Well everyone, my time is up, and I'm preparing my long flight to freedom. I can't impress upon you enough how much I have enjoyed being here, meeting and befriending the people I have, seeing and working in the townships; it has been a truly remarkable experience. I hope you all have enjoyed reading my blog and that I have been able to convey a sense of what it is like being here, submerged in a way that few students get to do in a foreign country (unlike many, I have don't have the arduous task of classes), and that maybe you've been affected vicariously through me.
I'm going to miss Ikamva. I'll miss Lubabalo, Gibby, Matthews, Marth and Notemba, Mildred, Benigna, Xoliswa, and Phumla and Tutu. I'll miss Helen, Karen, and Ishrene. The manner in which they supported us was great. I'll miss the principals and children in the creches. I think I'll most miss all of the seniors in the senior centers who welcomed me so quickly and warmly into their centers.
I'll miss my friends here. Truly, "no one in the Gardens throws parties like us." It has been a great summer getting to know you all, and I look forward to seeing you next year at some of the football games (Collin, you got my hopes up by saying you had USC tickets, now you don't, figure it out!). My friends here (Suvrat, Luke, Michael, Dag, Matt, Tara, and Collin) have been really lekker to hang out with. You guys are really "super rockin, dude."
Well, that's enough of that. I need to get ready so I don't miss my flight. I look forward to seeing and speaking to all of my friends when I get home (expect a few phone calls, as I'm excited to hear about all of your summer adventures as well). See you back in the States!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Pictures
Hey everyone, I posted two new photo albums, one with pictures of my room, so you can understand where I've been living the past two months, as well as some pictures from Sunday's winery tours. Hope you enjoy them.
WE ROCKED IT!!!
Hey everyone. Matt and I gave our final presentation to the Ikamva management today, and I have to say, I think we nailed it. From the reactions we got, it appears that the entire management board is ready to go forward with it after we leave. If anyone is interested, haha, I guess I can post pictures of our PowerPoint in a photo album later (haha, jk). Anyway, I’m not sure I can convey how stoked I am after our presentation.
It was also interesting to hear how impressed they were with our accomplishments. To have these people who do great things everyday tell you that you have accomplished something really great, something that they believe will benefit Ikamva for many years to come, is really an honor. They loved seeing how we were able to streamline the mapping, interviewing, and data basing processes, as well as the strides we made in documenting 150 sites and locating 146 of those title deeds.
It was also nice to see them perk up when we made our recommendations, specifically in how they can use the portfolio to generate revenue and to possibly get more donor funds. By using the zoning information that the GIS provides, Ikamva can strategically make decisions regarding where their properties are located to help generate revenue. Perhaps they know a mall is to be built in an area, and they have a property there. They know that they should be able to charge rent on that property to make some money when the mall is built. Having this property portfolio properly manage may also allow them to increase donor funds, as they will be able to show potential donors where and how well they are involved in an area, and if that donor has an interest in the area, then Ikamva becomes more appealing. As I said, they really enjoyed (and rightfully so) hearing how this large project that they are about to embark upon will be able to benefit them for many years.
Well, I’m not really sure if I can top how awesome our presentation went. It’s a bit (only the tiniest bit, haha) sad to know that we’re wrapping up, with tomorrow being our last day of work. This said, I can’t wait to get home and be back in the States. I miss you guys, and look forward to seeing you all at ND football games. Well, that’s it for now. Totsien!!!
It was also interesting to hear how impressed they were with our accomplishments. To have these people who do great things everyday tell you that you have accomplished something really great, something that they believe will benefit Ikamva for many years to come, is really an honor. They loved seeing how we were able to streamline the mapping, interviewing, and data basing processes, as well as the strides we made in documenting 150 sites and locating 146 of those title deeds.
It was also nice to see them perk up when we made our recommendations, specifically in how they can use the portfolio to generate revenue and to possibly get more donor funds. By using the zoning information that the GIS provides, Ikamva can strategically make decisions regarding where their properties are located to help generate revenue. Perhaps they know a mall is to be built in an area, and they have a property there. They know that they should be able to charge rent on that property to make some money when the mall is built. Having this property portfolio properly manage may also allow them to increase donor funds, as they will be able to show potential donors where and how well they are involved in an area, and if that donor has an interest in the area, then Ikamva becomes more appealing. As I said, they really enjoyed (and rightfully so) hearing how this large project that they are about to embark upon will be able to benefit them for many years.
Well, I’m not really sure if I can top how awesome our presentation went. It’s a bit (only the tiniest bit, haha) sad to know that we’re wrapping up, with tomorrow being our last day of work. This said, I can’t wait to get home and be back in the States. I miss you guys, and look forward to seeing you all at ND football games. Well, that’s it for now. Totsien!!!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Big day tomorrow!
Hey everyone, just a quick update. Tomorrow, Matt and I will present our project and make our recommendations to the Ikamva management. This is the culmination of our project (in a sense), so wish us luck. While we still have a great deal of work to do in-house on Thursday afternoon and on Friday, tomorrow is when we get to have the attention of the entire management team.
Just so you know why tomorrow is so important. Ikamva has tried this project in the past, many times, apparently, and Matt and me have gotten by far the most accomplished. Not to brag, but we have worked our tails off, and we think we have been able to show Ikamva that this project, while quite large, isn't the impossible task that they believe it is and that they should not continue putting it off and picking it back up later on. For this project, for Ikamva to truly get a grasp on what exactly is in their property portfolio, they must take up the charge and carry forward after we leave.
The fact that they have hired Musa (the man that Matt and I interviewed) makes us believe that they do see this project as having legs, and as being as beneficial for the company as we believe it is. Today, Musa joined Matt and me at Sibane, where we worked with Tony to track down some of the erven (what I have been incorrectly calling "erf numbers"). I think the best part of today was realizing that Musa truly understands this project, that he is more than capable of continuing it. That was my biggest worry after the interview, but after today, I'm sold.
Well everyone, I need to get back to work on this PowerPoint. Wish us luck!!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Because I love wasting Blogger's server space...
Hey friends, just updating the ol’ blog before bed. Not a lot to report today, as I all I did was enjoy my first day off since June 16th (National Youth Day). It was great getting to finally get a little sleep, although I have to say I’m excited to get back to the States so I can sleep in a real bed. Living in a hotel (which I need to take and post pictures of), even one that is conveniently located above a mall, is not all that and a bag of chips, let me tell ya, haha. But, all the same, I have enjoyed my time here in the gardens.
The only real items of note that I did today were writing up some of the final reports that I have to submit after my internship is completed, and I also applied for a few jobs in Louisville. Melissa, if you read this (and you did say you would follow my blog, dangit!), Don’t worry, I will have these final reports in before the August 10th deadline. I might submit them before we leave, depending on how our Friday goes. See? You can depend on me! I promise!
Something I found out today is that, apparently, professional wrestling is the second most popular sport. I’m only basing that on the fact that rugby seems to rule all, and soccer/football and cricket seem to lag behind. That, and apparently the WWE is on EVERY night of the week. Yeah, now that I finally turned the television on (I haven’t watched tv all summer), I have learned something about the culture here. They LOVE wrestling. Brianna told me that in Botswana they were nuts about it, but I wasn’t sure about here. Well, as there are commercials every 30 seconds for tonight’s “WWE Superstars!” or “WWE After Burn!” or “WWE We’re Tired of Making New Names!” Seriously, it’s popular.
Well, that’s really all, haha. Sorry, I’m sure Blogspot is glad to know I am wasting space on their servers with a post like this. Time to go to bed tho, as I have another day off to enjoy tomorrow before going back to work on Wednesday to seriously crank out the last of our project. Goodnight my friends!
The only real items of note that I did today were writing up some of the final reports that I have to submit after my internship is completed, and I also applied for a few jobs in Louisville. Melissa, if you read this (and you did say you would follow my blog, dangit!), Don’t worry, I will have these final reports in before the August 10th deadline. I might submit them before we leave, depending on how our Friday goes. See? You can depend on me! I promise!
Something I found out today is that, apparently, professional wrestling is the second most popular sport. I’m only basing that on the fact that rugby seems to rule all, and soccer/football and cricket seem to lag behind. That, and apparently the WWE is on EVERY night of the week. Yeah, now that I finally turned the television on (I haven’t watched tv all summer), I have learned something about the culture here. They LOVE wrestling. Brianna told me that in Botswana they were nuts about it, but I wasn’t sure about here. Well, as there are commercials every 30 seconds for tonight’s “WWE Superstars!” or “WWE After Burn!” or “WWE We’re Tired of Making New Names!” Seriously, it’s popular.
Well, that’s really all, haha. Sorry, I’m sure Blogspot is glad to know I am wasting space on their servers with a post like this. Time to go to bed tho, as I have another day off to enjoy tomorrow before going back to work on Wednesday to seriously crank out the last of our project. Goodnight my friends!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Red, red wine...
Hey friends and colleagues. Quick update before bed. Today, Suvrat, Dag, and I went on a winery tour of the towns of Stellenbosch and Frensch Hoek (also, French Hoek, and a variety of other spellings). Joining us were Dag and Suvrat's friends, Vania and Christina, two of the International Peace Studies grad students from Notre Dame. Our first stop was at a winery in Stellenbosch, the name of which I never actually saw or heard. We got there around 9 am, before it was truly opened, so we just showed ourselves around the farm, and did some hiking.
In an interesting turn of events, there was a wedding at the winery today. We noticed the white chairs that were lined up when we first got there, but really thought nothing of it. When we were getting ready to leave, however, they had the area set up in full-on wedding mode. We were hoping to see part of the wedding, but alas, we had an 11am booking at another winery.
That other winery is called Boschendal. Dag met one of the employees of the winery at the Executive MBA dinner we attended a few weeks back, so this guy arranged for us to have a wine tour and tasting at his expense. The winery there was beautiful (not as beautiful as Groote Constantia, but still amazing). The wine tasting was also good. Everyone else bought a bottle of wine to take home and bring back to the states (not me, my allotted travel-liquid is being used for Amarula, yum).
After we left Boschendal, we made our way to the small town of French Hoek. This was recommended to me by one of the Ikamva management members, Karen Miller. The town was really interesting; it has a very distinct French flavor (gee, Will, I wonder why they named it French Hoek?), which is unique to where we have been here in Africa. We spent our time there seeing the shops and having lunch, and then we made our way back to Cape Town. I'll put up some pictures sometime soon. All in all, it was a good, relaxing day. Well everyone, I'm off to bed. I'm not going to work for the next two days while Matt is in Namibia, so I'm going to enjoy sleeping in for a bit. Totsien!
In an interesting turn of events, there was a wedding at the winery today. We noticed the white chairs that were lined up when we first got there, but really thought nothing of it. When we were getting ready to leave, however, they had the area set up in full-on wedding mode. We were hoping to see part of the wedding, but alas, we had an 11am booking at another winery.
That other winery is called Boschendal. Dag met one of the employees of the winery at the Executive MBA dinner we attended a few weeks back, so this guy arranged for us to have a wine tour and tasting at his expense. The winery there was beautiful (not as beautiful as Groote Constantia, but still amazing). The wine tasting was also good. Everyone else bought a bottle of wine to take home and bring back to the states (not me, my allotted travel-liquid is being used for Amarula, yum).
After we left Boschendal, we made our way to the small town of French Hoek. This was recommended to me by one of the Ikamva management members, Karen Miller. The town was really interesting; it has a very distinct French flavor (gee, Will, I wonder why they named it French Hoek?), which is unique to where we have been here in Africa. We spent our time there seeing the shops and having lunch, and then we made our way back to Cape Town. I'll put up some pictures sometime soon. All in all, it was a good, relaxing day. Well everyone, I'm off to bed. I'm not going to work for the next two days while Matt is in Namibia, so I'm going to enjoy sleeping in for a bit. Totsien!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Yeah Bokkies!!
Hey everyone, just about to turn in for the night, thought I'd post an update. Things are really wrapping up here in Cape Town, so we're all making our final trips and adventures. Two of us are already gone (Tara left today, and Luke is leaving tomorrow in the morning), so it's finally hitting that we are in the home stretch. That said, there is still plenty of work to be done before I board my 1pm flight next Saturday.
Tomorrow, Dag, Suvrat and I will do some winery tours and make a small trip to French Hoek, a little town on the other side of one of the mountains here. I'm pretty excited for this, as French Hoek has been recommended to me on more than a few occasions by some of my coworkers. Plus, this gives me a chance to play around with a real camera one last time (Brianna, thank you again for letting me borrow yours, haha).
Anyway, today, Luke, Suvrat, Dag, and I hung out at the V&A Waterfront. They wanted to do a little shopping, and I wanted out of the room. I mostly hung out at a bookstore, reading some of "We Are All Zimbabweans Now" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". I have to re-read this again when I get home (maybe I'll just re-read the entire series and post my reviews up on NotreBooks). Anyway, it was a pretty fun, relaxing day.
We also watched one of the matches of the Tri-Nations Cup, today featuring the South Africa Springboks taking on the New Zealand All-Blacks. The Tri-Nations Cup is a rugby tournament featuring the national teams of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. It's kind of like the Tri-Wizard Tournament from Harry Potter, only more badass because its rugby. South Africa was able to hang on for a win, their first of the tourney, and gave the All-Blacks their first loss. The All-Blacks were 4-0 thus far. From what I can gather, it's just a tournament where each team plays each other a certain number of times, and points are awarded based on if you win, tie, or if you lose you get 0. This is allo purely speculation. You can Wiki it if you want to know more.
Well, that's pretty much it. I guess I'll take this time to say good night, as we have an early day tomorrow. G'night everyone.
Tomorrow, Dag, Suvrat and I will do some winery tours and make a small trip to French Hoek, a little town on the other side of one of the mountains here. I'm pretty excited for this, as French Hoek has been recommended to me on more than a few occasions by some of my coworkers. Plus, this gives me a chance to play around with a real camera one last time (Brianna, thank you again for letting me borrow yours, haha).
Anyway, today, Luke, Suvrat, Dag, and I hung out at the V&A Waterfront. They wanted to do a little shopping, and I wanted out of the room. I mostly hung out at a bookstore, reading some of "We Are All Zimbabweans Now" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". I have to re-read this again when I get home (maybe I'll just re-read the entire series and post my reviews up on NotreBooks). Anyway, it was a pretty fun, relaxing day.
We also watched one of the matches of the Tri-Nations Cup, today featuring the South Africa Springboks taking on the New Zealand All-Blacks. The Tri-Nations Cup is a rugby tournament featuring the national teams of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. It's kind of like the Tri-Wizard Tournament from Harry Potter, only more badass because its rugby. South Africa was able to hang on for a win, their first of the tourney, and gave the All-Blacks their first loss. The All-Blacks were 4-0 thus far. From what I can gather, it's just a tournament where each team plays each other a certain number of times, and points are awarded based on if you win, tie, or if you lose you get 0. This is allo purely speculation. You can Wiki it if you want to know more.
Well, that's pretty much it. I guess I'll take this time to say good night, as we have an early day tomorrow. G'night everyone.
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