Arrival in Mangaung

I made it! I left my apartment in Brooklyn at 8am on Friday, and arrived at the Bloemfontein airport at 3pm on Saturday. It was a long day (or two) of travel, but went surprisingly smoothly. The night before I left I stayed up all night, hoping to reset my internal clock with a full night's sleep on SA time on the plane (which worked, by the way). I kept myself entertained with season four of Grey's Anatomy, all the way through the night. I only mention this embarrassing tidbit because of a wild coincidence. Season four focuses largely on the budding relationship between Dr. Torres and Dr. Hahn. As we were wading through customs in the Johannesburg airport, at 9am on Saturday morning, I could have sworn I heard Dr. Hahn's voice behind me. I go up to my customs agent, and sure enough, there beside me is the actress who plays Dr. Hahn, with her husband and two small children, fresh off of our flight from JFK. I'm not one to make a big deal of celebrity sightings, but the coincidence was so astounding  it really felt like it meant something. I'll let you know if I figure out what that could be.

I traveled from New York with one other Bank Street student, Emily, who is working with me on this project in Mangaung for the next three weeks. We were greeted at the airport by two other students, here on their practicum with Columbia's school of public health, Chelsea and Sameen. Chelsea and Sameen have been here for six weeks already, working on creating a link between the community health center and the many creches (preschools/childcares) around the township. The four of us are staying together in the “B&B” operated by MUCPP, which also runs the health clinic, as well as many other programs in the township. MUCPP stands for Mangaung University Community Partnership Program, and is a relationship between the Mangaung township and the University of the Free State. The health center, B&B, and conference center were all initially funded by a grant from the Kellogg foundation. We are currently the only guests at the B&B, taking up two rooms, dorm-style, down the hall from one another. We are very comfortable, and very grateful for our large space heater, as it is winter down here in the southern hemisphere. The days are pleasant, especially in the sun, but the nights are very cold, getting down to 28 degrees. The four of us cook dinner together in the communal kitchen here, and then snuggle up around our space heaters to record our data, plan, and talk about the things we are experiencing.

Without going into too much detail, Emily and I are tasked with refining a tool that can be used to compare the creches and figure out, within cultural and societal norms, what certain creches are doing well, and what they can improve upon. We worked together with our professors before we left, making the tool ready for our trip, and this is its pilot in the developing world. Every weekday that we are here, Emily and I are each visiting a different creche, all day, to sit and observe how they do things. This gives us the incredible opportunity to be welcomed into each center, and spend the day with very young children. So far I have only been to two creches, so I am not quite ready to share my observations and thoughts. Soon I will collect my thoughts and feelings, and share them here. I have a lot to say about this incredible, interesting place that I am lucky enough to experience in such an intimate way.