Mauritius Medical Team Pre-Port

South Africa Medical Team PrePort

Be aware of lude and crude statements....

Energized Cape Town, South Africa

About 4 years ago, after an intense graphing of my birth place and time of birth within the arcs of the universe, an astrologer told me Cape Town, South Africa was an "energy hot spot" for me. Cape Town and Southwest USA, namely Taos and Santa Fe. "Interesting", I thought, but I remained skeptical. Having never been, however, I had very little room to call bunk on this possibility...

Cloud curtain falling over Table Mountain which is the centerpiece of the city.

So, unsurprisingly, this trip to Cape Town was secretly my own mini-investigative tour of all-things-energy-filled into this place and city that somehow was silently calling my name. I don't know what I expected, but I didn't find it.

Somewhere amongst the townships, shanty towns, mix of pan-Africans, apartheid confusion and Desmond Tutu, I found a similar feel as Mississippi. Had I really sailed 1.5 months to reach a place that felt so similar to Mississippi. I guess  I did.
Apartheid South Africa reeks with similarities of our own Civil Rights struggle and post-integration racism that still subtly infuses the fabric of our culture in the US. With 40% of the population without jobs, the outskirts of Cape Town, dotted along the way with disposable communities of impoverished housing, shocked many. There were many discussions amongst the students about the nature of poverty that was present amongst the blacks and coloreds ("mixed") in the aftermath of apartheid. This poverty looked and felt different than Ghana. More oppression. Less smiles. Yet, I, for one, remained unfazed. This is how it is in the South: my home.

Two days before arriving in Cape Town, Archbishop Tutu gave a powerful lecture on apartheid and South Africa. He bedazzled the entire shipboard community for 1.5 hours with this grace and wisdom. With the floor open for questions, I nervously made my way to the podium. My hands noticeably more clammy than I expected, I addressed this wonderful man who has dealt with so much segregation and violence in the name of black freedom (not to mention also chairing the Truth & Reconciliation Commission).

"Archbishop, what you've just said struck a deep chord in me. I come from Mississippi where, in the name of the struggle between blacks and whites, some of the most memorable acts of violence have occurred. Although the Civil Rights movement has occurred for us and blacks are "free" in both of our countries now, still the subtle forms of racism exist. I believe these are even more destructive than segregated school buses and schools. How do you believe, in your experience, that we can overcome the subtle racism today and unite?" 

His answer: "A Truth and Reconciliation Commission" like in Greensboro, NC. Maybe it could work.

I spent a remarkable day with the Amy Biehl Foundation, named after a white, 20-something American Fulbright Scholar killed in a township outside of Cape Town in 1993 during a riot against white-power. One of her killers, Easy, was our tour guide for the day. Remarkably, he was granted amnesty by Amy's family through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and now works with the foundation. I could only hope that if something happened to me, that my family would be gracious enough to involve my killers in my life's work.

It was an interesting week -- one filled with many thoughts of home -- and a busy one since I held the medical pager for 4 days. The highlight definitely was completely unrelated: Desmond Tutu's 79th Birthday celebrated on the ship with 150 of his closest friends and family. The Faculty-Staff Lounge was transformed into an incredible party room, where he celebrated for the night. It was such an honor to be invited. (I bought him flowers -- protea, South Africa's indigenous flower, telling him men don't receive flowers enough in their life! He agreed.)

A little view from a township school:


Amy Biehl Foundation. Cape Town, South Africa from Stephanie Holcombe on Vimeo.

Condom Art #2

I wish I believed that messages like this worked. I guess it's better than nothing.

Video from the Center of the Earth

Created by our videographer, "Photo Mike"

Sex on the Ship

My new friend from Cape Town sent me this message today. I laughed at how everything comes down to the basics!

Hi stephanie
Good to hear from you. I hope you really have a great time in Cape town, was nice meeting you Stephanie and will be looking  forward to hear more from you and keep in touch because you have  a great personality. You know in business you hear a lot of rubbish and people will tell you everything to sell that is a grass bracelet from Benin that my friend bring to me. Anyway stay strong because I have be worry how an active person can stay 4 month on board without having sex. Sorry to bring to that and you don't have to answer to that
Take care
Charlin

Baldies!

Birth by Tina Cassidy

Birth

Tina Cassidy

One of the classes I am currently active in is Childbirth & Fetal Abnormalities. The professor, a Professor Emeritus from Davidson College, is extremely passionate on this subject; he teared up the first day of class while talking about empowered women. My kind of guy -- a male feminist! After hearing of my interests in midwifery, he suggested I read this book. Inscribed with this: "To Dear Kat, Please don't stop your loving labors for birthing mothers. If I could do it, I would want you with me, Lyl, Grandaddy"  (from my professor to his granddaughter), I knew I really liked this guy.

Cassidy examines the history of birthing practices by looking at her own birthing experience in comparison to her mother's and grandmother's. It was fascinating to see how much the practice has changed over the course of time, based upon the socio-political culture at the time. Women have certainly been put through the ringer!

I learned that lying flat on your back to deliver began with King Louis XIV's fetish towards watching his wives deliver! He needed to see better, so instead of squatting or on her knees (as was customary at the time), women were flipped on to their backs! I also learned about the myriad of different birthing customs across the world: babies kept with the men instead of the women the first month of birth; using dogs to drink the initial milk produced (colostrum) because it was considered unclean; and standing on the belly to express the placenta because of the fear the uterus was about to clamp shut!

The book gave a good comprehensive look at birth throughout the ages -- water, natural and hospital -- with all points considered. Very informative. I highly recommend this book. The prose is extremely readable, as well as clear and well thought out. The book reminded my a lot of This Common Secret, another book I highly recommend. I realized that I'm clearly interested in this thing called 'birth', and am moving more and more towards making it part of my bag 'o tricks. By the mere fact that I couldn't put this book down, I learned I should honor this growing interest inside of me...next: midwifery application.

Neptune Day: Semester at Sea style

 

Of all the lore about Semester at Sea full voyages, Neptune Day has had my attention for the longest. I remember receiving a letter from my friend Shawn Rohwedder in Australia this past year encouraging me to work on this voyage. She ended her sweet note challenging me to partake fully in Neptune Day and shave my head! Little did I know at the time, this letter is what spurred me on to shave it myself quickly after the letter – making less of a spectacle than Neptune Day in front of 1,000’s of people but completing this elusive challenge I had for myself. I made the right decision; there was clearly no time for me to stop and shave my own head this day because I buzzed heads for 4 hours straight!

Neptune Day is an ancient maritime tradition dating back to the 19th century. There are certain levels sailors obtained based upon sailing through certain key spots on the Earth: Suez Canal, Panama  Canal, sailing all 5 Great Lakes, and crossing the Artic Circle, for example. For us, crossing the auspicious point of intersection between the Prime Meridian and the Equator signified a highly obtained status: Royal Diamond Shellback.

Semester at Sea celebrates Neptune Day each voyage with a full morning of activities involving crew, faculty, staff and students. There is no one on the boat that is left out. Crew obnoxiously jolts everyone out of bed with loud clanging of cymbals and instruments, while all of the Shellbacks (staff & faculty who have previously sailed) are dressing in full ‘sea’ costume – many of which resemble seaweed, fish, sea goddesses … or in my case Edward Scissorhand-esque underwater barbers. My friend, Becca, made cut outs of scissors that were dripping in blood to demonstrate our ruthless sheering ability!

Everyone, lead by the crew band, marches up to the 7^th deck, where the entire shipboard community is waiting with cheers and anticipation. Tall tales are told of King Neptune’s reign over the seas and each person is put through a series of ‘tests’ to graduate from pollywog to shellback status. These tests are really fun, silly games of having fish guts/kitchen mess poured over your head, a big jump in the pool, a sloppy kiss with a fish and a sword knight from King and Queen Neptune. As a fun aside, people shave their head. Impressively, 28 students donated to Locks of Love, with many, many more shaving their head. (hair must have been 10 inches to donate to LoL) It was quite the scene! Kids, Life-Long Learners and students alike all joined in on the sans-hair opportunity; however, the most memorable head to shave was Desmond Tutu!

0:58

Produced by the on-ship videographer. Why show any of my own if I have these available to me that are produced so well??

Good Golly, It's Ghana!

Ghana is a special place.

Special because the amount of smiles that are on the faces of the men, women and children whom I met during our 4 day trip. Special because it was so easy and natural to be there. Special because I just really liked the vibe and energy. The people were incredible and the food was so so good! After only being in Egypt and Morocco, I never felt like I had been to the real AFRICA. Lonely Planet named Ghana: “Africa for beginners” and I would agree. English being the main language and with safety abound - not to mention the Ghanaians love for Obama (and subsequently Americans)- it was a fantastic place to be.

I spent my first two days in port ‘on call’. There was a Duty Free store directly across from the boat, so alas…I spent my nights awake micro-managing drunk students who decided to partake in cheap alcohol instead of the cultures of the land. Due to the fact that my sleep is my sanity, I was really off-kilter during the two days. However, immediately after I handed off the pager, I headed straight out and jumped on the first ‘tro-tro’ (small mini-bus taxi) to head East; I was back in my groove.

I was able to visit a Ghanaian hospital with my Childbirth and Fetal Abnormalities class. We wandered through the labor suites and spoke gently to the women in many stages of labor. It was fantastic and only confirmed what I know to be my latest interest.

A student joined me for 2 days as we wandered around the towns on the coast and visited Kakum National Park for a Canopy tour walk. It began raining in the rainforest and immediately the song: The Rains Down in Africa played through my head with new meaning. I huddled under shelter with local guides and enjoyed an impromptu lesson on how to make palm oil wine and enjoyed the fresh fruits of the forest: coconuts, cocoa, and papaya.

Luck being on my side, I was hosted one night by a woman I met at the National Forest at her home in a neighboring village. She was the manager of all the tour guides in the National Forest and was very ‘high up’ in the board of this eco-tourism venture. Oddly, the very night I stayed with her was also the 15^th Anniversary of the Canopy Walk. The canopy walk is a series of roped bridges strung in the treetops of the rainforest. (Mainly) tourists visit this attraction. Ghana Heritage Conservation Trust, the organization that manages and runs this tour, aims for it to be Ghana’s #1 tourist site in the next 5 years.

The 15^th Anniversary resulted in a huge awards banquet that I was invited to attend with her. White tents, beautiful decorations, full Ghanaian food buffet (I tried it all! Including the goat...), a band, alcohol, traditional elders and kings from the surrounding villages in their traditional cloths, plus little ‘ole me fully dressed in a traditional kente cloth ….really, could I have landed any better? I was one of two foreighn people at the event. I’m sure many thought: “Who in the hell is she?”

This was a very special evening as it afforded me the view of authenticity. Nothing was ‘for show’ and I felt very educated afterwards on the intricacies of Ghanaian culture. I learned that they eat very late and they drink very little. I also learned they are happy to dance in the rain.

I spent my last day with a group of new friends, wandering around the busy markets on the coast on the elusive search for Ghanaian chocolate! Aside from the gold they export, cocoa is a leading natural commodity for the country. (Their cocoa and chocolate is considered one of the world’s best. Who knew?) Sadly, another commodity has been found: Oil. As we speak, multi-national oil companies are moving in to start drilling. With the corrupt and exploited example that their neighbor, Nigeria, offers, my heart breaks for the changes that are about to occur to and within this beautiful, wonderful place. I feel like I was privy to experience a Ghana that will never  be the same once the oil starts flowing.

*many of these pictures are not my own. creative people surround me on this ship. I am only showcasing their talent.