June 18, 2006
And it's over.
Today is my last day in Cape Town. I will be picked up for the airport in 30 minutes.
I have really mixed feelings about leaving and a huge knot in my stomach for some reason I can't identify.
I'm really going to miss this place. I love it here. I suppose I'll just have to make my way back sometime soon.
Farewell, Cape Town.
Posted by jcg24 at 06:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 11, 2006
Back to Zimbabwe
Classes finally finished (after a flurry of frantic paper writing) on 25 May and so I decided to go on a little journey with some friends from home to Namibia, and then on my own back to Zimbabwe. The Namibia trip was amazing, but I don't have pictures of it just yet because I have to get them from some friends. I will refrain from telling about that portion of the trip until I can post pictures (which will be quite soon).
So after my time in Namibia, I rode a bus up to Victoria Falls to meet up with some of my friends from my first trip there. I spent a bit of time in that part of the country, and a day in Zambia, as well.
[Zambia as viewed from the bus on the way into Vic Falls.]
Shortly thereafter, I went down to Bulawayo, the second biggest city in Zimbabwe. I rode a bus down there, which had a temporary break down as every bus I have ever ridden in Africa seems to have had, but the landscape was incredible. This part of the world is just beautiful -- there's no other way to put it.
I had a great time in Bulwayo once I got there, and strangely enough, it kind of reminded me of home. It's odd to think that Cleveland and Bulawayo could have a similar feeling for me, considering their drastically different circumstances and histories; however, I really felt at home in that city and had so much fun. It's full of old, colonial-era architecture mixed with 50s, 60s, and 70s stuff, and is generally a little dilapidated, but the city has a lively, friendly vibe.
[The streets in Bulawayo were made big enough so that a cart being pulled by 16 oxen could do a U-turn.]
[Bulawayo City Hall]
[The train station.]
[The headquarters of the MDC, which was the primary political opposition in recent elections. They had a chance of ousting Mugabe that was stopped by elections that were not entirely free and fair and by violence carried out for[by] the governemtn particularly in this part of the country, where support for the opposition ran high. The MDC is much weaker now due to splits in the party, but there is still hope in Zimbabwe for the future, especially once Mugabe is no longer president (and he's getting old, so that time will come soon).]
I also spend a day in the township in Bulawayo visiting the family of my friend, Vusa.
[Vusa in front of his family's house, where he grew up. If you look at the foundation on the right hand side of the photo, in front of the house, you can see where walls used to stand. The Zimbabwean government went through the townships throughout the country and wiped out entire households, or in this case, forced the families to knock down the parts of their homes they'd added on over the years as a way to "control the informal economy". The people in the township will tell you that it was a threat against supporting the political opposition.]
[This is the epicenter of social activity in the township. Because of the high level of unemployment due to Zimbabwe's failing economy(inflation is at 1000%, the highest of any country not in a war-time economy), you can find people here all day long.]
Bulawayo was a great place, and it was amazing that in a country with so much poverty and so much political unrest that it was safer to walk the streets than in Cape Town.
There's much more to tell, but I'll continue when I post about Namibia.
Posted by jcg24 at 08:21 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack