Finishing Projects and Exams at UCT

In terms of school, the last few weeks have been very busy! I had a number of major projects that were due for my courses, two of which were based on research projects and included a presentation to the class on my findings. One was a group project, and the other I did solo.

For my African Studies course (Race, Culture and Identity in Post-apartheid South Africa), our group did the project on blogging! I started out in a different group, but actually switched when I saw how relevant this topic would be for me. In fact, I had already done most of the research on the specific topic that I wanted to explore, which is the state of social media, blogging, and web 2.0 in this country. I'm practicing it! We each used our own blogs as spring boards to the issue we were tackling, and I chose to do a case study on my blog post about Devil's Peak.

You'll notice that I have my most visited blog posts listed on the right sidebar of this page. My Devil's Peak post sits comfortably at the top, because once the mountain went up in flames I saw a marked increase in traffic to my site. There was lots of linking happening, or "Link Love!", and in some ways this blog became part of the South African online media. I was honored to have people stealing my photos, reposting them, and claiming that they took them! So this was the basis of my project. Since it counted for half of my large seminar course, the project alone was worth like 4.5 US university credits. Wowza!

The number of visits to this blog.

One of the slides from our presentation. Look familiar?

I did my other project for African Traditional Religion by myself. My research was to look for the role that music historically and presently plays in African religion, specifically within ritual, healing, initiation, and storytelling. This was probably one of the most interesting projects I've ever done, since I was able to hole up at UCT's music library looking through books and their vast CD collection. Since UCT is a very old university here in Southern Africa, there is a unique collection of recordings of tribal music from the 1950s and 60s, among other nuggets. I copied many of the CDs to my computer, so perhaps I'll share with you sometime. It was an awesome project, and I did well on the presentation and paper and all that.

Then, all my "production-based" work was finished. I had my last lecture at UCT on June 28th. The full week following that, or last week, we had off as time to study. I suspect that the university hopes we'll forget the material from class during this week. Yes, I realize that we're supposed to study, and legend has it that many people do... but let's be realistic. I did study, but this long amount of time only served to make me forget things. With exams being typically worth 40% of your final grade... you want to perform well.

We'll see how I did, but I finished both of them this week. And yes, I'm done with school for the summer finally! (Well, winter here.)

Stressing about exams.

Cape Town News

This is how the news outlets reach out to Cape Town, and I suppose partly how the city gets its news (or at least headlines):

I chose that headline, because a lot of the time they are very funny to me. Maybe it is the odd juxtaposition of a frivolous article with the in-your-face advertising techniques of the Cape Times and the Cape Argus, but they can be amusing.

Two of my favorites were "CORPSE FLOWN TO WRONG FUNERAL" (I laughed forever) and "RIHANNA: I WAS BEATEN" (not that the concept is funny, but it is so matter of fact). Of course, they have headlines about the upcoming election, party politics, and city news, too... but I focus on the amusing in the morning. They are very regular about putting them up though, at like 3am everyday, and on every other street pole (different headlines), all the way down both sides of Main Road.

Since I'm a news fiend, I get furious when I read about a big headline on the street pole before I notice it on Google News or some other online news source (it makes me feel like they've won). I was so upset when I read that Obama set a withdrawal date from Iraq on Main Road.

They were a bit late to the punch on this one, though. I left them in the dust:

Today, Erik, Jana, and I are hoping to go back to Muizenberg Beach to surf. Hoping for good conditions! It has warmed up to the upper 70's today, and will again be in the lower 80's the next two days. I also hope it lasts!

Devil's Peak Is Still Burning. And UCT Fails!

An update on the Devil's Peak Fire

We awoke this morning with the mountain still on fire. With much less wind, though, and no darkness to show the glow of fire... Devil's Peak looked more like a smokey fire pit than a majestic mountain. I again climbed onto the roof, and got a photo to share.

From our Observatory roof this morning.

With light this morning, however, we heard the familiar hum of several helicopters circling around the mountain dropping water. I immediately checked for more news, and learned that one person has died, and a few others were injured, including some firefighters with minor injuries.  Very sad, though.  Contrary to reports, it seems no houses have been reported damaged, though? I'm still not entirely confident about that. Partly because the news articles I've read are shoddy at best, and basically state that the mountain is on fire, there are helicopters helping, when it started, and that people are fighting it. Yes... thank you traditional media.

From the UCT campus, I climbed to Rhodes Memorial, which is reportedly near the start of the fire. I'm surprised nobody stopped me, but I just followed the emergency vehicles and a trail (please don't worry, I stayed safe). But I approached the tactical command of sorts, and was able to get some photos from right on the mountain, as well as the helicopters that were taking water from the University of Cape Town reservoir. I will post the rest  of the photos at the bottom (in higher res with captions).

The University of Cape Town Fails! No communication.

Also from this morning, UCT totally failed. I'm very unhappy with them. You'd think that they would issue some sort of communication to students regarding the events of last night, but no. We woke up, wondering if it was safe to go to campus, wondering how much smoke there would be now that the winds changed, and wondering if the helicopters would interfere with classes. I checked the UCT web site, I checked my course web site, I checked my email, I checked many different things... and nothing. Irritated, I began calling numbers to get some information, since Kara and Gabby had already not gone to their early morning classes because they were unsure. I ended up calling the Welcome Desk, Student Services, the Faculty of Humanities, my professor, the department office for my gender course, as well as the communications office. Many of the numbers yielded no response, but I did get through to someone at the information line, as well as my course's office.

"Yes, I'm wondering if there will be classes this morning?"
"Um... yes, I'm not sure why there would not be?"
"The huge fire that is still happening? Isn't it near Upper Campus?"
"I'm not sure, I'm on Middle Campus."
"And surely you represent the university, how could they not have a statement about what has happened?"
"You'll need to call your faculty department, son."

Dumbfounded, I made more calls. To more incredulous people, one of which noted, "Oh yes, there is a bit of smoke and the helicopters are overhead. I can't say about class though, you'll have to contact your professor."

I will first say this very clearly: UCT has an inadequate system for contacting and notifying students of important situations. The disorganization to me seems sort of dangerous, but then again, I was having a hard time finding people that shared the sentiments. So, we went, and once my professor arrived, she told the class that a few people called in today to ask if her class would be canceled because of the fire, and most of the class laughed. I was so many different types of pissed off. So many different types. Just incredulous.

So, for all of you people, my professor included, I'm going to present a list of reasons as to why one might think it possible for classes to be interrupted, or at least wonder enough to want an official correspondence from the university, or anything:

1. Your campus is built into the side of a mountain that was completely in flames last night. The fire and smoke could be seen for miles, from anywhere in the city. Surely one must wonder.
   
2. It was reported to have started just a few hundred feet from the UCT campus.
   
3. This morning, it was literally a five minute walk from campus to the flames.
   
4. There was a fire truck stationed on Upper Campus, next to a UCT building, supplying water at hose length to the front line. Yea.
   
5. One student said to the professor in class that he was evacuated last night. When students at your university are evacuated, no matter if they live with you or not, you should probably care and respond in some way.
   
6. There are now four helicopters flying near the campus, one of which belongs to the South African military, and they are drawing their water from the campus reservoir, and not flying very far to dump it.
   
7. Said helicopters are very loud, and the professor and students put energy into speaking over the whirring of the helicopter blades in class.
   
8. The mountain is still on fire.
   
9. Two UCT residence halls in Observatory were in the path of the wind and smoke, with Clarinus across the highway from the flames. These students live with you, you're responsible for them.
   
10. There is smoke directly up the mountain from Jameson Hall, with helicopters flying to drop water on it.
    
11. Even news sites speculated about the fire danger to UCT's campus, including reporting how close the fire had gotten. Students might wonder about this...
    
12. There's still tons of smoke to be seen from miles away.
    
13. The professor that said this was 10 minutes late to class because she had to drive across town, partly through smoke, and even changed her shirt when she arrived because it smelled of smoke.  Unaffected?
    
14. 20% of your students are international students, and may not inherently understand whatever it is I don't get about "Mountain on fire, go to class anyway to smell like smoke and talk over helicopters.  We're used to fire."

Maybe I'm missing something here, but this just doesn't seem like business as usual.  And it's not funny.

Despite these things:

• No press release, not even a mention on the web site.
  
• No email to students. (This should be easy.)
  
• No answers at many of the numbers I called on campus.
  
• The Humanities Faculty reception, especially, did not pick up.
  
• Communications office didn't answer.
  
• Information center acted dumb when I called, partly agreeing that one could be wondering, yet they had nothing to provide.
  
• No contact from the professor or answer at their office.
  
• AND the professor laughed at the idea of people calling the office to check if classes were still on. Then ended class with "Don't get burnt, don't get smoke inhalation."
  

So, we just went to class. And, again, I was so many different types of pissed off. Perhaps we overreact in the states about these things? But I don't think so. And 24 hours later, the mountain is still glowing a fiery red in the dark.  Devil's Peak, indeed.

And now for the rest of the photos:

Devil's Peak in Cape Town is Burning

When I first arrived in Cape Town, I did a post showing the awesome view of Devil's Peak that I have out my window. Tonight the view looks very different, since the whole mountain is on fire.

It has been burning now for about 5 hours, and has literally consumed nearly the entire mountain. Erik, Jana, Kara, and I were having dinner downtown when I got text messages about it. Upon returning home, we saw the flames and the smoke from miles away. With how much is burning, it seriously looks like lava, and at first I didn't really understand. But, yes, it is on fire.

Cape Town and the Western Cape is used to fires, but this isn't the same. As a local put it in his blog post:

"You know, most of us grow up in such a way that when we see a fire on a mountain, we don’t really think too much into it, but I can promise you that as I look at the mountain this time, I can feel a sense of fear and adrenaline running through me, this feels too close to home :| "

Most of the city smells like smoke, and the wind is taking it pretty far. Luckily, the wind is heading in the opposite direction of the UCT Upper Campus (remember? My campus is built into the side of this mountain!), so the wind is currently keeping it away. That being said, Erik drove us up to Upper Campus, and the fire isn't so very far away.

Here is panorama from our front yard (click to enlarge):

From our roof.

From UCT Upper Campus

It is quite eery outside. I climbed onto the roof to get some photos, and you can constantly hear all the emergency vehicles rushing around the city, and as we were driving before we saw fire trucks barreling down the Main Road without their sirens on. The whole city's fire and police teams must be out tonight, yet you don't see many people, or hear much else.

I suppose it didn't seem so close to the city before, because it was just on the mountain. When we got home, Kara said, "I want to go to bed, but I don't want to go to bed and wake up and be, like, on fire." Which I thought was funny at the time, but after hearing more, it seems that it's getting worse.

Key word here is seems. None of the Cape Town online news outlets have reported a thing yet, five hours into the huge fire. It seems so weird for me, because as an American, this would be everywhere. The campus hasn't posted anything either, and I'm not sure if we have class tomorrow. In fact, I've turned to Google Blog searches, and Twitter searches to get information (which have actually been quite reliable).

The fire has started to come down off the mountain, and they have evacuated certain parts of Observatory. One guy said that the fire was like three blocks from his house, and they were being evacuated. A later update shows that he feels like the house will go up.

Then Gabby, Laura, and Mick got home. They took the interstate and actually saw houses on fire. I'm not sure how bad it is, but you'd think there would be more news reports? We even turned on the TV, and couldn't find anything. Looking for information here!

You can see emergency vehicles and flashing lights on the side of the mountain, which is not to be confused with the rest of it, because it seems as if almost the entire side that is facing me is glowing red, and I know the other side is burning, too, because of the glow through the smoke.

I don't think there is need to worry about us, though. Our house is several blocks from the main road, and some 3,000 feet from the mountain. We will also have plenty of time to react if things change. I do worry about campus, though... and Table Mountain. It is now almost 3am in the morning, but I'll be monitoring it.

Here are some more photos:

Looking over Observatory.

The glow from the other side.

Groote Schuur Hospital in blue.

Taken from that hospital.

Trees that I think are near UCT Upper Campus.

The peak.

Update: It looks like News24 has posted an article about it.  It was started pretty close to here.

Update 2 (4:02am):  It is still burning, further around and away though.   There is much more smoke, especially since the wind has died down.  The whole neighborhood smells of it.

Some posts on Twitter:

kerry_anne: Cape Town is sad tonight, Rest Of The World. Our mountain is on fire in a BIG way. Houses are under threat and people have been evacuated.

kerry_anne: Trust me, I've lived in Cape Town all my life, but I've never seen the mountain on fire quite like this

MarkH: Fire raging in Cape Town's Vredehoek CBD neighborhood just below Table Mountain. Police evacuating. Hope friends are ok!