Who are we?

This blog is an agglomeration of the thoughts and experiences of two American girls who packed up and moved to South Africa on a whim. Caz from Fairfield, Connecticut and Mandy from Milwaukee, Wisconsin first met as roommates in 4127 on Semester at Sea in Fall of 2010.
In the interim, Caz returned to finish her Bachelor of Science with a double major in Biology (concentration in Microbiology) and Geography with a minor in Chemistry at the University of Miami in Florida, while Mandy took a hiatus to rediscover her real passion working with pregnant women, advocating for home birth and delivering babies outside of a hospital environment. We reconvened to follow both of our fields of study (read: hopes, dreams, asiprations, life goals, etc.) outside of the United States. Hello South Africa?

We are both here for at least a year and a half, though the more time we spend falling in love with South Africa, the more we'd like to think it'll be longer. We are both starting jobs in November/December: Caz working with infectious disease at a hospital clinic and Mandy beginning her training to become a certified midwife. Before then, we are both writing a book about our experiences leading up to this adventure as well as the multitude of serendipitous happenings that led us here.

As always, feel free to comment or ask questions. If you have an interest in a topic, let us know and we will surely oblige you (within reason). Enjoy!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Project #RUNAWAYZA

Sitting in Company Square, Caz and I tried to think of ways to celebrate my birthday since she's leaving for Tanzania at 4am on the 4th. Caz spent her 22nd birthday doing 22 random acts of kindness, so on a similar note I thought sending positive messages around Cape Town would be an agreeable project. In the dusty light of late afternoon on the steps of a monument one of many people approached us asking for spare change. "We're working on a project," said Caz, "what's something positive you would want to hear?" The man was completely taken aback, as I'm sure few to no people ever try to truthfully engage with him when he's seeking charity. He took a minute to gather himself before stuttering out that he's worked to change his life and that people should be told that it is possible. I wish I had had money to give him. Caz had a few loose coins mixed with the sand and lint at the bottom of her bag she handed over. We almost never have cash on us. If anyone were to steal our bags they would be thoroughly disappointed by the quantity of pebbles and loose paper and nothing else. I honestly don't know why we even bother to carry them around.

Five minutes later we were approached again, "Sorry dude we just gave that guy the last of our rand." we said. This second man sulked away, but promptly returned a few minutes later grinning with an ice cream cone. "I just wanted to show you, that I didn't want money for anything bad." he said. My head almost exploded. I felt so guilty that anyone feels the need to justify their monetary needs for basic survival. The man just wanted some damn ice cream! So we finished our list of positive messages. 24 of them. I can't believe I'm turning 24 tomorrow. When the hell did that happen? Wasn't I just 16?


Armed with positivity we marched out into Cape Town this morning with the conviction to make someone smile. Everyone deserves to be told something good everyday. Everyone deserves random acts of kindness. Indiscriminate pleasantries. We snaked down Kloof and Orange, through the Company Gardens and back  up Long Street, plastering 7 of the messages. 


Then we ascended the mountain, where I faced the dreaded cable car. We meet again... We wanted our little happy notes to greet as many people as they could, so we thought Table Mountain was appropriate as well. First we just have to get to the top without dying. Let's recap how heights make Mandy feel:

But thank baby Jesus we made it to the top, after rising into the mist which made me feel like I entered into Jurassic Park or something and a pterodactyl might fly past. The mountain in the fog feels very primordial. The the misty cloak muffled and echoed the noises of the few tourists meandering along the paths. We tried hard to be nonchalant about ripping the packaging tape to stick the tagboard where it could be seen, but in the clouds it was the loudest most revealing noise I'd ever heard. Just one large RIIIIPPPP to tear through the peace and tranquility of the white mountain. With everyone looking around for the culprit of the noise, we sat awkwardly trying to hide our tape and scissors and posing for fake pictures until everyone forgot about the strange noise so we could quick tape our happy message and run. Nothin to see here! No we don't have a roll of packaging tape! Runaway!
This picture doesn't do justice as to how bright and warm it was on up there. Bright, warm, and white. 


 On a trashcan and a bridge!



The next stop on my city wide birthday tour was Signal Hill, where we braved the odds and walked along the guard rail to post 3 more messages to the world, hoping not to get run over by an asian tour bus. On the way back down to the city we pulled over and I dashed out the jeep to slap a message on a yield sign that read, "Keep walking, you are strong!"


Next was the police station on Buitenkant where we picked up Muda from the bus and loitered, trying not to look suspicious as we tapped more messages to trashcans and phone booths. One with the advice, "Don't let nobody bring you down!" So far so good! After getting back in the jeep we headed to the V&A Waterfront, where we would make every old white person uncomfortable, to stick two more messages. One, of course, near Den Anker. 

Tonight we venture to Rafikis and around our neighborhood to spread the rest of our positive energy. Hopefully more pictures to come. If anyone out there in Cape Town finds any of our messages let us know what you think!

Mandy



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