End-Presentation in Capetown

After we finished in Genadendal, we traveled back to Capetown for a few days to end the study tour. There, we saw Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for political crimes, during the rise against apartheid.

In Capetown, we presented all of our research findings to the Capetown Tourism board.



Here is a summarized version of our presentation:

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BULEMBU

Research Objective:
"To determine how the local community can contribute to the development of tourism in Bulembu by analyzing the involvement and willingness of the local community."

Bulembu Achievements:
- creating a local honey and guava jam manufacturing projects
- building a craft shop to sell local crafts, adjacent to the main lodge
- tourism lodge infrastructure improvements
- offering guided hikes for tourists through the city and into the foothills
- proactively pursuing a project to enhance existing water lines in the community

Findings & Recommendations:

1. Communication could be improved, in order to achieve more local involvement.

- English. Many local people cannot speak adequate English to interact with tourists. This can be addressed by offering more English language courses in schools, as well as courses for adults. Encouraging informal interaction with tourists can also help.

- Marketing. Marketing at the lodge does not provide information about activities that tourists could participate in, within the community. A large poster with photos of the activities and prices is a good way to inform tourists of what they can do in Bulembu. The website also needs to be further developed.

- HIV. HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention needs to be addressed in the community. This is a strategy for staff-retention and local empowerment.

- Tourism Committee. A tourism committee should be created, to communicate about tourism development in Bulembu. The creation of a committee spreads responsibility over a greater area, and also builds a sense of ownership.

2. Tourism products could be expanded, based on suggestions from interviews. These may include:

- story-telling
- a trip to the daycare for tourists
- rotational homestay
- expansion of existing walking tours for more local involvement (e.g. eating local foods, drink stops, going to the old asbestos mine, tours of the honey and guava projects, etc)
- creating a soccer program for tourists and local children

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GENADENDAL

Research Objective:
"A comparison study between Genadendal and Greyton to measure local community involvement in tourism development."

Research in Genadendal, South Africa

After Khayelitsha, we arrived in our second host community of Genadendal, located in South Africa. We stayed in Genadendal for approximately one week, researching how community-based tourism could be managed in Genadendal, and also comparing tourism development in Genadendal with that in Greyton, a neighbouring community.

We spoke with many community members during our stay, and divided our group into two, to gain more interviews. I remember one day we had a local guide, Wilmohr, and he was introducing us to influential people in the community. We told him that we'd like to go to the local highschool in town, and possibly talk with some of the directors there, to see if there were any tourism programs already in place for young people. Somewhere along the line there must have been a misunderstanding, because before we knew it, we were standing in front of a full class of 14-year olds! Talk about on-the-spot improvisation!



We started off by introducing ourselves, explaining why we were in Genadendal, and then began asking the class some questions. The kids were interested in tourism, but not many of them had considered it as a career, before. There are currently no highschool tourism classes offered in Genadendal.

A major challenge facing Genadendal, along with many other rural towns in South Africa, is that most of the young people leave for the big cities. This means that the average age in Genadendal is very high, and very few people are moving there from outside. No new energy and expertise is being infused into Genadendal, and as a result, it's tourism development (along with other forms of development) have stalled for the time being. Youth retention is a top priority, and this can be achieved by showing young people in the highschool what business opportunities exist in Genadendal. The area is rich with cultural and natural beauty, but the tourism product is unorganized and poorly marketed. A common problem in many communities is that residents have a hard time seeing the tourism potential that is there, right under their noses. Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out these opportunities.



One thing that struck me about Genadendal was how deeply the church is involved in all aspects of the community. Genadendal is home to one of the earliest Moravian missionary settlements in all of Southern Africa, South of the Sahara. A museum and garden highlighted this history. Some of my classmates were uneasy with the amount of control the church has over the community, especially since we were looking at Genadendal through our Western lens of secular government as an ideal.

But I think the church in Genadendal, and similar communities, has the potential to play a large role in motivating people and initiating change. A further challenge we later discovered, is that the Moravian church in Genadendal had split off in the past, into two seperate religious groups, all within the city. This means that today, the community is divided along religious lines, which are very strong. This lack of social cohesion is very difficult to overcome, and provides a major barrier for all community members to come together to discuss and plan for future development.

eKasie Backpackers, Khayelitsha Township

After our stay in Bulembu, we flew to Capetown in South Africa, and stayed there for a few days. One night, we stayed at a backpackers in the township of Khayelitsha, not far from Capetown. We drove into the township in a rented shuttle bus, and it was quite amazing. There were shanty houses as far as the eye could see, and some were not much more than a few corrugated pieces of metal placed together. I remember getting kind of anxious as we were driving in, and wondering if this was really the safest place for us to be staying. We drove up to a brightly painted two-story building, in the middle of the township, and were greeted by the owner, his wife, younger son, stray dogs, and the resident cook at the backpackers. We unloaded our suitcases (once again) and were amazed when shown to our rooms. They were fully furnished with bunkbeds, clean, with a full kitchen and games room upstairs.



After unloading, our host took us on a walking tour of the township.

Khayelitsha township, like many townships in South Africa, was artificially created during the times of apartheid. It was a way to keep black South Africans seperated from the whites. If I remember correctly, I think the townships also housed the first black migrants who were working in the mines. With time, women were allowed into the townships and families grew up there. These communities were historically economically disadvantaged, which you can still see today in the lack of infrastructure, development, and investment.

During our tour, our guide walked us down the street to show us what such a community looked like. He assured us the area was very safe, and explained that in some cases the townships are often more safe than the larger cities. This is because a sort of volunteer community-policing force is organized by locals, and everyone watches out for each other. Crime is surprisingly low, especially when neighbours are watching out for their neighbours. As we walked, I became aware at how obviously we stuck out, as white foreigners. I thought racism might be a problem for us in the township, but I found quite the opposite. Locals there were very interested in us, why we were there, what we were studying, and so on.


As we walked, we passed some schools in the township, and a care center for children which we visited. At one point during the walk, we heard some music off to the side of the street. As we walked closer, the people there invited us to come over for a bit. Looking at each other, a bit nervously, we thought: "why not"? There was singing, dancing, and people were passing around a local brewed beer in a large pail, as you can see in one of the photos below. It tasted a bit sweet, although I liked it.


Local brewed beer, in Khayelitsha township tour.

At first, we weren't quite sure what all the celebration was about. I remember asking one of the guys next to me, and he explained that someone had recently died. Instead of a funeral, focusing on death and the loss of a loved on, this was instead a celebration of life. For me, it was quite a different cultural perspective than from back home!



After the unplanned party, our guide took us to a 'shebeen', or local pub. Historically, shebeens arose in the townships because black South Africans were not allowed entrance into a bar or pub reserved for white South Africans. These places sold liquor without a license, and often featured various forms of local brew. Today, the shebeens are lively places filled with young people and the latest trance, techno, and house music. After the shebeen, our guide walked us home as the sun was setting.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in this township, because I was able to speak with local people, and understand how different people lived. I didn't feel threatened or unsafe at any point. The liveliness during the party and later in the shebeen was great! Although I enjoyed my time in the township, some of my other classmates did not feel the same. Some of the girls had trouble adjusting to the high level of noise, and felt like we were being watched during the tour because we were white. I think they may also have been feeling some culture shock, especially when we were confronted in the beginning with the poverty of the area. I have a feeling that my previous traveling experiences had at least somewhat prepared me for this.

Township tours are growing in popularity. Many tourists coming to the large cities such as Capetown and Johannesburg are looking to have an 'authentic experience', that goes further than just a staged cultural dance or stop at a museum.

The concept of a 'township tour' fit perfectly with our theories of community-based tourism. It is a local initiative, lead by local people, and benefiting local people. Some of the proceeds gained in township tours often go towards community projects, such as care centres for children, schools, and HIV/AIDS centres. If managed correctly, it can be a non-invasive way that tourists can help support local communities, and in return, gain a better understanding of townships themselves.

One of the major barriers facing tour operators in townships is the perceived risk that tourists associate with townships. Especially lately in the news, there have been reports of riots and violence in many townships in South Africa. The reasons for these riots are complex; one reason being high rates of local unemployment. Some South Africans feel that black migrants from other African countries have driven up the rate of unemployment, and make it harder for some native South Africans to find a job. The attacks have been against these black migrants who live in South African townships, and not against tourists. However, safety concerns are a major barrier that tour operators face in the townships.

Research in Bulembu, Swaziland

We spent roughly one week in Bulembu, which is a small community in Swaziland. We had a chauffeur drive us into Bulembu, and the mountain roads were sometimes very small and winding. We made it to the border crossing with minutes to spare, since the crossing we used usually closes at 4pm every day.

During our stay in Bulembu, we were interviewing local people about their views on tourism. We wanted to measure empowerment, levels of local participation in tourism, to identify tourism product, and to uncover barriers to community-based tourism development.



While we were in Bulembu, we encountered members of various church groups as well as other volunteer groups who came to Bulembu to help in any way they could. Sometimes they helped to build a water pipeline system for locals, other times they helped in schools and day-care centers. Now that I'm back in Holland and going over the theories again, I realize that there is actually a name for this: "justice tourism". This kind of tourism is relatively new, and the term has not been extensively used. To quote from my textbook, it's "a process which promotes a just form of travel between members of different communities...it means treating local people as people - not as beggars, nuisances, servants, con men, thieves or exotic photo opportunities".

Justice tourism can include:

- historically oppressed communities sharing with visitors their experiences of past wrongs (like apartheid), thus rewriting history books

- tours of poverty-stricken areas (like the townships) where education and understanding, not horror, are the outcome

- tourists from Western countries coming to assist with development or conservation work, which makes their vacation more meaningful, rather than an egocentric holiday

An interesting trend. Here are some pictures of my classmates playing with some kids at a daycare in Bulembu, and serving food at a battered womens shelter:





One interview I had with Andrew, a local municipal officer in Bulembu, will stay with me for a long time. The interview started out with me, and 2 other classmates, asking questions about tourism development in Bulembu, and if locals are prepared to deal with tourists. As the interview progressed, Andrew started to talk about the reality of his community, a reality that many tourists do not see when coming to visit.

I forget the exact numbers he mentioned, but something like 6 out of 10 children in his community are raped before they reach high school. 80% of the time it's by a family member. Spousal abuse, domestic violence, and alcohol abuse are widespread. The average life expectancy is around 32 years old, because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. People are desperate, and societal values are breaking down.

Andrew was dead-serious when he was explaining these things to us, and I'm sure he wasn't saying it just for shock value. It's important to understand the underlying issues in a community, before jumping in with big plans for any sort of development.

Because of abuse, many children develop behavioral problems, which later creates problems for them when they are ready to enter the labor market.

The AIDS problem is huge, because how can you empower local people to hold management positions, if you train and train and train them, but they die before they can reach that level? It's a huge frustration, and it's part of the reason why many communities are stuck in cycles of poverty.

One quote from Andrew was very impactful: "you can't look at the issue of HIV/AIDS through a Western perspective, it doesn't work. You can't throw money at AIDS research and health clinics. AIDS is not just a health issue, but a cultural and social one as well. Do you know how difficult it is to change a culture?"

So in this context...is there a place for tourism in Bulembu? According to Andrew, yes. He says it's essential that the word gets out about issues his community (and others like it) are facing. Become informed, tell as many people as you can, and don't support corrupt governments, with politicians who remain silent on these issues. Ignorance is not an excuse.

First Stage of Our Research

Finally, I have the time to update this blog!

We arrived back in Haarlem around the 15th, and we've been busy with festival preparations, presentations, a photo exhibition, and other projects.

During our time in South Africa and Swaziland, we created three newsletters, and you'll see the first one below, as pictures. Click on the picture, and you'll see the larger view. Some of you may have received these newsletters already by email.

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So! After a 12-hour flight with a lay-over in Heathrow, we arrived in Johannesburg. Johannesburg is the most populous city in South Africa, with a population of 8 million people living in the Greater Jo-berg Area. We didn't have to change our clocks when we arrived, because although Jo-berg is a long flight from Amsterdam, we didn't cross any times zones since we flew almost straight South. Also, we learned upon arriving that in fact South Africa is moving into its winter season now, with colder temperatures and leaves falling from trees. The seasons there are reversed, just like in Australia.

During our first day in Johannesberg, we went to the Apartheids museum. To understand apartheid & it's effects, you have to look at the history of South Africa. It began when the Portuguese first came to the region is 1487, looking to expand the slave trade to the New World. The Dutch East India Trading company (the same as in the Pirates of the Caribbean) used South Africa as a strategic trading point for trade. Then the British entered the scene, bringing slaves from Malaysia and India. Lots of wars broke out between everybody, and in the end, the Dutch won. This is why Afrikaans is now largely spoken in South Africa, because it's a 15th century version of Dutch (but still classified today as a separate language). Anyway, there were lots of tension between the local people, even though it was quite multicultural. The Afrikaans government officially implemented apartheid in 1948, but segregation had been happening for a long time before then. Things came to a head when many black visionaries began speaking up, including Nelson Mandela, who later was sent to prison. On a side note, we saw his house in the township of Soweto.

So what does all this mean? When we were doing our research, we found that apartheid is still an issue for many people in South Africa today, since they lived through it themselves. Apartheid in South Africa officially stopped in 1994, so just 14 years ago. Racial tensions are there today, just under the surface of day-to-day life. We found this to be a big barrier in community-based tourism development. Some black, or mixed communities did not feel like they could make tourism partnerships (or any meaningful partnerships) with other, white communities. Apartheid had the effect of socially disempowering lots of black and colored people. It is not a problem that can be overcome quickly, but only with time. Again, we found this to be a considerable barrier for tourism development in the region.


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One interview I found really interesting was with an NGO called Fair Trade Tourism South Africa (FTTSA). We had a meeting with a director from the NGO while we were in Pretoria. This NGO is the first of its kind, in which it has taken the "Fair Trade" label, and applied it to the service industry in tourism. It has a certification program, in which tourism businesses can applied to be certified with FTTSA, if they prove that they do a list of 'best practices in tourism'. This includes things like: hiring local people, buying products through local channels, paying workers fair wages, having an anti-discrimination policy in place, providing resources for HIV/AIDS, etcetera. It's kind of like an ethical seal of approval, if a business is certified with FTTSA.

But why would a business want to become certified, other than to prove they are 'ethical'? Certification isn't free, after all. Businesses realize that there is a growing demand from tourists who are looking for ethical business practices. Consumers are becoming smart. Once they are certified, a business is featured on the FTTSA website, and in this way gains access to new markets. They are also able to network & partner with other businesses that are certified, and are given consultancy advice from FTTSA on how to succeed.

So far as they know, there is no other NGO like it. FTTSA wants to expand regionally within southern Africa, but does not yet have the capacity to consider expanding abroad.




On my next post, I'll talk about our experiences in Bulembu, Swaziland.

Prep for South Africa

In two days I will be flying to Johannesburg from Amsterdam, with a layover in Heathrow for a couple hours. Yesterday I paid my residence permit for the Netherlands, so when I re-enter the country in May they won't deport me back to Canada haha. I also received vaccinations yesterday, and need to pick up malaria pills either sometime today or tomorrow.

Our new project group for South Africa is working well together. I've been appointed the group leader by our professors, so I'm in charge of group meetings, creating agendas, and making sure we are staying on track. It's also a nice resume-builder!

This past week we've been writing, writing, and re-writing our research proposals for South Africa. These are basically the guidelines for the type of research that we'll carry out. After changing our problem statement about 4 times already, we're going to let it go for now and just wait until we arrive. Chances are, we'll have to change our focus when we arrive anyways. At least this is what other students have told us, who did this same trip last November.

South Africa has been in the news lately! There have been problems with the democratic voting in Zimbabwe, which is located just to the north of South Africa. President Mugabe in Zimbabwe has been accused of "fixing" the votes, so that it looks like he won. His political opposition is calling for a re-count, but Mugabe says "no way!" Mugabe's been in power now for over a decade, and he's seen Zimbabwe change from one of the most advanced countries in Africa to one of the worst, with almost a quarter of the population leaving the country due to out-of-control inflation. Local money is now almost worthless in Zimbabwe.....you are better off if you have cows or chickens, because at least farm animals don't change their value. Mugabe also kicked all the white farmers out of the country, which lead to the collapse of Zimbabwe, because the black farmers who took their place had no idea how to farm. Anyways......long story short, the South African President is now putting pressure on Zimbabwe (along with other countries in the region) to force an election recount. The U.S. has accused South Africa of not putting enough pressure on Zimbabwe. It's all very political.

Here's a link to the BBC front-page article about it.

Another news flash: there have been protests this week in Johannesburg due to rising food costs. This problem isn't just in South Africa, but it's happening world-wide. Reasons for this include the growing appetite of China's middle-class for meat and wheat.

So far, South Africa is still stable enough for us to go, although we'll be closely watching the situation. If it gets to be too much, we might have to cut our research short.

Adventures in Antwerp

Today, Jeroen and I took a day-trip to Antwerp, Belgium. The round-trip train fare from Amsterdam Centraal Station only cost about 30 euro, so we thought......why not?? We left Haarlem around 6am in the morning, and arrived in Antwerp sometime around 8:30 or 9ish. Above is the Antwerp Centraal Station, which is much bigger than Amsterdam. It seemed that the train station itself was a shopping centre, as you can see some of the shops to the right and left of the photo.


Here you can see one of the high-speed trains that we took. They are currently building/finishing a high-speed line from Amsterdam to Paris, which will only take about 3 hours of travel time between the cities.


Classy McDonalds!! We stopped for a quick breakfast when we arrived, and this is the photo I shot from our booth. The real name of Antwerp is Antwerpen, and Dutch is mostly spoken there. It is slightly different than the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands, although Jeroen said that he could understand what the people were saying.

Here's the homepage for Tourism Antwerp: http://www.antwerpen.be/eCache/BEN/52.html


Poor Jeroen standing in the rain. In the morning it was pretty wet, which is typical weather here, just like in the Netherlands. He later bought a "paraplu" (umbrella).





In this photo, it looks a little like there's a lake in front of these buildings. Actually, just wet cobblestones.


Behind me in this photo, there was a business offering 3-hour guided tours of Antwerp's sewer network below the city. Sadly we couldn't go, because there was too much water underground from the rain.


Here's a good example of the strange architectural contrasts in Antwerp. It's common to see heritage buildings dating from the 15th century built right next to modern buildings like this one.


While walking around the city, Jeroen and I came across a free boat-museum, highlighting Antwerp's maritime history.



Of course we had to stop for lunch............for FLEMISH FRIES & CROQUETS!! The fries come in huge cones, and you can choose any sauces you want to go with them. Ketchup is not so common, but my favorite is tartar sauce and mayonnaise. Croquets are very Dutch.....although I've seen them sold in McDonalds as mc-croquets. Weird. It's basically a fried mixture of meat and cheese, sometimes with vegetables and potatoes (I think) inside. Sometimes it's just a mystery. Best not to ask.


The view from outside the cafe that we stopped for lunch. Notice the building across the street selling more "paraplu's". You can't go without one in Antwerp, in the Spring.


Here's the sun!


Here I am standing in front of a garden at the Rubenshuis Museum. (http://museum.antwerpen.be/rubenshuis/index_eng.html) We paid 4 euro each, and entered the museum which is filled with paintings from famous Dutch artists, mostly from the 15th and 16th centuries. Peter Paul Rubens was a famous painter, and used to live in this huge mansion. Today it has been converted into a museum and garden.

Rubens was regularly commissioned to paint portraits for important people. I found it really interesting that there were many paintings of the Spanish nobility here. It turns out that the Spanish empire used to extend through Belgium and the Netherlands. I had no idea!


The photo above is one of the fanciest shopping centres I have ever seen. Another example of how old style is mixed with the ultra-modern in Antwerp.


This is a group that was performing in the main chamber of the shopping centre.

Our trip to Antwerp was a success, although I would have liked to spend more time checking out all the museums, cafes, and boutiques.

Now it's time to focus on studying.....I have an exam on Monday!