Heading Home

Kristen and I are now in Gaborone, Bostwana (A) and will be heading back to SA today. 


We'll be with my dad by this evening in Ladybrand (B), and then to Cape Town (C) on Monday next week.

Some friends we met along the way... Haus (the guy directly behind Kristen was our lovely couchsurfing host in Harare)

Teaching some grade 7's about Cape Town and the rest of the world! :)

I taught them about Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Luther, and the Pyramids in Egypt

Kids from the Zimbabwe Baptist Convention's Project in Mberenga, Zimbabwe

More Zim dollars than I can count!  The inflation caused a one hundred trillion dollar bill to be produced!

Leen getting a Zimbabwean hair cut

Helping out along the way... towing a broken down car on the way back to Gweru

Happy Birthday Seb and Midlands State University

Happy 18^th birthday Seb (Leen’s brother).  We tried and tried to call you today – none of the internet cafes had headphones, my SA cell phone wouldn’t connect to the network to call out.  So, sorry for not speaking to you, but know that we are thinking of you and wish you the best birthday yet! J

We also spent part of the day visiting the Midlands State University in Gweru, Zimbabwe.  Of all the universities we’ve visited, this was the least organized and most difficult to navigate.  We had a look at the computer facilities, some classrooms, and chatted with the acting chair of the Computer Science department.  She was more interested in asking Leen about getting a spot for a PhD at UCT than in speaking to us about the specific of her department. 

We also met up with a group of students who were really keen to chat to us and ask us about life in South Africa and in the US.  They were (for some reason) impressed at our academic backgrounds and were encouraging us to come teach at MSU.  I don't think we'll take them up on it, but we enjoyed the tours they gave us around campus.

Bulawayo Music & Dance

5^th April

7am and our alarm went off. The road to Bulawayo is only 150km from here, but we wanted to have an early start. The Baptist Convention drove us in their minibus to the taxi pick-up point, and from there we caught a taxi to Bulawayo. 2 hours, front seat, with a friendly and talkative taxi driver. He even shared his packet of chips with Kristen.

We arrived in Bulawayo, found a take-away joint and shared rice and beef stew (Kristen is by now a little over sadza), and then called up our couch surfing host.

It turns out that Mpho is a musician playing the Marimbas in a 4-man-band. He’s Zimbabwean born, married to a Canadian born woman, and they’re expecting their first child in June. 

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 His band is planning on touring Canada and some parts of USA for 6 months, and in preparation his wife just left for Canada (now at 7 months), a week ago. He’ll join her there on the 1^st of June (just before the baby’s born!).

Kristen enjoyed an afternoon nap, and in the evening we enjoyed the company of Mpho and his friend Tswa, a script writer for plays. Well that’s what they called themselves to begin with, but it turns out that they both do everything from writing and singing to organizing creative events around town. They invited us to a Slam Poetry afternoon (2pm – 6pm) on Saturday. We’re both looking soooo forward to it.

source: http://www.couchsurfing.org

 It was really revitalizing to be in the presence of experience-taught, artist/performers. While Kristen and I have been formally trained by tertiary education institutions, these two are taught from experience. They are now starting to pick up formal training here and there, but here’s the interesting thing: neither of them would have it any other way! For them they have no regrets playing the “experience” card before the “formal training” card.

If the next 4 days is going to show me anything, it will show me how people from any background can meet, chat and share their successes with each other. Now that’s a curve-ball for me.

Zimbabwe Baptist Convention

Participated in the longest church service that I have ever attended today (3.5 hours)… and that’s not an April Fool’s Joke J

We have been staying at the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe’s Guest House.  They have a service here on Sundays that starts at 9am and ends between 12pm-1pm.  Despite the length, it was probably one of the most enjoyable services I have ever been to.  I’ve never been made to feel more welcome as a visitor of any church before.  Everyone in the congregation (about 30 people) was asked to shake our hands and welcome us to the church during the greeting portion of the service.  There was a great emphasis on worship and singing and probably half of the service was spent singing and dancing in the aisles. 

After the service the youth pastor asked Leen and me to help out with the youth service that happens directly after Sunday service.  We agreed and had a nice interesting chat about using your skills to serve the needs of your community (using James 1 and the faith without deeds concept).  Really nice and we learned a lot from the students too!

Great Zimbabwe

We visited the Great Zimbabwe ruins today just outside of Masvingo.  The ruins were built around 1100AD and were constructed of stones stacked on top of each other without the use of mortar or cement to hold them together.  Much of the Great Enclosure structure is still standing today.  Little is known about the specific uses of the structure throughout history or the architects who designed and built it.  The ruins were actually named ‘Great Zimbabwe’ even before the country adopted this name.  The acropolis of the monument also has statues of birds that have become the national emblem of Zimbabwe.

Mutare to Masvingo

We took a minibus/taxi/commuter from Mutare to Masvingo, which wasn’t an incredibly long distance (approx. 250 kilometers), but took us a very long time.  The minibus is a popular mode of transport in southern Africa, which enables budget travellers and locals to share transport costs by cramming 15-30 people into a mini-bus.  Yes, 15-30 – it’s a pretty big difference.  The smaller minibuses (think something along the lines of an average church van in the US) are only registered to carry 15 people, but typically fit something closer to 20 and the larger minibuses can cram up to 30 people (this particular trip, for example). 

Just a note about petrol/gas prices – Americans always complain about the cost of gas/petrol going up and up, but you don’t realize that gas/petrol in the US is probably the cheapest in the world (with the exception perhaps of Gulf states).  In southern Africa petrol is distributed by the liter (it takes about 4 liters to equal a gallon) and in SA and Zim the cost is around $1.40 per liter – making the cost about $5.60 per gallon.  Think about that the next time your complaining about the cost of fuel prices in the US. 

Africa University, Mutare

Visited Africa University today.  We were originally only going to check out public universities, but this one crossed our radars during a visit to Mr. Kala in Harare, so we thought it was worth a look. 

The Africa University is a private university with a pan-African mission.  Students come from all over the continent and staff from all over the world.  The university was a dream of a former leader of the Methodist church in Zimbabwe.  It’s only 20 years old and is still supported by Methodist churches worldwide, though American churches seem to be the most active and generous in donating.  Despite the generous contributions, students still pay about $2000 per term to study at the university. 

We learned that there are several required courses for students including Communication Skills 1 and 2, a foreign language (Portuguese, French, or English as a second language) and Christian Ethics.  Although some students seem to complain (as all students do) about required courses, we met several students who were quite happy about the courses and the valuable skills they teach.  We met with the convenor of the Comm Skills programme and the deans of Humanities and Social Sciences and Agriculture (they’re opening up an agricultural engineering department in the future and this is the only engineering department offered at the University, so Leen wanted to check it out). 

After an exciting morning of learning and speaking to people, we went for lunch at the university cafeteria.  We got our food and went to the hall to find a seat and were welcomed by a nice man to sit with him.  From his hearty welcome, I gathered that he was American (that accent is pretty hard to miss).  We exchanged greetings and I asked where he was from and about that time he said ‘South Carolina’.  I thought he was joking and had heard me say my home state first or something because it is not often that you meet South Carolinians abroad (sadly people from my home state seem to travel less frequently than other Americans).  Turns out he is a biology teacher from Wofford and is spending his sabbatical teaching at Africa University.  He son was also with him and had recently finished studying at the Citadel.  Quite a nice encounter.  We chatted about his experiences at the university and difficulty with things like a work permit for Zimbabwe… the country’s political situation makes it difficult for most people to get work permits to be here.  He also gave us a book that he read about the recent history of Zimbabwe that I’m about halfway through now and definitely recommend – it’s called ‘House of Stone’ by Christina Lamb.  Very interesting narrative of 2 people with very different backgrounds being seriously affected by the political and economic changes in the country over the past 40 years.

All in all, we were impressed with Africa University.  It brings together people from the entire continent to build education capacity across Africa.  The student community is quite diverse and also very welcoming – something we were quite struck by.  There are some issues with under-usage of facilities, such as the engineering building that is not being used because the lack of accreditation of an engineering programme and our friend from SC told us about the lack of textbooks for classes and things like that, but students do seem to be learning and the school is still young yet.

Harare to Mutare

We’ve decided to change our trip.  Admittedly, our original plans were a bit ambitious – 3 countries in 5 weeks.  So, instead of going to Zimbabwe, Malawi (with a stop in Tete in Mozambique, so I guess that makes it 4 countries), and Zambia, we’re going to stay in Zimbabwe for about 3.5 weeks and go through Botswana on the way back to South Africa.  We’re also hoping to stop through Ladybrand (on the SA side of Lesotho) to visit Leen’s dad on the way back to Cape Town.

Our plans have changed mostly for two reasons – 1. time constraints (we realized that our trip was too ambitious and we wouldn’t get to see and learn all that we wanted to in such a short time) and 2. Visa fees – we found out that to get into Mozambique (a necessity to pass through to Malawi) is 85 USD for a single entry and the borders aren’t giving out multiple entries anymore and the visa fee for Zambia is 50 USD for a single entry.  We just couldn’t justify those expenses (times 2) for such short visits in each country.  I really want to write a journal article about the social costs of visa fees… but I digress.

The cool thing about our change of plans is that it will give us more time to explore Zimbabwe and learn a bit more clearly about what’s going here.  As Leen and I have said time and again, we’re very interested in learning about education systems and this will give us a better understanding of the education system in Zimbabwe. 

Out on the dam

Jamming out to ‘Song of the South’ on the way out on the boat… sounds like a nice summer afternoon in South Carolina?  Or….

 Me trying to ski on one ski for the first time

Some real ‘Zimbabwean’ hospitality.  The couchsurfing host we are staying with invited us on a trip out on the boat (I accepted, but Leen decided to spend the day in town instead).  There are a number of dams surrounding Harare where people enjoy water sports.  Fortunately, these dams (unlike the local rivers) are generally free from crocs and hippos.  An unlikely group – me (an American girl), 2 Zimbabwean guys, and a Vietnamese girl (another couchsurfer) set out for the dam. 

This particular dam was set up as an irrigation source for a local farm before the land invasions, but now its only purpose is water sports and recreation for locals lucky enough to own a boat.

We had a nice full day out in a beautiful area – blue skies, mountains in the distance, the dam all to ourselves – it was lovely!  AND, I think I surprised them with my skiing abilities J

Mr. Kala

Thursday 22nd March

We set our alarm clock, and gave ourselves an hour to get to Mr. Kala’s house. A 20 minute hitched ride to the University of Zimbabwe, and then a 40 minute walk from there, and we arrived 5 minutes late, but apparently 55 minutes early (must have been a mix up in the times). Nonetheless, we sat down with Mr Kala, and proceeded to chat with him for nearly 3vhours. It was almost 1pm before we left.

Mr Kala (born in Zimbabwe) has more than a 50 year history of being involved in educationin Zimbabwe. From headmaster, to teacher, to sitting on the board of the ZOU – he has had his fingers in almost all pots, except for dirty ones. As a board member of ZOU, he gave us a wonderful historical account of the growth of ZOU. He explained that the “open” model combines both teaching and distance learning, and the university has 10 offices all around Zimbabwe, one in each of the provinces. ZOU is currently the largest university in Zimbabwe and is growing, with roughly 18,000 students at the moment. The courses are flexible, internationally accredited and modularized so that they can tailor each course to the individual – taking into account their backgrounds, and intended direction of study. Their model is different from that of UNISA, in that UNISA was designed to be a “correspondence learning programme”, while ZOU was an “open learning”, combining teaching and distance learning. Apparently UNISA has evolved a bit over the years, but did not begin with the same intention and mission as ZOU, so is therefore still a bit different.

After our talk, we were dropped at the University of Zimbabwe, where we headed straight for the Linguistics department. Why? I’ll ask Kristen to explain.

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Earlier in the week we spoke to the Political Science department administrator and I asked whether students struggled with similar things to the first year students at UCT – picking out an argument in an academic text, writing a thesis statement and coherent argument, etc. She said that it wasn’t a very big issue here because all students take a Communication Skills course in the Linguistics department that teaches these skills to students in the first year. All students! It sounded like the sort of program that we set up at UCT in the Politics Department last year. So, I had to go check out it out!

We finally found our way to the linguistics department, which is downstairs at basement level (no wonder we had a little trouble) and waited for the staff to come back from lunch. When they did, I explained my experience at UCT and desire to learn about their program. I chatted with one of the secretaries until the chair of the Linguistics department returned and called a colleague to set us up with a meeting with the Coordinator of the Communication Skills department…. So off we were to Mr.Mutambwa’s office.

We sat down with one of the most passionate and enthusiastic people that we’ve met at the University of Zimbabwe (which is saying a lot because most people we met were incredibly passionate about their work). He is also forward-thinking in his approach to education. He explained that he worked to set up the Communication Skills program in about 2005 and despite struggles for resources to set it up (fights with the Vice Chancellor and other lecturers), the program now has 10 different streams – one for each of the faculties at UZ and is tailored specifically to the needs of each faculty -- and 2 courses in each stream. Students have a Communication Skills for Academic Purposes course in the first semester, which does everything from orient them to university life, to teaching academic reading and writing, and research skills. The second course is Communication Skills for Professional Purposes, which teaches communication theory (intercultural, interpersonal, etc – stuff I learned majoring in Communication in undergrad) cover letter writing, interviewing, presenting yourself in a professional context. Although they don’t have a Communication department for students to major in Communication Studies, the university recognizes that these skills are important enough to create the courses and make them compulsory. Mr. Mutambwa and I were definitely on the same page in terms of what skills students need in order to be successful in university and productive citizens. The University of Zimbabwe believes in his vision, too. Maybe we should chat with Max Price (Vice Chancellor of UCT) when we return to Cape Town.

Mr. Mutambwa also mentioned that other Zimbabwean universities are seeking to create these programs, including NUST – the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo based on the model set up by UZ. He also said that the person setting it up at NUST may need a coordinator or few lecturers for the program and suggested we get in touch. Maybe Leen and I can move to Bulawayo? Who knows.

After our meeting, Mr. Mutambwa walked us back to the main office and gave us electronic copies of the course outlines for all of the Communication Skills courses and left us with a pretty thick document on Life Skills that is used in his course.

Harare - Couchsurfer #2

Plans to move on to Mozambique today have changed, or should I say postponed until next week!

We hopped from Philipp’s house to another couch surfer in Harare. A Zimbabwean born white guy called Haus (Austrian name). He’s got a pool company in Harare, but his passion is in anti-poaching in the region. He is an active board member of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (www.iapf.org), and has helped equip rangers throughout the region with education, training and resources. He also told us that funding is easier to get for people than animals, so they’ve been teaching local people about the dangers of poaching and creating projects for income generation in order to reduce the incentive to poach. There seem to be two main reasons for poaching – subsistence poaching for meat and poaching for animal products – ivory, skins, etc.

Did you know that Rhino horn sells at USD $70, 000 per kg on the street? And that an “on the ground” poacher is lured into poaching with the promise of $5,000 per horn (which weighs a good few kilos)? Haus informed us that rhino horns can actually be cut safely, and will grow back in 2-3 years – and hence introduced us to the idea of sustainable ivory farming, a possible future practice in Zimbabwe.

Expat Party

We had our first ‘expat’ experience in Harare with our couchsurfing host, Philipp. I’ve lived in South Africa for over two years and haven’t found a place as ‘exclusive’ as the bar we went to in Harare. We went to a movie at the Alliance Francaise and then to a little bar to meet a friend of our host. The bar was nice with an outdoor patio and live music inside (Irish music, who would have expected that?), but one thing that caught both of our attention was the abundance of foreign white people. Everyone had a story like, I work for UNDP (United Nations Development Program) or USAID or the embassy of name-the-country. I even got bought a drink by the Honorary Consul of Cyprus. It was an interesting crowd in terms of the work that some of them were doing and backgrounds, but we couldn’t help feeling like it was just incredibly shallow. I guess I just don’t understand why you move to another country just to hang out with other Americans, Brits, etc. I openly admitted to someone that I’ve never been to a gathering like that before and just didn’t really know what to do and she asked, aren’t there a lot of foreign students at UCT and I said ‘yes, but I don’t really hang out with any of them’. I understand the need to meet up with people who understand your background and perhaps what you’re going through living in another country, etc, but I don’t understand the way the crowd seemed to be interested exclusively in only these encounters.

UZ - Day 2

Wednesday 21st March

We spent our second day at the University of Zimbabwe this morning. We met with Mr Kapungu (the chair of the Electrical Engineering department) who explained that courses ran similarly to the University of Cape Town, and that classes were significantly smaller - roughly 35 students per class in 1st year, and 25 students in 4th year. Many lecturers in the department (like in all departments at the university) left Zim from 2006 – 2009 (for economic reasons) and the department is in the process of building up teaching strength once more. They are currently looking for a Power and Machines lecturer, starting in September 2012, for at least a 1 year contract… and offered Leen the job! Pretty cool.

 
We headed back to Harare, and searched high and low for the Book Café. We learnt that although we were close at several points, the café had closed down and moved several time too. We eventually found it (on the LONG road that Vini advised us to look on first – sorry!) but it only opened at 9pm, so we gave it a skip this time.

On our hunt for the Book Café, while asking for directions, we literally found ourselves standing outside of the Open Learning Center! We walked straight in asking for Mr. Hassan (as Vini recommended), and what a great guy he is. He seemed to be expecting us too, which must have been Vini’s doing too.

Mr Hassan explained that the Open Learning Center was a university that offered mainly postgraduate degrees including MBAs. It uses facilities from other teaching institutions when not in use, and therefore teaches their students on the weekends. The model makes effective use of facilities in Harare, and provides people who work during the week the opportunity to enrol in postgraduate programmes like MBAs.

Mr Hassan described the history of all 13 universities in Zimbabwe – which we soaked up like sponges. Among the list of 13 was an “open university” (distance learning) model called the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), based in Harare, which is somewhat comparable to UNISA in South Africa. He picked up the phone, called a Mr Kala, and set us up to see him for breakfast at his house at 10am the next morning. He lives only 10km from where we were staying in Highlands.

The strange thing was that Mr. Kala was expecting a “couple from South Africa, one Dutch and the other one American” – Vini, who else have you told about us???? Thanks a million for pushing us to go see these people! Seriously, high five to Vini for all the contacts and having such cool friends!

How do we define value?

How do we define value?

For many people value can be measured in owning property, money (both cash and what is in the bank), income generation (businesses we own/employment),cars we own,and sometimes education. I have chosen these examples, as they have an interesting spin to them in Zimbabwe. Many of us go so far as to put faith in particular forms of value – faith that they will retain their value. Travelling in Zimbabwe has given me a new perspective on many forms of value many people place their faith in, that I feel are worth sharing.

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Firstly, property.

source: http://in.all.biz/img/in/service_catalog/15784.jpeg

You may take it for granted, but the right you have to live in your house (whether you own or rent) depends on a fundamental pillar of your constitution - besides establishing the framework of a governing system, a constitution often addresses the issues of property rights.

Why does someone not squat in your living room? Well for that, you’re protected by the law.

But why doesn’t a government official just claim ownership of your land?What ensures that money you pay to “buy a house” ensures your rights over the property? That you’ll probably find engrained in the constitution.

In the 90’s and again 10 years later, the government of Zimbabwe overlooked property rights in favour of a newly formed “land reform policy”. In short, this meant that if you owned agricultural land outside of urban areas, your rights to that land were simply revoked. No matter how much money you paid, or how long the family owned that land, or what you had built on that land, it then fell outside of your control.

What effect did revoking property rights have in Zimbabwe? Industries, farms and small holdings no longer owned their means of production. So as property was reclaimed, production ground to a halt.

What stops this from happening elsewhere? States often realize that politics and economics push and pull on each other, where the state’s direction and policies are a result of both economic and political interests. No politician will cripple their own economy, nor will any industry willingly loose favour with the governing body of their state. In Zimbabwe, political interests ignored economic consequence, and either knowingly or not, brought the country’s economy to its knees.

Property rights worldwide are often taken for granted, but essentially are subject to political stability of the country. Property is only a form of value in a state experiencing political stability, and in a society that respects the rule of law.

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Secondly, money.

 

source: http://www.paranormalknowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/money.jpg

In 2006, inflation was so high that Zimbabwean money lost half its value every 36 hours. Imagine that happening to the USD$. How did this happen?Well, to understand the whole picture, study Politics & Economics. A piece of the puzzle looks like this…

Every country has state expenses. The state has to pay expenses, including social services, the salaries of politicians, and the military. Let us take Zimbabwe - in the early 2000’s the country stopped producing valuable products (as mentioned above). Industries began shutting down and the economy began to shrink. Irrespective of economic conditions, countries still need to import/export products (e.g. food, oil, vehicles and raw materials). In the case where a country no longer produces valuable products to import/export, it resorts to printing more money to pay its expenses. This may pay for expenses today, but floods the market with money, effectively de-valuing the local currency. This is one of the causes for inflation – the effect of money losing value.

Money is only a form of value in a state experiencing economic and political stability, where inflation is kept competitively low.

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Thirdly, income generation in the form of businesses&employment.

Almost all businesses depend heavily on property rights (in the case of a factory), and a stable currency (for buying and selling products, both nationally and internationally). As a result of the 2006-2009 economic crisis in Zimbabwe, neither were possible in Zimbabwe. To add salt to the wound, Zimbabwe is also enforcing a 51% indigenous ownership policy for all businesses, which discourages foreign companies from planting themselves in Zimbabwean soil.

Furthermore, Zimbabwe still suffers from between 90-95% unemployment rate (depending on your source), and instead of encouraging employment, and trade unions have stepped up to protect those few employed, discouraging businesses from employing full-time workers. Businesses are now actively retrenching employees (minimizing costs), and hiring on contract basis (which avoids trade unions).

Employment is only a form of valuein a state where trade unions encourage businessesto risk employing full-time staff.

A business is only a form of value in a state that can ensure monetary stability, property rights and policies that encourage start-ups and growth.

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Fourthly, personal transport.

 

source: http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/hybrid-car-hyper.jpg

Leading up to 2008/9, Zimbabwe couldn’t trade Zimbabwean dollars on the international market, because no one wants to buy a currency that is deflating at such a rate. For those who are not aware, Zimbabwe is not known for drilling for/refining its own oil. As a result, Zimbabwe faced huge problems importing petrol.

We’ve stayed with friends who own big 4x4s – cars that only get 7 km/litre. How does that compare? A small 1.3l Opel Corsa can achieve 16 km/litre. A VW Polo Bluewave gets 30 km/litre. A Toyota Hybrid maybe 50 km/litre… run and go buy a Hybrid! But how far can a car drive when your local petrol pump runs dry?

A mode of transport is only a form of value if running costs are made affordable by the economic conditions of the state.

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Fifthly, education.


In the 80’s Zimbabwe had a continentally competitive education system. All Zimbabweans took O-levels and A-levels (which prepare students to cope in university), and the quality of university graduates from UZ were setting the bar for all African universities!

Unfortunately the economic crisis affected the universities in Zimbabwe. From 2006-2009 Zimbabwe lost many of its best professors to the rest of Africa, because salaries had dropped to a mere USD$200 per month (in the case of UZ). Doors were actually closed to 1st years considering entering UZ (as it probably was for the other universities in Zimbabwe), only to be opened again in 2010.

However, despite the impact of this crisis on this generation of students, I believe Zimbabwe will recover well, and quickly. Simply walking down the street in Harare, we have observed that Zimbabweans are mostly literate, and capable of engaging in critical conversations – something that even South Africa cannot boast. There seems to be an inherent level of education among a large percentage of the citizens of this beautiful country, most importantly, among adults.

It is a well-known fact that children brought up by educated parents will often achieve at least the education of their parents. For this reason, I believe that Zimbabwe will witness well-educated future generations of citizens, starting with this generation of children. Thanks are due to the investment in education over the previous decades – a lesson many countries can be inspired by.

Despite the vast expanse of things to learn, many people opt for a “package” degree, such as a BSc, BA, Engineering or medicine. Although I am all for standardization in assessment of quality and ability, I do find that institutions are given significant power to determine their student’s future. Take Kristen for instance. She submitted a fantastic (I proof read it) MA thesis at the end of November 2010 and now almost 4 months later, she is still is without qualification. The University of Cape Town claims it isn’t their fault, pointing to a blockage in the pipes higher up. Kristen has nightmares that it’ll be returned to her rejected. For the last 4 months, Kristen has been hesitant to apply for jobs because she might not have the qualifications. Not only does this have economic consequences, but also gives her reasons to second guess her own abilities and self-worth. She’s absolutely brilliant, and her work is worthy of a first class pass… but UCT’s centralized power has given Kristen reason to think otherwise. And that is simply unfair.

But on the positive side of qualifications, once an individual achieves a level of education, it can never be taken away from them. Institutions may fail, economies may collapse, money may become toilet paper, cars may break down, but knowledge remains king.

Education proves time and time again to be a form of value on both a personal and social level, despite economic/political instability, the lack of opportunities available and social instability - albeit it does depend on educational institutions acting responsibly, fairly and efficiently.

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How do you perceive value? What forms of value do you invest in?

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Harare

Tuesday 20th March


We took a break today, wandered around town with Martin (a fellow couch surfer), did some shopping, and found some internet.

Vini (a friend of ours from Cape Town, whose family live in Harare) gave us some advice on who to see in Harare – it’s a shame that he isn’t here to guide us around. He insisted that we visit Mr Hassan (a man involved with the Open Learning Center in Harare), and also the Book Café (supposedly a lively evening restaurant encouraging musicians and performers).

University of Zimbabwe, Harare

Monday 19^th March

Before we left Cape Town we were called “disillusioned” and were warned about being disappointed. “What more can you learn, that you can’t interpret from the statistics?” So we left our expectations behind.

Today we woke up and Kristen, myself and Martin assembled ourselves by 10am. So we (Kristen and I) really didn’t have a plan, other than to get there.

It turns out that the University of Harare is about 8km from the house we were staying at. We set off by foot. Lucky for us, we were offered a lift 500 meters down the road, and the driver literally dropped us off at the university. I sat in the back of the bakkie, making a make-shift map (bumpy road edition) which would help us get back home.

University of Zimbabwe

The campus was massive. It has all of the faculties and department that the University of Cape Town has, plus more - “Department of Timber Research” and “Department of Mining Research” to name a few.

We visited the Engineering building, Computer Science building, Economics and Politics buildings, quietly and nervously. Classes were in session, and echos travelled down corridors. What were we looking for? Popping heads in and out of classrooms, nervous hellos, tip-toeing down quiet office corridors. Why did we feel like illegal immigrants?

So Kristen broke the ice, the way she always does. We found a group of five 3^rd year girls outside the “Food Science” building, and made friends. We discovered that food science and food nutrition are NOT the same – they’re like chalk and cheese. (Electrical Engineers feel the same way about Civil Engineers!) She was given a hair clip, and taught how to tie her hair up. She looks so beautiful. Half an hour later we were all laughing and dancing, and Kristen was invited to see a student’s residence.

Martin and I found a staff cafeteria - a room full of couches and tables – where for $2.00 we could get a plate of pap, beef stew and spinach. Martin has been in a relationship for 8 years, and although the two of them still don’t share finances, they consider themselves in a committed relationship. So we had a nice hour chat about marriage, and the differences between SA, USA and Germany. Getting married has opened us up to another shelf of deep conversations, which I look forward to over the next few years.

Full of food, we plucked up the courage to prepare a few questions, and afforded ourselves a few expectations.

After lunch, we had impromptu meetings with the Chair of the Economics department, the Assistant Registrar for the University, and an Administrative Assistant for the Politics department.  We learned that the University of Zimbabwe requires all students to take a Linguistics course (something that introduces academic writing and reading and assists with English language skills) and all Political Science students are required to take a research methods course – two things which we haven’t found at UCT.  Kristen was especially interested in this because she has helped to set up a supplementary reading/writing course at UCT over the past 2 years.

Lesson to be learnt for UCT: You may be rated the best university in Africa, but you can still learn a lot from other African universities! Zim’s education system was rated the best in Africa 15 years ago, and that was for a reason.

We tried to meet with the Dean of Students (something we were recommended to do by the Assistant Registrar), but he was in a meeting and we’re pencilled in for tomorrow.  Instead, we spoke with the Deputy Dean of Students. Face to face with a Dean, we quickly learned that information is still being carefully shared, and that we needed to have checked in with the “Department of International Relations” and someone in the department of “Information Protocol”, to be assigned a “guide”, before asking questions around the university. Oops.

Fees -- $400 per term for tuition and $400 per term for student housing, including meals 3 times a day.  The Chair of the Economics department told us that the University used to not charge fees for students.  They have since seen a reduction in attendance.  Also, the Economics Chairman told us that the recent economic crisis in Zimbabwe has caused many lecturers to leave and they are currently understaffed as a result.

Day 1 – we definitely considered a success.  We plan to go again tomorrow, but will save the visit to the “Department of Information Protocol” till the end.

Bus from JHB to Harare

Sunday 18^th March

We arrived at the border Beit Bridge at 2am. Intercape bus loaded full with people.  We easily got our exit stamps out of SA, and quickly pressed on to get our visas for Zim. We drove through the boom at 3am, only to find the 8 busses had arrived in the hour before us, and now stood back to back, waiting to get into Zim.

The border process took another 3 hours. In those 3 hours, we queued in darkness, woke up a sleeping visa officer, paid USD$45 each for a double entry visa, un-packed the entire bus’ cargo, re-loaded the cargo pack again, and finally watched the sun rise. Baitbridge – not recommended for a quick get-away.

We arrived in Harare by 3pm, found an internet café by 3.30, and proceeded to contact Philipp- a German engineer living in Harare, working on building up Zim’s water pump capacity. Philipp’s house is in Highlands (for those who know Harare), a rich “Bishop’s court” style area of town. The house has a swimming pool, a massive garden with avocado trees, a tennis court, and permanent security guard. The only problem? The house doesn’t have connected running water. It has to be supplied by a tanker which sells Philip water at $8 per 1000 litres. We had some supper which Martin (a second German couch surfer) cooked for us, and crashed early.

Joburg and beyond

We left Jo'burg for Harare on Saturday evening after spending a few nice days in JHB with Leen's sister.

Neither of us have ever spent much time in Joburg, so it was nice for her to show us around and to see the nicer parts of the city.  Highlights: Rosebank Mall, the "best croissant in Africa" at an Argentine cafe near Karin's house, and 2 epic games of Settlers of Catan by the pool!

Although I think it's fair to say that Leen and I still prefer Cape Town as the best city in SA, we did enjoy our time in Joburg.  It was especially nice to experience it with a local who clearly knows her way around!

Thanks again, Karin! 

Train Trip to JHB

Wednesday 14^th March

Our main experience on trains, especially lately, has been on Indian sleeper class (3^rd class, non-air-conditioned) trains.  So our first impression of the South African sleeper class (tourist class) train was pretty good. 

We left at 11am sharp, and boarded a train that seems to have been cleaned before we arrived! We had a small compartment with bunk beds for each of us, a table that turns into a sink, and a small window that could be opened.  For only R430 each one-way, we knew we had forfeited A/C. The beds were softer than in India, and a bit longer (for my long legs).

Food was served in the cafeteria cart. Menus, waiters, comfortable cushioned chairs, A/C, and nicely laid out silverware. The food was very well priced, at roughly R30 for a big plate of Beef stew (served with pap), fish and chips, or eggs and bacon breakfast in the morning.

The train journey was extended by 5 hours, turning an expected 26 hours into a pretty long 31 hours. Reason? The train was initially pulled by 2 locomotives, but one had engine problems, so we fell behind schedule, a delay which kept getting longer and longer.

Karin, my sister picked us up in JHB.

Trip Prep

Monday 12^th March

Got a lot done today in preparation for our trip.  We are planning to take the train from Cape Town to Johannesburg.  We’ve emailed the train company, but haven’t gotten confirmation so we decided to go to the train station in Cape Town to book tickets.  Luckily it was a pretty seamless process and we paid R430 per ticket, instead of R450 that was offered online (http://www.shosholozameyl.co.za/).  We’re going to get a private compartment for the two of us, so it should be pretty exciting.  We also got bus tickets from Johannesburg to Harare with Intercape.  We’re a bit nervous, though, because they told us that we must organize our visas beforehand because they won’t wait for us at the border.  The only Zimbabwe consulate/embassy in the country is supposed to be in Johannesburg, so we may be a bit out of luck for organizing that.  We may just wing it, that’s worked out for us before J

Universities of Southern Africa

How do we find out about universities in Africa? Many of them don't even have a functional website, or publicly available contact details.

All is not lost... there are a number of rich, informative resources that provide African universities with exposure, and collect and present valuable raw statistics, such as Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) [link], and All About Uni [link].

To really get a feel for what these universities have to offer students, and to get a sense of what pages of statistics really mean, we intend to print out the list of statistics, and go visit them.

Something like this...

Education Challenges

Kristen and I have both become increasingly concerned and passionate about improving the education system in Cape Town. We see that UCT is consistently rated the best university in Africa [link], however it still suffers from a high failure rate - a reality haunting most students [link].

source: http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2012/02/06/students-fail-to-cope-at-varsities

What is the problem? What is the cause? Dr. Max Price, the current vice chancellor of UCT, has even "introduced a controversial new entrance scheme", but even he admits that the system is not perfect [read more...]

source: http://www.uct.ac.za/usr/news/2010/open_max_price.jpg

So if the best university in Africa suffers from high failure rates, and continues to struggle with an imperfect system, what chance does every other university in South Africa have? What about the rest of Africa?

2011 Recap

In 2011, Leen had the privileged of lecturing 1st and 3rd year Engineering students & supervising 4th year thesis students. Leen has been involved for many years in the mentor program, pioneered by Electrical Engineering, aimed to support first year students struggling with environmental changes and pressures, rather than with course content.

In 2011, Kristen was also very active in the Politics Department. She was a valuable tutor in the Extended Degree Program (EDP), and even helped compile a Reading and Writing Guide that is currently available to every Politics student. Kristen also volunteered at the LEAP school in Pinelands twice a week, coaching debating on Thursday, and teaching English and Maths on Saturday.