Day 6 - I got to sleep in a little and in the morning I had to go on a FDP to an organization called Triangle Project. This FDP was for my Gender and Society class so the topic was surrounded around the LGBTI community in Cape Town. Triangle Project is a organization the strives to shift the attitudes of the LGBTI community as well as what people think about this community. They also want to inform society about the high rate of HIV and AIDs in South Africa. South Africa is one of the worst countries for HIV/AIDs and rape. LGBTI rights are more advanced in South Africa compared to the US. Same-sex marriage is allowed with the same full rights as heterosexual marriages (taxes, parental rights, right to adopt). Discrimination for being in this community is illegal and punishable by law. Although their policies are very advanced, the attitudes of society still looks down upon the LGBTI community. There are many myths in the townships (shantytowns) about lesbians and HIV/AIDs. Such as if a women is lesbian, a man will rape her in following the myth that if you have sex with a lesbian you'll "correct" her or make her straight. Also if someone has HIV/AIDs, another myth is that if you have sex with a virgin you'll be ridden of HIV/AIDs, so a lot of children are raped because of this. It was all really shocking to hear the things people believe. South Africa's current president even had said that he had sex with a HIV/AIDs person and he just made sure that he "took a shower afterwards" to wash off the HIV/AIDs so he wouldn't be infected. Why was he elected??? This was translated into the rest of society and plays into the myths floating around South Africa. Every 26 seconds a child or women gets raped or murdered in South Africa and this is in part because of the myths that people believe. A lot of the rapes don't get reported because people believe the myths and think its normal or they think reporting it won't do anything. Triangle Project also does Education and Outreach in which they go into the schools and communities and teach people about their rights, safer sex and HIV/AIDs. Handing out condoms to children under the age of 18 is illegal in South Africa, but girls as young as 12 can get abortions....Whhhatt?!? That seemed pretty ridiculous...It was really interesting to learn about South Africa through our speaker, Marlow and his insight on what Cape Town is really like.
We got back to the ship at noon and I met up with Ashley and we went to downtown Cape Town where the Greenpoint Market is. This market is the cheaper version of V&A Waterfront and is more of the markets we saw in Manaus and Accra. These markets you can bargain and can get things for half the price compared to V&A Waterfront. From 1100 Rand (about $141) I got soooo many things!! I'm not going to say what I bought because some of the things are for you guys! =] Ashley and I kept on seeing this "Kauai" cafe place that served subs, wraps, sandwiches, and smoothies. It was so weird because it said "Aloha!" and had information about Hawaii and even had a huge map of Hawaii on their wall. I've never seem this chain in my life and I saw it in 4 different places in Cape Town. I also noticed that every burger place had a "Hawaiian burger" which was pretty much a regular burger with a pineapple slice in it. I'm in Cape Town and I'm getting "Hawaiian" food! lol It just amazed me how much I saw it around and I'm halfway across the world! Ashley and I ate there after shopping and both got wraps then we headed back to Dodge diner at V&A Waterfront and got milkshakes. We got back to the ship at about 5pm right before everyone was getting back on. My last day in Cape Town was informational, eye-opening, and successful! That night we watched as we left Cape Town. You could see the ferris wheel at V&A Waterfront getting farther and farther. David said it looked like San Francisco, but about 3 times smaller =P All of us a little sad we were leaving and nervous about the crazy swells we'll experience in the next few days.
Miho =]
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