The Lion Park

This last Thursday we finally made it out to the Lion Park. I’ve wanted to go there forever! We went out with Julie, a past field studier who has returned to scout out PhD possibilities. She came with her two little girls, Joyce and Grace, some of the cutest kids on the planet. Dylan came along too, our fellow adventurer. The Lion Park was very cool. It is just a little place, privately run. They had two brown lionesses,  three white lionesses, a white male, a cheetah, a white tiger, a normal Bengal tiger, a giraffe, a crocodile, some boks, lots of peacocks, some meerkats, rabbits, tortoises, and the high light of the journey – three nine week old lion cubs. The whole allure of the Lion Park is that you can pet lion cubs…and we got there and wandered around and weren’t seeing any lion cubs and it was kind of a bummer. I did commune with the tigers for a while and Dyl made friends with the meerkats. And then we wandered into a little café and there was a crib with what I thought were three little lambs – jokes, they were lion cubs! The sign said to stay away and not touch, but then a lady came out and told us we could sit in the crib one at a time and hold them, we had to sanitize our hands first. So I climbed right in and they kind of woke up and crawled on my lap. It was awesome! Emily and Joyce wandered over and found us and Holly, Julie, and Grace followed. We all took turns in the crib. The lion cubs were so adorable! They were all white lions with super blue eyes and curly fur. Two boys – Sampson and Gimpy and a girl, Bella.

We pumped the lady about them. She came out with three bottles of milk and took them one by one to feed them. So cute! She is the mother of the guy who owns the park. Him and his wife bought it nine years ago. They bred lions before that…it took them several years to breed white lions, but they have it down now, I think. The white lionesses can do two litters a year – even three, but they don’t want her to. They have to take the cubs away right away because the male will kill and eat the cubs, he is super jealous of the females. So they have to take them away and hand-rear them. That means feeding them five times a day – a special formula and also raw chicken and beef. For the first several weeks they also have to toilet them. Baby lions don’t know how to go to the bathroom! Their mother licks their bellies and this helps stimulate something, teaches them how to go to the bathroom…so when they are hand-reared, you have to rub their bellies until they learn how to go on their own! She seemed very fond of the cubs and said it was hard to see them go – they usually raise them until they are two or so and then sell them to other parks. People don’t want to buy them earlier because they are extremely susceptible to human germs and the mortality rate is higher…so people might speak for them, but not actually buy them until they are older. She said they are such smart animals and each cub has its own personality. She told us a story about a lion they sold to some place that breeds lions – her daughter in law went out to the farm once to do something and this lion saw her and totally remembered and recognized her and came running to say hello.

The lions are teething or something – the female in particular just wanted to chew on our shoes and jeans. After they were all fed they went back to napping. SO CUTE! Joyce and Grace each took a turn sitting on someone’s lap. Joyce was pretty nervous of them, didn’t want to touch or be touched by them. Grace totally went for it, petting their heads. Funny girls! We spent quite a while with the cubs…it would have been cool to interview the lady about relationships…but I didn’t bring any forms. I had originally planned to use the lion park in my study – but there is only her, her son and daughter in law and a couple other people who come on weekends. She had no experience/formal training with lions or raising lions, she said you just learned as you went. But her son had been into lion breeding – how does one get into that, I wonder!? Anyway, it would have been interesting, but I think I am good with what I have.

I wound up buying a purple apron that says EL Lion Park and has a lion on it. And then I also got this really cool peacock skirt – it was made by the wife of one of the neighboring farmers. It is a traditional wrap around skirt like lots of ladies here wear, it is really cool! I’ve wanted to find a cool, more traditional skirt, hurrah!

Hogsback Adventures

So we’ve gone to Hogsback twice now. Hogsback is this little town up in the mountains; it is beautiful! We went once with all our YSA friends, chasing snow. It had snowed the night before, but then it turned to rain and all melted. It was actually a beautiful sunny day, very autumnal feeling. I loved it! We hiked around a bunch, down to different waterfalls and to this 800 year old tree. The second time we went with Cornelius and Kathy and I’m just going to use my journal entry for that : )

            Saturday morning we woke up and got ready for Hogsback. We left about 8:30 with Kathy and Cornelius. It was great! We got to ask them a bunch of field study questions. That was the first half of the drive, I fell asleep past King William’s Town. Cornelius knows everything, I swear. He has so many interesting tidbits to share! East London has the most millionaires out of all the cities in SA. The largest informal settlement is just outside of EL. And the largest township too? Or second largest? That is Mdatsane. The freeway between EL and King Will’s is really nice, because back during apartheid EL and King Will were white cities and they built the road to connect them because they were surrounded by all these black areas. EL got its name because it was a shipping port and a bunch of the workers were from the slums of East London, England. There were several German settlements and a whole boatload of Irish ladies came down to be married off, but they didn’t like the rough Germans so they married other people…all these stories! It was a gorgeous morning, clear blue skies. Hogsback is having its annual Christmas in July Festival right now, so when we got there people were wearing red and white elf hats and there were booths and stuff all over. We went and used the toilets and then drove to Swallowtail fall. It was a short hike/walk to get there, very beautiful. Then we drove up to Kettlespout – a thin stream that shoots out over the edge of a cliff. Kathy stayed in the car for that one, it was a lot steeper of a hike. Cornelius lived in Hogsback for nine months once, in a little cottage. He did all the walks and wandered through the woods…it sounded like a really cool time.

            Walking up to Kettlespout part of the trail was completely surrounded by tall trees, like walking through a narrow tunnel. It was cool, especially with the sun shining down through the leaves. I really liked Kettlespout. It opened up there and you had a great view – again, I was reminded strongly of Moscow! We jumped the little stream to look at a place that Kathy and Cornelius came to once for a champagne breakfast? For their anniversary I think. Poor Emily slipped and took a little dip. Oh! I forgot – when we were sand boarding Emily had a good run and then fell off right at the end, when it was already flat. Her foot got stuck or something. Anyway she landed right on her tail bone and the poor girl has been limping around since then. She can walk fine, but bending or sitting down or getting up cause her pain. No fun! But she didn’t land on it again in the stream, she caught herself…earlier Cornelius said something about how we couldn’t say we’d really walked a trail unless we crossed the stream via log. So I immediately found a good log to clamber over. He said he was just kidding! But I got extra credit. Cornelius is funny…he just kept saying our names. “Quincey Belle Cole – you sound like a film star” and “Emily Mae” and “Holly, Holly, Holly” – some movie quote? We went back down to Kathy and then we drove around Hogsback and wound up at a big field where they had a big tent and booths and some groups performing. The booths were all the stuff we’d seen before, nothing too exciting. The performing people were cool – younger guys and girls and singing and dancing and drums. We sat and watched for a bit and Cornelius ate some spring rolls. Then we got back in the car and drove over to the Edge. There is a little café there and one of the world’s largest labyrinths. It was cool, but not as cool as I thought – I was envisioning shrubbery and a maze and spending hours lost …it was actually just stone paths with little flowers and no maze, you could only go way. It was cool though, we walked the whole thing, curving around and around. 1.6 km to the middle, I think? We walked down to the Edge – a cool stone cliff. Think the scene in Pride and Prejudice with Elizabeth and dramatic music “Liz on Top of the World” I think? Took some pictures.

            Pile back in the car. The weather had shifted by then – clouds and wind. It was definitely a bit colder. OH well. Cornelius drove us past where he used to live, I would love to live in Hogsback. There are lots of fun little properties and cabins. Next we drove to this little chapel, St. James? St. Patricks? It was cool – stone with thatched roof. Originally built in 1913 and then expanded…it burned down though in 2010 and was rebuilt. We were all pretty tired at this point – climbing in and out of cars and driving around is seriously exhausting! What the heck! We drove down to the Butterfly Bistro a super fun little café type place…there were a bunch of hippies camped outside. I mean hippies! Dreadlocks, bare feet, clothes. One guy had a sweet leather hat and goggles – aviator style. But the hat was covered in beads and pins. They were selling some crafts and some food – toasties.  The Bistro was a cool cabin type building. They had a Christmas Tree up. The ladies at the counter were all wearing crazy clothes and sparkly make up and glitter and had designs on their faces…haha, it actually reminded me a lot of Harry Potter really. Think of some witches in Diagon Alley. I got some soup and bread…it took a long time! They were quite busy. Emily and I made ourselves comfortable at the counter, they had stools. They were selling candies and butterfly mallows and beaded butterflies…stuff like that. Kind of ketchy, but cute too. My soup finally arrived and we went out to the car where everyone else was waiting and we left Hogsback. Farewell!

            On the drive home we pumped Cornelius some more. Asked about education and other stuff – I’ll write it up for my field study assignment. He told us about moving to the USA. He and his family lived there for six years while he studied at Notre Dame. I didn’t realize they were there for that long! They came back after apartheid had ended.

Temple Trip to Joburg and Art Fest in Grahamstown

Excerpts from the latest adventures!

We had the opportunity to go with the ward on their annual temple trip. It was a quick three day adventure involving a lot of driving and a lot of baptisms. We left on a Wednesday night at midnight and drove and drove and drove…

We reached the temple about noon. The temple is built on a hill, at the top. The temple grounds are not super huge, but the temple complex includes the hill and several more buildings, including patron housing and offices and a house for visiting general authorities. The hill has several little stone trails and trees and a little stream with several waterfalls. This little wilderness area was so cool – I mean it was tiny, but green and the water running sounded beautiful. You could either walk around on the road, or you could cut through this little nature area that had flat round stones for a path and a section where you cross the stream using two big rocks. There were several benches scattered around. There was a distribution center too. Our rooms were not ready when we first arrived, so we went into the lounge/dining area and piled all our luggage around and relished being out of the car. . .Then we went to wait for our rooms…which took a long time! But it was okay. There were some couches, so I got out my bracelet making equipment and set up shop. Other people were sitting around and Emily, Holly and Yondela got down to talking about dominion and race and gender…ha so interesting to listen to. Holly and Emily are both really passionate about that kind of thing and Yondela is a very outspoken guy. He brings race into everything, half joking, but half serious. And they had some issues about cultural differences. For the black guys in South Africa there is a strong culture of being dominant and always being right etc., so of course that leads to some clashing with the gals. I enjoyed listening and occasionally piping in and I worked away at making friendship bracelets. I got sweet colors – purples, blues, a turquoise. Everyone really liked them – by the end of the trip half of the YSAs were wearing a bracelet : )

We did one round of baptisms Thursday evening after which everyone just relaxed, ate dinner, and played games in the patron housing.

The next morning we went up to the temple for another round of baptisms.

It was just our group this time and I really liked it – it was nice having a smaller group and it was nice knowing what the routine was going to be. We all sat in the waiting room and watched some old LDS movie for a while and then Brother Jubber came and got everyone sorted and we got our clothes. There was a couple from Mdatsane that joined us and a couple of men, which was good because they helped do confirmations. They were short a recorder, so when you were confirmed you just held the words and the name for them, worked perfectly. When it was my turn the guys asked if I was from America, I said yes, from Utah. Oh Utah! They said – but they pronounced it Oohtah, it was great. Gerhard did all the baptisms. The black sister helped with towels and hair elastics (they were really strict about not wearing any color hair tie expect for white). She called me sissie, which I thought was cool. She was just a cool lady! The lady who helped us on Thursday was a Sister Bird, definitely from Utah, we could tell from her accent. But we didn’t get a chance to visit with her.

After baptisms all the YSAs went ice skating at this mall. The Quantum and its driver showed up to transport us there, so we got to see some of Joburg – it is a big, sprawled out city. Ice skating was pretty fun. The ice was awful! Super cut up and it was rather wet – there were puddles of water. And the skates were not super sharp. And there were a lot of people there – there was a birthday party, so lots of little kids and high schoolers. They liked to stand right in the middle – who goes to an ice rink to stand!? They were playing music really loud and they would turn the lights off sometimes and use colored spot lights. It was a regular sized rink, at least not three quarters. We had a good time – Hyrum and Yondela and Emily worked on going backwards, Dylan picked it all up pretty quickly and was speeding all over. Most of the YSAs had never skated before or had gone only once or twice. There aren’t many ice rinks in South Africa.

We had one major mishap when Shantal wiped out and split open her chin. People were pretty calm and we got her bundled off to the hospital. That kind of put a damper on the rest of the day. We all went back to patron housing and had dinner and wound up playing games again – 30 Seconds and Settlers of Katan. It was a nice relaxing evening, everyone was worn out. The next morning we had a brief Testimony Meeting with everyone up on the temple grounds. That was very sweet. We took a bunch of group pictures after and then everyone rounded up their luggage and we set off on another long drive.

 The other recent adventure was a trip to Grahamstown for the National Arts Festival.  We convinced Dylan to drive us and spent a lovely Saturday in rainy Grahamstown. We watched a film called The Last Lions. It was a documentary, sort of…it was all about some of the last wild lions, a pride in Botswana, in the Okovango Delta. This place keeps showing up on my radar, I think I just need to go and work there. The film was all about this one female and her three cubs. Her mate is killed by a pride that is pushed south by humans and takes over their territory. It was Lion King on steroids. Amazing animal shots and a really amazing story. It was filmed by a married couple – they’ve been working for National Geographic for ages. Incredible! And it was narrated by the guy who does Scar’s voice from the Lion King – so it was even narrated by a lion.

              Our next destination was the Village Green, where all the crafts and souvenirs live. It took a little while to find parking, we had to make loops around the green. Grahamstown is a really cool place, I wish we had more time to explore it. It reminded me a lot of New England or Ireland – old stone buildings, thatched roofs, the rain. Luckily all the crafts and stuff were under these huge white tents. There were several craft tents and a couple food tents and a big information tents with tables and chairs. We all kind of split up – Emily and I stuck together. We were going to try and watch this free show of dancers, but couldn’t find the venue…instead of wandering around in the rain, we just went back to the Green and really scoped out the possibilities. We walked through each tent and asked about different prices. I kept notes in my notebook about where things were and how much they cost. I got all of my gift shopping done! There were tons of African crafts – jewelry, bead work, wood carvings, wall hangings, drums, traditional clothing, animals galore. And then there were all the indie hipster booths with their vintage clothing and scarves and adorable prints. And leather booths with belts and wallets and jackets. And the hippie booths with those simple baggy cloth pants and shirts and wool ponchos in earthy colors. And soap and paintings and herbal remedies and olives. I mean it was all the fair stuff, but on steroids, so much cool stuff!

After we were shopped out we went in search of this little theater where different groups were dancing and singing. We wandered through a few buildings and asked directions and finally found it! It was a group of guys dancing and singing in a little outdoor amphitheater, covered from the rain, thankfully. They were really fun! There were four dancer/backup singers and the lead guy was a hoot. And there was a bassist, a drummer, and a keyboard fellow. I filmed a bunch, it was great! They are super into rhythms and it was fun to hear this traditional kind of music played on electric bass and guitar and keyboard. Next we went and watched this Chinese Acrobat and Dance group.

They did fun things with spinning plates and juggling and jumping through ropes and some crazy acrobatic stuff and dancing and magic tricks. Garron and Dylan were both used in the magic trick portion, those dorks. Dylan helped with this sweet trick. He tied up this little Chinese lady – her hands were behind her back and then her arms were tied to her body and the rope was tied around her legs. Dylan had his jacket on and sat down next to her. They covered them both with a big cloth and then the magic trick lady, who was dressed in this spectacular sparkly pant suit, counted down from five, and they flicked off the cloth and the tied up lady had Dylan’s coat on, underneath the ropes! It was pretty crazy, even just getting Dylan’s jacket off him and then on, without being tied up, would have taken a couple seconds. Magic : )

So that was Grahamstown! Whoo, I wrote a lot, but there has been so much cool stuff going on! We have only four weeks left, which I can’t believe. It has gone by super quickly! I am determined to make the most of our remaining time. 

Still luvn' SA!

Today I finished up with interviews at the zoo! I have ten interviews from there and one from a lady at the SPCA. I am not sure what to do next with my project…I might volunteer at the Aquarium, if I can figure out a way to get there safely. And I still want to check out the Lion Park! So I don’t know if I will do more interviews or observation. It has been really interesting and great. I still have another project to do at the zoo for my wildlife behavioral ecology class, so I have not seen the last of the zoo. I guess I’ll just do some more journal excerpts of fun/interesting things we’ve been doing!

We went and watched Mechaelar perform in Evita!  

“Evita was pretty cool….I was quite impressed. The Guild Theater was a pretty nice place too. We caught a taxi there, it was a bit late perhaps but we had no other way. There were a couple girls in the back who we sat next to, they seemed pretty excited to see us on the taxi and said everyone else was excited…it was funny.  They asked “Aren’t you scared?” Which is the response we get regularly – Holly asked “Should we be?” But I don’t think they heard, so we got no response. They were very helpful in sorting out money and getting us dropped where we needed to be. At the Theater we found Nokuthula and Nomfundo and we hung out with them a bit while we waited for the doors to open. There was a bar in the front and everyone was getting wine – they’d get the wine glasses and then a little bottle of it, everyone brought their drinks into the theater. It was just weird – I mean people drink and smoke here a lot and I don’t know if I am just not used to it because of living in Provo and in North Idaho or if it is just more culturally acceptable…I mean I have been to concerts and shows in big cities and I’ve never seen people bring drinks and wine and stuff into the actual theater.

 It was a different crowd then we usually see, like at the rugby match.  A lot more white people and posh clothes – we really aren’t around white people that much, except for Hyrum and Dylan and Dylan’s family. It was very entertaining to see how people were dressed and hair styles. There were a lot of older couples. The show was pretty good, again, I was impressed at the singing and costumes and dancing. The lady playing Evita had a really superb voice and the narrator guy Che was good, those are the two that really count. Mechaelar was one of the cast, she did a great job singing and dancing. We found her after the show and said bravo and took some pictures. Nokuthula gave us the number for a good private taxi and Emily called and sent for one. It was a white guy, but he was like the hardest person to understand ever. Very friendly though. It was a fun evening!”

Here’s an excerpt about a zoo interview and a morning at the zoo.

“Makaula was awesome, he put me right to work. I helped carry food buckets, gathered dishes, washed dishes, helped spray down enclosures (which got me soaking wet)…he had me go into the kitchen and ask the kitchen ladies for food for certain animals. They seemed pleased I was getting involved –“oh, she’s not lazy, she’s not lazy.” I got to go in some monkey enclosures and throw food out to Katie and Lisa (baboons) and I got to throw raw chicken to the vultures and the owls. I carried food into the duikers. We went and got some new bedding for the owls, so I got to help carry a step ladder and fill a bag with straw and then climb said ladder to reach the owl huts and put straw in them. I tried to ask interview questions, but Makaula’s English didn’t really allow me to delve into much, which was a bummer because I had tons of things I wanted to ask about the zoo historically – how has it changed, different management, etc. Makaula said he is going to work for five more years and retire at age 56.

We were just about to feed the pigs when Karotse came to get a bunch of guys – they were going to go get a horse. When farmers don’t want them anymore, they call the zoo, and Karotse goes out and puts the horse down and they feed it to the animals. They have to bring several guys because their truck (or buggy) doesn’t have a winch so they need people to help lift the carcass onto the truck. They are trying to get a new truck, but something about the budget….anyway they were all talking in Xhosa and apparently were arguing about whether or not I could just go and feed the pigs myself…I had already got the wheelbarrow for the pig bucket. Stoffel was getting his food sorted and he said something about how I was doing Makaula’s work, “Makaula should do his own work.” He was the only one who seemed put out about it, everyone else was like great, she’s working! Anyway, they wound up having the assistant handy man help me with the pigs and we fed the gibbons too. He often helps feed animals when they are short staffed – there were already a couple people not at work that day, and then they had to take like four of them to get the horse. As we were feeding the gibbons an orange jump suit guy came up to ask the handy man a question. Most of the orange jump suit people ignore me (this is the group doing environmental cleanup stuff, they ran out of other projects and got sent to the zoo to help out), but this guy came right up and introduced himself and said what group he was from and that it was his job to make sure the zoo was looking sharp. It was funny….anyway after that, I took off.”

We went to a concert at Zamani….things did not go quite as planned. We brought Dylan, Michael, and Hyrum along, which was really fun.

“The concert didn’t start at12…it might have, but the power went off, no music. We were soon swamped with kids playing clapping games. It turns out one of the popular ones is actually in English! We learned the words: Mother’s in the kitchen making the rice, Father’s in the bathroom washing his face, Boys and girls are playing soccer, Boys and girls are playing netball, Change your stars, Another star, Don’t move, Don’t move, Stop – ha there is clapping and gestures for all of this. There was a Zamani graduate there who spoke English really well, she became our spokeswoman. Her name is Lisa. So we played clapping games, gave hugs, held hands, bounced, counted to 20, took pictures, were swamped by children wanting to look at the pictures….the guys really got into it, they were human jungle gyms. Ha, it was great! The power finally came back on and the music was blasting. All the kids started just dancing, so we joined in. Then they were ushered out to get ready, whoo, here comes the concert!

False alarm.

The power went out again!

Dylan and Michael left to give someone a lift. When they returned the power was still out. More pictures, more clapping games and showing off of hand flexibility. Lisa is double jointed and could do crazy stuff. Michael and Hyrum are also double jointed, it’s creepy.  HA, as Emily said, we were the show. There were some adults there and older kids, they mostly just sat down in the lower classroom and we ran amuck in the upper classroom. Michael wandered out and struck up conversation with some guys next door. One of them was definitely drunk. The other guy said a bunch of stuff about how apartheid is over and white people and black people need to mix and get along. He started rapping. I think the guys really did have a good, interesting time – I don’t think they go to Duncan Village type places, what would they do there? So it was as new for them as for us.

            Finally, we were sent to the kitchen for some tea. The concert was cancelled. But just as we finished, the power came back on! There were some people still hanging around, so they did their dances anyway. It was really fun to watch, I took a lot of video. So much rhythm, even with the little little kids, it is awesome! So they did a little dress rehearsal for us – if they even plan on rescheduling, I don’t know. Ha, we got there at 11 and we left just after 3.”

Still in love with South Africa!!! I can’t believe we are half way already, where did the time go??? 

Zamani and the Zoo

I love South Africa! For this blog post I figured I would just take some excerpts from my daily journal…I am already writing all of this stuff, why redo it, right?

This first bit is from the day that we went and helped at Zamani with the tour. A tour here is a fieldtrip. We took the four and five year old classes and it was crazy! We went to the East London Museum, which was actually really cool. I want to go and spend more time there. Anyway after the museum we headed to Mdantsne.

“This is a suburb of East London, it was like 15 minutes driving out of town. We were supposed to go to Mdatsane FM, a radio station place. But we were a bit late and then there was some confusion about…I am not really sure. They wouldn’t let the kids go in and check out the studio. We were supposed to go see/watch/participate in a show? Mama Yoyo took us BYUs in – there was what looked like a dance hall/roller blade rink and some offices. One of the offices had a radio set up, mikes and stuff. We looked in a window – I think a show was happening? There were two people inside. So we peeked inside and waved and then went back outside. Mama Yoyo was pretty upset that whatever we were supposed to do had fallen through. We spent like an hour sitting outside with all the kids on the curb in the parking lot. Mama Yoyo gave us some chips and biscuits (cookies) which we positively gobbled.

There were a lot of hip people hanging around the station. Guys in skinny jeans, sweet shoes, blazers, scarves, hats…it was funny. One of them (in combat boots, with diamond earrings in each ear) came and started talking to us about the ANC and how corrupt it is. It is the only party here in South Africa and has all the power. The guy compared it to a regime, a monarchy, the next Hitler. He said that no other party had a chance, because everyone was bribed or bullied into being ANC supporters. There is another party that has tried to win elections, the Democratic Alliance, but with no success. He said he wished Mandela would just make a statement, a death wish, that would save the country from corruption. But Mandela is like 94 years old and pretty reclusive. Holly mentioned he might have Alzheimer’s or something? When the guy stopped talking to us we talked about what he said – we have heard the Mandela sentiment several times, people really think that he could help the country out by saying something. And everyone we’ve talked to has said the ANC is corrupt, that the government is super corrupt. The guy said it was just a bully, that it censored people who disagreed with it. So that’s not a democracy, now is it. So we were wondering why, if so many people disliked the ANC, was it still in power? And we figure that many people still remember it as bringing down apartheid and have great loyalty towards it because of that. We’ve also heard many people say that when Mandela dies things are going to go south – civil war, bad stuff like that. Whooo.”

The whole day was really interesting and exhausting. The taxis that shuttled all the kids around blasted music super loud – I couldn’t believe they’d play it that loud with all those little sensitive ears. But the kids loved it – sang along to all the songs and danced. So I have been going to the zoo twice a week and doing interviews. It has been very interesting. I think my project has definitely morphed a bit from what I originally planned, but that is okay. This week I spent a couple hours talking to the supervisor of the zoo – his name is Karote. He is one of two people working there who is actually trained in wildlife. He told me all about his career and it was fascinating! And we did talk about building relationships with the animals and how that would change things.

“So I next asked about relationships. He said relationships with the animals were definitely important. They are vital for animal welfare. And if the guys really worked on relating to the animals they took care of, things would probably improve a lot. He talked about wanting the animals to be comfortable and not run away. This makes it easier for workers to monitor their conditions. He talked a lot about the benefits of relationships when it comes to conditioning or training the animals. In order to train there must be trust. The zoo is stressful enough for the animals, having connections with the keepers would help make it a more positive experience. If the animal is relaxed then it will make full use of its enclosure. He said the first step to training workers to build relationships is an understanding of why they are here, then treatment will improve…it is all connected. Increased sense of identity and purpose leads to better relationships which increases sense of responsibility and identity and around it goes again! The staff needs to see it as more than just a way to make money.

Conditioning takes a lot of patience. He talked about conditioning with the baboons. If they could be trained to go into their night room then maybe they could prevent the smallest baboon from getting picked on so much. But if the workers slam the door or scare them or don’t talk then they won’t build relationships and the animals will just be suspicious if you try to get them into the night room. He said there is definitely an ease of management that comes with good relationships. Now they have to get a vet to dart gun the baboons if they want to be checked. This freaks them out, riles them up. If they could train them, it would be much calmer. But Karote is still trying to instill basic ideas…like keeping the kitchen clean and not cross contaminating with knives and cutting boards. Karote has experience with training hippos to present themselves for checks and he has worked with lions to get them into the night room. He did this just by talking to the lions calmly and getting them used to him. Eventually they would respond to him and he could call them into the night room. He talked about positive reinforcement, yeah, someone speaking my language! He talked about how at the Pretoria Zoo they have teams of scientists working on this stuff. At the ELZ it is entrapment, not conditioning. Use food to bait animals into cages and if there was an emergency or a problem, they would have to get food.”

So, that is what I have been up to – interviews at the zoo, helping at Zamani, working on my wildlife behavior course, and just enjoying being with the people here.   

In the Field!

So far South Africa has been pretty amazing. I really loved Cape Town, it was such a gorgeous place. I am glad we could spend a few days there seeing the sights, before we headed down to East London. Anyone going there with a limited budget (both money and time) should check out the City Sightseeing Bus. You buy a ticket for the day and can ride it all over, getting off and on. It took us to some great places, like the Botanical Gardens right on the side of Table Mountain. So gorgeous and peaceful. And it goes to World of Birds, a park with hundreds of birds and some other animals too. They had one enclosure with several little monkeys running around and you could go inside and they would jump on your shoulder and try to steal things from your pockets! And of course driving along Chapman’s Drive and down to the Cape of Good Hope was incredible. I could go on and on.

We did have to leave Cape Town though and get on to the next adventure. And to do that we had to ride a Greyhound Bus for 16 hours! We drove all night, so we unfortunately did not get to see as much of the South African country side as we hoped to. But we did have several hours of light in the morning with which to admire the hills and vegetation and towns. East London is quite green and there are lots of plants and trees, thick vegetation. But it is harder to see that where we are staying, surrounded by neighborhoods, malls, etc. Our host family has been absolutely spectacular. The Thomases are great and we love them already! Our little flat is very nice, with lots of sunlight and white curtains. We are all starting to get used to life here, but at first it was a little daunting. Venturing out onto the street or into the mall was nerve wracking. It still is, a little, but we are finding our way around and meeting new people, so things are slowly becoming less alien. I spent the day at the Zimani Daycare. I was stuck into a classroom of 30ish four to five year olds. It was a blast! The daycare is in Duncan Village, one of the townships of East London. The classroom is an old shipping crate or train box car, I am not sure which. The kids were super funny and quick to grin. They taught me clapping games and had a great time playing with my hair and generally using me as a jungle gym.

One of my favorite things so far has been getting used to the taxis. That is our main mode of transportation – taxis are crazy!!! I wish I could do a field study just on them and the drivers. There is a whole system, that we have not quite figured out yet, but I find it fascinating. Yesterday I was in a taxi van with 16 other people! The person sitting next to the driver gets to sort out the money, although the passengers are pretty good at sorting it out themselves. I had a R10 bill and went to pass that forward with the rest of my row – they made sure that I got the correct change out of our collective money pile before passing it all forward.

We have noticed that people who work in the shops and grocery stores are not overly friendly – I feel like it is not unusual in an American store for the cashier to make small talk with you. I do not know if people just don’t do that here, or if because we are white they figure we won’t speak the language…but cashiers here do not do that kind of thing. But that is not to say that people are not kind or friendly. Some of the taxi guys are super friendly, but then they have to be outgoing to track down prospective passengers. People at church have been very friendly, the YSA group is awesome. We have already done one activity with them and institute and a fireside. Tonight we are going to play miniature golf, or put-put with them. I am hoping to get a game of ultimate Frisbee going one of these days – that would be a blast!

As for my project…well I went to the zoo and spoke with the curator. I am still waiting to hear back from her a positive “Yes, you can come do your project.” It sounded promising though. There was the minor setback that the zoo does not actually have zookeepers, it has general workers who have not been trained in animal care or biology or zoology. But it sounds like some of them have been there for years, so I am sure they have developed relationships with the animals in their care. Alison told me of several other animal places. So far I have visited the SPCA, an animal shelter. I got one interview there, but was not allowed to get more. That is fine, because in the SPCA creating bonds with the animals can actually be detrimental to both parties. I really want to check out the Lion Park. It sounds like the Promised Land for my project. Unfortunately it is a bit out of town, so I have to wait until the Thomases or someone could give me a lift there. I am still trying to track down other places that I can volunteer. One group sounds promising, but they do not have anything for me to do right now.

To conclude this blog post – South Africa has really been amazing so far. It is different and eye-opening. Things have been at times uncomfortable but I think that is the point. We are meant to grow and be stretched and that is going to hurt a bit. But it will be worth it in the end, I hope. I have discovered the joys of rooibos tea and rusks and I can never go back!  

Final Learning Journal!!!!

      Except it won't really be my last one, since we have to keep blogging about things in the field...but it is my last one in Provo, Utah, and that is exciting! So today in class we did a little exam review and went over all the different concepts we have learned this semester. There really has been a lot of good information! I hope I can remember all of it and really put it to use in the field. Some thoughts I had during our review:

Being a participant observer - I have to try to not only participant in the activities - be it church, working at the zoo, doing stuff with the Thomases - I also have to remember to be an observer in those activities. It is more than just getting involved: it is paying attention to how people act, what is culturally acceptable, how do I react to things that are different from my culture, what is different and why is it different, how do people treat each other, the list goes on. There are so many things to be aware of, that if I can observe, will really help me gain a better understanding of the culture and be better prepared to enter other cultures in the future.

Conducting successful interviews - we went over all the different ways to interview, the different structures, probes, etc. I can do so much more than just ask my simple questions and I need to remember to tie some of those descriptive questions or probes into my interviews. For example, I didn't list any grand tour questions on my list of possible questions. But I do really want to know what a typical day at the zoo is like. Grand tour question! I'd forgotten some of the language stuff, like asking people to define words, even if they are in English. That could definitely be important. And maybe the word has a similar surface meaning in both cultures, but a different meaning deeper down...like Jackie asking about relationships and what a relationship is in South Africa - I'm sure the surface meanings are the same in both cultures, but do people act differently in relationships in South Africa - is love or caring portrayed a different way? This also reminds me of the Christmas in the Kalahari reading. The researcher thought he was doing this great thing but he didn't get the reaction he expected at all, even though I'm sure the people in the community still appreciated his large Christmas bull, even if they didn't show it like he was used to.

Something else I thought about was entering the community. So far the zoo has not contacted us back...what do I do if I don't reach them before I get to East London? My plan is to just go to the zoo and try to find someone in charge or an administrator type and discuss my project with them. Will this be sufficient? And from there how do I meet the zoo keepers and really build rapport with them? Will it be possible to "hang out" with them while they are working? Is there a break room where I can go and talk to people during lunch breaks? I guess I was counting a lot on the administrators or bosses of the zoo to introduce me to keepers. Who is in charge of the zoo? Is there a main boss or a group of people that decide things? I need to figure that out so I know who to approach.

So yeah, some good thoughts provoked by today's review, I still have some things I need to work on!

If you give a turtle a toy...

      This blog is about reading I did from my wildlife behavior textbook. I read the chapter about playing; it opens with a story of a turtle named Pigface who would "play" with balls and hoops placed in his enclosure. This livened up his bland habitat and stopped Pigface from clawing his own face and limbs - something he did before toys were introduced. Animals playing is an understudied subject...it kind of goes along with the idea of animal intelligence - are animals really thinking and figuring things out? Are they really playing just because it is fun? It is also understudied because it seems to have no evolutionary function and it is unclear what its function really is. I am interested in animal play, especially when it comes to playing with humans. Do zoo keepers play with the animals in the zoo? Does this strengthen relationships? What purpose does it serve for the animals?
    The reading defines play as this - "all motor activity performed postnatally that appears to be purposeless, in which motor patterns from other contexts may be used in modified forms and altered temporal sequencing. If the activity is directed toward another living being it is called social play." I love how they can turn play into this dense, scientific sounding thing! But I guess it does make sense...an example I think of immediately is my cats wrestling with and chasing each other. They are playing, but the motor activities used in play could be used to take down a mouse. What makes play purposeless? (Can't it just be for fun?) The book lists three ways activity can be construed as purposeless - the observers just don't know what is going on and can't see what the immediate benefit of play is; the purpose and benefit of play might not be immediately forthcoming; the benefits may be multiple and confouding. So all of these deal with a benefit existing, just not being readily apparent. I guess play can't be just for fun...
    There are several types of play. Object play is playing with inanimate objects like sticks, rocks, balls, leaves etc. The book provided several examples of animals playing with objects...cheetahs, for example, seemed to benefit from playing in that they were more successful going after live prey released by their mother than cheetahs who did not play as much. So object play can teach animals to hunt and survive in the wild. In a zoo environment, where the animal does not have to hunt, why do they encourage playing? Do they encourage playing?
    Another type of play is locomotor play - this includes leaping, twists, jumps, shakes, whirls, somersaults. Yes, my textbook said whirls. Some benefits of this kind of play include better brain development in the part of the brain that controls limb coordination. This makes sense and would also benefit the animal when it came to hunting or fleeing predators. Another type of play is social play, or playing with others. This in particular applies to my project, because I want to know if zoo keepers play with zoo animals and how that affects/benefits both parties. There are three functions of social play - it can lead to forging of long-lasting social bonds; it provides necessary physical skills; and it may aid in the development of cognitive skills.
     Okay, so what really is the function of play? A general theory is that play "functions to increase the veratility of movements used to recover from sudden shocks such as loss of balance, etc...and enhances the ability of animals to cope emotionally with unexpected or stressful situations." So in a zoo, where the habitat is controlled, the food is provided, and unexpected situations are very rare, what is the purpose of play? I guess animals do have to deal with humans, which can bring some unexpected situations - visits to the vet, other health care procedures, interactions with zoo visitors. So there may be some unexpected situations an animal needs to be prepared for. Personally, I think animals need to play and develop those motor skills and brain skills even if they don't really need them. It is an interesting ethical question....People want to go to the zoo to see animals acting like they would in the wild - that is when it is exciting - so maybe just as a money making tool animals need to be allowed to play or given the opportunity to play in zoos. I want to add a question about play onto my interviews - does the zoo keeper play with or notice the animals in their care playing? Do they think playing is benefical to these animals, even though they live in an artifial and controlled environment? Is it important for animal welfare that they play and develop?

Animals Learn!

         Wednesday's class I presented my project to Carlee and Jackie. It went well : ) Some of the feedback I got from Jackie - she wanted to know if South Africans would have a different idea of what a relationship was and how I was accounting for that. Apparently South Africans are a little more abrupt or straightforward - stern perhaps? So maybe they would not be likely to coddle animals. I have no idea what the normal treatment, or even positive treatment, of animals means to South Africans, but it is definitely something to keep in mind. I am sure I will learn how they feel about relationships before my project is done.
       The rest of my journal I'd like to talk about the reading I did for my annotated bibliography. I read from the textbook I will be using for my wildlife behavior course. The chapter I read was about learning and how animals learned. There were three main ways that animals learned or could be taught - single stimulus, Pavlonian, and instrumental. Remember that learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. I am interested - what have the animals learned about living in a zoo? I wonder how many of the zoo's animals are captive bred and how many, if any, came from the wild? Is it hard for the wild animals to adapt and learn about living in a zoo environment. Do animals learn how to have relationships? Looking at the instrumental method of learning, it seems like it would be possible for an animal to learn about relationships. The relationship could be the reward, if the relationship brings kinder, prompter, more good natured care from the zoo keeper. But what actions would be part of the relationship...the animal being more cooperative while being moved or brought to the vet? And how would an outsider like me be able to see or observe an animal learning? Would I be able to tell by just watching that an animal had a positive, caring relationship with a zoo keeper? I guess it is easy to tell from the human side: is the keeper kind, caring, playful with the animal. But how do you tell if the animal reciprocates - I guess I am going to rely on the zoo keeper's opinon a lot - do they think the animal reacts to them in a way that suggest a relationship? I am interested to see how animals learn and encorporate that learning into their lives in the zoo.

Coping with Culture Shock

         Monday's lecture was all about culture shock - what it is and how we can deal with it. The reading and class were both alarming and helpful...it is alarming to think that I am going to not only be in a foreign, unusual, different culture, but I'm informed I am going to go through a period of hostility and frustration in which aspects of the culture will effectively drive me crazy. Luckily there are ways to deal with culture shock and hopefully "cure" it. Ashley showed us a list of culture shock symptoms and said that depending on how we personally coped with stress determines our culture shock symptoms. Looking at her list these things stood out as signs I might be under stress: excessive reading and sleeping, excessive laptop use, phobic behavior, or not going out. I definitely use movies and books as a safety net or comfort blanket. So if I realize all I want to do is watch movies or read books I might be experiencing culture shock (of course I do just enjoy movies and books and sleep, so those won't necessarily mean I am in culture shock). I can see myself getting rather phobic about things. Last Christmas I had some money stolen from my luggage and I am already dreading luggage issues with my upcoming international travel. We've talked some about safety in South Africa and I could definitely become phobic about safety issues. And of course, when stressed or disstressed, it is hard to leave the house, where things will be familiar and safe. And of course frustration and general grumpiness seem to be a part of culture shock.
       Okay, so I know the visible signs of culture shock - what do I do once I realize I might be experiencing it? Suggestions that I liked and intend to apply: laught at things, empathy, remembering that this is a once in a lifetime experience, keep the faith, and involving the host family. Of course I am going to make cultural mistakes. Hopefully most of them are pretty small and easy to learn from and then laugh about. I think humor is a great way to combat culture shock and maintain good relationships. Empathy is VITAL!!!! Remembering that the upbringing of South Africans might be drastically different from my upbringing and experiences is very important, as well as putting myself in other people's shoes. I have wanted to go to South Africa forever, this is my dream, and I want to make the most of it and embrace it - culture shock and all! I liked the keeping the faith method for minimizing culture shock...keeping the faith to me means that I remember we are all God's children. We might be different culturally and religiously but we are all brothers and sisters. It also means remembering, as Dr. Brown said in the Inquiry Conference, that humanity and the world are really better than the news usually makes them out to be...the world's a great place. Involving the host family seems like a very wise idea - they will be the people I know best, outside of Holly and Emily, and they will understand how the culture works. Of course I want to take advantage of their knowledge and wisdom.
       Some other thoughts I had from Monday's class: I should talk to my parents about how they dealt with culture shock. When I was 6-9 I lived overseas in Ireland and Israel. I don't remember dealing with culture shock, I was probably too young and just thought everything was a grand adventure. But I'm sure my parents had an interesting time figuring things out - I should ask them how strongly they felt culture shock and how they dealt with it. Another thought - in preparing for dealing with culture shock, the reading suggested knowing about your own culture and how it affects what you think and how you view things. What an interesting thing to think about! As a born and raised Mormon I naturally view some things a certain way, although I can't think of anything specifically right now - another blog post? And the final thing I want to work on is learning how South Africans communicate non-verbally....what things are different then how Americans communicate non-verbally.

The Unconscious Brilliance of Nature

       Another chapter from If a Lion Could Talk. This chapter is about humans trying to determine once and for all whether animals "think". The issue is that intelligence and the ability to think are not the same! A common example: a dog might jump up at a door handle over and over again and one time the door opens, the dog is free! The dog might do this over and over again, opening the door each time, but that does not mean the dog understands the underlying mechanism that causes this. The dog is not conciously thinking "I can open the door by scratching at the handle." This example reminds me of some of the papers I read about human-animal relationships. The keepers are bringing the animals food, so when an animal sees a keeper approaching, it is excited and goes to meet the keeper....is that because it has learned that keeper=food, or is it pleased to see the keeper for other reasons?
    This chapter talks a lot about learning associations - animals can recognize cause and effect, that does not mean they have a "theory of mind." A theory of mind involves imputing personal intentions, beliefs, and desires to and of others....this is kind of a complicated idea, but here's another example to clarify. The author of the book has a dog that would always try to eat the cat's food. The author would tell the dog off, so it stopped eating the food. Then one day the author was on the phone, and the dog went for the dog food again. The author was busy and couldn't tell off the dog. After that, whenever the author was on the phone, the dog would eat the cat food. So, was the dog thinking "Aha! He is distracted, I'm going to eat the food now!" Or was it simply a learned association - when he's on the phone, eat the food. There is a subtle difference between these two things...unthinking intelligence versus understanding.
     Something interesting caused by learned associations is superstitious behavior in animals. Example - a horse shying at the same place in the road where it was once scared by a bird. Apparently animals are pretty quick at picking up possibly cause and effects or associations. They do something a certain way because they recieve positive attention. Okay, so how does all of this tie into my project? I think it ties into the idea of positive reinforcement training - if a keeper treats an animal in a positive manner afte they do something the keeper wants, the animal is going to be more willing to do that behavior again. I've heard of training like this being used with elephants - keepers trained an elephant to raise it's foot for cleaning - positive reinforcement training causes less stress to the animals and make the keepers job easier. I don't know if the animals are really thinking about things - if they make decisions based on what other animals or humans are thinking. But regardless, using learned associations in the zoo environment seems like a grand idea.

Issues in the Field

      Today's class was great - I really appreciated it. We had a panel dicussion with the facilitators who have experience in the field. They shared many of the problems they had the field and ways to get around those problems. Some of the issues that concern me the most: I was not really worried about having issues with the people in my group, but it sounds like that is quite common. I just feel like Holly and Emily are going to be so great to have around, familiar faces in a strange new culture. They are both really smart, likeable girls, so I really hope we do not have too many problems. Another thing that concerns me is culture shock. Everyone talked about being overwhelmed and how little things that are different really start to bother them. This is a bit discouraging to me. I want to hear that everything is just great and an amazing and fantastic experience.....I know this is not realistic, and it is good to hear about these issues so that I do not go into the field completely naively. Anyway, back to culture shock, I really like Heather's approach to this problem, and to the problem of lost motivation. She would make a list of the things she loved about South Africa. It might be the only time I ever get to go to that part of the world, and I certainly want to make the most of it, to enjoy and treasure that time.
       Other things that worry me - I am worried about meeting people and becoming part of the community. I feel like with our field experience that is a little harder - we are not going to some small rural village where everyone will know us, we are going to a fairly large city. So that means identifying communities within the city to join - I know I will be part of the church community and I hope to be part of the zoo community. Then there is our host family and whatever community they are apart of; hopefully I can enter into that community and get to know their family and friends. Anyway, a big part of our in-field class is getting out into communities and working with people. I guess I am worried that since it is a bigger city that it will be harder to find the right communities to work with....but church and the Thomases should provide enough opportunity to meet and befriend other people. And I would like to go to Mama Yoyo's school, so there is another community!
       I haven't been too worried about language, but maybe I should? Heather and others have mentioned that the accents can be quite hard to decipher. And of course there will be new vocabulary. Maybe I'll just listen to a ton of youtube clips of people speaking with various South African accents...I did watch this one video where a guy was trying to teach how to talk with a South African accent - I don't think he did a very accurate job, but what do I know!? Anyway, it was good to discuss these and other issues that arise in the field. I really want to work on adding more safety-nets into my proposal, like Ashley suggested.

If a goldfish had arms and legs....

      So this is the blog for Friday's class - we worked on project proposals. It was a good workshop, I learned several things to add to my project to improve it. I wasn't really sure what to blog about this workshop though, so I have turned to "If a Lion Could Talk" for inspiration. The first chapter is entitled "Who is the smartest of them all?" Something I found really interesting was the idea that started with Darwin's theory of evolution that evolution is like a stepladder and that organisms are trying to progress up that ladder, say from insects to the top, humans. Humans were considered the "most evolved" and "most intelligent". In reality, all organisms are equally evolved. All have evolved to their niche - their habitat, lifestyle, etc. Another problem is how one defines intelligence - how do you measure it? How do you fit a bird's abiltiy to fly or a spider's ability to weave a web into a human idea of intelligence? Tests for intelligence are often biased - even among humans. So try testing hundreds of different species! A different test would need to be created for each species, perhaps even each individual. "Animals differ in temperament, perceptual abilities, social behavior..."
       Another point I really like is this - "we say a dog or horse is smart when it does what we want it to do" - humans have projected themselves so much onto animals....it is hard to separate our perceptions of the world in order to think about how animals might perceive the world. Something else to be aware about when judging an animal is their input and output ability. The author talks about how we judge animals that can see and do things readily as being more intelligent i.e. a monkey that can sign with its hands or an owl that can see great distances. But just because a golfish has limited eyesight and no limbs does not mean that it is dumb. So monkeys and owls might have greater ability to demonstrate that they are taking things in (greater input and output ability) but that doesn't mean they are the smartest animals around.
        So how does all of this apply to my project? I think it is really important to be aware of all these things before I go out and work with animals. I am really curious to see what kind of biases and stereotypes exist against animals in the zoo. Do the same biases that apply to intelligence apply to relationships? I mean do keepers not even try to develop relationships with certain species because they think it is impossible to have a relationships with them? Is it impossible to have relationships with certain species...probably yes, it would be hard to have a relationship with a snail or a butterfly, but I wonder.....I want to be careful to not assign intelligence to certain animals just because they behave in a human manner or have greater output and input abilities.

A History of Art

      The oldest art objects in the world were discovered in a cave in South Africa! So, it has quite a history of art. The art and religion of South Africa was the topic of conversation for Wednesday's class. I would like to focus on the art aspect of South African culture in this post. What were the art objects in the cave that are 75,000 years old - they were drilled out snail shells probably strung on something to create a knecklace. Vanity existed 75,000 years ago! There was also rock art created by the ancient ancestors of the Bushman or San.



Today there is a vibrant and active art community. I was interested to see what kind of art was produced during apartheid. Here are some examples:

 

Pretty dark, dramatic stuff, as you might imagine. It was interesting to look at some of the photography from apartheid - interesting is not the right word, heartbreaking is really more appropriate. Here is some mor contemporary art...I found that a lot of the contemporary art depicts tribal scenes or traditions - South Africans have not forgotten their roots or their history.

 

And of course, there is all the craft artwork, like this bread pot made out of...telephone wire!!! It's amazing.



What did I learn from this brief exploration of South African art? I can postulate some things: South Africans are very crafty and good at making beautiful things with very little - rocks, telephone wire, etc. They have a strong connection to their past and keep old traditions alive in their culture today. I am excited to go there and learn more about their art - hopefully we can go to the art show that Heather has mentioned a couple times.

Anthropomorphism

     Dr. Smith is one of the professors that I am made a course contract with - he teaches the wildlife behavior classes on campus. When I was in his office talking to him about my project he suggested several books to read, books with the fun side of animal behavior, or the stories rather than the science. I recently started reading one of these books. It is called If a Lion Could Talk. In the introduction it talks about anthropomorphism - giving inanimate/non-human objects or animals human characteristics. This is something we do with animals all the time. It is interesting that we compliment or appreciate animals more when they behave like humans. We are extremely self-centered. But the author points out that animals are doing this too - dogs treat humans as they would other dogs. Some guy Xenophanes wrote this: "If cattle and horses, or lions, had hands, or were able to draw with their feet and produce works which men do, horses would draw the forms of gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make gods' bodies the same shape as their own." So I guess we humans can't really be blamed for treating animals like humans. The author also brought up the point that sometimes it is just easier to describe something as if it had intention - a human characteristic. For example it is easier to say that giraffes grew longer necks to reach higher up in trees rather then going into the details of evolution and natural selection.
       Anthropomorphism is something I wanted to look at a little in my project - do zoo keepers give the animals in their care anthropomorphic traits? If they do, is that a bad thing? Or does it somehow help improve relationships? Does the zoo discourage giving human traits to animals? I mean we have already captured these animals, confined them, and forced them to act in ways that benefit man and not necessarily animal....So, we give animals human traits - partially in an attempt to understand them better. Animal conciousness is something that has more recently begun being seriously studied. A big motivation for these studies is a better understanding of animal welfare and animal rights - how should we treat animals? Thinking about it, I realize that my project anthropomorphizes animals right off the bat - they are developing relationships with humans. Aren't relationships a largely human realm? Maybe not, wolf packs and lion prides have hiearchies and relationships...so there is something that humans and animals share, the need for relationships, the need to work with other individuals for survival.
     Anyway, I want to be very aware of how I treat and talk about animals and see where I tend to anthropomorphize them...and if zoo keepers do the same.

Represent!

     Today in class we continued talking about gaining access - to the community and the organizations we will be working with in South Africa. She asked us three questions, which I would like to answer here. The first question was how do I explain my purpose in the field? We are going to be meeting a lot of new people, and they are all going to know what this young American college student is doing in South Africa. My project is easy to explain simply...I almost worry it is too straightforward? Like people will want to ask clarifying questions just because it is so brief....but Heather did tell us to make it as concise as possible. My purpose in going to South Africa is to study the relationships between zoo keepers and the animals in their care. Boom, done. To go a little more in-depth: I want to study how relationships between keepers and animals can benefit the animals and how it can benefit the keepers. The model is that positive relationships benefit both parties. I want to further explore how positive relationships develop and what the benefits are.
   
      The second question was what roles will I be assuming inside the homes, communities and organizations that are hosting me? I will start with my host family. Heather mentioned that the Thomases did not want to impose on us because they viewed us more as guests. I do not want my role in their home to be as a guest - at least not for three months. It might start out that way, but I am hoping to become a friend. Not a relative necessarily, but not a guest - I think friend is somewhere in the middle there. I want to help out around the house and I want the Thomases to know they can ask me to help and I will not be offended at all. This goes into reciprocity, which we also talked a little about today. In the host home, service is the best way to "pay back" our host family. The role I want in the zoo is a little harder to define...I am not exactly sure yet what role I want there. Obviously I want to be more than just a zoo goer. And I want the zoo keepers to be more than just my study subjects. I want them to be a major part of the research and aides in the research - with their full consent and willingness, of course. I want to become a friend or colleague to the people who work in the zoo. Someone they can trust to observe things usually done behind the scenes, and maybe even trust enough to help out with stuff. I am not sure what other communities I will become a part of...certainly the LDS community. In that community I want to be another YSA, a faithful, helpful member. I wonder how much of the Thomases community we will meet and how many interactions we will have with them - enough to become a part of it?

     The third question was how will I introduce myself in these contexts? Our host family will already know a little about our background since they have been hosting BYU field study students for the past few years. Someone in class on Monday brought up the point that we need to be careful how we treat those communities and people we interact with, because we will affect how future BYU students are seen and how easily they are accepted. I wonder what preconceived notions the Thomases, the zoo, or the LDS ward will have of visiting BYU students? When I think about introducing myself to someone I have just met, whether it be at church, the zoo, or some social gathering, here are some things I will probably include: I'm a college student at BYU, I grew up in the United States, my family is from Montana (will they even have heard of Montana?), I'm studying wildlife, and my purpose for being in South Africa is to study keeper-animal relationships. I am interested to see how this changes over the course of my stay there - if there will be certain details I want to leave out in certain situations etc.

         I really enjoyed the reading we  did for Monday's class and the discussion and examples we had in class. There were several things we talked about that apply to my field study experience. Ashley threw out a bunch of vocabulary words. One of them was defocusing. I think this is an important concept to remember for several reasons. Defocusing allows you to step back from a situation and check out what your emotions are doing. What judgements are you making? It also helps you refocus your observational skills. What things have you allowed to become commonplace, that are really very important? This can help a stagnant situation gain some pizzazz. A point that Ashley brought up was that defocusing can help with safety. People keep asking me if my parents are worried that I am going to South Africa. I say a little, but I am going to be careful and follow the rules BYU has created to help keep us safe. I'm sure that as we get more used to East London safety might be less and less on our minds...I hope to use defocusing to step back, remember that I am in a new, different culture, and keep on being aware of my surroundings - as that pertains to my project and to staying safe.

     The reading was entitled "Choosing a Site and Gaining Access". In class we focused mostly on the gaining access side of things. We listened to a really great interview that was the perfect example of someone gaining access to a community. Applying this to my project: I do not have 18 months. I have three months. So I am going to start working with the "gatekeepers" now. Gatekeeper was another vocab word. For me, I do not have to worry about going through some tribal chief or the CEO of a business - my gatekeepers are going to be the zoo administrators. I am preparing a letter of introduction to send to them. This is my first step in gaining access to the zoo. Once I arrive in East London, I will continue to work with the gatekeepers, but I will also need to start establishing rapport with zoo keepers. It sounds so clinical and sterile to be describing it this way - but I really am excited to meet new people and just learn about their lives as South Africans and as people who work with animals. Something from the interview that I appreciated was that the woman who was doing the study tried to make the community comfortable around her...I genuinely want to make friends with the people who work at the zoo, and I want them to be able to rely on me to help out with things. I do not want to be the superior outsider. I realize this might take a little time, but I am willing to put in that groundwork before I pounce on people to start answering my questions. Rapport is going to be really important for me... I want to gain their trust so that I can have a little bit more of an insider's access - to the enclosures, the animals, and the interactions that the public doesn't always see. I can practice some of this stuff now by practicing being a good friend to the friends I already have, and I can make some new friends. Whahoo!

How to Write a Persuasive Essay

     For my project proposal I am supposed to do a literature review in the form of a persuasive essay and I have been struggling with that, so for this learning journal I decided to read up on how to write persuasively. With a persuasive essay, the writer is trying to convince the reader to reach the same conclusion as the writer did...this means the basis for the conclusion has to be considered. Translation - I am trying to show why my project is important, legitimate, or necessary, so I have to go through the reasons why I think it is those things. Things to look at: assumptions, don't assume the audience agrees with you, play devil's advocate with myself, support all conclusions with evidence, especially outside evidence - don't just use personal experience. That won't be hard for my paper, all of it is from outside articles.

     Organization is often a problem with persuasive essays - I think that is where mine went especially wrong. So, I need to make sure I have: thesis, introduction, conclusions, transitions between paragraphs. In the introduction make sure to state why the issue is an issue - why is it important for me to be studying the relationship between keeper and animal? Clearly state position on issue. Clearly state reasons supporting your position - use topic sentences with because clauses, shows the reader that you are connecting back to the thesis and making an argument. So some topic sentences for me would be "The relationship between animals and keepers is important because it can affect animal welfare." Then I would have a paragraph looking at how it affects animal welfare. The conclusion should summarize the opposition's views, relate issue to larger issue...in the conclusion is where moral or emotional appeals can be made. So with those things in mind, I am going to go back through and come up with a better, more logical outline and try the literature review again!

Source:
http://www1.english.montana.edu/~engweb/wc/Information/PersuasiveWriting.pdf

East London in the News

      In Wednesday's class we talked some more about ethics and how to treat people and how to handle being in a different culture. Since I've already written about those things, I thought I would try to find some current events for East London, or South Africa in general. Here are some of the news articles I read:

At least eights roads have been shut down in East London because of heavy rain this past month. I also found a bunch of pictures taken when they had some major flooding this last summer. I hope something like that doesn't happen while we are there, because it would definitely make doing research a little difficult.

A bigger South African headline is that Julius Malema has been expelled from the ANC, or African National Congress, and also from the ANC Youth League. He was expelled because he portrayed the ANC and the president under a negative light. He has been accused of hate speech before. I read up a little about Malema's life - he has had an interesting one. He got involved with politics at a very young age, nine or ten. He has not done very well in school and is still working on a Bachelor's Degree. Many of his actions have been frowned on by members of the public and the government.

A group of college students from Walter Sisulu University had to climb out of a burning bus on the interchange between East London and King William's Town. Everyone got out okay, but the bus is completely burnt out inside. The fire was apparently the result of an electrical fault.

Nelson Mandela was discharged from the hospital earlier this week. He went in for a check-up because of on-going discomfort, but it sounds like he is okay. He really seems like a big celebrity in South Africa. The article mentioned a neighbor across the street who did not want to comment on his health. Apparently she got in trouble earlier this year when news agencies mounted cameras on her fence to watch Mandela's house, so she is being very cautious now about anything to do with him.

The Daily Dispatch Felt Cycle Tour just took place in East London - a two day event which featured a couple 100 km cycling races for men and women. There were about 700 cyclists! And a 46 km fun ride for anyone who wanted to bike. I need to figure out how to convert miles to kilometers and Fahrenheit to Celsius.

       This was fun! I think I'll try to do this periodically, it is a good way to learn about things that are important in East London and South Africa. It was kind of hard to find a good website with news of East London - is this a cultural thing or do they just not do as much online? Most of the things that come up when you search East London are tourist information for EL or stories from East London in England....

Good Enough for Grandma

   Monday's class was all about ethics and how the IRB developed in the U.S. Ashley shared several examples with us of unethical studies done in the past that led to the development of a Review Board that would make sure things were being done in an ethical way. She gave us a list of concerns in research ethics - you want to minimize harm or risk to the subjects, you want your subjects to have both privacy and confidentiality, you want their consent in what you are doing and do not want to deceive them. The thing that stuck out the most to me was reciprocity. What will I be doing to give back to the people who will be helping me this summer? Ashley said she tells facilitators to look for people they would be comfortable sending to live with their own grandmother for three months. What kind of person would I send to live with my grandmother? They would have to be honest, decent, trustworthy, respectful, helpful, kind - the list goes on.
        This definitely gave me a new perspective on my host family and our relationship. They are going to be doing a lot for us BYU students - taking us into their homes and into the private moments of their lives, to a certain extent. And I really had not thought about what I can do to repay this. Of course we have talked a little about helping with dishes and helping clean up...but how do I avoid making the Thomases, and other people I meet and befriend, from feeling like they are just being used, a means to the end of completing my field project and my course contracts? I am going to have so many questions to ask, interviews to complete, and customs to observe and participate in, but I do not want to get into such a hurry to complete these tasks that I forget relationships and the feelings of the people around me. Ashley warned us to always be aware of how your actions and words affect other people. While some of my motivation in meeting people might be to get something from them, whether it be a contact, invitation, or interview, I can never let that be my sole motivation in getting to know people.
         In thinking about some of my relationships now and in the past, I can see that in many cases I am motivated because I want to get something from someone. Maybe this isn't awful all the time, but I can certainly do better on befriending people just for their sake, and not mine. This is something I can work on with roommates, ward members, professors, family. If I start working on it now, hopefully this summer it will be no problem to make friends with others out of genuine interest and regard. One way that we can give back to the communities in East London is by helping with Mama Yoyo's daycare. I am not sure what other opportunities there will be...in my own project I am completely willing to help out around the zoo, I just do not know if that help will be wanted or needed.

Course Contracts and IRBs

       In Friday's class we got the low-down on course contracts. The first issue is finding a faculty mentor. I have already browsed through several professors and their interests and I do not think there is anyone who is specifically interested in the topic of my field study - human-animal relationships. But there are a few professors who have done some research with behavioral ecology, so I am going to go and talk to them about this project. So possible course contracts...my major does have a special topics class, and a research course and a seminar course. I think special topics will be the best fit though. For the second course, there is really only one course that would work well with my project. Wildlife Behavioral Ecology is an elective credit. I think it would perfectly for this summer because a big part of my study is animal behavior and how it is affected by human relationships. But this is a 500 level class and I am not sure exactly what I would do in the field to meet the requirements of the class. The description on the Undergraduate Catalog says that field trips are required...hopefully being around animals every day will be sufficient : ) I will go and talk to the professor about it. If that does not work out though, I am really not sure what I will do. Ashley said we should develop a course that will work well with our project and that will get us out the door and interacting with the world. None of the other courses required for my major really meet those requirements...they would be read and write courses, which we want to avoid. Hopefully it will work out.

     We also started talk just a little about IRBs. We had to read a couple for class and annotate them. I was surprised at how many gaps I found with the sample protocols - were they purposefully bad, or is it really just that hard to cover everything that needs to be covered? I am sure I will learn all about IRBs and how to write them; we have to take a tutorial, make several drafts, and will be discussing them a lot in class. So that's good.

Inquiry Conference

     For my second hour of conference attendance, I went to presentations given by Sarah, Averyl and Nick, who are all in the prep class currently. It was great to hear some presentations given by people who have experienced a field study. Nick talked about his time in Tonga, which sounds like a really lovely place. One thing that he talked about that could be applicable to my field study was an issue he had with an interview question. He would ask people why they designed their yards the way they did and would always get one answer - "for the beauty." He changed his questioning method a little and was able to get better responses. It is important for me to remember that in South Africa the way people understand or express things might be different then how I understand or express myself. So interview questions might take some tweaking.

      Sarah talked about her time in Rome studying the Pantheon. The take home message for me from her presentation was that some things cannot be understood in just three months. Regardless even of how much preparation before being in the field, three months is not that long. And that is OKAY! It sounded like Sarah did not really feel that she reached any concrete conclusions about the Pantheon and how Romans view it, but she still had a valuable experience and learned things. Averyl talked about the value of doing a field study versus library research. This is slightly more obvious for my project then it was for hers. I loved that she changed her opinion on "whiney" Queen Elizabeth after visiting some of the places talked about in the play about her life. Anyway, my project kind of requires being in the field. I guess I could do it in the library but it would be boring and it would be harder then being in the field, with the zoo keepers and the zoo animals. And I do not think I would learn nearly as much in the library as in the field. A field study educates in many ways other then academically - Holly and I were just talking about how we are going to come home from this summer completely fearless. We will have spent all summer dealing with people, learning how to talk to, approach, and befriend many different people. I am looking forward to it!