A Month Already!!

It has been a month already since I have come to South Africa from Brussels. Amazing!

I apologize for my absense in communication. I am just getting a blog and have been so busy with new places, travel and getting used to being a full time student again at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. For those of you who don't know I am currently on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study International Relations and Politics here for a year. It has been great so far and I wanted to share (hopefully much more frequently now) a couple of highlights:

South Africa:
It is great to be back in Africa after being gone for 2 and a half years. I missed it and I am enjoying the familiarity of it. However, SA is very different than Zambia and it took a bit for me to get used to that. First for the most part SA is very Western. I can get everything here that I could get in the States and don't have to wait until I can make a special trip into the city. Second, I actually blend in here and oftentimes I have had to inform people that just because I look dutch doesn't mean that I speak a word of Afrikaans. (Except I have learned "Danke" - which means "Thank You." Third, everyone wears Western clothing as well. I miss my chitenges, but I am comfortable in my jeans and T-shirts.

Grahamstown:
The city I am in is very endearing. I am on the Eastern Cape in town called Grahamstown in "Frontier Country." It is where a lot of farmers settled in the nineteenth century. If you want to read more about it, you should visit this website: http://www.grahamstown.co.za. It gives a great overview. It is called the city of churches because there are literally dozens all over the city. It also is called the city of festivals because it hosts numerous festivals throughout the year, the most famous being the National Arts Festival in June and July. I am looking forward taking advantage of all of these treasures while I am here. Grahamstown is also a small town/college town. I often walk down the street in town center and see people who I know from University and elsewhere.

Rhodes University:
Grahamstown is a college town because of Rhodes University - the University I am attending. The University has been around for more than a hundred years and is very nice and tough (I have found out in the last couple of weeks:) I am attempting to get an MA in International Relations through the Politics department and hopefully will be able to finish by November when I come back home. To so I will take three classes and then write a thesis. My classes are: International Relations Theory, Freedom and Domination, and the Cold War. I believe that my thesis will be on Child Soldiers and the various ways in which NGOs address the issue. This helps for me to continue some of my work with Trafficking victims and issues. So far I like the classes and am learning a lot.

Rotary:
Being hosted by Rotary has been amazing! There are four scholars here at Rhodes and we have been treated like family by the two Rotary clubs here and all of the Rotarians. So far we have been hosted for dinner five times, given a tour of Grahamstown, and brought sweets and treats to our rooms by various Rotarians. We have also gotten to shadow service projects that Rotarians are involved in and get involved ourselves. It has been great. I believe that I will be volunteering with a school for street children called Amasango as well as looking for a way to get involved with doing some Peace and Conflict Resolution Activities. I am looking forward to all of it!

That is all for now. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Please shoot me an email if you would like – my email is aliciaverhage@yahoo.com and my address here in Grahamstown is

Alicia VerHage
Rhodes University
Lilian Britten
Private Bag 1032
Grahamstown 6139
South Africa

Lots of love –

alicia