Visit to Cape Town

Mountains in Stellenbosch

My friend Stephanie and I on the ferry to Robben Island with Table Mountain in the background!


Waterfront of Cape Town
Beach on Robben Island
Lime quarry where many freedom fighters were forced to work on Robben Island
Nelson Mandela's cell
Entrance to Robben Island

Shops/restaurants in Camps Bay (gorgeous beach area)

Our program took a trip from Durban to Cape Town March 27th-April 3rd. The first 2 nights we stayed in Stellenbosch, the vineyard and winery area about half an hour outside of Cape Town. It was absolutely GORGEOUS there! We had a lecture about the Identity of Afrikaaners one morning and in the afternoon we went on a wine tasting at Spier winery (which was really fun!). We then drove to Cape Town the next morning. The ride to Cape Town is pretty much one long stretch of shacks...so it's kind of hard to wrap your mind around leaving this gorgeous area and immidiately seeing mile after mile after mile of extreme poverty.

Once we got to Cape Town we moved in to a backpacker. The next few days we had various lectures, and visited all different places including Robben Island, the District 6 Museum, Joe Slovo and Delft informal settlements, etc. I really loved Cape Town!

For the last month of our program we have to complete an Independent Study Project on a topic of our choice. Basically complete research and write a looooooooong paper and then present it. We can go anywhere in South Africa as long as our topic/locaiton gets approved. So I decided to go back to Cape Town and that is where I am right now! I live with 2 other girls in "holiday flats". I start my research tomorrow. I am going to be exploring the effectivemess of a mobile TB clinic. So I will be going to a clinic in Gugulethu (a township) for the next week or so observing and interviewing staff. Should be interesting!