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.