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....
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