Time to pack :(

This is it folks the last entry, the final entry, the conclusion, the finale, the end of our adventure in Africa and its been a once in a life time opportunity. There have been a lot of lets say disagreements but no fall outs who says you need to agree to get along. I’m gonna keep this short as I have packing to do and god I hate packing, such a pain. This time tomorrow I should be on a plane feeling on the verge of insanity but you know frankly I don’t give a dam because I’m heading back to the cold and miserable northern Ireland but you know what its my cold miserable home and I’m glad of it. Being here has made me see how no one back home totally appreciates it how easy we have it even the very worst of people back home still have it easy compared to here so you know what I think that next time your bitching about the weather or how crap you think NI is. Also I would like to thank PA for this once in a lifetime chance but don’t forget once we get back after Christmas it’s the games on for fundraising and with three very awesome people Debs, Caoimhe and Una (sorry I don’t know how to put in a fata) thank you folks for putting up with me as well as you’s did and thanks for checking my spellings sorry about that.

I would like to thank the inspiring folks at Bush Radio, keep up that spark and keep on with the work, and last but by no way in hell means least I would like to thank my one in a million family for helping me get here and make shore, so when I got here that I didn’t fall apart. I’m sorry that I haven’t been keeping as good contact with you as I wanted to. But to quote black Sabbath ‘Mum I’m coming home!’

Tonight we played twister, what a mad game, it really is and I’m pretty good at it.

Also cant wait to get home to see my mum and pops and my little annoying but mad little sister and my not so big sister, I didn’t realise that I missed them as much as I do. Also to see my friends and to talk to Brittany again, I’ve really missed talking to her.

Well I’ve been me and you are you’s and that’s all folks.
Nathan AKA shiv

OK! So this is it, heading back to the cold tomorrow…well hopefully…weather permitting :S Cant wait to make my snowman :D So today was our last full day here in Cape Town and it really went in fast (maybe it was the extra long lie in). Twister was fun…despite Caoimhe and Shiv’s cheating :P

I think this trip has made me realise just how lucky I am to have even just the simple things in life – not everyone is that fortunate! I have really enjoyed these two weeks – even the ‘discussions’. However I do feel sorry for Caoimhe who for some reason always ended in the middle of mine and Shiv’s ‘discussions’ – lets just say we have different views :P but I suppose that was part of the enjoyment! (well maybe not for Caoimhe).

Meeting the guys at Bush Radio was also really good and it kind of put WIMPS to shame (well the young people in it anyway) because even the youngest ones who are like 12 pre-prepare and present their own radio show every week on their own. But I suppose that’s what works for them and what we do works for us. I just wish that all young people back home were as passionate and as motivated about the issues that matter to them!

I would like to thank PA for giving me this opportunity, which was amazing :D and to Shiv, Caoimhe and Debs for putting up with me for a whole 2 weeks – I know how hard and annoying that can be :P (especially when I’m losing the plot more and more each day).

So I’ve annoyed and bored you guys and well as Caoimhe, Debs and Shiv for 2 weeks now its back to annoying the family :D
Byeee!!
Una x

Awww… bless wee Shiv and Una eh, with all their cheese! We love the WIMPS lovin’ guys! ! ! ☺ I think they are way, way, way too hard on their wee selves. As I have written in past blogs, it amazes me how much knowledge and confidence they have. They are both so young know so much more than me – being caught in their DEEEEEP discussions was not always so bad, it amazed me how much they can discuss without getting annoyed or taking things personal. I’ve learnt so much from these 2, that I think I’ll have to continue to mediate their conversations at WIMPS. Thankfully it won’t be as early hehe! ☺ I really believe they are going to use this trip to inspire and motivate other young people, as the young people at Bush have inspired them.

And as for Debs… what an amazing job she has done! She has been the mothership, the accountant, the motivator and the calming influence. I don’t know how she coped, she has done so much for us the past 2 weeks, I can only hope someday I can organise myself and a trip so well. Well done Debs… its been a pleasure working with you and also getting to know the ‘manager’ a bit better eh! Hehe!

Why does it have to be the last night? I really don’t wanna go home ☹ I like snow and all… but its sunny here and people are so friendly! What an experience we have had! I really hope we can get some connections going between the young people in Cape Town and Belfast. Oh and also get this MKK thing running in Ireland YAY!

It’s been so much fun with these guys that I know I’m gonna miss going back to the office! Between Twister, swimming (Una jumping in fully clothed), our Monkey friends, penguins (evil penguins according to Shiv), our adventures in the car (with our great driver Debs), up to Table Mountain (where little tiny insects bit my back ☹), bargaining in the market and the peeps helping me with my indecisive mind haha (Thank you)! Oh, we also had our last adventure today in a Taxi bus… oh my how much fun! 4 of us stuck in the back of a little van taxi (a Toyota, Hi Ace). As Una said, it makes you appreciate black taxi’s! These wee vans drive like looney tunes… it’s also amazing how many people they can fit into one single taxi van (14 peeps, plus the driver) ;) Good times!

Well, sadly tomorrow it’s off to another extremely long journey back to Belfast on a plane :| Lets hope that there are no crazy women who steal my lovely pillow hehe! And I sleep comfortably allllllll night!

You know what? I’m gonna miss writing a wee blog each day… ah well, maybe the next trip to South Africa? (Paul Symth? ☺)
PEACE, LOVE and HARMONY
Caoimhe x

Man, I can’t believe we’re heading home tomorrow. I’m dreading going back to the freezing cold and having to wear millions of layers but heigh ho, it’s been a real privilege to do this trip, we’ve some great stories to tell and I think it’s been a profound experience for us all. If I’m honest I think I need some time to process things, maybe I’ll write some more reflections in the next few weeks, but overall I really loved meeting the young people at Bush Radio. They’re all stars and it just warmed the cockles of my heart seeing their passion for life and for getting out there to make things happen in their communities and amongst their friends.

Today we met up for lunch with Christine, Dani, Nobukhosi & her boyfriend from Bush Radio. It was really nice to have a leisurely lunch and just chill out together (and like the others I loved getting the taxi-van today - class craic!) Christine and Nobukhosi did a great job of organising MKK and demonstrated such commitment to the young people. I really enjoyed getting to know them and definitely hope to be able to keep in touch. Somehow I think we’ve put them off coming to Ireland because they don’t think they’d survive our cold weather, but maybe a bit more persuasion will do the trick!

It's hard to believe that MKK has struggled to get financial support this year because it's such a valuable and significant exercise for the young people who get involved. But all credit to Bush Radio for persevering and refusing to give up. It's been great to see how all the staff pulled together to make the event happen

It’s been great to see how much Una & Shiv have got out of this trip, they’ve been a pleasure to be around and have soaked up the whole experience. I’m looking forward to seeing how they take back the lessons learned and inspiration gained to WIMPS and the Away from Violence project at home. They’re extremely capable people with a heck of a lot to offer. Caoimhe has been my right-hand woman the whole way through and the Motivator of the team – she’s always been able to get us bouncing along despite tiredness. And she might not believe it herself but she’s can do a darned good job at the whole speaking in public thing and should do more of it! Thanks guys for putting up with my moody cow moments, I think we got along really well and we’ve now got some great memories.

It’s goodnight from me, him, her and her.
Debs

Last day at Media Kidocracy Konference

MKK delegates on the last day of the conference

Today was the last day of MKK (big ‘awww’) and it finished off great. After some final prep each production group presented their final pieces of work. The photography group I was part of showed off its photos with a slideshow and we also produced a big collage of our photos highlighting the impact we have on our environment; the TV group showed a film they’d made together on gender-based violence – really entertaining stuff (link?); the graffitti group (Shiv was a member of this group) talked through how they’d come up with the ideas for their artwork at Bush Radio’s offices to convey the contribution of language and culture to a healthy society; the radio group’s radio production addresing the issues of drugs and alcohol was excellent and featured our very own Caoimhe Connor and her dulcet tones (don’t worry Paul, we’ve got a copy to share with everyone back home); finally the issue of child labour was highlighted very effectively with a blog and Twitter page by the online group and Una features in a video they made for their blog (she probably doesn’t want me to tell you that but tough cookie!)

As well as seeing the final products of MKK some of the young people also gave presentations on work they’d been doing as part of their Away from Violence work. It seems that AFV has been running on a slightly more individual basis than what Public Achievement has been doing in NI. But it’s great to see how the young people have been interpreting AFV – amongst others, Shantelle chose the issue of animal cruelty, Luke dealt with drugs and violence, and Nonkosi highlighted the shocking problem of infant rape (apparently there are 60 cases a day in S Africa). However another Bush Radio CREW member, Julia, seems to be running AFV using groupwork and she showed a powerpoint presentation of the work she’s been doing in a school with a group of young people there – we’ve got a copy of her videos to bring home with us ☺ She also brought a few young people from the school with her whoe spoke about the project and performed a dance.

Caoimhe & I also got the opporunity to explain a little more about the work we’ve been involved with in NI with AFV – thanks are due to PA staff, namely Sean, Paul & Kamal, for getting pictures and videos to us – much appreciated guys. I think we nearly drove hotel staff round the bend trying to get enough internet vouchers so that we could download the videos but it all worked out in the end. I don’t think the S Africans understood the Belfast accents on some of the videos but ‘St Gerard’s News’ went down a storm!

Oh and there was also some live musical entertainment from Apple & Cinnamon, Grand Alliance & Shaz and B – nice work, they got everyone in a good mood.

The not so good bit about today was having to say goodbye to all the young people we’ve met over the last week. It would be so amazing if they could get the chance to come to NI some day and share their expertise and experiences with young people at home.

Debs

Giz Louise, what a day! It started with me on live air radio, with the radio group and our facilitator (and radio presenter) Victor Jay… we talked about our experiences over MKK. And what an experience it has been, this has really made me want to do something like MKK in Belfast and bring young people from all cultures together. I think the young people throughout the North would learn so much from getting involved in a weeklong project. I have so many ideas, that I really want to prove with Paul. Hopefully with the help of our extremely talented Una and Shiv, Public Achievement could make this possible.

As far as the presentations went, I believe Debs has given you a good angle on them. All the young people presented their issues and topics with so much confidence it was mind-blowing. It was also interesting to see the outcome of the South African Away from Violence project. The young people seem to work on an individual or extremely small group basis at Bush Radio however, the young people have produced some amazing outcomes, some of which are quite hard hitting e.g. infant rape. It still shocks me to see young people present themselves so confidently and naturally on stage. It’s crazy because any time I get up to present I nearly die off, which leads on to Debs and me’s presentation. I really felt it went well, especially with the videos because it actually gave the young people the issue up front and also faces. It also gave them a break from Debs and I talking ☺ Again a special thanks to Kamal (the fabulous cave man) for taking the time our to upload the videos onto the internet! WE LOVE YOU KAMALSKY! X

Oh yes, for the videos I also had to sweet talk my new best mate up at reception into giving me a few extra internet cards (4 being exact – after getting 2). Awk, what a good guy eh? Oh, perhaps its not best to share this with Best Western management, as the say – Just’n’Casey!

So the day finished with music and food. Then it moved into the sadness, saying goodbye ☹ I DON’T WANNA GO HOME ☹ It’s sunny here and being a youth worker is well eassssyyyy… because the youngsters just do everything themselves and they also have all the answers, eh I’m telling you.

So I asked the guys what was the main of MKK and this is what they told me –
• Shiv – Getting to do graffiti, and physically getting to develop the piece! (Its even inspired him to get a drawing book and oil pastels)
• Una – Today getting to see how everyone’s projects came together and seeing the final product.
• Debs – Seeing the children's smiles! (Awww… even Debs likes a bit of Cheeeeese)

And as for me, it was when we got to prepare a script for a Radio drama and then act it out, with all the nifty sound effects ☺ Good times!

Last full day in Cape Town tomorrow, Night
Caoimhe x

Ok so I’m am literally falling asleep as I’m writing this so I’m going to be very brief – I also cannot be bothered reading what Debs and Caoimhe have written so I’ll probably end up repeating what they have said…but sure!! Today has been a long day… up at 7 and at bush radio for 8.30 – I need sleep!! Firstly my group started by finishing our presentation and deciding who was saying what. Then we headed round to St. Agnes’ where the closing ceremony for MKK09 started. It was really great to see how everyone had used their mediums to address their issue –I think my favourite one was the television group who made a great video about gender equality with regards to violence. The editing they done was really good and clever :D The performances were also really good however I could not understand a word that the ‘Grand Alliance’ group were singing and one of their songs sounded like they had taken Eminem’s ‘I am’ song and changed a few words. But all in all it was really good :D

I have had a great time in Cape Town and at the MKK but I’m looking forward to going home and seeing everyone again. Hope the snow is still there so I can make a snowman…and maybe a snowball fight :P
See you soon (3 days to be exact)

Una x

Well one more day to go folks and I don’t know how I’m feeling about it. Kinda sad and glad. I’ve learnt a lot but still I feel I can learn a lot more. I’ve so many questions which most people will learn if they know me for a short time. Even before starting this I thought of some interesting questions, well I find them interesting, I don’t know if they are or not, some people say I ask too many questions. But my grandda always told me to ask questions and I try to as much as i can. I still believe it’s the beast way to learn. I mean actually learn and if you think about it on a wide holistic (my new word) sense that there’s so many questions we all have but then ask yourself even if they have no answers what other questions do we have that we haven’t asked or even thought of yet? Maybe that’s just me. I really think I would hate to get to a point where I don’t have any more questions. I might not have any at that point in time but I can always think of some thing more. I would hate to get to a point where I wouldn’t want to know any more, I find that kind of sad but that’s definitely just me that I just want to know more and more. Well that’s enough of that for now.

Looking back at the past two weeks it seems way too short but as I said I’m feeling sad as well as glad and I’m glad its coming to an end because now I can go home and see family and friends who I’ve missed. But also I can now look back on all what we have done. Just this past week with MKK was outstanding, just the very fact that the young people, most younger than us at wimps, are so self motivated and so bright minded, it’s inspiring if that’s one thing I could take back and start with wimps that would be anth in my opinion but of course there more than that. The presentations today not one of them dull or boring they were all interesting to me and they were all very good and very different. i liked doing the presentations that I took part in as it give me a chance to communicate with a large group all at the same time, well not really communicate as such, more of express my thoughts and ideas on our work and the topic we were doing. I think there’s too much to pick a favourite or best part of the whole Experience, maybe Table Mountain but I really don’t know what I enjoyed the most. Well there’s tomorrows blog entry and that’s it folks.

Nathan AKA shiv

PS Apologies for the lack of photos but it's late and I need my wee bed! D

Finalising our MKK Presentations!

Right, where to begin! We started the day with planning out our PSA (Public Service Announcement), this is a short drama/advertisement to the public about various issues. We had 2 groups for this and my group decided we would centre it on a relationship between a boyfriend and girlfriend and the peer pressure that can sometimes surround these relationships based on drugs.

This was really fun as we got to use the drama radio recording room. It has loads of props in it from a freestanding door to the different walking surfaces. The highlight of creating this script was getting one of the young people to call his on air girlfriend – sweet cheeks! ! ! ☺ Well chuffed…

Anywho… you wanna know about the PSA! Well it started with the girl coming into her boyfriend’s house and saying how her mother was totally freaking her! The boyfriend then says that he has a present that will calm her down and searches in his pocket for it (Ohhhh yes… we got to make sounds for that too… SOOO MUCH FUN!). He then takes out some TIK (Crystal meth), and the girl asks what that? He replies with TIK, it’ll make all your worries go away! The girl is shocked and says ‘That’s BADDD for you!’, he replies ‘No its not, it takes all my worries away and makes me feel out of this world!’. The girlfriend still shocked tells him that his worries will still be their tomorrow. The boy asks her ‘Do you not love me?’ she tells him she does but she’s not going take any drugs. The boy says ‘Well then I’ll do it myself’ and takes TIK. The girl is annoyed and tells him that she is leaving and that he is a complete loser. After this I make my debut with the following message–

If you are in a relationship, you don’t need to do what your partner does.
Don’t feel the pressure!
Don’t do Drugs!

Following that we edited most of the day and finished by tying our presentation together with audio on how we created our work and our experience. I think the work all these people are giving to MKK, is incredible and hearing their views and experiences was remarkable, especially how they express themselves so clearly. They are also not afraid to have different views from their peers.

As for tomorrow, I am On Air at 8:30, that’s 6:30 Belfast time! Feel free to listen in little dudes. Although you’ll hear the young people speaking and see how much better they are at it than myself haha! Although they do say practice makes perfect… so give me some time!
Caoimhe x

So today my group started by discussing which articles we wanted on our blog – I had to write an article about child labour and exploitation of children in the UK. You can check out our blog. After this we looked on the Internet for pictures of child labour throughout the world and then done vox pops about young people’s views about child labour. Adrian, our technical facilitator edited the footage for us and finalised the video. We also looked at the comments on the WIMPS forum about child labour (BTW thanks guys, it really helped). We would still love to hear your views so if you haven’t already done so please take part :D

After lunch we got down to posting our articles and photos onto the blog – so I did actually finish our product and I feel that we have addressed the issue of worldwide child labour. We then started on our presentation, which we actually got finished despite complaining yesterday that we didn’t think we would. I suppose its true what they say – “many hands make light work” :S (ewww – cheese :S)

Only had one problem today and that was that we couldn’t get our video to upload onto the blog but hopefully this will be fixed by tomorrow to do our presentation.

Looking forward to tomorrow to how the other groups have used their mediums to address their issues and to see the different outlooks on the issues – should be interesting :D.

See you all in a few days :S
Una x

Today in the photography production group our photos got developed – all 200-odd of them! We laid them out on the floor to get on with the difficult yet strangely therapeutic process of picking out the ones we felt were the most powerful and eliminating those we felt didn’t fit with our issue of pollution. I was really proud of the photos the group had taken, some great images and it was nice to see the different angles people in the group had used. I had to do some finance stuff with Brenda, Bush Radio’s administrator, in the afternoon so missed the group working on captions to go with the photos. So all that’s left to do in the morning is to make a collage of our photos with their captions on poster card so we can display our thoughts about the impact of pollution and what we need to do about it.

Oh & whilst waiting for the photos to arrive we got together with the graffiti production group and played Chinese Whispers (or ‘Broken Telephone’ as it’s known here) – when you have someone from Mozambique, 2 N Irish folks and a bunch of S Africans, communication breaks down with the different accents very easily. At one stage I was laughing so hard I was nearly crying, I don’t think one single message got through the line intact.

It’s fun in the sun I tell you ...although actually it was actually a little chillier today - jumpers were required, how will we survive next week?!
Debs

Today was the penultimate day of MKK and because we finished yesterday we only had to finish our presentation for tomorrow which isn’t finished which means an early start tomorrow. Today my group had a bit of an argument on homosexuality, 2 of the guys’ views were way out of line and I wasn’t having it. They were using the excuse of culture but that’s not good enough they were being very dismissive in the whole thing so it got to a point where I had to walk away from it all because one of the guys was just not listening to anything I was saying and making a joke out of the thing. Now if I had have said racism is part of my culture it wouldn’t be tolerated so why should homophobia be tolerated in theirs? Anyway we’re off to dinner now so more on tomorrow and the presentations.

Nathan aka shiv

PS. Sorry no photos to upload today, there will be tomorrow though.

Day 3 Media Kidocracy Konference

Ok so today was day 3 of the MKK. My group (the online group) started the day off with our technical facilitator, Adrian, who explained to us all the technicalities of Twitter – its not all just about writing what you have been up to! He then showed us the Twitpic application which allows you to upload your photos and also how to link your twitter with your facebook. We then got down to creating twitter accounts and adding photos to show people what we and the other groups were up to during the day. So that was just the easy part of our task!!

After lunch we then had to create our blog – which you better follow and comment on :P we have decided to do two blogs – one for kidocracy and the other for our issue, child labour. So we have a lot of work to get done tomorrow! We have also started a discussion on the WIMPS forum about child labour which i hope you all take part in and voice your opinions on the matter.

Looking forward to see how our efforts pay off!
Una x

The radio production group

I also learnt all the technical sides to radio from, interviewing people for Vox pop’s to using recording equipment on the street and the bigger stuff in the radio studio. We also learnt some editing skills, which aren’t too difficult. Nothing like the interviews and films, I’ve watched my favourite man Kamal edit in the WIMPS studios! ;) Video seems so much harder than radio, however there are other aspects of radio that make things hard like expressing yourself and trying to paint the picture of your stories to your audience.

We did a few practice rounds of editing and recording for live radio and it was really good fun. We asked people what they felt the Government should do to stop substance abuse, and we got a range of answers –
- Bring back the death sentence
- Tougher penalties for taking and selling drugs
- Government sort out police corruption and get on with their jobs, such as bringing drug dealers to justice
- Have more support for people addicted to drugs and free rehabilitation
- Police close down the drug houses throughout Cape Town
- The Government can’t do anything as, it is a lost cause
- Police have more impact on drug dealers and finding them. Possibly, the legalisation of marijuana so as it’s a cleaner drug and safer.
There was a range of views and in some ways I would have loved to get deeper into why the people wanted government to do these things. I found some of the people especially the young people in my opinion were harsh in their answers such as, the death penalty.

I am finding all the radio stuff really interesting however, we are only doing 5 minutes for our presentation therefore we are limited as to how much we can investigate drug use!

Other than that I am sitting at the pool at 18:16 after a hard days work, and it is still boiling hot with the sun shining high in the sky! Absolutely stunning ☺

Byies
Caoimhe x

The artists at work

Day 3 of MKK: today we got stuck into the painting. The ideas we came up with yesterday weren’t going to work out so we started to brainstorm ideas, then the artist arrived. He was a cool as hell guy, he helped us turn our ideas into something that would work and then did the out line. Then we were left to get down with the work which was nothing like painting a normal wall though I did tell every one to cut in first but not many stuck with it. It got pretty messy and I didn’t really care in fact I liked it I got to a point where I put down my brush and went mad using my hands and it worked well. Someone pointed out that I had some on my face so I thought I may as well give my self a smiley face of paint.I didn’t want to wash it off but I thought I would have. Anyway after the art was done we then put random positive messages at the top and bottom and top of the eye. Hopefully there be a pick up it’s really well done. Oh and Caoimhe came woke me up in the reception area, I was having a nice sleep too.

Tomorrow we work on our presentation so hopefully we’ll get some more kinda debating work. Tonight we tried Mexicans food I had a wee bit too much chilli and hot as hell. Sauce tasted so good though there’s one more of my mental list of foods to eat and that’s African.
Nathan aka shiv

The photography production group

I’m in the group considering environmental issues including pollution and using the means of photography to get its message across. Today we had a photographer, Neil, to help us. He gave us each a disposable camera so that we could take pictures of what we felt represented pollution, and we set off in the Bush Radio jeep (as pictured in yesterday’s post) – all 9 of us (which I don’t think would happen at home haha). It will be interesting to see the photos when they’re developed tomorrow and to see everyone’s interpretations of pollution. We went to a variety of places and were able to get pictures of rubbish on the street, stagnant water in a river filled with rubbish, some factory chimneys, a carpark filled with cars. We went along some small back streets where squatters are living. It was one of the grimmest things I have ever seen. The rubbish in the gutters was really rough including the dead rat decomposing in the street, with wee children running around barefoot. Today is a public holiday in South Africa for Reconciliation Day to mark the end of apartheid. To be honest those I don’t think Reconciliation Day means much for those folks we met on that street today. South Africa is definitely a place of contrasts but it’s hard to get your head round the huge gulf between rich and poor – big fancy apartments at the beachfronts then makeshift shacks where the people have sod all.

I enjoyed getting out and about today, and listening to the chat amongst the young people in the group. According to Alex Cape Town is the most beautiful city in the world because it’s the mother city and will always be his home. Chad says the best thing about Cape Town is the girls! Bon says that corruption is the worst thing about government. The young people we’ve been getting to know this week come across as being really determined, they really want to make something of their lives and make a difference. It’s humbling and it’s great that Bush Radio is there to support them. One of the young people we met on Saturday at CREW told us that she’d just heard she’s got a place at university for next year and she’s going to study journalism. It’s a beautiful thing that Bush Radio has been able to nurture that interest and skill-set in media work and a young person is about to pursue their ambitions on a professional level.

G'night!
Debs

2nd day of Media Kidocracy Konference

Good day my peeps! What did we do today? We were mostly in our groups, mine being Radio and the issue is drugs and alcohol. To begin we decided on a presentation to feedback to the other groups on our issue. We used the research from yesterday and also experiences we had had or seen in our lives to add to it. We began our presentation with the most popular drugs with the facts of the effects of taking them. Secondly, we asked the other groups to produce a role-play in their groups based on a drug. We chose 4 of the main drugs that affect their lives, for the other groups-
1. Marijuana –the TV crew showed how smoking marijuana can lead to making people steal to buy more.
2. Tik (Crystal meth) – the online group (Una’s group), did a role-play where they were in a club and one of their friends was tired so walked away from his friends (who were dancing like mad men). He then went to a drug dealer and took crystal meth. Following this he jumped all over the show to get back to his friends, and danced even crazier. I felt it really showed how taking a drug might be appealing to a young person because they might feel more alive and awake for a short while.
3. Cigarettes – Debs’ photography group did an extremely funny role-play, where she acted as the wife of one of the young people – he was in hospital because he had a really bad chest infection. He wanted a cigarette and Debs told him ‘no, their gonna kill you!’ He said ‘No, no my love, they wont, please give me the cigarette!’. Eventually he talked her round, but Debs left upset and annoyed. As she left the guy shouts ‘I still love you!’ – Very, very funny! Eventually the wee guy died half way through his cigarette. Debs is called by the hospital were the family cry their lamps out – Brilliant acting by them all, and best planned as far as the scenes went ☺
4. Alcohol – The final group was Shiv’s – the graffiti group. They showed how drinking can be sociable when used responsibly and also how some people can get addicted or use alcohol negatively – in this case they got very drunk and then started having fights with other people in a pub. When Shiv and another young person Luke, were play fighting, it looked scarily real :| hehe…

After this Safikyha and myself explained to people just some of the ways we thought we could help prevent young people from taking drugs.
- Be a Role model to friends and family.
- Educate young people of the effects of taking drugs.
- Have more activities available to young people to stop them from getting bored and needing something to do.
- We also thought it was important to let our friends feel apart of your circle of friends. Also to let them feel like they are apart of your family as some young people feel alone and isolated and so sometimes take drugs to get away from the loneliness or problems in their life.

One of the young people in our group then explained their experience of drugs and how they would never take them again. A lot of the young people clapped for the young person and seemed interested to know more.

The rest of the groups’ presentations were excellent and really gave a good insight into the facts of their issues they have chosen and also created excellent discussions for peoples personal opinions. Hopefully the footage of the day will be up on the PA /WIMPS website very soon ☺

We finished the day by finding out what we would be doing tomorrow. My group will be at Bush Radio, beginning our radio training! YAY! – I’ll be the next Terry Wogan – only I’ll be younger, and a lady! ! ! Well we can only hope and pray… you never know this could be my forte!

That’s all folks…. (I’m no bugs bunny that’s for sure ☹)
Caoimhe x

The Radio production group presenting their thoughts on drugs.

Today my group got down to talking about our issues and the how we would different mediums of online to get the message out there. We talked a lot about child labour and child trafficking, especially within South Africa. One thing that shocked me the most was that 32% of children in Africa are exposed the child labour – should this still be the case? Although on the other hand one boy in the group yesterday expressed that how at the age of 14 he would be more than happy to go out and work as it would mean there would be more food for his family to eat. This was a bit unexpected for me as coming from a society where children are in contrast to this they are really privileged I could not imagine having to do this myself. After all most young people in Northern Ireland get their part time jobs to have extra money to spend so that they can have the latest phone and go out with their friends at the weekends…we don’t think about what life is like for those who don’t have this luxury!!

Later on then during the presentations from all the groups I was also shocked that many of the young people there (mostly the boys) were in support for men being the head of the household and the breadwinner with the woman playing a inferior role – they seemed to be against gender equality. I suppose I was shocked because this is a big contrast to Northern Ireland where not only is it now part of society for women to also work but it is now also essentially in order to be able to pay the bills and provide for your family. I think that issues with gender equality here, in South Africa, are at a different level to back home. They are discussing about whether women should be given equal opportunities and treatment and we are discussing whether they should be paid the same wages as men (which they should ☺). After all if someone is able to do something they why should they be stopped?

We then talked to Adrian our technical facilitator for the online work. He talked to us about our different options for the mediums we could use and possibly links kidocracy to child exploitation. It sounds really interesting and I can’t wait to get started and to hear all the ideas that my group comes up with. Hopefully by the end of the week we are able to pull of a successful and impactful product for our issue.
Una xx

Today was the second day of proper work and I can say that I’m really glad to be getting on with it not that the past week wasn’t fun and all but I really wanted to do something like what we are doing. Tomorrow my group are starting the graffiti work I still feel uneasy about calling it graffiti, I think that if it’s well done and not too obscene or offensive its art, but anyway its not what I wanted to do I kinda got stuck with it but I’m pretty happy with it in side graffiti we are doing looking at langue and culture. So it should be interesting they told me to were cloths I don’t mind gating paint on so sounds messy. Also I saw some one today who I really fought was my friend Brittany but it obviously wasn’t, she would be in the wrong community for a start. Tonight we had dinner early at the place we first ate, they had mean burritos which are really really good. I’m starting to really like Mexican food, I want to try more.
Nathan aka shiv

Today it was good to get to know more of the young people attending MKK. I’m struck by the fact that it’s holiday time for the young people – their schools finished up for the year on Friday but yet they’re all attending MKK instead of chilling out with friends or working jobs to earn extra money for their families etc – that’s dedication! The young people are also a real mixture coming from all sorts of backgrounds and areas of Cape Town, some from townships, some not, so it’s great that MKK provides somewhere for them to get together and learn from each other. By NI standards I wouldn’t say that MKK is an overly slick operation but it’s the commitment of the young people that shines through – they’re passionate about issues facing them and the people around them in their communities, they’re proud to be S African, and they really want to make Cape Town and the world a better place. I think they’re very much the driving force of MKK and that’s what makes it a beautiful thing.

G’night!
DebsWe know the WIMPSmobile is pretty cool, but this is the business!

First day at the Media Kidocracy Konference (MKK)

Bush Radio DJ doing a sound check at the start of the conference

Well as Caoimhe said I haven’t went first with writing in the blog so thought I would give it a go. It was good to finally get down and do some work. We did our presentation, wasn’t when it was meant to be. It went well and big ups to Una for putting it together and I think everyone gave a very good way of putting PA out there and explained well what PA is and why PA is there. But way we all got split into smaller groups, but it was all good, my group was on language and culture. Well from the rim skipping to dinner where we had a great meal in this awesome restaurant, cant remember what it was called but it was great. Oh and I don’t agree with Caoimhe’s opinion on a band, but I respect it.
Nathan aka shiv

Today it was great to finally get down to doing some work with the MKK. Was good to see all the young people at Bush Radio pulling together to make it a success – which hopefully by the end of the week it will. After all the speeches and our presentation (which I was dreading :S) we were split up into groups. I was put into the online group which is looking at child labour and was given something to think about as it was pointed out to me that the paramilitaries in Northern Ireland are using a form of child labour when they give young people to sell drugs and get them involved in crime. It makes you think if we really have moved on – maybe in some ways but are we moving back in others? I think tomorrow is going to be really interesting for my group!!

The taxi man we got back from dinner gave us the funniest taxi journey I have ever had!! Firstly he couldn’t believe that we actually wanted the meter on. Then he wanted us, after only being here for 1 week, to direct as to where the hotel was. Finally we did get here in one piece but he was terrible at his tactics to make the meter go up more – just too obvious☺

Looking forward to see how tomorrow plans out and what the discussion is like within my group!

By the way its going to be 34 degrees here tomorrow :P:P (just thought I would rub it in)
Una x


The cheek of Una rubbing it in about the heat tomorrow, eh? It was a super hot, HOT, today and she could hardly stand it, when we took a short walk. So don’t worry the people of the winterlands, she is suffering for her smugness. ☺

The MKK went brilliant today! Again the young people are outstanding, presenting, interviewing and taking workshops. Two of the young people in particular headed up the whole event, by introducing key speakers and interviewing people in the media industry, with so much confidence and an extremely good working partnership between them. I really hope we can do something like the MKK back home as I feel the young people are more than capable of organising an event to get across their issues to policy makers and their communities. It is also fabulous to see the work and commitment the young people have put into their workshops, which they will run throughout the course of the week. Furthermore the facilitation skills of the young people involved are amazing, they show no lack of confidence.

PA’s presentation went well, although I must say Una and Shiv are much better public speakers than myself – they where fantastic at explaining the details of WIMPS and their personal experience of getting involved. There was me a nervous wreck describing the Away from Violence project! After my nervous shaking body and a voice with about ten frogs hopping about in it, we got to get the participants involved in some ice breakers. Now that is something that isn’t sooooo nerve wrecking for me ☺

Following fun and activities, we split into the workshop groups. I am the participant of self-inflicted violence, mainly looking at drug and alcohol abuse and the type of media we will be using to do this is, radio. Today however, we just looked at various drugs and the effects of them and also why people may turn to drugs and alcohol.

I am really excited to see how our project will develop, and also get some understanding around using radio as a media resource. The young people are already discussing things in great detail and I hope tomorrow we can debate more around people’s personal opinions. I look forward to finding about their personal issues in their communities around drugs and also sharing some of the knowledge I have of the issues of drug use in Belfast.

As for the rest it’s all sun and fun! ! ! Except for Shiv liking System Of The Down and Slipknot! Hehehe… only raking some bacon ;)

Till tomorrow, good morning, good afternoon, good evening and gooooooood night!
Caoimhe x

Delegates at the conference

Like the guys have said it was great to get stuck into things at MKK today. The opening ceremony of the conference was broadcast live on the radio as well (you can listen to Bush Radio live online you know!) and it was good that there were a couple of MPs attending the event and showing their support to the young people. It always cracks me up when people start going on about young people being the future and all that jazz – nice sentiments but what about young people making a contribution TODAY?!!! The cool things is that MKK is all about making that a reality and I was really impressed the young people from Bush Radio CREW – they don’t seem to shy away from tough questions, they’ve got great critical thinking skills, they’ve got passion and fire in the belly – class stuff. I was also really proud of our wee team doing our presentation – Shiv, Una & Caoimhe did a stunning job and once we got going I don’t think we wanted to stop playing the icebreaker games with the conference delegates! For the afternoon discussion session I was in a group which will be trying to address environmental issues – heavy enough material to be dealing with but our expert speaker today showed us a pretty cool video called ‘The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard’ – worth checking out.

Oh and yes it’s hot, but actually today was a heck of a lot better than yesterday and the night before – there were gale force winds for about 36 hours, locally they call it the ‘Cape Doctor’ – no idea why, it would do your head in after a while!

Need my bed people, g’night.
Debs

The young people of Cape Town, help Belfast!

Yesterday, I forgot to add that during a conversation with a young person at Bush radio, she told me how her friend was in Ireland building houses for Habitat for Humanity. How crazy is that! ! !

I was completely taken away by this – Why would someone from Africa come to Belfast to build houses (where is cold and rainy)? When I thought about it more, the poverty we have at home has different appearance to the range of poverty seen throughout the world. I suppose its something I didn’t expect, that people would want to support our communities at home.

It’s great that young people in Cape Town can get involved in International projects with organisations like Habitat for Humanity and get a different view on countries, communities and cultures, while doing something worthwhile and beneficial for other people.

However, I think if I lived in Cape Town I might head to New Zealand to help communities – Then you wouldn’t loose your summer eh?

Caoimhe x

The Crew, the Penguins & the Mad Ones

Today was the day when we got to see the CREW at Bush Radio in action. There were only 3 Bush Tots present (the under 12s, see above) but they seemed to just get on with things themselves and we were able to watch them doing a bit of their show live. We spent most of our time with the Bush teens most of whom were preparing for MKK next week as well as working on features for future radio shows. The issues they were addressing in their Away from Violence projects were pretty full-on – alcohol & substance abuse, child labour/trafficking, gender inequality etc. It was really great to meet the young people involved at Bush RAdio and I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone better and hearing their stories. One of the things that struck me was how we Westerners have a particular perception of Africa because we hear so much about it on the news – one of the young people, Nosi (sp?), commented on this to me as she had been involved in an online project with a group of Dutch young people – they were conversing online and the Dutch young people were asking her if they had the internet in Africa! As Nosi said, young people from Africa are like young people everywhere else.

After our time at Bush Radio we hit the road and went to see the penguins at Boulders Beach – very cute but I think we were slightly disappointed they were so passive, maybe if David Attenborough was around they’d do more flapping and squawking. We drove on round the coastline and the scenery was absolutely stunning, especially at Chapman’s Peak – picture postcard stuff, and actually the road was dramatic enough it’s bound to have been used in fancy car ads or else James Bond films. The mountains here really float my boat, I’d so love to come back some day and do lots of hiking.
View from Chapman's Peak

Today has also been the day when everyone has started to lose the plot slightly, Shiv had a ‘graveyard’ moment which I’m sure the girls will relate in detail, Una had a Westlife moment and ever since she hasn’t been quite the same (you always have to watch the quiet ones), and Caoimhe...well actually none of us are sure Caoimhe ever had the plot. But as she would say, it’s all good in the hood.

Until the next time – Debs

Whoaaaa… What a day and half, its only 22:30 and it feels like we were at Bush radio was yesterday morning! ! !
Anywho, Bush radio is a busy little place on a Saturday. It’s completely different compared to when we visited during the week. The young people were so enthusiastic and buzzing with energy throughout the day. I got some good chats with some of the young people about the issues they have in their community. The issues mainly base around drugs, muggings and teen pregnancy. The young people also told me how they would never walk the streets after dark, even in their own communities – this is something I find hard to get my head around as I would walk my dog after dark and take strolls to the shops in my area. It’s unbelievable to see the commitment these young people have for Bush radio. The young people are also putting a big effort into the planning of the MKK.

I hope to get more of an insight into the things the young people do on an average Saturday for their radio shows etc. At the moment they are so focussed on the MKK, which is inspiring.

At 14:30 we took a spin down to the penguins, where Shiv tried his hardest to get ate by one… tut tut tut! ☺ On the other hand he also tried to talk with the penguins in a high screech scream – the poor civilians didn’t know what hit them. We also had the ‘professional’ picture takers that looked down at me for not having a camera and just getting in the way to look at the Pingu’s (they don’t believe in mental pictures!) and poor Una with her 7.1 Mega pixel camera got dirty looks for even trying to take pictures. People these days eh?

After this of course I had to confuse poor waiters and sing songs of wisdom on our journey to the cliffs of Cape… and what a beautiful sight, I need not say! Again, like Debs said we all went slightly mental – Is it a full moon?

Una – getting more and more crazy everyday, with laughter at any random moment. She has even begun to hallucinate about galloping horses at the top of towering mountains. Who knows!

Shiv – well as Debs said… he saw a graveyard today! Haha… well not exactly… more like a garden centre full of large stone animals (elephants, giraffes etc.). Cant say I have seen many graveyards like that, but everyone to their own. Oh yes and not forgetting when Shiv started shouting random food types out the car window, whilst parked. The car beside us wasn’t sure whether he should see if he was ok and drive FAST outta there.

Debs – As for her… looks all cool with her chopsticks, but when congratulated ‘normal’ people don’t say, ‘seal of approval’ and then make really loud seal and clapping noises… NO! and with that laugh of hers that’s not NORMAL – As for her driving she’s getting more and more like the South Africans everyday ☺

Night my little cold friends…
Caoimhe x

Today at Bush Radio it was really good to see how all the young people have come together to work on the MKK and to get their presentations together. It was really inspiring to see how the Bush Tots just got on with preparing and producing their own radio show … We can’t even do that with WIMPS cast and look what age we are!! It was also good to talk to the young people about the problems they face in Cape Town…was actually quite surprised that they experience very similar problems to us like teenage pregnancy. Although I think that issues like violence is on a larger scale over here…it actually seems really scary at times!
Then we went to see the Penguins…they are the cutest things ever!!! I jut love how they waddle about and also how they tried to bite Shiv when he got too close for their comfort ☺. I now have an obsession with penguins: S Although the rude man and woman who had an SLR EACH…Is one not good enough between two any more…kind of annoyed me!! But that quickly passed when we went to get some pancakes and the waiter put on Westlife when he found out we were from Ireland…Loved it!!! Though I think Debs was a bit freaked by me singing along and having a wee ball all by myself :D Then as we drove on round towards Cape Point we had a few funny moments…mainly at Shiv’s expense :S First of all he actually thought I was being serious when I said there were galloping horses on the mountain and then he thought sculptures in a garden centre was actually grave stones in a graveyard :S However Caoimhe also had a few funny turns as she started to make up songs about being in South Africa and seeing penguins and the sun :S

But all in all I think the funniest thing about today was when Shiv and Caoimhe had a temporary lapse in their mental stability while waiting on Debs at a garage….The poor guy in the car next to us didn’t know what to do. First of all Caoimhe starts to shout about where the ATM is and waving at the guy next to us (in a creepy way) and then Shiv starts shouting about ice cream. But the weirdest part was when they both shouted about wanting salted, BBQ peanuts with no crusts :S…I’m still confused about that one!! The poor guy didn’t know whether to laugh or just drive away!! He finally decided that making a extremely quick get away was the way to go!!

I do not like the fact that every time I look at the apartment floor there is a black caterpillar creeping across it ☹

I am slowly but surely losing the plot…who knows what I will be like tomorrow :S
Una

Well as every one has said today was both long and a bit strange but it was good to finally do some sort of work. I interviewed some members of bush radio, hopefully there be more of that in the next days as people soon worked out I have answers for a lot of things but questions for even more. So if I git my way plenty more interviews on the way, anyone and everyone will do. Had some fun with the penguins as you will have learned and my side of the story is I was walking along just keeping it real and then I saw a penguin so I walked up all friendly like started talking and tried to pet it but the wee git tried to bit me. What an aggressive way to meet tourists! Not good manners at all so may be I over reacted and got angry and shouted a bit but it scared the c**p out of me. The little guy got all like I’m gonna take you down and I wasn’t up for that, they would have kicked my ass if they all jumped me. From there we had a snack which was alright, not so bad. (Oh and I saw two south African naval ships which looked like the new type 45 royal navy ships but obviously not.) So from there we took a drive down the coast - outstanding views - and in my defence it did look a bit like a graveyard. Well dinner was thai tonight, really good stuff, I couldn’t spell but tasted good anyway it was all good or was it ‘fairly good’ which apparently doesn’t mean it tasted good but means alright. Anyway that’s all folks.
Nathan AKA shiv

Finally, a photo from yesterday at the top of Table Mountain:

Day 4 and 5 of the PA team adventures in South Africa, Cape Town

Day 4 – Began with some light shopping at the Green Market, we all had a go at haggling on prices. We then headed to the Museum of ‘The Slave Lodge’, it gave an interesting look on slavery in South Africa and the struggles they had. South Africa truly has came a long way however, South Africans now all have a mixed culture due to the slaves brought from throughout Africa and Asia which shows when walking through the city as it has a variety of restaurants and flavours. The Museum also offered an insight into Steve Bikos life, which seems like he had a lot of influence on Africa and how they have developed in recent years.

After some intense life learning, we went to the most amazing cake shop, Charley’s, to reflect on our learning. Well it wasn’t far off Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, apart from some greedy kids and a chocolate running river, it could have been mistaken with its brightly coloured room full of cakes and buns of ALLLLL sizes. If you’re anyway like me you would of thought you were dreaming and got Una to take photos to make sure it was real! J

Following this eventful afternoon, Una, Shiv and myself headed to the poolside were we talked Una into jumping into the pool fully clothed! – What a mistake I made daring her hehe… Oops – All in all a fairly relaxing day… (Oh with the exception of the parking business but I’ll leave that story for another day)

Day 5 – Another day of a beautiful country and outstanding scenes we saw! Firstly we headed to Table Mountain… WOW what a sight as you go up in a cable car with 50 odd people, that’s floor rotates while moving at a steady rate. I’m telling you it’s an experience and a half. On the Mountain it was like a Sunday oven… whoa Ted! Word of recommendation if you go to any mountains in Africa bring Sun Cream, water and GOOD walking shoes – NOT flip flops, as I did whilst exploring the world 1086 metres above water, its not easy ;)

Finally we made ore way to Bush radio, were poor Debs did finance stuff while Una, Shiv and myself went for lunch! On our return we mingled a little with the Radio dudes and then headed to Camps Bay.

I’m hoping my afternoon on the beach has evened out my butterfly effect sunburn on my back :s Yep… well I’ll let you know how that goes!

Until my reports of Bush radio with the Youth tomorrow, farewell my friends

Caoimhe x

Possibly the funniest thing today was Shiv’s attempt to get rid of one of the hawkers at the beach who was looking for a donation to their charity. Despite various phrases of Spanish from Shiv (in a rather N Irish accent it has to be said) our friend was having none of it and managed to get a few coins out of him with cries of ‘Ah, now you understand!” She knew rightly!

I’m having difficulty formulating coherent sentences tonight, the other guys are saying it all pretty well so g’night from me!

Debs

Yesterday was a an easy day for once as we got to do some shopping. Despite my attempts i still need to improve on my haggling skills. Everyday seems to be an experience and a new learning exercise J Then we headed to the Slave Lodge Museum which was really insightful and interesting. It really helped to put into context what the people of South Africa have been through.

Charley’s bakery was pretty cool and diffently different – we really need one back in Belfast. Best bakery i have even been in!! The buns were difinately as good as the decor J - which first attracted us to it.

Then we had a relaxing evening by the pool J Jumping in in my clothes was diffently a good idea – i always wanted to do it :P may do it again during the week! Although it difinately took us a while to convince Shiv to flow suit – next time I’ll just push him in :P:P

Today was really good! Table Mountain was amazing and the views were really beautiful. The cable car was really good...didn’t expect the floor to rotate! Once we got to the top we walked round the top of the mountain and even went of the path a bit to walk on some ‘Mountainy terrain’ . Some advice – Do not go up a mountain in sandals and a dress (was thinking too much about the beach later). That was certainly an experince!

The beach later on was really good but the water was really cold...That was not expected!! I have now executed pretending to sleep in order to get the ‘hawkers’ away – well my teachnique difinately worked better than Shiv’s. I have now got an invitation to stay at one of the hawker’s houses the next time im here – apparently all i have to do is go to the beach and he will be there :S and i dont have to pay because i am his queen :S Dont think ill be going back to that beach...im a bit creeped!!!

Take note:

- its going to be 27 degrees tomorrow...bet Belfast isnt :P

- Shiv is making our lunch for tomorrow...he does have some uses :P

Cant wait to go to Bush Radio tomorrow and Boulders Bay to see the penguins (they are now my new obsession :P)

Una xx

Today was good, then great, then good, then purely good and in that I mean waking up was crap. Don’t know why was tired as hell but then things improved by far we went to the cable car to table mountain (not table top mountain, don’t know where that came from) but yep up there it was amazing. There was not only outstanding views but really cool lizards and really, really nice smelling wild flowers. It wasn’t that warm up there but it was nice and a Fresh breeze was all over the mountain. Also it was actually great just walking and climbing and stuff not like mad climbing but just walking over boulders. It was really awesome, with the view, breeze and the wild life. From there we went into town when we where waiting on debs, we just got lunch and went for a walk. From there we hit the beach, not my favourite place but it was pretty good.

Shiv

The Latest from the Red-Nosed Brigade...

No, it’s nothing to do with Comic Relief, it’s just that we’re all sunburned and are glowing brightly, we could probably heat about 10 houses! We were out and about all day with the sun shining down on us, though the breeze made us feel a good bit cooler (and probably filled us with a false sense of security when it came to the old suncream application!)

We decided to do a bus tour which took us through the city centre, round the back of Table Mountain and then along the coast before coming back to the harbour area and waterfront of Cape Town.

One of the highlights of the day for me was the Imizamo Yethu township tour though it was hard to get my head around what life must be like for the 20,000-odd people squeezed into 18-odd hectares. I don’t think I’m meant to get my head around that one actually, there would be something wrong if I thought that that was ok...question is, what am I going to do about it? ...the cool thing was hearing the story of how an Irish businessman has forged connections with this community and numerous teams of Irish people have come over to help build houses for the locals. At the start it felt kind of weird, like we were voyeurs or something peering into the lives of “poor people”, but the thing I liked about this tour was that all of the money we paid for it goes straight to the community. Our guide (above) was a really nice guy and explained to me that he’s one of 5 guides from the township and they give these tours 7 days a week – a pretty full-on job but it’s great that they’re able to gain employment to help support their community.

Must go moisturise my red nose...Debs

Today was a big day seems like what we did today could have been 2. There was the tour itself which was lacking in the personal touch of a human talking but made up for it in interesting facts. The scenery, although at times the mountains were obstucted by cloud-cover, was still outstanding, the views of the coast, gardens, vinyards and mountain-sides definitely worth it. The bird garden which was our first stop was great, the birds were good but I didnt really like seeing the birds of prey hemmed in but their conditions were very good. The best part of the park was the monkeys, they were some characters. There was one who looked kind of grumpy but I liked him the most he just had that look like ‘damn you people leave me alone’, but at the same time like he was just having a bad day. On a couple of occasions they were climbing on me which was such an awesome experience. I think they liked me, well they are friendly folks, they like everyone will almost. From there we stopped at a township which was a bit of a shock to the system, the people were in bad poverty but they didnt look down, they looked kinda happy and grateful. Just made me realise how more doesnt mean more happiness necessarily. Also from there we drove to the bay which was strange, there was these people living in really bad poverty then just 2 minutes down the road were loads of houses owned by rich people. Made me think that maybe some social reform is needed, it kinda rout out the marxist in me and how that if the wealth was just a bit more spread around how these people would be not as well of but still comfortable and how the township would be a lot better than it is. I definitely think the goverment of South Africa needs to pull the finger out and start getting its priorities, they’re spending god knows how many millions on the world cup which don’t get me wrong will help the people of South Africa but how more the people at the top the most and little if at all the working class people. Maybe the government should look at the welfare of its own people more instead of how we as outsiders see South Africa. But anyway it was a great day and a strange day, but a great day.

Nathan AKA shiv

OK, Where do I start..? Today was an event fill day!! The bus tour of cape town was really interesting and and enjoyable – except for the sunburn I now have ☹. the first stop we made was at an aviary place (which had monkeys!). It was really good fun...I loved being able to touch the monkeys and have them climb all over you ☺ (You dont get that at Belfast Zoo!!). The township township tour was also really good but hard hitting. I didnt realise that so many people had to live in such a small area...but the Irish connection was a bit ironic and funny!

I also now have a red nose (well half because of my sunglasses) which is pretty funny. I actually look like Rudolph...but at least I’ll be feastive for coming home!! ☺
Una


Bus Tour of the Cape - excellent way to get around, seen so much I could go back to the places again and also visit the places we didn't have time to see.

MONKEYS at the Bird and small animal Zoo were amazing... they jump all around the show!

The Township was crazy with the amount of people living in one area, overcrowded is not the word for it sadly. However, changes are being made so I really hope they continue and the people of the township continue to empower themselves! - as for the Irish house, its not something you expect in Cape Town eh... and with a photo of Mary McAleese haha

Not forgetting our brief visit to a beautiful beach. What did I learn?... 'Ice Cream, You Scream, I Bring!' - And thats how you get your ice cream on the beaches of the Cape! Fancy eh, I'm thinking it would go down well in the Belfast city centre :)

Good Times,

Caoimhe x

Until the next time we will leave you with...
Cape Town's answer to Take That?!

First day at Bush radio

Team PA

Today we visited Bush Radio and got a tour of the radio station which is outstanding for a community radio station. One of the radio presenters welcomed us on air and with a few questions about our flight... Good times.

We then went upstairs were they have an amazing drama radio recording room... it was like something out of Annie with stones for walking on, a door for banging and other noise props. After this we visited the in radio Crèche, with babies who looked at me like I was a nut job waving at them J

We also visited the school where the Media Kidrocacy Konference will take place with 100 young people in Cape Town next Monday to Friday. Then team PA were told, we would have to make a presentation along with some facilitated activities. Therefore, we got to work on planning the outline of our presentation and activities.

Roads are crazy in Cape Town… I’ll no longer fear the roads of sweet, sweet Belfast were they drive so carefully and with much patience hehe! HOWEVER on the plus side Cape Town has so much more chocolate than Belfast, especially Cadburys, lucky sods! (Cadburys Whispers… more or less Malteasers only BETTER!)

Missing you all so dearly

Caoimhe x

It was great meeting the folks today at Bush Radio and I’m really looking forward to Saturday when CREW happens (Children’s Radio Education Workshops). There are about 60-80 young people who produce and broadcast all the radio programmes on a Saturday morning aged 6-18. They come from all over the city so it will be great to meet those guys and get to know them during the conference next week. One of the Bush Radio staff we met today was Christine who coordinates the Away from Violence work here - I guess she’s kind of my South African counterpart. We didn’t get to talk much today about AFV stuff as we focussed on the conference next week but I’m looking forward to learning more about the AFV projects happening here.

Oh and I’m enjoying the rooibos (red bush tea)!

Over & out from Debs.

Was good meeting all the people at Bush Radio today and seeing how everything is done, although I don’t think the children in the crèche like us very much :S The MKK sounds really interesting and I cant wait to get involved and start doing some work. I’m a bit depressed though thinking of the Cadbury’s sweets they get here that we cant get – I want personal message bars!!! L The weather is really good and warm!! – even had time to sunbathe today J Not that safe to cross the road though – they don’t really wait for you to get of the road before they start to drive. They even have signs saying “cross quickly” – we soon found out why!!

The TV has broke but I really enjoyed laughing at Nathan trying to fix it - he failed – typical bloke, useless!! J

Looking forward to the bus tour of Cape Town tomorrow! J

Una

To day was good, got up at like 8 something, had breakfast which was alright not great but not bad. Then we were off to bush radio, it wasn’t what I expected at all its all so neat and professional and the people seem so friendly and professional. We walked about this same street a load of times, wasn’t boring at all in fact I couldn’t have walked for a while more it was just too warm. Anyway dinner was good. Was an interesting walk we passed some characters you could say. Got back to the hotel and the bloody tv on the fritz. Anyway I tried to fix it and failed not because I’m a bloke because I’m not an electrician. Well anyway all is good in the hood.

Nathan aka Shiv stop calling me Nathan lol

Arrived!

(Not a bad view from the hotel eh?!)

We arrived in Cape Town this morning around 10.30am and were greeted with the too-familiar sight of rain – it almost felt as if we’d been flying around Irish airspace for 12 hours and then stepped off the plane onto Irish soil. Thankfully that wasn’t the case and even better than that, the sun came out in the afternoon and it was wall-to-wall sunshine. In the taxi from the airport we had a good view of Table Mountain and the taxi driver told us it was a sign of good weather - when it’s going to rain the mountain gets submerged in mist. I’m loving being able to get into shorts & t-shirt mode! (Debs)

We also went to an aquaruim which paul told us about. I’m telling ya Portstewart hasnt got nothing on it. There was penguins, turtles, frogs and sharks in the same place - now thats just odd. We then went for a dander around the waterfront area and got lunch - we got wraps in tinfoil which were great. (Nathan)

(Nathan finding Nemo)

After a long flight we got to our hotel and then went to the aquarium, which was pretty cool. I think for me the best part was the penguins, they were so cute! Looking forward to tomorrow and working with bush Radio. Hopefully theres no rain!! (Una)

Well now... after a number of attempts of people trying to kill me with their wheely suit cases, standing on the backs of my shoes to trip me up etc. I made it onto the plane set for South Africa ☺

The flight started out well with Ice Age 3 being shown, but shortly after it was snooze time, unfortunately after my snooze I noticed I was missing the main ingredient to my comfort, MY PILLOW! Grr… after searching under my seat, the corridor, behind my back etc; I noticed something familiar in the corner of my eye… MY PILLOW! ! ! It was comfortably placed behind the head of a woman across from me. She certainly slept well with her… 2 blankets, 4 pillows (1 of which was MINE), and Silk eye mask. Well, I couldn’t have ranted enough to poor Una sitting next to me. Eventually an hour before landing the woman awoke and I asked ‘Is that my pillow?’, I have never seen someone look so defensive, like I did something to her… she stole MY pillow! Gi’s Louise? ☺ - You’ll be happy to hear I got it back!

Anywho… Arrived in Cape Town Beautiful city, with the view of Table Mountain everywhere we go. Did I mention the weather is splendid? – Began slightly shady but by lunch time I was sitting eating a frozen chocolate yoghurt with Astros (remember them beautiful sweets? - made by Cadburys ☺), melting at a speedy rate. Tomorrow is another day to be filled with fun and mystery and may the real work commence in Bush Radio!
Yours truly,
Caoimhe x