UCD Students Transformed by Quarter in South Africa

UCD Students Transformed by Quarter in South Africa
Scholarship Opportunities Available for Study Abroad



Drops of sweat run off UC Davis Psychology Major Monica Vallerian’s face, landing on the hard red soil. Clang! Vallerian drops the sledge hammer again, pounding a metal fence post just a small fraction of an inch into the packed earth. A few wispy clouds drift overhead in the big blue African sky. Little barefoot African children sit in the dirt, playing with gravel stones as they watch our team of UC Davis students work. Another ten posts and our team of UCD students will be ready to hang a new fence around Olga’s Crèche, a daycare center in the South African township of Kayamundi.

As is true of most of the cities in South Africa, thousands of blacks still live in poverty in dense shanty towns—or “townships”—on the outskirts of the University Town Stellensboch. Originally established to provide a cheap labor for whites during the Apaerthied era, Kayamundi’s poverty is intensely contrasted against a backdrop of wine country that attracts wealthy international tourists.

For many of the students the juxtaposition of extreme poverty and affluence was difficult to swallow. "As you’re walking through the township, you will look across to another hill and there are luxury mansions and vineyards--its bizarre," said Benjamin Shultz-Bisping, a UCD International Relations major.

Like the packed dirt paths of Kayamundi, Olga’s front yard is covered with litter and weeds. In the alleys, stray one-eyed dogs eat garbage and old women cook goat heads over smoky fires. Without a fence to create a boundary, the babies and toddlers spent their day on the floor of Olga’s one-room shack. According to Olga, building the fence allowed the toddlers ad babies at the creche to play outside.

Vallerian was one of 15 UC Davis Students who spent winter quarter studying biodiversity and conservation in South Africa. The UC Davis students took classes taught by UC Davis Entomology professors Penny Gullan and Peter Cranston. According the Cranston, the goal of the program was to introduce students to the reality of modern conservation. In addition to taking classes, students volunteered, participated in internships, and explored the country. During the quarter abroad students were transformed by their experiences in a foreign country, culture, and land. Vallerian, for one, feels that studying abroad pushed her out of her bubble and transformed her assumptions about what’s valuable in life.

Student internships were coordinated by the University of Stellenbosch International Office. The internships they offered included work at one of three different nature reserves, the South African National Botanical Garden, a youth environmental education project, or an organic farm.

Despite the diversity of options, Vallerian ended up coordinating her own internship. After spending time at the creshes in the township Kaymundi, Vallerian decided to intern in the township on the outskirts of town. Vallerian spent her time caring for the children at the creches. She brought toys, books, diapers, and coordinated projects like the fence and Olga’s.

Vallerian’s projects inspired other students. Biology major Lily Fu, feels her experience in South Africa would not have been complete without spending time in the Crashes with Vallerian. "Working in the Crashes has been amazing and I regret not starting that sooner," said Biology Major Lily Fu. Building the fence at Olgas Crash was the most rewarding thing thing we did in South Africa, said Genetics Major Adam Baer.

Vallerian bought materials, borrowed tools, and organized transport for a fence-building day at Olga’s cresh. For many of the students that Vallerian recruited, this was their first experience of Kaymundi.

As we began breaking ground, we attracted a small audience. Children from the Township came to watch our work. "They children tried to helped dig the holes for the fenceposts, but of course they got in the way more than they helped," said Baer. When Baer took a break from digging holes, he was mobbed by three little boys, all vying for a spot on his shoulders.

Under the sun, the work continued. Neighbors came by to share stories, ask questions and help with the work. We leveled fence-posts, poured concrete, and nailed up fence wire. At the end of the day we we ate lunch with Olga and her son Lundi. Lundi, who now earns less than a hundred dollars a week working as a firefighter, shared stories about life growing up in the the township.

The best part is interacting with local people, hearing their stories; peoples backgrounds are so different, said Fu.

Vallerian and I returned a few days later to mount a gate on post secured by now fully hardened concrete. It was nearing the end of our stay in Stellenbosch and the mood was one of somber gooodbye. Olga and Lundi thanked us and we thanked them back. We all posed for pictures.


To this day Vallerian looks back at her experience in the townships fondly. “We took advantage of our ability to have a big impact on a few people. Organizations can’t take every sick baby to the doctor, but one person can take one baby. So, basically, I think we made a couple people feel respected and valued.” said Valerian.

The other students look back at their time in South Africa as a transformative experience too. Shultz-Bisping feels that we have a lot to learn from other cultures. “Before Kaymundi I kind of had a capitalistic mindset and coming here made me realize that's not that important and its more about the basic things in life than about the luxuries. Here they’re all about sharing. I really like that.” Said Shultz-Bisping.

Galen Bradford, an International Relation’s Major, says his time in South Africa made him want to pursue a career in conservation. "Spending time in the African Bush has changed my whole idea of what I want to do with my life," said Bradford.

As for me, my time in South Africa, has also helped me discover my calling. Witnessing the effects of drought on ecosystems and people has firmed my resolve in the fight to save the climate. In the face of global warming, South Africa, one of the most biodiverse and poverty stricken countries on the planet, could loose 85% of its ecosystems and half of its food production if we don’t act now. The solutions are at our fingertips and all we need is sufficient political will to overcome the crisis.

I owe my transformative experience to the Gilman International Scholarship, which provided the funds for me to study abroad. Without this help I could not have had the experience I did. The Gilman International Scholarship is available to all college students already receiving federal financial aid. Check it out at: http://www.iie.org/Gilman

Mpumalanga

Two vans carrying 14 students and 2 professors are cruising through rural Mpumalanga province on their way back to the Johanasberg Airport. At a T in the roads the vans stop and a young man with a big backpack steps out into the big skies, humid air, and expansive green of north-eastern South Africa. He waves farewell to his companions, remembers the lunch they packed for him, runs back to grab the lunch, waves farewell again in repeat, and then the vans disappear down the road back home carrying one less student. Five minutes later the young man is riding in the bed of a bucky, (South African for pickup truck), on his way South to Hazyview.

I’m staying at the Bushpacker Hostel outside of Hazyview for a few days, waiting for the arrival of my father and wondering what to do with my months in Africa. The tap water at the hostel is, for the time being, not safe to drink, so taken to boiling a big pot in the evening, letting it cool overnight and drinking it the following day.

I’ve been warned that swimming in the Sabie River, that runs through the valley, is made dangerous by the crocodiles and hippos that reside there. Orchards of tropical fruit are interspersed with native vegetation. Macademia, mango, lichi, avocado, banana pecan. In the absence of continued human disturbance the grasslands here give way to trees and then forests. The Marulla trees, famous for intoxicating elephants and humans alike, look a bit like giant oaks. There is a crocodile that lives in a fenced pond off the main drag of town. The street vendors say the crocodiles owners feed it chicken.

Travellers roll in and out of the hostel on their way to Safaris in Kruger Park. A group of international volunteers one night, german international development students, and obnoxious Africaner youth the next. And there is also is frog that stays under my dorm room bunk bed. My dreams have been an active wonderland since I started taking malaria medication.

I buy my fruit and nuts from the street vendors who also push me to buy impressive wooden statues carved from whole blocks of wood. They are all terribly desperate for business. One man, by the name of Pleasure, working on the construction of expensive, electric fenced homes, says he gets paid 40R/8hr-day. That’s $5 US. Most of the poorer black folk I meet live in former homelands. During apartheid they were not allowed to leave the homelands without their pass card.

My dad arrives on Saturday.

Where people live

The road dead-ends at the entrance to a gated community--a great sea of multistory homes surrounded by a tall fence. I consider turning around, but ride on. To my surprise, the security guard opens the gate as I approach and I roll in without slowing down.

Inside, the streets are empty save for the occasional sedan which will disappear behind a robotic garage door. The only people I see outside the large homes are topless black men working to finish custom estates.

On the weedy margins of the compound a security guard patrols the fence. I ride past him up steep ground and he laughs for me as he watches my tires loose traction and my bike tip over. Catching my breath I notice the evenly spaced wires running the length of the fence. I am naïve enough to think things couldn't be that bad. I reach out to test it. Ouch! The shock tingles up my arm as I ride away.

Hello Stellenbosch

The days are long, hot, dry and windy. By night Orion stands on his head and the dry wind does not relent. Some evenings routine power-cuts allow me the pleasure of reading by candlelight.

Jacaranda, Oak, and Sycamore trees line the streets of campus and provide shade from the scorching southern-hemisphere sun. Cicadas serenade their lovers from the street-canopy as we walk to class. We are here for a three-month biodiversity and conservation program at the University of Stellenbosch.

I'm staying in a fenced-fortress called International Student Housing. To enter my room I must pass through four layers of security. First, security guards protect the gate of a ten foot high, spiked metal fence, which surrounding the complex, and is lined with concertina wire. Second, my student card allows me to enter my building and pass onto the other side of yet another ten foot high spiked metal fence, again, lined with concertina wire. Finally, I crack a 6 digit code to enter my apartment and another three digit code to enter my room.

Stellenbosch is an affluent university town in the center of wine country. The official population of 120,000 does not include the impoverished thousands living in shanties in the north-west part of town.

After a six kilometer rolling-hills bike ride to the east the pavement ends at the entrance to Jonkershoek Valley Nature Reserve. In this narrow east-west valley, pine plantations give way to undisturbed mountain fynbos. Blankets of clouds spill continuously over steep green mountains that form the eastern boundary of the valley. Waterfalls and mountain streams feed the Eerste River, which makes its way west, down-valley to the town of Stellenbosch. Past the pine plantations on the northern side of the valley restios and ericas are reclaiming a small spur off the main trail. A short steep push up the spur and through the restios a rushing mountain stream is interrupted by a small damn. Bullrush and Cape-gum grow on the banks of the pool and fish swim by my feet.