Katie's Training Blog

Training Countdown: 3 days

2009-12-02T05:23:00.001-08:00

My official marathon training starts on Saturday! More updates to come!

In the meantime, my fundraising website is: http://tedysteam2010.kintera.org/boston/jerdee

Thanks!

NU Social Enterprise Institute

2009-08-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

For more information on the program to South Africa & the DR...

http://www.neu.edu/sei/

Service week!

2009-06-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

Last I updated we were on day 1 of a 2 day project to build the foundation for a school. By the end of the second day we had dug the 8ft holes for the foundation and removed all the dirt. I cant even explain how exausting that is what you only have shovels and buckets. Oh how I love power tools and machinery! When we left of the 2nd day the cement was ready to be poured! I hope to one day come back and continue working with the school.

The next day we took a well deserving break and went to Saona Island. This is about 2 hours from Santo Domingo and we got to snorkle and lay on the beach!

On Thursday, we went to a school in a village that we were going to repaint inside and out. This included scraping it too. It was a lot of manual labor, but some of the local kids helped out too! It was a 2 day project that we crammed into one day and a long day it was! It was quite a marathon of teamwork to get it done. It came out beautiful!

Moving on to Friday, a man from the Red Sox came down from Boston. He works a lot with the Dominican/Red Sox relationship. He brought us to the Red Sox Academy in San Pedro. It was a really cool place to see. There are about 35 players who stay there. They are in rooms of bunkbeds and eat in a cafateria. They play a game everyyy single day and then 3 days a week they take english lessons. This is the very bottom of the professional leagure pyramid. The next step from this would be playing for the Red Sox is Ft Lauderdale with the team they have there. It's a long road to play at Fenway! There were a lot of scouts there and we got to see them play a game vs the Mets. It is very weird to think how much of their life revolves around baseball. All of the players there are between 17-20 years old and come from Aruba, Venezuala, DR, etc...
After the Academy, we went to visit a pre-school and baseball field that the Red Sox had built for a local community near their facilities.

That bring us to today. Everyone is departing to fly back to Boston later this afternoon. I am going to stay in Santo Domingo until Monday, then my friend and I are off to Haiti and Cuba. Not sure of our plans exactly yet, but you probably won't hear from me for a week or so after monday.

Check my pisture site for all of the pictures! http://picasaweb.google.com/KatieJerdee

Orphanage & school building day 1

2009-06-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

On Sunday (Domincan Mothers Day) we went to an orphanage. We made them food, cake, painted their faces, danced, did arts & crafts, and sports with them. They were all SO happy.

Playing with the kids

Over 200 hot dogs!
Today (Monday) we started our major service project... we are reconstructing a school in a village we visted earlier. The school was started by a few Esperanza borrowers and fuctions to give children who cannot go to school (lack of clothes, no birth cirtificant, too expensive, etc) an education. It isnt able to get accredited because it was in such rough shape and wasnt suitable to be a "school". We started today to clear the dirt to lay the foundation. We are working with actual construction people who know what htey are doing! I guess it is very uncommon to see girls actually doing work and getting dirty, so we grew to be quite a sight for the whole community to see.

Us with some of the students

After a day of dirty work (with some engineers/construction)

27 Waterfalls!

2009-06-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we went to "27 Waterfalls". Here you hike up a mountain then you jump down 27 waterfalls to get to the bottem. It was awesome! My waterproof camera came in very handy. Again, for all the pics go to my Picasa page.

Final Field Work & Presentations

2009-05-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures (comliments of Esther) from our final days in the field and when we finally presented to Esperanza staff.

A Sugar Cane "Batey" (their housing community)

Final presentations to Esperanza

Observing an HIV/AIDS support group sponsored by Esperanza

He wins! Cutest boy of the trip =)

Video clip I've been working on

2009-05-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

Hey! I've been REALLY busy and haven't had time to even sit down in the past few days. Here is a video I was working on the other day about what we have done so far...

Yesterday we presented our final presentations to Esperanza. We were measuring the impact of the work they have been doing thus far. We were also observing the dispersments of our new "Bank of Hope" loans. Our total group was about 40 people including the INTEC students and then we split up in 3 smaller groups, but making a project with 14 others was not easy. The most difficult part (by far!) was working with such a huge # of people for this project. We stayed up until about 4am the morning of the presenation and slept until 6:30 that morning then went out to the field with the Dean of the College of Business. He is here to observe what we are doing for a few days. We went to an HIV/AIDS support group, a borrower meeting, then to visit the school we are going to undertake as our service project on Monday and Tuesday. Visiting the school was AWESOME! All the students (preschool-4th grade) had a song prepared for us. We walked around and played with them for a bit and then talked to the Esperanza borrower who started the school. She was so honored that were were going to redo the school as out project she started to cry. She said it was her dream that something like this would happen.

Batey 18 & Batey 22

2009-05-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today we went to visit two Batey's. These are small, rura, communities on a sugar plantation. In this case, the government issued their houses because the husband worked with cutting the sugar during the harvesting months. They were very run down houses and almost resembed small bomb-shelters. It was very rural and we had to drive a while and on some pretty rough roads.

We got to observe a credit committee meeting where each person that wanted to take a new loan from Esperanza would have to get approved by all the current borrowers. People who were going to apply for another loan would have to state their purpose for the money and need approval by all. We met a woman who although she sent the repayments in with her friend had missed more than 5 meetins. Because of this, she was now not elligable to take another loan.
We also went to interview a few borrowers a lot of whom were Haitian immigrants as expected from being on a sugar plantation.

Credit committee meetings

Looking down the road from Batey 18

She wins... cutest child thusfar

Field day

2009-05-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

On Friday we spent half the day in the classroom then half the day in the field. We went to a village in San Pedro byt Boca Chica. We have been observing borrower meetings and then interviewing past and present borrowers about their experiences with Esperanza what they like/dislike, about their family, business, etc... Even though Esperanza (and almost all microfinance) lends to almost 90% women, I interiewed a man on Friday who is a current borrower. This is what he said...

He name is Theralus and he was born in 1956 and a Haitian immigrant. He came to Santa Domingo for work. He buys shoes in Haiti and then sells them when he gets to Santa Domingo. His current loan of more the amout of $12000 pesos (about $340 USD) He can no longer "legally" travel to Haiti because his visa expired a few months ago. He has a very hard time running his business now and is going to need to pay $6000 pesos to get a new visa.

I interviewed him in his house which was sort of like a shack with some shoes lying all over the floor. His wife was cooking in a big pot over an open flame inside. It was very small and cramped, but he made sure to clean off a seat for me. In his house he lives with 3 people. His wife and child. Theralus has another wife in Haiti with 3 more children.

Although his business has gotten better after the loan, he is having trouble making the bi-weekly repayments. He does almost all of his business of credit and doesnt collect the money of time. His wife actually took a loan from another MFI called "Bank of Women" to sell fried fish and sheets. Her particular loan term is much longer with repayments only once a month. There are negative and positives to that and one critisism is that the interest on a long term like that is unbelievably high.

While he heard about it through word-of-mouth from his neighbors, he is not going to take out another loan. In his area, a lot of poeple sell on credit and the retention rate is very low because of this problem.

This is just an example of one of MANY interviews I have done so far. We are going to gather our findings and recommendations and deliver them to Esperanza with recommendation as ways to measure impact and also ways to increase their retention rate. Next week we are going to be opening/funding 5 new Banks of Hope (small MF banks through Esperanza). We get to observe the whole process over the week. The borrowers have already been screened, so next week we are going to observe the training process and the loan dispersment. It was been AWESOME to see microfinance actually in the field like we are. It has been something we have all only learned about in the classroom and it is surreal getting to see it firsthand and know that our $25,000 we donated for these new banks is going to help improve hundreds of people lives!

Theralus and I

The school we are going to be revamping at the end of this week

I will adopt them all.

2009-05-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here are a cummulation of the kids from today. I am going to turn into Angelina & Brad (minus Brad) when I get home.

It's been a while!

2009-05-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

Whoops, its been a while. Here is a rundown of what has kept me pre-occupied:

Fri Night: This girl at Intec rented out a place near our hotel because it was her birthday as well. The other students, us, as well as the Montana students we met as well as the Michigan students in our hotel went. It was a lot of fun! I’ve been getting a lot of dancing… mucho practice =)Sat: We set out from the hotel VERY early and took a 3 hour bus ride to Samana. We took a boat ride Los Haitises to see the caves. We ate lunch hand then went on a horse back ride to a waterfall in the village of Limon. It was awesome! I names my horse Rapido Amingo because we would stop running. Much later we headed back, got home late, and passed out from the day of activities.

Waterfall in Limon

Sun: Leisure day. Woke up and walked around with my roommate Emily. I forgot to mention before, but 2 years ago I had played club soccer with her. We walked around and went to some local shops & markets. We had a group meeting to put together a presentation of our research about pollution. We were very productive until the live band started playing salsa music. Every Sunday at about 6, there is live music at the ruins that is right by our apartment. After the project work, we headed to a BBQ that one of the Dominican students was having. It was great food and great games!

Mon: This was our first day at the Esperanza offices. We are going to be spending the rest of our time between there and sight visits. We spend the day presenting our research and familiarizing ourselves with what exactly Esperanza does. We went over everything from how they started to what interest rate they are charging on loans. Over the next 2 weeks we are going to be observing them, working with them to set up the 5 new village banks called “Banks of Hope” and spending the last week doing field research about the impact they are having on their borrowers. The goals of this is we can measure how many lives we affected or saved with the $25,000 of capital we brought. For more info on Esperanza go to http://esperanza.org/us/
Tues: First field day!! We spent the day on a “Vision Trip”. We started the day by going to a typical borrower meeting. Briefly, this meeting is where the loan official collects the biweekly payments from the borrowers. This model of microfinance works that there are 5 borrowers (usually women… about 90% of the time) and then as a group they support each other in paying back the loan. For example, if someone cant pay one week, the others step up and pay. This rarely happens, but it acts as more support for the borrowers. With repayment rates about 98%, its hard to argue that! A typical borrower meeting starts with prayer, song, and reciting the values of Esperanza. It goes in to the process where the elected secretary and president speak (elected from the group of borrowers), then the process of the loan officer collecting the payments, then prayer and values to end. The whole meeting take about an hour and usually has about 10-30 people there.

After the meeting, we went to have lunch in the local branch office. On the way there, a strike broke out (possibly people protesting about the electricity or lack there of) and blocked all the lanes of the highway. It was a mess! But, apparently its kind of normal for them. All the cars just started reversing and turning around like nothing was happening. We then went to a school that was formed by a group of borrowers who were trying to tackle the problem of children without birth certificates, money for uniforms or shoes not being able to go to regular school. The school was a shack and only one room. There were preschool through 6 grade fitting in there. The room was just divided up between grades, had holes in the ceiling and walls, and only 2 small chalk boards up front. It was very shocking. We recently got a $3000 donation from an alum which we just decided we are going to use to renovate the school over a few days. Paint, build some desks, ect… I cant wait!We went to a baseball field that Esperanza built that was actually founded by the Mets. Apparently a lot of MLB players donate to build baseball fields back in their hometown.

Lastly, we went to a Haitian community. As you might know, there has been an ongoing battle between Dominican’s and Haitains over the years. This community was absolutely disgusting and the county wouldn’t even recognize it as a place. We met some children and had a fun time playing with them and letting them use our digital camera (which all kids seem to love!). They see the camera in our hands and come running from all over to come pose in front of us… and then run up to us to see the picture afterwards.

Outside the borrower meeting

Borrower meeting

Strike?

In the school establish by borrowers

The Haitian community

Tonight a girl in my group, Rosanna, invited me and two others to her big concert. It was in the Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito which is the national concert hall. A lot of famous government people were there and it was so much fun! The orchestra even had 2 people that sang opera as well. I was so honored that she asked me to go.

Ok, time to go to bed. Sorry for the untimely updates, but I seem to be really busy this trip! Check the pic sight for more pictures from the past few days!

tgif!

2009-05-15T14:20:00.001-07:00

Last night we went out to eat with a group from Montana State that are here for a week working with Esperanza. Esperanza is a microfinance bank in the Dominican that works with the poor. We brought $25,000 with us to open up 5 new village banks through them. Montana State was meeting with them for a few days to observe their process while we are going to be intensively working with them for the next 2 weeks. We also have a group from Michigan State staying in our hotel that are just here to take classes. Tonight we are going out with both groups as well as the local Dominican students to a club/bar. There are 2 birthdays today (1 NU student, and a Dominican student) so we are going to go out Loco Dominicana style for some fun and dancing =)

During class today we had a guest lecturer, who talked about micro and small enterprises in the DR. As a lot of our lectures, it was done in Spanish. Yesterday we had a lecturer talking about the DR's economics and I had a very hard time deciphering what he wrote on the board!! (See below!) We had some Haitian students come in to talk and have a Q&A about their life and some struggles. There is a lot of racism/violence between the DR and Haiti and it was interresting to hear. Like many times throught the day, the power goes out. The first time it happened all the US students were stunned and everyone else went about their normal routine. They have a huge electricity problem here, but the good thing is that most buildings have generators.

For lunch, we went right next to the school to a little place that sold empanadas (sp?). They are very popular down here and verrryy good but verry unhealthy! It's similar to a fried calzone with cheese and meat in it. Every day I have been getting a hige plate of fresh fruit for only 50 pesos (a little over $1) which includes bananas, coconut, papaya, mango, watermelon, pineapple, and cantaloupe... in very spoiled with that!

So, tonight we are having a group dinner on the roof then heading out. The huge group of Montana, Michigan, us and the dominican students are going to "Doubles" which is a bar/disco right down the street from our hotel. BUT we have to be in the bus by 7am tomorrow to head to a rainforest. We are going to hike around and do some sightseeing stuff. I'm sure I'll have many more pictures tomorrow.

Empanada (sp?) shop

Great lecturer, messy writting

Learning to meranga dance

2009-05-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry for no updates in the past few days. It's been very busy! After Sunday at the beach, we went to a group dinner (where I tried Monfongo- Dominican plantian dish). On Monday, classes started with the school we are partnering with. There are 19 of them and 19 of us. The school is called INTEC and we are going to be working together in the next 3 weeks with Esperanza (establish microfinance bank already here) to set up 5 new village banks. We came with about $25,000 to make thousands of new loans within the news branches. We are then going to focus our work on measuring the impact and how the loan (that they had gotten previously) has helped change their lives to how they stand financially now. As well as financially, we can look at their nutrition, if their children go to school, their house, etc...

On Tuesday, we had classroom session in the morning, then went for a tour around Santo Domingo and some of the urban poverty they have around the city. After a catered dinner at the hotel, we all went out with some of the the Dominican students to dance! It was a lot of fun, but us Americans need a lot of work! Maybe by the end of the trip we will be able to get through a few minutes without stepping on toes or being laughed at!

Today we broke off into smaller groups and our group went around to a local communitiy and tried to interview/observe how pollution has effected their community. We talked with a small business that sells car parts and a 20 year old girl who lives in the community. The LAREGST problem is the language barrier. I didn't experience that in South Africa, but that is biggest hurdle so far. In these communities, not many people know English. The INTEC students know both and I know some basic knowledge, but that has by far been the hardest part. After the long day in the field, we had a catered dinner back at the hotel which included lot of rice and beans =) I'm exhausted so I'm going to get to bed early today. Classroom and dancing tomorrow!

The group before a night of dancing!

Polluted stream in one of the comunities of Santo Domingo

Working with the INTEC students and business owner

Boca Chica

2009-05-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Today we were planning to go sightseeing at some major sights around our hotel, but that got postponed until tomorrow. Instead, we headed down to Boca Chica, which is one of the major beaches with lots of locals, tourists, and vendors. See pictures below (all pics on my picture sight). Tomorrow we start our classroom sessions. It's lectures/class in the morning, field work in the afternoon, then we switch between having the evening free and having a group dinner.

Ok, I'm going to get food (probably some more plantains!) and watch the celtics game!

Some of the group on the banana boat

Day 1!

2009-05-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here I am! I made it alive =)

The bus was at the airport to pick us up when our flight got in and drive us to Hotel Europa which is where we will be staying for the month. I just quickly walked around the area before dinner and it is a really cool place... the Colonial Distict. I'll find out more tomorrow when we go sight seeing around the area. We went to dinner at this place right on the water. I didn't realize it before, but I guess a lot of cuise ships dock there.

The hotel is really nice. Although the rooms are a little basic, there is working internet, the lobby and the location are very good. There is also free breakfast and dinner on the rooftop terrace. In the last week or 2, we are working with the Red Sox Foundation (because baseball is HUGE down here). The guy we are working with from the Red Sox recommended that we get private security... everytime he travels down here the Red Sox require him to have security. So, acording to our Prefessor, we have a private secuirty gaurd. He is very undercover and I have been trying to discover who is it. Our Prof said that everytime we go to get on the bus to go somewhere, he usually hails a cab and follows. WEIRD!

More to come tomorrow, but here are some picture of the hotel.

Lobby

Rooftop Terrace

View from the room

Last minute change...

2009-05-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

So, change of plans. We're now staying at Hotel Europa (www.antiguohoteleuropa.com).... Incase you were planning to show up and surprise me.

Ok, it's 9:30 pm... I should probably think about packing.

5 Days Until Departure

2009-05-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome back!

I will be using this again this summer to blog what I do in the Dominican Republic. I won't have a phone during this time, but will have Skype and email, so if you need to (for some reason) contact me please email me at katiejerdee@gmail.com. If need be, I can call you over Skype.

I will be in Santo Domingo May 9 - June 6. The group of 20 NU students will be working with urban and poor communities to set up 5 new village banks (along the same lines as my work last year in Africa). I will then travel to Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba until June 16. THEN I'll return to Boston. In the capital, we will be staying at the Plaza Colonial. (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g147289-d149933-Reviews-Apart_Hotel_Plaza_Colonial-Santo_Domingo_Dominican_Republic.html)

I'll be uploading my pictures to http://picasaweb.google.com/KatieJerdee again this year, so check that out as well!

A few highlights

2008-08-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

Victoria Falls, Zambia

Zanzibar, Tanzania :o)

And the venture begins!

2008-08-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

I will be spending her birthday on a plane... for the whole day.

It is out last day in Cape Town today. We flew in from Zanzibar last night and leave again this evening for Dakar, NY, then BOSTON arriving on the 7th.

We have met some verrry nice people along the way. Mostly locals who have really helped up out. For example, after our plane landed in Dar es Salaam and we missed the last ferry, we met a piolet who fley us to Zanzibar-- and then back-- with no ticket! Another time in Jo'burg, the Nando's (local chain rest.) drove us in his delivery car to the movie theater... and walked us inside because it was vert dangerous after dark.

So yes, I'm going to miss Africa and the people I've met a lot. Although at time it was very dangerous, we managed to pull out of life or death situations alive :o)

I'm uploading a few pics from our post trip on the pic site, so check them out!!

Going out with a bang

2008-08-04T08:11:00.001-07:00

Last night and tonight we have been at the Ocean Paradise Resort on the eastern side of Zanzibar. We decided to treat ourselves for our last 2 nights traveling in Africa... and a treat it is :o) We deserve it after the townships, hostels, and many near death experiences.

The beaches are awesome and they have the biggest swimming pool on the island. When we checked into our room yesterday, we had flowers all over our bed and a huge wrap around deck.
Tomorrow we fly back to Dar, then fly to Jo'berg, then to Cape Town. I'm probably going to upload some pictures tomorrow when I get to Cape Town.

Well, I'm alive and finally found some nice weather to lay on the beach.
I'll be back in Boston Aug 7th, so start planning my return party.

northern tip of zanzibar

2008-08-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hellofrom Nungwi! We are at the very norhtern tip of Zanzibar. We spent last night andare staying tonight then we are going to the eastern side to spend 2 nights. We spent all day today on the beach :o) The water is turquoise and white sand.

The other 4 members joined us today. They have been a day behind us because of flights. They got off the plane in Dar es Salaam and none of their credit cards works and they just had enough money to pay for the visa. After the visa, the ended up getting on a flight to Zanzibar (promising they would pay for the ticket price later). They spent the night in stone town town and then came to meet up with us around lunch time today.

OK, just a quick update... more later

Greetings from Zanzibar!!!

2008-07-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we flew from Zambia to Jo'burg. We stayed at a really neat hostel that used to me a mafia mansion. We spent the night eating at Nando's and then going to the movies. The delivery guy frm Nando's gave us a ride to the movie theater.

This morning we flew from Jo'burg to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We flew in too late to catch the last ferry to Zanzibar, so we hopped on a realllly small toy plane that brought us to Zanzibar. Our piolet on the small plane gave us a recommendation of a place to spend the night (because obviously we had absolutely no idea where we were going). Our 3 friends are flying in tomorrow then we are going to the eastern side of Zazibar to lay on the beach :o)

It is BEAUTIFUL here! We spent the evening having a huge meal and drinks right on the beach and are about to go and pass out in our room that is very Moroccan-Muslin looking... with a cool looking canopy mosquito net around the bed.

We are doing quite the amazing race. Ever since we have left the orphanage in Durban, we haven't all been together (all 7 of us traveling) and tomorrow is going o\to be the first time!

greetings from zambia!!!

2008-07-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

I am traveling with Emma, Danielle, Johanna, Olivia, Esther, and Tim (only boy to protect us! 1 boy 6 girls… lucky guy)

Day 1 of travel: Flew from Cape Town to Durban. Rented a car in Durban (yes, we weren’t of age, the steering wheel is on the right, and they drive on the wrong side of the road). Being able to navigate the roads of Africa is quite an adventure. After we rented the car, we headed to the orphanage (about an hr out of the city). One of the girls we were traveling with lived and worked there for a year. It was in the middle of nowhere. It got dark out an we got very lost. We ended up in a township after dark… which we were warned as the one thing NOT to do. The roads were terrible and there were people on the side of the road and in bushed waving us down to give them a ride. It was probably one of the scariest moments of my life. If we had hit someone that night, we unanimously said that we would keep driving. I think most of us were almost in tears. If our car had either broken down, we got in a crash, got a flat tire, etc during the time we were lost in the back roads of a township, we would have undoubtedly been robbed and probably killed. We eventually found our way to the orphanage and finally got to sleep.

Day 2: We woke up and went to play and have breakfast with the orphans. We then got on a bus because the orphanage was going to the beach in Durban for the day :o) During the day at the beach, the orphanage bus got stolen. Apparently Durban is a very dangerous city.

Day 3: Woke up very early to fly to Jo’berg then catch a flight to Livingstone, Zambia. We landed at the smallest airport that I have ever seen… there wasn’t even a gate or baggage claim! We are staying at the Zambezi Sun (google it) which is a VERY nice resort and is directly next to Victoria Falls. We can only afford this because we are squeezing 5 people in the room! We spent the day the pool with margaritas.. dodging the baboons that came by trying to steal our food. There is this guy here and his main job is to walk around with a slingshot scaring off the baboons. How awesome is that job?! We walked down to Victoria Falls, which is a short walk from our back door, for the sunset.

Day 4: We went white water rafting down the Zambezi River. Zambia was on one side and Zimbabwe was on the other. It was SO scary! The first rapid we did was a class 5!! We flipped the boat and I got a glimpse of how it feels like to drown! It was a great day… we had a lot of fun and yelled a lot. On the drive home from the bottom of the river, we went through some villages. They were very village-like… not like the townships we experienced in South Africa. These were in the middle of no-where sand and they had one pump for water and one main garden, goats, chickens, etc.

I don’t have a cell phone or internet here (very expensive internet), so I’ll be uncontactable for the next few days.

Tomorrow we are heading to Jo’berg for the night and then to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar until the 5th when we fly back to Cape Town and fly back to the states on the 6th.

Good Bye for now Cape Town

2008-07-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

We are checking out of our hotel today. We're spending a night in a hostel around here the tomorrow we head to Durban, South Africa for 2 days. We are staying in an orphanage there and then on the 28th flying to Livingston, Zambia. Weare staying here for the 28 and 29 then flying to Jo'burg, South Africa for a night (the 30th) then heading to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania where we are going to land and then hop on a fboat/ferry to Zanzibar. We will be in Zanzibar for the next 3 days and then Dar es Salaam for day. We fly from Dar to Cape Town on Aug 5. We finally fly back to the US through Dakar, Senegal on the 6th arriving back in Boston on August 7th.

That was a mouthful!!

The easiest way to get in contact with me is through email. I may not be able to check it regulalry, but I'm sure I will be able to check it at points. There is now a total of 7 people traveling (some more added on!) including 1 boy to protect us :o)

Ciao for now!!

Shark diving!!!

2008-07-24T07:28:00.001-07:00

Good, Better, and horrible news:

Good: I’m alive
Better: I got some great pics
Horrible: My camera broke

We went great white shark diving today! We left the hotel at 530 and took a 2 hour bus ride where we had breakfast then walked to the boat. We went out about 20 minutes and then got into our wetsuits. 3 others and myself volunteered to go first… I was so excited!! I got to bring my underwater camera into the cage with us and got some great pics. That was before a door on my camera came open and it got very wet. I’m now taking donations for a new camera. I really don’t want to be camera-less on my ventures to Zambia, Tanzania, and Zanzibar, but my other friends will have their cameras ass well.

Although the situation with the camera is really horrible, being able to be so close to sharks (great whites!) was amazing!!! As always, be sure to check out my pictures. Until I get enough donations for a new one, there is going to be the last pic update for a while!!

Nervous!
Danielle, Tim, and Nils

Wine Tour!

2008-07-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

We went on a wine tour today to 3 different wine tastings at 3 different vineyards. The wine was unbelievable and I now have 6 bottles to somehow bring home. The scenery and the different vineyards were so beautiful and we even met some local students who were just there to enjoy the nice day (and load up on wine).

Tomorrow is SHARK DIVING! I’m so excited! We have to wake up and get on the bus to leave at 515 am. We also booked our smaller flights for our travel after when we got back to the hotel. We are going from Cape Town to Durban for three days where we are going to stay in an orphanage. We are them catching a flight to Jo’burg South Africa to then catch a flight to Zambia (Victoria Falls). From there (spending a day or 2) we are flying back to jo’berg to get on a flight to Dar Es Salaam then boating over to Zanzibar. After a few days there, we are going to go back to Dar and spend some time there. Seems very confusing, but I think we have it down pat! 3 more people joined our group of traveling afterwards as well.

OK, check my pictures for the latest and hopefully I’ll make it back alive tomorrow to update more :o)

Safari @ Aquila Game Reserve

2008-07-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Today and yesterday we went on an overnight safari at Aquila Game Reserve. We went on a game drive at night and them early in the morning. Aquila was SO nice! We stayed in these huts with wood burning fire places and an outdoor shower.. they were actually veryyy nice. This morning we went out and got chased by a tiger. We were in an open jeep, and as we tried to drive away the tiger came running and then tried to get in front of the car. See my pictures and my youtube.

I’ve decided I was to take home a giraffe :o)

In the process of being chased
The group

Giraffe :o)

Be sure to...

2008-07-20T10:30:00.001-07:00

check my pictures and my youtube!!! New additions just made

Updates!!!

2008-07-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Friday: We went to Izoko to visit a paper making business and a township (see pictures). We then had a final group dinner on the water.

Saturday: We went to Greenmarket Square which is a craft market… if was really fun to barter the price! I realized how bad I am at negotiating haha

Sunday: We went on a day-long tour down to the peninsula to Cape Point… this is the south-western most point of the African continent. We rode bikes down to the final point and hiked around. It was so beautiful! You have to check out my pictures to see it to believe it.

***Link to my YouTube video

2008-07-18T11:39:00.001-07:00

Here is the link to a video I just uploaded. My user name is katiejerdee... I'll be uploading more when I get time. If you search that name on www.youtube.com you should be able to see all the results

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRSAtozbCgk

A video of Kheyalitsha

2008-07-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

It's different than seeing the million still shots I took

Wed & Thurs

2008-07-17T09:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we went to visit University of Cape Town (its beautiful!) and on a tour of a colored township and got to view a school. We saw one of their primary (elementary school). They only have a budget for the year of about $30 per student and that doesn’t include teachers salaries.

Today we went to visit the Kheyalitsha township. We walked around and then went to visit Africa Jams. This is a township, kids group that is based around drama, singing, etc. They were awesome and visiting them was really fun.

Tomorrow is our last day of the “official school trip”. During the week next week we are going to Aquila Game Reserve, a wine tour, and shark diving. Can’t wait :o)
Pictures will be coming….

Some Pics From Yesterday

2008-07-16T08:39:00.001-07:00

Bo-Kaap

Steetwire Workers

Blue Prints for the Guguletu Mall

Mon & Tues

2008-07-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a heated class discussion then headed to the Guguletu township to have lunch at Mzoli’s Meat…. Which is an up-and-coming restaurant located in the township. The food was all meat, and the sauce was really good. They didn’t have napkins… instead they had a giant communal pot of water to wash your hands (there was also no silverwear)!
Of my time I have spent in South Africa so far, it is safe to say that I have eaten more meat than I have eaten in the last 4 years of my life. I have also eaten more puff pastry/break than I have ever eaten. EVERY meal consists of meat and bread somehow. I have never seen so many creative ways to combine the two?! I am in desperate need of a salad.

Anyway, today we had another interactive class, then we headed over to District 6 to drive through and go to the museum. District 6 (where our bus driver we have had since we’ve been here originally comes from) is a mainly Muslin/colored area where in the 70’s, the residents got completely displaced to colored townships outside of the city. Their whole community was torn down and now just vacant fields are in their spot. There are still traces of where roads used to be. It was really sad to hear about. It kind of reminded me of the holocaust minus all the lives lost. The whites that kicked them out did nothing with the space… not even plant any trees. Its just long grass and weeds that grow there now. We went to the District 6 museum that was really interesting to hear about. District 6 happened to be next to Bo-Kaap which is an area of Cape Town that is also very Muslim that is known for the brightly colored houses. If you have seen pictures of Cape Town, you have probably seen pictures of Bo-Kaap.

We visited Streetwires which is a South African art company that focuses of using wire and beads. It’s hard to explain, but go to my site to see pictures. There were dozens of people using pliers and beading in the basement. The arts that they made were awesome!

Solja Boy goes to South Africa

2008-07-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Love this kid.

Table Mountain & Robben Island

2008-07-13T10:49:00.001-07:00

Orphanage in Guguletu

2008-07-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Today we went to make lunch and play with the kids at an orphanage in the township of Guguletu. There turned out to be over 150 kids there everywhere from 6-21 years old. We got to make lunch for them which was MUCH more craziness than I expected!! The kids were SO cute! We brought soccer balls, Frisbees, and other games to play with them, but they just enjoyed playing anything with us…. Especially having us give them piggy-back rides. One little girl asked me to be her mother and asked when I would be back to visit again. It was really kind of sad!

Here are some pictures from today, but be sure to check my Picasa pictures to see them all!

Short Update

2008-07-13T10:35:00.001-07:00

So you don’t think I’m dead, I’ll give you a short update. On Friday, the presentation went very well, and I went out to eat with some of the group to a Thai Seafood place down by the water. On Saturday, we went to Robben Island. This is where Mandela was kept and we got to see his cell. Next we went to Table Mountain and took a cable car up and down. The view was AMAZING and I got some great pictures. I’m about to go out for my friends birthday, so look forward to seeing the pictures tomorrow. Also during the day tomorrow we’re going to an Orphanage in Gugulatho (township). We just finished going grocery shopping to make all the kids lunch and got SO much food!

I’ll update more with pics tomorrow.

Procrastinating work...

2008-07-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

These are my friend, Ben's, photos (hes a much better photographer than I am). The internet here is very slow, so you can imagine how long its taking me to psot all of these... which is why I'm taking the time to upload them and its already past 11pm and I still have work to do!!

Just another Tuesday

2008-07-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

No big update today. Cold and rainy again. I still love Cape Town though :o)

I have pretty much spent my week so far at TSiBA working on my project and having a class in the morning. My project now has changed to putting together a ‘documentary’ type video of the program that will eventually lead to gaining support from donors for this program. It is actually pretty cool and will probably require a lot of follow up work when I get back home.

Today we heard about Banco Comportamos which is a bank that operates in Mexico and gives loans to the very poor people that can’t get loans from any other bank. Banco gives them HUGE interest rates (about 100%), so we had a discussion about those and if they are ethically correct to do that. We also talked about Freeplay Energy that created the wind-up radios to give people in very poverty communities and also (to make a profit) sell to campers, rescue people, emergency crew.

This week we have no big plans besides working on our projects. This weekend we have plans to go work in an orphanage right outside of Cape Town.

Kirstenboch & National Gallery

2008-07-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today we took a group outing to the National Gallery and then to the Kirstenboch Botanical Gardens. The weather was horrible out, but we were champions and stuck through it. Kirstenboch was awesome and would have been even better if the weather had cooperated. We were supposed to go to either Table Mnt or Robbin Island, but the weather was bad so we postponed those. Check out my pictures for today. A warning that it’s a lot of (probably boring to you) scenery shots, that you might have had to be there to understand. By the way, I love Cape Town and I’m not sure I’ll be returning.

Tedy's Team Shout Out

2008-07-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

Although I'm busy saving the world down here, my fundraising has not dissapeared! A few days after I return in August, I'll be running the Falmouth Road Race on Cape Cod for Tedy's Team (the team I ran the marathon for). I could really appreciate any donation!!

The website is below to visit and make any online donation.

THANK YOU!!

http://tedysteam2008.kintera.org/falmouth/jerdee

This is after I finished Boston with some friends from school

July 4th clebration & Waterfront

2008-07-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Last night we went out to an American Bar to celebrate the 4th of July. We met some other Americans there and had a really fun night of “Dancing Queen” and the YMCA. There was another TSiBA student who came with us and I think we managed to scare him with our typical American ways! Kidding… he had fun! After a very late evening (things don’t close by 2am like in the states!), I slept in until about 1030 and then went down with Emma and Camille to the Waterfront. We found an awesome mall and ended up buying a lot. We all didn’t pack for the cold, rainy weather of winter in Cape Town!

That’s been our day off so far! About to go grab some dinner at the hotel and head out tonight!

Happy 4th!

2008-07-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

Today we went to visit Khayalitsha Cookies which was located inside the township, then relocated to a bigger factory outside. They employ only poor women from Kheyalitsha to bake the cookies (make the dought, cut, bake, package, label…) We got to see their factory and meet the women.

We them went back to the class room and learned about the Dancing Deer Baking Co located in Roxbury, MA. They pretty much mirror how K. Cookies operates (even though they didn’t know about eachother!). You can find Dancing Deer cookies in Whole Food, William Sonoma, etc. They only hire people that either need the money and live in Roxbury, mentally ill, or poor immigrants. There are a lot of perks of working there including $500 tuition for any sort of class they want to take.

After the short class, we went to a braai (barbeque) to celebrate the 4th. We did a lot of games including musical chairs… I even made it pretty far in it haha. Check my pictures to see some more of it. The braai was a lot of fun! It was great to let loose with the students. Looking forward to the weekend and our day off tomorrow! We have plans to climb Table Mnt on Sunday, but that might change due to rainy weather.

Random Thought: Minority

2008-07-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

I've never been in a place before where I am the minority. In South Africa, about 10% of the people are white. After traveling within the states and all around Europe, until now I have never been in a place where I went through that. Besides being the minority around Cape Town, when I am in the township, besides the people I’m with, I’m the ONLY white person there. It’s very fascinating to be the one of the other side this time… and relate to everything you have heard about being a minority.

Quick Update

2008-07-02T08:04:00.001-07:00

Today we had another interesting day. The beginning of our lecture was focused around my professors business’s he started. One of them had to do with vaccines and eggs. Long story short, many vaccines are made through eggs. One vaccine factors got their eggs from the Amish (about 6 million eggs per day). They cultivate the vaccines through eggs and then put them all together in larger quantinties. 1 out of ever 3 vile had to be thrown away because of using bad eggs. What he did was create a sterile environment for the eggs that now eliminated this waste. These eggs were more expensive, but totally eliminated the money they wasted on unusable vaccines. There are factories open in us, china, etc.

We talked about LifeStraw (which is really cool! www.lifestraw.com) and Kickstart. They are both social entrepreneur ventures and we discussed the different business models they use.
To work on our projects, we went back into the township to meet and talk to the attorney. We got some good information and are going to work on putting it together tomorrow. I am cutting this off because we are going out for a group dinner at a traditional African restaurant then I’m coming back to work on a presentation I’m giving tomorrow on Institute for OneWorld Health. I’ll explain more tomorrow.

Khayelitsha township and classes

2008-07-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

Today we met at TSiBA for the morning for a lecture by our professor from NU. The lecture was so great and very interactive. The main question to start the day was, “Who was more of an entrepreneur: Nelson Mandela or Bill Gates?” A very long and in depth controversy arose from that. Some of the topics even included race, gender, and politics… three things you would never think of bringing up in a class at home.
At lunch, when talking with some TSiBA students, they told us how shocked they were to learn that we never bring up race or politics in class. They are extremely open about everything in class and brought up in discussion. I tried to explain how race is a very sensitive subject and some people get really offended. Another NU students said that if you bring up race in a class, you could possibly be labeled as racist or people could get the wrong impression. During our class time it was unbelievable the things we were talking about… that I would never think to talk about in a class setting. Everything from the lack of women entrepreneurs and why to Obama representing blacks in the upcoming election. The TSiBA students are VERY knowledgable. Not that I expected them not to be, but I was very shocked at their level of education.
All of the students from TSiBA are there on a full scholarship (the school brings in donors) and most if not all of them live in a township themselves. I can tell they all really want to be there and just soak up the knowledge. I can sense they try harder than most of the students from home.
Our project got changed from the dance school to the M Njozela Attornies right in the middle of the Kheylitsha township- the third largest township in South Africa with over 2 million people squished into too small of an area. I was taken back when I arrived in the Langa township, but Kheylitsha was even more of a shock. It was double if not more poverty struck than Langa. I drove about 30 minutes into the township and the whole time there were shacks on both sides as far as I could see. These shacks reminded me of bird nests. It looks like that has just gathered any sort of scrap metal, wood, or cardboard they could find and nailed them together. Each of them were no larger than 2 persons wide and one across. They were somehow each for a whole family.
The Law Office we met with comprised of 3 people, 1 computer, and no filing cabinet. We are going back tomorrow to meet with them about the plan more, so I’ll write more about it tomorrow.

**Turn your head to the side to see the pic: it's a pic I took from the bus of the Khayelitsha township. Trying not to take pics outside in respect to the people that live there.

First day at TSiBA

2008-06-30T10:08:00.002-07:00

Today was our first day of “classroom” sessions with the TSiBA students. In the morning we are going to spend a few hours learning then the rest of the afternoon out in the field working on our projects with the local entrepreneurs.

A little about TSiBA- all the students of TSiBA are on full scholarship. They passed a test called “matric” that all SA students have to take in 12th grade. Because of their financial problems (many live in the townships), they weren’t able to afford to go to a big university. TSiBA is a 4 yr newly accredited school where you graduated with a bachelors degree in BA.

Overall, the TSiBA students were shocked at the fact that we don’t live with our parents. They are all very close knit and could never fathom moving out at their age. Although they were the same age as us, they told us we seemed very mature. They were in awe at the price of eduation that we pay. To put it in perspective, at a local art market in the township, there was this one wire/statue that costs 250 rand. I then asked him how long it took to make it and he said one week. Again, if 1 usd = 7 rand, his weekly wage is about $35. Also, after asking the students if it was normal to see cockroaches in your room, they were horrified and I realized its not a normal thing to see in a 4 star hotel! (phew!)

They speak 3 major languages in Africa and at TSiBA. One is English, the other is Afrikan, and the last is called Kosa (sp?). Kosa has clicks in their words. I never knew how you would spell some of the sounds and it is very interesting to see. We tried a beer in the township that was called (click) uma. Some of the letters represent different types of clicks. One of the students is going to give us a lesson later.

Next, the projects that we are going to be working on- the entrepreneurs came in to present to us about their businesses or their ideas. Below are who presented:

Siseko: Wants to start a gym in the Langa township that has boxing, tredmills, etc.

Diane: (an optometrist) Want to bring Retinal Screening to treat blindess due to diabetes into townships

Karen: Started Izikoll which is a paper/art+crafts/stationary business and a literacy program (www.izikoll.co.za)

Annalisa Creations: Started a sewing business that makes custom products. Works out of a garage in the back of the building

Gugu S’Thebe: A center in the Langa township where local arts work & sell (pottery, arts, beads, etc. Microsoft even donated 15 computers for the center.

Londolozani Orchids: Working to sell the orchids overseas or to the wealthy SA’s

ProTeam SA: Operates tours for the ‘township experience’- focused around being fun. Marketing to wealthy, white schools and tourists.

Scary moment

2008-06-30T10:08:00.001-07:00

This morning, when I was getting dressed in the bathroom, my roommate started yelling… I ran out to see an African cockroach on our mirror. I yelled as well, jumped on the bed, threw my shoes on, then ran down the hall and knocked on a boys room to come capture it for us. It was a successful capture. This African roach was unlike any bug I had encountered back home. Even my roommate (my bug catcher) would have been freaked out.

Township Tour: Langa

2008-06-29T10:22:00.002-07:00

Today started out by missing my alarm clock and waking up 4 minutes before breakfast ended. I ran to get something to eat and then got ready in 35 seconds. When we met outside to get on the bus to go one of the townships, our driver called and found out we were going to a township. He then refused to being us there. We were stuck without a ride for the next 2 hours where we went on a little walking tour around our hotel (see pictures).

We then caught our bus to go to Langa. Langa is one of the largest townships in Cape Town. There are only two entrances into this township. The only thing I can compare a township to is an Army Base. It is a community inside of Cape Town… a very poor community with high HIV rates. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in there, so a lot of mine are pretty unclear because I took them in the bus or without a flash. The pictures I posted are the “wealthy” side of the townships if you can believe. I didn’t take pictures of the poorest pasts. There were actually some points on the tour I was scared. Our tour guide lived in the township and we even got to view his house. His house was about 3 small rooms that he shared with 13 brothers and sisters.

We went to a little community center/market within the township and got to visit a traditionally pottery maker. I bought a plate from him as well as some other small things from the local artists. We then went to a “traditional healer”. He was located in a little shack in Langa that smelt like millions of dead animals. This might have been because there were millions of dead animals hanging from the ceiling and laying around the room. There are some pictures from inside the hut that I posted (sorry if there are no descriptions under the pics… I don’t get very long internet access).

Next, we took a walking tour of some of the poorest parts of Langa. I wasn’t able to take many pictures of this. We got to go into one “house”. To explain what it was like, this of a suite dorm room. Each family has there own small room with one bed. This is for the whole family. The walls are cement and the floor in cement. There is one sink, broken windows, and a small picnic bench. There is a stove with 2 burners (that im not sure even worked?), is a side room a woman was boiling water over a flame. Since it was Saturday, there were a lot of children outside. One boy even came up and grabbed my hand as well as another girl I am with and started doing flips.. he then insisted on hitting us in the head with his empty water bottle! In the walking tour we went down a little side alley and went to an African Beer House. This is where you pay a small fee and can sit in that house all day, in a circle with the others, and pass around a large metal bucket of beer. We got to join in a circle and try some of their traditional beer. It tasted like yeast and I’m not sure how many germs I got from drinking from that bucket!

After the beer house, we walked past a lady who was roasting lamb heads on a fire. She cuts them in half and then sells them as a snack. As hungry as I was at that time, I couldn’t pull myself to buy one.

Overall, the day was AWESOME. The township is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. It was also, at times, one of the scariest things I have ever done. The people of Langa are the nicest, most welcoming people I have ever met. I tried to relate them to the poor people we see in Boston and it makes those people in the states more rude and disrespectful that you can think of. Not one time in the townships did people try to beg us for money. Not one time did anyone yell out any inappropriate comments to us. Here we were a dozen American’s in their expensive jeans walking past these people who can’t even afford meals.. and they were all welcoming and even smiling at us.

It sounds cliché, but it really makes you take for granted what we all have in the states! Again, the pictures are really great to look at, but forgive me for not giving explanation for any of them. If I find myself with enough internet time, I’ll come around to the explanation. The internet is even so slow, I don’t know if im going to be able to upload them. It’ll be a surprise.

first night

2008-06-29T10:22:00.001-07:00

Mostly to explain some of the pictures I took… we went out to the main street to get some dinner later on the first night. For a party of about 10 people, our bill only came to about $80 american dollars. It’s about $1.50-$2 a beer here. One of the bars even has a special of 1Rand Shots. (to put it in perspective… $1 = about 8 rand). Anyways, some of the pictures you see are of that night and the next morning when we took a little walking tour around our hotel)

We made it!

2008-06-28T11:57:00.001-07:00

The 9 hr portion of the flight goes by much faster when you can lay down flat and get champagne constantly served to you!

We got to our hotel and its very nice. Its too bark outside to really see around, but it seems pretty centrally located. It’s called the Townhouse Hotel if you feel like googling it. Some of the TSiBA students were at the airport to meet us when we arrived. They were all VERY nice and seemed excited to work with us.

I sat next to a girl on the plane who grew up in Cape Town and now works in NYC and her BF lives in Cambridge. She told me about all the things I have to do in while I’m here and pointed out some things while we were landing. Landing in Cape Town was BEAUTIFUL. We could see Table Mnt and the ocean. The girl explained to me how Cape Town is either very wealthy or very poor… there isn’t really an in between. The airport was right in between the wall where the poverty starts the well-off Cape Town. The poor section was basically just shacks made out of aluminum. It was nothing like I have ever seen before. The few hours we were in Dakar (we stayed on the plane the whole time) next to the airport and around the city from what I could see through my window was quite a sight. It was all cement homes without glass windows.
Right now its about 9pm here in Cape Town and I’m about to go venture out to find dinner. I’m going to attempt to upload a few pics, so we’ll see if that work. Tomorrow we have planned to go on a walking tour with some TSiBA students around the township that we will mainly be working in. My roommate, Emma, and I are going to try to attempt to fix the internet in our room. Right now we cant get it working and we have to run down to the lobby to send emails.

Half way there

2008-06-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

We flew from Boston to NY this morning, and then had mass chaos before the flight to Dakar then on to Cape Town. They had over booked the flights by about 50 people. One of the girls in our group didn’t get on, and now has to spend an extra night in NY. This boy from my group and I were assigned the same seat and when we went to fix it, they upgraded me to first class.. row 1! :o) He ended up sitting up there from NY to Dakar and I am sitting there from Dakar to Cape Town. Free drinks the whole time and reclining chairs. Awesome.

Right now I’m sitting in Dakar on the plane as we stop and get gas as well as pick up some other people. It’s another 8 hour 20 min flight from here. I watched Fool’s Gold so far and then took some sleeping pills and passed out the rest of the way to Dakar.

Almost time!

2008-06-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome! 5 more days until we depart from Boston to New York to Dakar, Senegal to Cape Town, South Africa arriving there on July 28.

Incase you don't know about the trip.... "The program consists of both field work, and academic study. The field work consists of team consulting projects, in which you will work with students from our partner institution, to support entrepreneurs in the disadvantaged townships surrounding Cape Town. The academic components consists of two courses that prepare you for, and build upon, your field work." NU is giving us a little over $15,000 to invest in these businesses and leave with our partner school in Cape Town. (info on the school go to www.tsiba.org.za)

We were assigned our projects we will be working on while we are there. Myself, some of the TSiBA students (the school we're working with), and another girl from NU are going to be working on starting/organizing/funding the iKapa Dance School. I don't know much about this besides the fact that they are trying to start a ballet school, the first one you would find in a township, and they are looking for us to help them with everything from a writing a formal business plan to helping with their investor presentation. There is an article about it at this website- http://tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleid=4232280&fsectionld=377&fsetid=251

While I'm there, I'll be updating this blog, uploading pictures, and have access to my email (katiejerdee@gmail.com)