On Monday, Jill and I accompanied our co-worker Shadrack to Pretoria, where he had a job interview at the National Archives of South Africa. We had a fantastic morning. We were given a tour of the reading room and spent quite a bit of time looking through their database. We found many entries for Canada, including a map of the Dominion of Canada (1908) and “Mining Laws and Regulations” produced by the Director of Mines in Ottawa (1910). There were five records that concerned Prince Edward Island and I discovered that there is a “Rossiter Street” in Cape Town. Hopefully I will find it when I go for a visit. While at the National Archives, were also able to meet and chat with the staff in charge of the “sensitive files.” Very interesting indeed.
Pretoria is a beautiful city and has a very different feel from Johannesburg. Shadrack took us to the Office of the President of South Africa to visit his friend who manages the electronic records of the President’s office. The view from the Union buildings was fantastic and its gardens were beautiful. The security to get into the Union buildings was of course very tight. We needed to leave photo ID before being allowed to enter. Of course, I did not have anything on me. I never carry my passport around, and I had even taken my driver’s license and all other ID out of my wallet in case I am mugged. All I could find in my wallet was an expired UPEI Library card – and it got me in! I am now also recalling how a UPEI Library card I got on a grade eleven field trip with Larry McGuire’s English class also got me into a Concordia Beer Bash with my cousin Gerry (March Break, 1989, grade 12, and yes, I should not have been there). I HATE UPEI, but will admit that having its library card has been beneficial now twice. I am glad it is good for something.
On Tuesday, we were taken on a tour of the South Africa History Archive (SAHA). The extent of their holdings proved to be much larger than I was expecting. Piers Pigou provided us with both an entertaining and enlightening discussion about the problems with access to information in South Africa…..a very different view than we had been given the day before at the National Archives.
This week, Jill and I have been doing a lot of research for a benchmarking exercise currently being undertaken by the Foundation. This morning, I was looking at the website for the Carter Centre in the USA. The centre has initiatives around the world and for South Africa, they had some interesting information, and four shocking statistics about South Africa on its website:
- 50% of the country lives below the poverty live.
- The average annual income is $2,500 USD
- The average life expectancy is 44 years.
- There are five million people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
On Thursday, we are flying to Namibia for a four day weekend. More as it happens…
7 comments:
Why do you hate UPEI so much? I had no idea!
See the January archive to get just a taste of some of the innumerable follies of UPEI...
- J "I-don't-mind-upei,-but-my-friend-does" C
JC has heard the saga of why I hate UPEI so much. If you tell me who you are, then I might let you in on it as well...
Juanita
Yes, sorry, I am afraid that the only way my views would be swayed about UPEI would be if they gave me a job in their archives in the near future! I understand though, as you are Alumni and have done both your degrees there, please don't take my comments personally. In saying that, I would probably feel the same way however, if somebody ditched Acadia or U of T as both my experiences there have been fantastic (thus far).
Neat
How'd the trip to the 'Namib go?
-jc
just stopped by to see if you were updating this over the summer...i had so much to catch up on!
your work sounds very challenging and extremely rewarding...is it everything you expected?
keep on posting!
--Alli
Hey "Al" - good to hear from you! Ya, I will have to admit that I am having a great time here. Work is very busy, which is great, but the time is flying by. We actually got to meet NM the third week we were here, so that was fantastic. I still grin like a fool everytime I think about it. We just got back from a short jaunt to Namibia and we are going to Cape Town this weekend for work (sort of). I will be posting some photos later this week so do come back and check them out. Hey, I will have to go and check out your blog now as you were travelling over the summer as well...keep in touch.
Juanita
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