With only 15 days to go, World Cup is taking over this city....literally. It is the biggest sporting event the country has ever seen and while most people are ecstatic, the cynical ones are waiting to watch the city get crushed. Almost $500 million has been invested in Cape Town infrastructure alone, with the building of Green Point Stadium, restaurants and hotels and extensive improvements to roads, sidewalks and transportation. In fact, there are restaurants popping up in my neighbourhood overnight (no joke!!). On my way to work yesterday, my taxi driver looked me and said...”was that there yesterday?” and I said “nope”. Turns out they built the thing with wood and plastic overnight (not really sure if this is a temporary establishment or if it’s safe, I guess the tourists will never know...). Construction is not even close to being finished and some logistical issues remain...hope they can work wonders in 15 days. To that end, its strike season which could turn into a disaster. Last week, the trains weren't running at all. Now, power utility workers are threatening blackouts during the World Cup if they don't get a pay raise.

Further, FIFA has been widely criticized with its management of ticket distribution in Africa. The majority of South Africans don't have access to the internet or own credit cards and therefore effectively didn't have an opportunity to purchase tickets until a few weeks ago (as opposed to the rest of the world who have had over a year to do so). There also seems to be confusion around why worldwide ticket sales are low. Not too hard to figure out. First, airfare to Africa and even between African countries has doubled, hotel costs are at a premium, and there are numerous challenges with obtaining a visa, not to mention economic instability. Additionally, there were major faults with the website. It’s actually crashed numerous times since tickets became available, didn’t process credit cards correctly and had misrepresented ticket availability. After attempting myself for months, last weekend a friend of mine was able to get me tickets to the opening game in Cape Town, between France and Uruguay. Through other connections, I may also be going to Netherlands and Cameroon and even the Semi Finals. If not...I’ll be attending the braais (South African for barbeque) and after parties.

My life is about to turn upside down for the next month. First, my apartment is less than a mile away from the stadium and on the main road, so yes I anticipate fans and partiers alike to be parading right in front of my apartment all day every day. Second, my gym is next door to the stadium and the nicest one in Cape Town so I expect visitors, players and/or family members to be taking over. Third, the ‘fan zone’ has been set up directly across the street from my work with HUGE TV screens, tents and kiosks everywhere. Expectations are that either we won’t be able to get to work with traffic/people or if we do happen to get here, it will be so loud we won’t be able to hear each other talk (walls/windows are so thin you, the noise outside echoes throughout the office). Despite potential issues on the horizon, I am very excited!!

As part of the anticipatory World Cup buzz, South Africa has a little tradition of wearing soccer jerseys on Friday. Not everyone does this, of course, but on Fridays you can see at least a few people walking around wearing the yellow Bafana Bafana jersey with pride and enthusiasm. Bafana Bafana is the South African soccer team, which means “the boys, the boys”. People here are excited even if their allegiances are with other teams, and it’s undeniable that the event is fostering a sense of national unity.

So...I’ve been anticipating this moment, the chance to visit a clinic and actually see the mission of m2m come to life!! Last week, I had the opportunity to visit a clinic in the Mfuleni Township about 25 miles from Cape Town.

That morning, we had the chance to speak with the founding director Mitch about our impending visit. He reminded us that almost every minute of every day, a baby is born with HIV. The greatest tragedy is that with simple inexpensive and often free treatment, mother-to-child transmission of HIV is almost entirely preventable. However, there are still significant gaps that need to be addressed particularly in areas where there are overburdened healthcare systems, social stigmas, and lack of access to proper healthcare. m2m works within the healthcare system to provide mothers and their families with the education, emotional and psychosocial support they need...what the doctors and nurses in clinics are unable to provide. By employing HIV+ women, who have successfully completed the program, run the program it empowers these women and demonstrates to new clients that it is possible for them to live long and healthy lives. He also shared a short video with us which can also be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiDBMIWEAu8.

After navigating through a labyrinth of tin-roofed shacks, we make our way to the clinic. This is the sole clinic in a township of over 7,000 and employs approximately 1 doctor and 14 nurses...almost unbelievable.

We entered the building and passed a small waiting area overflowing with patients, mostly pregnant women and women with their newborns. There were roughly thirty to forty people in the waiting area and surprisingly, I didn't see one healthcare professional. Inside, we were greeted by the site coordinator Funeka and four mothers and their six-week old babies. The babies had been brought in to receive their first HIV test.

I anticipated the mood to be solemn, but in contrast the women were laughing and smiling, seemingly in high spirits. The camaraderie was tangible and there was a sentiment that they were survivors together with a great possibility that their newborns were HIV-. One woman was brave enough to stand up and tell her story which commanded our undivided attention. She learned she was HIV+ about five years ago when she was tested at a clinic early in her first pregnancy. She thought it would never happen to her. “I thought it was the end of the world. I lay in bed for days and cried myself to sleep. I was so afraid to tell anyone, especially my husband”. She expressed that the program not only taught her about treatment, but it also provided a support group, new friendships and hope. She also serves as an informal mentor in her community.

After she finished telling her story, she asked if I could hold her baby while she ate her sandwich. I was honored. The most difficult part of the day was actually leaving the clinic. I was moved by the power and strength of these women and hope they can inspire others willing to listen. For some pretty amazing pictures check out Picasa @ http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/Mothers2MothersSiteVisit#

And yet another public holiday in April in South Africa...for m2m this meant a four day weekend...and for me a trip to Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe! It was Freedom Day, which commemorates the first post-apartheid elections held in 1994 where anyone 18 years or older from any race including non-citizens were allowed to vote. Prior to 1994, only white citizens were allowed to vote without restrictions. Last month, we celebrated Human Rights Day on March 21st, which is also in support of the anti-apartheid movement. The day represented the anniversary of when congress proposed a bill to eliminate the requirement of ‘passes’ to enter white-only areas. On that day, demonstrators gathered and collectively failed to present their ‘passes’, upon which police opened fire and killed 69 people. Just wanted to share a bit of history for you before I tell you all about how I spent Freedom Day Weekend...

I ventured to the falls with two fellow m2m’rs Julia and Wenli. Victoria Falls are located on the Zambezi River, straddling the east of Zambia and west of Zimbabwe, and are considered the 7th Natural Wonder of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The name is Mosi-oa-Tunya, the “Smoke that Thunders”, in the local Lozi tribal language...also known as Silozi or Rozi (say them all together, its fun). Apparently, we arrived at the end of rainy season so the water levels were at their peak...you’ll see what I’m talking about when you check out the pictures.

Just a Few Highlights:

Trekking Victoria Falls (Zambia)

We arrived at the falls and approached a little hut where locals were renting raincoats and shoes for a small price. Given the sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky, I thought it was intended for the overprotective tourists afraid of getting a little wet. We almost bypassed the hut, but after seeing people exit the entrance to the falls, completely drenched, we thought it might be a good idea to suit up. I was adorned in green and pink trash bags, turquoise crocs one day and men’s Chicago Bulls flip flops another...yep this is what the locals gave me to wear (hilarious). You’ll see from the pictures that the mist was more like a waterfall monsoon!

We trekked along the rim of the falls getting a glimpse of different views at each cataract. Depending on the movement of the mist, sometimes you would have 0% visibility and a minute later it would open up to an unbelievable vision of lush greens, palm trees, cliffs, waterfalls. We passed the different cataracts and fall view points: devil’s cataract, eastern cataract, knife’s edge, danger point, horseshoe falls, rainbow falls, armchair falls you get the picture. We also discovered a little pathway to the Boiling Point, which was a 700 meter hike to the base of the falls where the currents of the water create a whirlpool affect. Breathtaking!!

I jumped off the Zim Zam Bridge!!!

So, I’ve been sky diving a couple times...so what could be worse right? Yep, bungee jumping. I never really had the inclination of doing this before, but it just kind of presented itself and like they always say...when in Zambia. Just kidding. So, Julia and I decide that since we are only here once, we’ve both never done it, and with over 500,000 people jumping with 100% safety record, we’d take the plunge off the 152m or 500 ft. high bridge (one of the tallest in the world). The most terrifying part was actually inching out to the platform after they’ve tied your legs up with the bungee cord and hearing 3-2-1. All I remember was feeling my stomach drop, hearing the rapids below me, seeing the most beautiful landscape (upside down nonetheless) and my friends screaming from the bridge. After the biggest adrenaline rush of my life, it gets worse...they reel you back up to a small platform below the top of the bridge, a foot wide metal wire platform, and make you walk along that to a ladder where you climb up to the top. All in all, it was an amazing experience, but not sure I’ll ever do it again....

Cruising Down the Zambezi...on Lady

We boarded the Lady Livingstone to catch the sunset and the ambience and views were stunning! It reminded me of riding on an old steamboat in the early 1900’s down the Mississippi River...not that I’ve ever been on a steamboat, or on the Mississippi, but you know what I mean!

Cruising Down the Zambezi......on Elephant

To get even closer to the Zambezi, we decided to board an ‘elephant-back-safari’. Local Zambian men led the pack with their rifles in hand, while we followed on elephants, formally orphaned wild elephants who have been raised, cared for and protected by these farmers. Elephant hunting for their ivory tusks and teeth still exists and is legal in parts of Zambia. My elephant was named Marula, for the marula fruit (which, side fact, makes a tasty little liqueur called Amarula, similar to Bailys).

Trekking Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)

There is a debate over which side is better for viewing, Zambia or Zimbabwe so we decided to investigate for ourselves and crossed over to the Zimbabwe side. Once again, adorned in our trash bags and crocs we go trekking along the rim of the falls only this time the mist was even more torrential.

We Went on a Game “Walk”

Strangely...we bumped into a woman who we met at our Mozambique bungalow a few weeks ago (who might be one of the most eclectic strange women I’ve ever come across). She told us there was a game walk right behind the entrance of the falls where you can see elephants, zebra, hippos, etc. A bit nervous, our curiosity got the best of us so we entered the path. We approached the game “walk” and saw fresh elephant prints, elephant dung, among other evidence of wildlife but unfortunately or fortunately didn’t see anything but warthogs and a massive baobab tree. Warthogs were everywhere, we even saw two procreating at the local gas station later that afternoon..awkward! Turns out, people back at our lodge told us that this is really a game “drive”, that there are tons of wild elephants roaming the roads and those who walk here usually have knives or guns for protection. Yikes!

Visited the Town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe...or should I say Village

We then took a walk to the town of Victoria Falls which was extremely tiny and only had a few shops (many which had really strange signs...you’ll see what I mean in the photos).

The small town was pleasant; however it’s becoming quite a ghost town given Zimbabwe’s political and economic situation. Tourists tend not to stay on the Zimbabwe side due to the economic instability. While walking down the street, we were swarmed by locals trying to sell us anything and everything, even obsolete currency! The Zimbabwean currency faced such rampant inflation that it was abandoned in April of last year. Inflation rate in 2009 was 230 million percent (no joke). At one point 1 trillion Zimbabwean dollars = 10 USD. They had bills that were 500 billion dollars, 1, 10 and 100 trillion dollars, all of which I thought were a joke until I started reading about this & learning that those were real bills! It’s hard to say what the conversion was given there was so much revaluation, but in 2008 approximately 500 billion ZW dollars equaled $2 USD. Apparently a beer costs $100 billion Zim dollars until last year when it became worthless. They also tried to barter with us asking us to trade our clothes & shoes...they especially loved Wenli and Julia’s Converse!! We also had little kids running up to us begging for money, which was heartbreaking. We were told not to give them money, so I gave them some pens and food I had in my bag. I hope that the economy and tourism situation there picks up again soon.

Anyhow, it was an amazing trip and I loved every minute of it. Now, back to Cape Town where I plan to say and relax for a while!!

For more pictures go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/VictoriaFallsZambiaZimbabwe#

What a better way to spend Easter right? Yep, it was a spontaneous trip inspired by hearing rumours of having some of the best diving in Africa and a four day weekend. Wenli, a fellow m2m’r and friend, joined me.

Mozambique is situated on the east coast of Southern Africa, north of South Africa, east of Zimbabwe, south of Tanzania and west of the island of Madagascar (a little geography for ya). The country faced twenty years of relentless gorilla war followed by a massive flood in 2001 and drought in 2002 killing over 25% of the population and destroying much of its infrastructure. Poverty is still widespread with more than 50% of people living on less than $1 per day. In recent years given its improved stability, investors are becoming interested in untapped oil reserves and coastline.

So...I thought, hey I can invest and untap part of the coastline myself....by eating locally caught Mozi prawns, sipping on some locally brewed Manica Beers, buying a hand sewn bag from some kids on the beach and snorkelling and diving with the local dive operators!

Our trip started in the Capital of Maputo, after a two hour flight to Johannesburg and another 1.5 hour flight to Maputo (not an easy commute). We spent less than 24 hours here, as we were scheduled to board a bus at 5am headed to Tofo (our intended destination, which is a tiny coastal beach with white sandy beaches, sand dunes, palm trees and home of some amazing diving. Did I mention an 8 hour bus ride on unpaved roads? Like I said, this was spontaneous....

Although we didn’t spend too much time in Maputo, we did explore the streets observing that many street names were of famous dictators (weird??), such as Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, Karl Marx and many more but were relieved that Hitler didn’t get any credi, to our knowledge. We also walked along the beach which dotted with colorful fishing boats, young boys selling us handmade bracelets, sarongs and attempting to sell plastic bags full of prawns and squid. We stopped off at a restaurant for dinner and ate fresh Mozambique Prawns grilled in lemon, garlic and chili flakes (yum).

The next morning, we embarked on our never ending bus ride up to Tofo. When booking this adventure, I was imaging a nice greyhound right? Nope. This was the local town public bus, more like old shuttle on its last leg. Think 90 degree temperatures, 90% humidity, rickety seats, people standing in aisles and sitting on the mud soaked floors, mothers and feeding babies, unpaved roads pot holes and dust and of course surrounded by body odor. Despite the conditions, it was fascinating. We would stop on the side of the road to drop people off or pick them up, when all you could see for miles in both directions was bush. We would also stop and pick up money from people and drop goods off for others (e.g. fruit, water, milk)...so I made the assumption that the bus is also the country’s delivery system. The bus stopped one time in eight hours for five minutes for a gas refuel and bathroom break (luckily we were warned to not drink anything because the bus won’t stop....can’t be healthy). I paid the equivalent of $20 for the ride.



We finally arrived safe and sound in Tofo. We stayed in a little bungalow on the beach...when I say bungalow, I mean bamboo hut with sand as our floor and a huge crab and mosquitoes as pets. This beach town is centered around a vibrant market with small cafes and beach bungalows. The town is an interesting mix of local Mozambicans and hippies, many whom have quit their corporate jobs, became nomads in Africa, and have turned a week into months, seeking jobs at cafes and scuba shops to make a little money. In fact, I met one name Henk, who started his journey in Netherlands where he was a marketing guy. He and two of his friends quit their jobs, and drove from the Netherlands to Mozambique...I’m not kidding!! They’ve been on the road for 19 months, living on what little saving s they have and money they earn town to town. A few highlights include getting chased by corrupt police in Egypt, getting arrested in Malawi, getting their passports stolen, almost getting eaten by crocodiles in Botswana. Check out his website at www.threelefthands.com.



The next three days we spent in the water more or less diving and swimming with Mozambique’s finest...Manta Rays and Whale Sharks (incredible!!). The island was surrounded by reefs and dive sites, but I was bound and determined to get to the best one “Manta Reef” where giant mantas congregate around a huge reef. In order to get there, you need to be advanced so I did what any other determined girl would do, get my advanced diver license. It takes a series of five advanced dives and tests to pass, but they let me go to the reef after just one course. I’m in the process of completing the others in South Africa now (will write more about this in later posts).

On the way to my first dive, we spotted whale sharks swimming on the surface. Before you get scared, yes these are real sharks but they are filter feeding harmless giants. We saw three in total, each about 18 feet in length. The driver told us if we wanted to jump out and swim with them we could, so I jumped!! I was the first in the water and I was less than 2 feet away (I think closer, in fact I was trying to swim away because I thought one was going to run into me). They are fine with people swimming around them but once they sense someone doing anything aggressive, they dive and disappear into the ocean depths. During my two dives, I saw 5 Giant Manta Rays spanning 18 – 20 feet in length. They are majestic creatures and swam gracefully all around us. A guy diving with me had an underwater camera and took some really amazing shots (see link to Picasa photos). We also saw sting rays, rock lobsters, a variety of angel fish, moray eels and other cute little things. My expectations were certainly exceeded!

One bit of tragedy to share during our trip. As we were walking along the beach in attempts to buy a sarong, we spotted people from the local vendor huts running to shore. I looked to my left and a little boy’s lifeless body washed to shore. We did not want to become yet another spectator, so we continued walking. About thirty feet later, we spotted a man’s body crashing in the waves. About the same time I spotted him, two men next to us did as well and dove into to bring him out of the water. We learned later that these people went out fishing, when their boat capsized. They were weak swimmers and unfortunately were killed. The mother and wife also on board survived. Incredibly shocking and sad event we witnessed.

All in all, it was an incredible trip and worth the chaotic transit there! PS, the commute on the way home was even more eventful from the trip up. The bus broke down half way home and we were stuck in a very remote village for over an hour. The bus was immediately swarmed by locals selling us plantains, cashews and bread. I paid less than 10 cents for a bunch of bananas (i tried to buy one but they threw the whole bunch at me). Meanwhile, the bus driver and other locals try to fix the bus. I saw them looking on the side of the road for something they could use as a tool to fix the bus. Yikes. Needless to say, I made it home safe and sound...and exhausted. Until my next adventure....

For all my pictures, see...http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/Mozambique#