Monday was a pretty interesting day. Matt and I finally got to speak with Greg Milne, the New York City-based attorney whom we are working with on this project. We have been trying to contact him fervently since last Thursday, but hadn’t heard from him even the weeks before getting here to Cape Town. Getting to talk to him gave us some scope of our project, as well as what was expected of us. It was nice to find out that we weren’t expected to reinvent the wheel, but to more lay the foundation (and what a foundation this needs!) for future lawyers to come in and work with Ikamva on the properties. Even still, we are still a bit shaky on why exactly Ikamva Labantu wants “ownership” of the properties, but I’m sure that this will be made clear in due time.
On Tuesday, we came to work with great resolve and excitement to actually get started on our project. We had a plan, an understanding, a purpose, and after the short while we’ve been here aimlessly wandering, it feels great. We are now doubly excited about working on this project, and seeing how it will help Ikamva going forward in its goal of aiding and assisting the peoples of the Cape Town townships as they move forward in an ever-changing globalized world.
Last night, we all attended a dinner with Fr. Ollie Williams. It was a lot of fun. Despite not having the appropriate shoes (only Merrels, which are NOT business attire, haha), I dressed to impress in one of my suits (after originally planning to wear only a sports coat and jeans; I’m glad I changed my mind). It was really fun event. We got to meet many of the area’s leaders in various fields (journalism, psychology, theology, business, etc.) and speak with them in a fun manner. There was lots of wine, which some of us enjoyed too much (not me, but Mike had a good time, haha).
There was also a live performance at the get together. It was a group called MPHO (named after one of the members, Mpho). It consisted of four guys from Zibabwe, while the guitarist was from the DRC. They were really good. They sang a mix of traditional tunes with gospel aspects. I enjoyed them a great deal.
We met a man there named Leonard (or Len) who had a very interesting story on how he hurt his back. Len is an investigative journalist, and quite the joker. I did manage to get a chuckle out of him when he told me that he had a bad surgery that messed up his back , and that his doctor now told him to do back exercises twice a week. I told him that it sounded like his doctor sounded like his wife: breaking his back and then ordering him around. As I said, he got a good laugh out of it. Anyway, it was interesting hearing how exactly he hurt his back. Apparently, he had a watch that was giving him an allergic reaction. His doctor told him that he would give him a shot that would stop the reaction. Unfortunately, the doctor injected the serum into a vain, which then traveled to his spine, and ruined two of his vertebra. If only the man had gotten a new watch instead.
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