These Days

The Day of Learning (Wednesday, August 19, 2009)

Just listen to this crazy line-up of academic experiences… all within a 10-hour time span:

I rolled up to the human rights commission at 10am, said my hellos to Clifford the security guard and headed up to my office. My boss told me there was an event on the sixth floor that I should attend; I said, “okay, I’ll go”. The presentation was by Magdalena Sepulveda (she's adorable), a United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and Extreme (X-treme?) Poverty from Chile, who was conducting an informal discussion on poverty in South Africa with civil society organizations.

Next, I trekked back to campus where my law class was getting a guest presentation by Mark Heywood, the Director of AIDS Law Project and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) activist. He discussed how TAC was able to use South Africa’s progressive constitution to mandate that the government make antiretrovirals more accessible, despite former President Thabo Mbeki’s AIDS denialism.

After a brief interlude that involved ice cream, it was off to Senate House for a presentation by Elinor Sisulu. Sisulu is a Zimbabwean-South African Human Rights activist and often considered to be “South Africa’s conscience”. She talked about the atmosphere of global political amnesia surrounding human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

After this day full of knowledge I needed to decompress…

The Day of Beer (Thursday, August 20, 2009)

Kathy and I grabbed some African Sushi (pap, chicken, and chakalaka sauce) at a diner close to campus and walked over the Nelson Mandela Bridge to Newtown. We spent some time at the Museum of Africa, but left quickly since it was disappointing. The Museum is in a huge palace-like building, but most of the rooms inside are totally empty (no lie). There was an exhibit on the history of photography, with no mention of its impact on Africa (or anything related to Africa for that matter). Good thing the museum was free.

We walked across the street to SAB World of Beer. For just 25 Rand (given current exchange rates about $3.80), Kathy and I got a 90-minute tour, a glass mug, three ice-cold bottle of beer, and some munchies. The tour was incredibly high-tech and involved lots of interactive videos, even the lobby of the building reminded me of a CIA safe house (or what I imagine a CIA safe house to look like). SAB World of Beer just won the 2009 award for best tourist location in South Africa and certainly gets an A+ in my book.

South Africa In the News:
An ambiguously gendered gold medal runner, being the site of an alien invasion that inspires a government crackdown similar to apartheid policies (movie isn’t out here yet), and this interesting and accurate essay on Krueger National Park’s tourism industry.

P.S. Check out this blog post on South African chocolate bars. I was the guest taster this week (i.e. Taster Dark Horse).