hardly the time for hustle and bustle. I'm happy with that, since it just means less tourists and lower prices!
I'm not too sure what the plan is tomorrow, but I plan on making my Sunday relaxing. On Monday, I'll be waking up during the wee hours to drive my boss to a publisher meeting (where I think I'll be sitting in to learn about it) and then to the airport (he's flying to Taiwan for a couple weeks). Week two looks good.
In Old School Adventure news, there was a disappointing revaluation last night. Apparently, Toukam's people have him signed up until July 31! This leaves us two (2!) weeks (14 days!) to do our road trip which we were already thinking had been cut from four weeks to three. I was definitely disappointed, since this means either a significant chunk of the trip cut out or a significant increase in its pace. I'm thinking the latter, since I really want to get to Botswana. My disappointment, though, has been dulled by the new possibilities this opens up. Now I have two weeks between the ending of my internship and the ending of Toukam's. With these two weeks I'm thinking of doing a two week solo trip going north to the Namibian coast. I would have plenty of time and it would allow me to go to Namibia, which I thought was off the table after the trip got cut to 3 weeks. It would be slightly more challenging since I would be on my own, but I'm up for it and Namibia is pretty well developed. One thing's for sure- I'm not gonna sit around in Cape Town for those precious 2 weeks.
Thanks for reading all of you! I am so blessed to have so many readers and friends and family who care enough to keep up with the blog. You're the best!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
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I love your posts, and enjoy hearing about a people and culture that is so different from our own. God is surely doing a great work there and I am glad that you are a part of it!
ReplyDeleteGwen W