Sam Cowitz - (Mission Prep) Matt O'Connell - (Atascadero) Shane Kennedy - (SLO) Michael Escobedo - (Arroyo Grande) James Kirschner - (SLO) Jerry Casey - (Mission Prep) Julian Demalleville - (SLO) Mitchell Wolpert - (Mission Prep) Patrick Woolpert - (Mission Prep) Dylan Royer - (Morro Bay) Brannon Adlesh - (St. Joseph)
Bloggin' from Africa 3/20/08 THE LONGEST FLIGHT EVER By: Jerry Casey One of my longest days ever began with our team meeting at midnight in the Marigold Center in San Luis Obispo. We had an 8:00AM flight departing out of San Francisco and we wanted to leave plenty of time for any potential problems… it’s a good thing that we left so early. At 4:00AM as we tried to check in for our flight to Washington D.C. we told our seats had been cancelled and half of us were being redirected through Los Angeles, leaving 2 hours earlier.
We were lucky we got to the airport so early. Our next flight was from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. and the four hour and twenty minute flight was just a warm up for the “real” flight… the 15 hour and 20 minute journey from Washington D.C. to Johannesburg. Overall, we spent 21+ hours in the air which definately will make you stir crazy. I wasn’t the only famous person on the flight as we were joined by the world famous band Korn, who were headed to South Africa to play in a couple of huge music festivals. We finally set foot on African soil nearly 29 hours after we left San Luis Obispo. The first thing we did was exchange our dollars for the local currency, the South African Rand. We then boarded our tour bus for the 45 minute drive to our hotel. En route, our tour guide gave us quite a bit of information which will prove handy. The main focus was on being safe while in South Africa. Being a city of over 10 million people, Johannesburg is similar to any American big city in terms of crime; you just have to be careful.
Our group of 26 checked into our hotel, The Garden Court Sandton City and we were given 2 hours to rest, shower and recharge our batteries before we headed for dinner. Dinner number 1 in Africa was at a great Italian restaurant located in The Nelsen Mandela Square. It was one of probably 20 restaurants situated around a huge courtyard and a 40 foot tall statue of Nelson Mandela. Some team members thought it was Kenny George from UNC Asheville but that notion was quickly dismissed.
Tomorrow is a busy day for us and my teammate Julian Demalleville will give you an update as we travel to SOWETO, Gold Reef City and play our fist game. It’s been a long two days and the bed is calling.
3/21/08 GAME DAY by: Julian Demalleville
Our second day in Johannesburg was broken into three main sections: visiting Gold Reef City, touring SOWETO and playing in our first game. All three portions of our day were equally entertaining and left us with some very memorable experiences.
The day began for most everyone on our team around 3:30AM when jet lag became part of our lives and our body clocks woke us up. Most of us just hung around our hotel rooms watching television until our breakfast buffet was served at 7:45AM. We had an amazing buffet of various breakfast dishes and it served us well for our next few hours of touring. After a 30 minute drive we arrived at Gold Reef City. This is a former gold mine that has been converted into an instructional theme park. The first thing we did at Gold Reef was to descend nearly 3,000 feet on a “lift” to an old gold mine. With hard hats on and miner’s lights attached, we traveled through the maze nearly ½ mile below the earth’s surface. Going into the mine it made me realize how terrible the working conditions for the miner’s would have been. It was damp with a lot of dust in the air and just didn’t seem like a very healthy environment. We had a great tour guide who educated us on the mines and their history in the economy of South Africa. Continuing at the park we observed molten gold being poured into a block and we even got to hold a 50+ pound bar of gold worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. We finished up at the park by watching some native dancers moving and shaking to the African beats.
The second part of our day was consumed by a tour of SOWETO (Southwestern Township). SOWETO is the largest township in the Southern Hemisphere with close to 4 million people. SOWETO has some of the poorest neighborhoods in the entire world. Thousands of people live in tin roofed sheds with no running water, electricity or bathrooms. It was very depressing seeing how poorly some people had to live. We were constantly approaced by little kids who were begging for money but the locals encouraged us not to give them any as it makes them too reliant on the tourists for food and money. As we walked though SOWETO it was heartwarming to see the enormous amount of pride that the locals showed for the small amount of belongings that they had. We were met by the nicest people and the locals were constantly waving to us as we drove past them in our bus.
At 6:00PM we finally tipped off our first game of the trip. I had no idea what to expect about the competition and we were all a bit nervous for the first minute or two. But after we put away our jitters we overmatched the host team winning 115-54. It was a lot of fun playing with a new batch of teammages, guys that I’ve always played against I was now playing with.
Tomorrow we play a team that is considered one of the top teams in the nation, with players between 20 and 25 years old. So I better get some sleep and let Matthew O’Connell tell you all about it tomorrow. 3/22/08 APARTHEID by: Matthew O'Connell
Our third day in South Africa began at 9:30 sharp as we deaprted from our hotel and headed to the Apartheid Museum. This museum depicted the racial division between whites and blacks during the years of Apartheid. The Apartheid experience can somewhat be compared to the segregation that transpired in the United States. The museum was very informative and featured several short videos, pictures and displays that really captured the struggle that “colored” South African people had to endure. Huge violent uprisings were common during the apartheid years and imprisonment, death and further division of the country resulted. Some of the most famous anti-apartheid opponents were featured including Nelson Mandela and Steven Biko.
Following the museum we travelled through the heart of Johannesburg in our bus. Our tour guide told us that she doesn’t ever let the tourists off of the bus in this area due to the high risk of crime that is prevalent. The downtown looked much like any large American city, however many buildings were “mothballed” (bricked up to prevent vandalism) and there were many street people wandering around. Up next was a trip to a traditional African Cultural market. This market consisted of about 50 vendors who were selling various native goods. There were some real nice looking items and a good deal could be found if you were willing to barter a bit, which some of my teammates were better at than others. At 3pm we had our second game of the trip. After a 60 point victory yesterday we were assured that our competition for today’s game would be much stronger… and they were.
The team we played were the Eboli Magic, the champions of the League of Professionals in Johannesburg. These were grown men that we played against with ages ranging from 20-34 years old. We hung tough for the first three quarters before tiring out down the stretch and losing 98-80. Many of my teammates said that it was the funnest basketball game that they have ever played in.
The game was a huge affair for the local fans. There were performances by local hip-hop artists and Krump dancers called “Soweto’s Finest”. The 500 people in attendance received quite an afternoon. We’ve now put in two full days in South Africa and every person we’ve met has welcomed us with open arms and huge smiles on their faces. They are the friendliest people that I’ve ever met and they all want to shake our hands and talk with us.
Tomorrow we are going on Safari and Sam Cowitz will give you all the details.
3/23/08 SPENDING EASTER WITH THE LIONS By: Sam Cowitz What a day to spend my Easter.If you are going to spend Easter without your family there is one place I recommend you do it, on a safari in South Africa.This morning the team woke for the last time in Johannesburg and embarked on a two-hour bus ride to the Bakubun Resort which is located in the Pilanesberg National Park.During the bus ride our tour guide, Elsa told us about the many different traditions of the native South African tribes.It was very interesting to learn about the different way that these people go about living their lives and much different than anything that I am used to in California.. We arrived at Bakubung around 2pm and it was immediately clear that this place was unique.For one, it was completely surrounded by a 6 foot tall electrical fence to keep the animals away.However the fence doesn’t do a very good job keeping the monkeys out we had one on our balcony for most of the afternoon hoping that we’d leave our door open so he could rummage through our room.
At 4:30pm we boarded 2 large “safari” trucks and set off on an exploration of the national park. The Pilanesburg National Park is home to the “BIG FIVE”,chosen for the difficulty in hunting them.These animals are the: lion, rhinoceros, buffalo, leopard and elephant.We were very lucky on our game drive in that we saw three of the “Big Five” as the buffalo and the leopard were the only two that escaped us.We also saw many more animals during our safari including wildebeast, wild African dogs, hippos, baboons, impalas and many more.
As our game drive was concluding darkness was setting in over the vast countryside.Our expert guide was shining his spotlight into the grassland and amazingly we saw two sets of eyes about 100 yards away… a lion and a lioness and they were courting each other.Over the next 15 minutes we watched these two lions approach our truck getting to within 40 yards or so.It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life to see these two incredible animals.Unfortunately a rain and lightning storm was approaching and we had to return to the lodge where an incredible buffet dinner awaited us.What an amazing day!
Tomorrow the fun continues and the Woolpert Brothers will fill you in on our morning game drive and our flight to Cape Town.
3/24/08 ANOTHER DAY ON SAFARI By: Mitchell & Patrick Woolpert
Our fifth day in South Africa began with a 4:45am wakeup call. We were headed out for a morning game drive and after a quick cup of tea we boarded our trucks for the pre-dawn tour. It was very dark and cold for the first hour and we failed to find any signs of wildlife.However as daylight appeared our guide spotted some lion tracks, which we tracked for the next hour. We followed the tracks for several kilometers with the excitement building until we disappointedly lost the tracks in a dense field.We moved on searching for other wildlife. Within 10 minutes we were face to face with 3 large rhinos.We could have reached out and touched them if we were brave (and stupid) enough.We stayed with them for a while, and then moved on to see some wildebeests, a giraffe, a enormous kudu, some hippos, and a troop of baboons grooming each other in the middle of the road.
The entire journey focused on our goal of finding the elusive lions and we found out through the radio that some had been spotted right next to our lodge. We decided to head back in hopes of catching a glimpse of these creatures and as we drove up the road we saw all of the signs that pointed to a lion’s presence: a jackal, some crows and a few nervous zebra;however, the lions eluded us still. Frustrated about the lions we drove back to the hotel to board our bus for the two hour journey back to Johanessburg International Airport. Twenty minutes later, as we were driving away someone spotted the lions with a freshly killed zebra. We must have missed the kill by a few minutes.Excitedly, we drove back to Johannesburg, said good-bye to Elsa, our tour guide, and boarded South African Airways for our plane ride to Cape Town.
Upon landing, we picked up our luggage, boarded our bus and met up with our new tour guide, Daniel. On our ride into town we saw that as the clouds poured over Table Mountain, it looked like an enormous waterfall. The clouds are referred to as the tablecloth hanging over the giant table. It is quite a sight to see.
With an open schedule this evening, we went to the world famous V & A Waterfront had dinner, and walked around the harbor before returning to our hotel located in the heart of Cape Town.
Our first night in Cape Town was a success, but look forward to getting a better view of things in the days to come.
Tomorrow we are headed to Robben’s Island and will play our third game of the tour.Dylan Royer and James Kirschnerwill be providing the play-by-play.
3/25/08 THE BEST DAY YET By: Dylan Royer & James Kirschner
10’ x 8’, can you imagine living in a room that small for 19 years of your life?Nelson Mandela did just this on Robben Island and today we saw the exact cell where Mandela spent nearly a quarter of his life. The day begain with our group taking a boat ride 7 miles off shore to Robben’s Island.This island has served as a leper colony, military fortress and most recently as a prison that housed the majority of South Africa’s most famous policital prisoners.
Upon landing on the island we took a 45 minute tour of the island observing much of the beauty found on the island which is home to 60,000 penguins and many other different animals.After our island tour, we went on a tour of the prison which was led by a former prisoner.He told us all about the difficulties fthey faced behind the walls.
Upon returning to the mainland we rushed through a quick lunch and took our bus to Khayelitsha, the third largest township in Africa (behind SOWETO and KILABARI – Kenya).This township seemd a lot poorer than the one we visited in SOWETO as there were tin shacks everywhere and we were the only white faces that we saw throughout our fourhours here.
Thefour hours we spent in Khayelitsha were the best hours of the trip.We were given a behind the scenes tour of the neighborhood by one of the locals.It was a tour that no ordinary tourist could ever get and even our bus driver was a little surprised what we were doing.It was such an amazing and unbelievable feeling seeing the smiles on the locals faces as we walked through their neighborhood greeting them in their native languge which we were quickly taught.
These people live with absolute nothing.Some of our group actually entered one of the tin shacks and talked with an elderly husband and wife about their lives.It was the most emotional moment of the trip to hear their stories.Other members of our group were treated with the “male” only ritual of eating “SMILEY”.Smiley is a lamb’s head that is boiled in water and seasoned with some salt.It was one of the least hygenic meals that I could ever imagine but we didn’t want to be rude so most of ustook a small bite.
We then met up at the Desmond Tutu Park Basketball Courts and put on a basketball clinic for about 50 local kids.Several of the kids did not even have shoes and 1/3 of them were probably infected with AIDS.It was so fun to teach the kids the game we love and you could see the joy on their faces as they had their American coaches.
After our clinic we had a game scheduled about 15 minutes away.It was played at an indoor court with cement floors, terrible baskets and loud opposing fans.However that was not enough to slow us down as we won 93-39.
After a lot of post game pictures, hand shakes and hugs, we returned to our hotel completing our best day yet.
Tomorrow we take a tour of Cape Point, put on another coaching clinic and play in our final game.Shane Kennedy will be the author of our last full day in South Africa.
3/26/08 A DAY OF HOPE By: Michael Escobedo & Shane Kennedy
Today we experienced a part of Africa that reminded us of the California coast.As we travelled the southern most point of Africa we saw landscapes that reminded us of home;there were spectacular cliffs, beaches, dunes, and beauty at every turn. The day began with a drive to the Cape of Good Hope.This is the southern most point in Africa and where the Indian Ocean joins the Atlantic Ocean.This was the main passageway that explorers travelled to get from Europe to Asia prior to the completion of the Suez Canal.It was amazing when we realized that this area of Africa was so important in the development of the entire world.
We hiked up a thousand foot cliff to reach the light house at the top of the cape.From the top we felt the 40mph winds, saw the rough seas and knew that these two oceans did not give second chances. After visiting the Cape, we continued to Boulders Bay which is home to one of the largest colonies of penguins outside of Antartica.It was very interesting to see penguins waddling around the beach and digging in the sand.
We then returned to the hotel where we had an hour to kill until we left for our coaching clinic and game that was to be held in Khayelitsha.We arrived at the ourdoor courts and were greated by nearly 100 kids that were waiting for us.Over the next 90 minutes we broke up into stations and tried to give the kids some lessons in basketball.Helping these children was an amazing experience for all of us because over a matter of hours we became attached to every single kid that we met.It was fun to come back to the same community two days in a row and reunite with the kids.
Tonght’s game was a wild affair.Some people say we won, some say we lost… but nobody actually cared.The game was played before about 250 people, 200 of which were kids from the community.It was a loud and festive game and it was a lot of fun.
As the game ended we were swarmed by hundreds of kids that wanted to have their pictures taken with us.Many of us gave the kids t-shirts, hats and Mitch Woolpert even gave a kid his shoes.To see the kids faces when we gave them something was absolutely amazing.Unfortunately there were way more kids than we had gifts, but we did what we could.
Our final night in Cape Town was another amazing experience and a great way to leave this beautiful town and country.
Tomorrow’s words will be written by Brannon Adlesh who will provide an final recap on our tour.
3/27/08 A COUNTRY IN TRANSITION By: Brannon Adlesh
The trip home is always the longest.With four flights combining for 26 hours plus a 4 hour car ride home from San Francisco I had a lot of time to reflect on the past 8 days spent in a land so different from ours.
Coming into this trip most of us had some preconceived ideas of what we would see and experience.When I thought of Africa I immediately thought of the dangerous wildlife roaming the open land.However upon arriving in Johannesburg, a city of 10+ million people we soon found out that the most dangerous animal that South Africa has ever seen is us humans.
For 46 years South Africa fell victim to Apartheid.A country with nearly 80% of it’s population being black was goverened by a white minority for too many years and when democracy finally arrived in 1994, there was a lot of damage that has still not been undone.
South Africa and Johannesburg in particular is plagued by a very high crime rate, unemployment is staggering and many buildings in the downtown areas have become abandoned as many companies seek out the safer suberbs.It is very easy to see that South Africa is still very much a nation in transition.
Yet with all of the turmoil that the people of this country have gone through the spirit of the South Africans people is amazing.During Apartheid the people of South Africa were classified into four racial groups (black, white, colored and asian) and during our trip we met hundreds of people from each category.Yet the people who inspired me the most and those that we had the most contact with were the black South Africans, the group of people who suffered the most during the Apartheid years.
We were 20 white faces coming into their township and they opened us with opened arms. They fed us their food, welcomed us into their homes and let us teach their children. Our local guide told us that if we would have tried to do this 10 years ago we probably wouldn’t have made it out of there without getting robbed and maybe something worse.Yet we came into a world where poverty and miserable living conditions were everywhere and came away impressed by the positive spirit of all of the local people.
Initially it was hard for a group of us from the Central Coast to witness the type of living conditions that these people had to endure.The tin shacks, communal restrooms, unsanitary food conidtions and crowded conditions, but after spending several hours amongst these people we realized that the most important thing to these people was the pride they had in their communities and how they loved where they live.The material items that are so important to us mean nothing to those in South Africa’s poorest townships.
During our week in South Africa we saw a beautiful country with a very diverse population that is going through some a radical transformation.In two years the entire world will see South Africa as the World Cup comes to Africa for the first time.I’m sure the rest of the world will come away as impressed as I did.
