Update on UCT Protests - 16 November 2016

Let me start with the big news.  An agreement was signed on November 6th and there have been no disruptions for almost three weeks!

Now, on to the details.  My last update was over a month ago.  Here are my two excuses.  First, it has been hard to write these updates.  UCT has been a very stressful environment making it difficult to accomplish much of anything.  Second, we took a road trip to Johannesburg (more details in next update or check out some of the other blog posts) that delayed this update.

Week of Monday, October 17th

My last update was on Monday, 17 October when the protesters broke into the Physics building.

On Wednesday (19 Oct), they returned to the Physics building (video) and the academics tried to block the doors of our building from protestors in order to avoid a repeat of Monday, but eventually a sympathetic Physics student opened the door for them (video).  They banged on doors up and down hallways, removed people from the library (video) and then were eventually peacefully escorted from the building by security (video). 

There were a number of incidents across campus during this week.  The protesting students were systematically entering building with libraries and computer labs in order to chase any students out of the buildings as they continued to try and shut down the university.  There were a number of altercations with security and arrests of protestors during the week with a steady increase in the levels of violence (see links below).

Article describing clashes between security and students

Video: Security Guard Attacked by Students

Monday, October 24th to Wednesday, October 26th

The next week marked a turning point in the protest action at UCT.  It started with further escalation of violence when 4 cars were burned on campus (link to article describing event), but two events seem to push events to a climax.  First, UCT announced an interim interdict that prohibited the disruption of exams, libraries, research and other laboratories, and the ability of any of the university’s employees to do their work.  This was in direct response to the events from the previous week.  There had not previously been any explicit statement regarding the legality of disruptions at UCT and the interdict seemed to "disrupt" the disruptions, particularly the statement about needing to be 200 meters from any of the venues listed above, which basically excluded any protest action anywhere on campus.

The second event was the Minister of Finance giving his mid-year budget report to Parliament in downtown Cape Town on Wednesday, 26 October.  A number of pickets and marches were planned throughout the day to petition government to do something about higher education in South Africa.  The UCT slot was allocated for 9 am in the morning and after an hour of peaceful picketing and delivering our demands (link), we disbanded to make way for the later marches.  It was not a good sign that the police trucks with trailers full of rolls of barb wire pulled up as we were leaving.  Needless to say, the afternoon protests by the #FeesMustFall students did not end so peacefully.  After the speech (in which the Minister promised an increase of R17 billion (~$1 billion) over 3 years to fund higher education), the students got antsy, provoked the police and then for the next two hours, chaos reigned in Cape Town as the police chased protestors around the city with stun grenades.  See these two new articles for further description of the events.  

UCT Academics handing over list of demands outside South African Parliament

Article describing events in Cape Town following marches on Parliament

Article discussing marches on Parliament (lots of pictures)

After October 26th

It is hard to know what exactly changed, but the protest disruptions largely subsided after October 26th.  As far as I know, there have been no major incidents at UCT since (other campuses are still closed or under protest).  Everyone on campus was still very tense, particularly since the level of violence had been slowly escalating, so we waited for the next wave of protests, but it never came.  This tension, of course, made it difficult to do any work, particularly trying to prepare the exams for the students.  As the time passed, campus started to get back to normal as everyone prepared for the start of exams on Monday, November 7th.  Even after the agreement was signed on November 6th, there was a lot of apprehension on Monday morning when the first exams started, but every thing went smoothly and have been for the last 8 days.  There are still reminders of what has happened, like the chain-link fences surrounding the exam venues and the ID security points at each exam entrance, but things are feeling a bit more normal.

What comes next?

This is the big question.  Two interesting aspects of the agreement between the protesting groups and the UCT executive (link) are: (1) The use of an Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission (IRTC) to address some of the institutional issues that have arisen from the protests as well as address the scope of what is considered acceptable protest action at UCT.  (2) The agreement also grants clemency (suspension of charges while no further disruptive activity occurs) for actions taken by protestors during the two months with the possibility of amnesty.

In the short term, the academic program for 2016 has been saved, but there have been serious consequences for 2017.  Most of the departments and faculties have abandoned the blended learning idea in favor of a 3-week mini-semester at the start of 2017.  The Science Faculty has decided to stick with the blended learning (posting online materials and hosting limited face-to-face interactions [I delivered 2 hours of lecture this week and will give 2 more hours next week]) in order to give the academics time off (aka do some research) at the start of January.  The university has given all students the option to write their exams now (7 Nov to 24 Nov) or defer them until 2017 (23 Jan to 10 Feb).  In addition to the mini-semester, there will be one additional week of lecturing in the first semester of 2017 in order to "catch-up" any missed material.  The result of all this is that we will start the semester more than 3 weeks late, our mid-year break has been shorted by a week and we will once again be running exams to the end of November 2017 and marking until the middle of December (same as we will do this year).  It is going to be a long year.

In the long term, it is hard to say where we will go for here, but hopefully UCT will be able to heal from this and will become a better place as a result.  We are also hopeful that future protests can be avoided because it has taken a serious toll on the fabric of the university and I am not sure that it can endure another sustained series of protests.  There is no doubt that UCT (and South Africa) suffers from severe cultural and racial insensitivity and it will take all of us to work together to make a difference.  Please pray for this country and this university as it navigates a delicate future.

Update on UCT Protests - 17 October 2016

It has been exactly two weeks since my last update.  I apologize for taking so long to provide further details.  I will try to briefly summarize what has occurred in the last two weeks (this is, of course, from my limited perspective of the situation).  I also apologize for the length of the update.

Monday, October 3rd to Wednesday, October 5th

UCT was open during these days with lectures stopping and starting due to the disruptions.  My last update provided some of the details of events on Monday.

Tuesday was better.  Students again blocked the entrance roads, but the private security and police acted more decisively, arresting one student (video) and threatening to arrest the rest of the protesting students if they did not move.  The students chose to stand up and move up the road to campus (video).  The other entrance to campus was also cleared thus allowing access to campus by car and bus.  There were further disruptions on other parts of campus, but the Physics building was spared and all lectures were delivered un-hindered.

Wednesday started out well, entrances to campus were not blocked and the first set of lectures started normally.  About 30 minutes into the first lecture, a groups of protesting students tried to enter the Physics building.  The doors were locked by security and the students could not get in (video).  After a while, they moved on, but a few students stayed outside.  When the lectures ended, students started exiting the building and one of the remaining protestors began yelling at the exiting students.  I followed her up the stairs to ask her why she was yelling at these students, but got yelled at instead (video) and accused of assault (I had gently touched her shoulder to get her attention).  Once the building was empty, she moved back across the street.  The group of protesting students returned about 2 hours later and entered the building to disrupt lectures.  This time they discharged fire extinguishers in two lecture venues and in the foyer.  I had been in my office, prepping for my lecture and couldn't figure out why I was coughing until I opened the door to see the white powder covering everything.  The building was cleared and most of the dust was cleaned up in time for me to deliver my first (and only) lecture of third-year Nuclear Physics.  The lecture went fine without disruption, but about the time my lecture ended, the university decided to close once again.  The protesting students continued to march through campus (video) eventually heading for the administration building.

Thursday, October 6th to Sunday, October 16th

UCT was closed (no academic teaching activities) for this period.  Many of the academics continued to come onto campus and the negotiations with the protesting groups continued.  There were isolated incidents involving protesting students (burning a truck, storming campus security offices, disrupting meetings on campus).  As the time wore on (and the negotiations were not proceeding), there was a decision to try and wrap up the semester and school year.  Exams will start on November 7th with campus re-opening on Monday, October 17th and there will be two weeks of "teaching" (without any face-to-face meetings).  We have been tasked with providing all content on-line, be in email contact with students, and teach our courses without needing to have students come into lectures (thus avoiding the possible disruptions).

Monday, October 17th

We were not really sure what to expect today.  The protesting students started by disrupting the campus bus system in the morning and then slowly meandered up to the main campus.  A few of us observed them peacefully walking through campus, occasionally entering buildings, singing and chanting as they went.  At mid-morning, they came up to the Physics building (which was again locked) and one student tried to open the door, shaking it quite hard.  Our initial thought was that the student would then stop shaking the door, but he got more and more aggressive until he was able to break part of the latch and the glass pane broke.  He then reached in to unlatch the door and then opened it for the protestors to enter the building (video).  After a few minutes, the police arrived and chased the students out of the building.  They were ready to move on until they realized that one of the students has been detained by the police inside the building, which led to a heated exchange (video) and a stun grenade being sent into the crowd.  Eventually, the students moved on to another part of campus and the student was taken to the police station.  The students continued to move around campus, breaking into at least one other building.  It is hard to know what tomorrow will bring, but these students are clearly focussed on trying to keep UCT closed.

Police barricading Physics building - 17 October 2016

Please keep praying for the universities of South Africa (the majority of the 26 public South African universities are closed, all have experienced protest action, some more severe than at UCT).  To be honest with you, it is hard to know exactly how to ask you to pray.  At UCT, we are at an impasse, the school year needs to be completed.  The university has bent over backwards to accommodate the protesting student's requests (link) yet the protest action remains.  We seem to have entered a world where we will try to continue "teaching" in the midst of protest.  I have included links to a few articles below that try to paint aspects of this very complex picture.  Please read if you are interested in knowing more.  Thanks for taking the time to read this, Steve


More Information

Article by student (Dear white people: it’s time your bubble was burst)

Article about protests (#FeesMustFall a deadly fight in a tunnel)

Article by academic (The wrong questions are being asked in the free higher education debate)

Update on UCT Protests - 03 October 2016

Today was a long day.  It started with a 3-hour standoff between students blocking the entrances to campus (for vehicles, not pedestrians).  This was followed by roving bands of protestors entering lecture venues to disrupt whatever teaching was going on.  The Physics building seemed to be a popular target with a total of five disruptions throughout the day.  We got quite good at leaving the building when the fire alarm was pulled, waiting for the protestors to clear the building and move on to the next building before having the students return to the venue and restart the lecture.  I was not teaching today, but was supporting many of the other lecturers.  I have uploaded some short cell phone videos to YouTube (links below) if you would like to get a glimpse of what is going on.  You will see that singing and dancing is a big part of the protest.

Thankfully, there does not appear to have been any instances of violence, just a lot of disruptions, although six students were arrested for disrupting one particular lecture.  Unfortunately, the protests will continue tomorrow and the university has decided to increase the level of security on campus.  This means that there will be more confrontations between protestors and police, and also likely more arrests.  Again, it is hard to predict exactly what tomorrow will bring, but it will probably get ugly.  Please keep praying, Steve


More Information

Article on UCT Protest

Videos I took today
Blocking road to campus this morning

Lecture disruption in the morning

Disrupting tutorial in the afternoon

Prayer for UCT Protests - 02 October 2016

The University of Cape Town has been closed for the past week to give time for negotiations between the university management and the protesting students.  The hope is to re-start lectures tomorrow (Monday, 3 October).  It sounds like the final set of talks did not go well and we are currently waiting on a decision about tomorrow.

This has been a stressful week on campus with many meetings between staff and students.  I attended five meetings this last week with various different groupings of students and staff.  The students (non-protesting) and staff held a silent protest on Friday (see link below) to re-open the campus, which was then counter-protested.

It is hard to gauge what will happen tomorrow, possibilities range from further closures to violence between protesters and private security or police.  The academics in the Physics department (including me) are preparing to step between security and students if violence becomes a possibility.  Please pray for the UCT campus tomorrow (actually tonight, classes will start at 8 am here, or 1 am CST), that peace will reign.  I will keep you posted, Steve

UPDATE: The Vice Chancellor has just announced that lectures will resume Monday with security present to deal with any disruptions.  Please pray.


More Information

UCT Silent Protest (look for me in the first picture next to the yellow sign)

Shackville TRC (primary protest group)

Protests at UCT - 24 September 2016

Here is a quick note to tell you what has been going on recently at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and in South Africa.  All academic activities have been suspended at UCT for the last week as a result of student protests on campus.  There have also been similar protests at several other universities in South Africa.  Unfortunately, there have been cases of intimidation and violence associated with protests which prompted suspension of university activities.

The primary issue leading to the protests is the call for free university education.  There was a similar set of nation-wide protests last year (#FeesMustFall) that was prompted by unusually high increases (10-12%) in the university tuition for the 2016 academic year.  As a result, the South African president (Jacob Zuma) announced a nation-wide 0% tuition increase for 2016.  So, this year, students have mobilized again (after the Education Minister announced an 8% increase in 2017 tuition) pushing again for free university education (#Fees2017).

The next 7-10 days at UCT will be an important time for the university and the nation.  The university is planning to engage with students and staff this next week to try to reach a resolution and resume lectures as soon as possible.  Further delays will put the completion of the academic calendar in jeopardy.

Steve was not teaching when protests disrupted lectures last week, but did have an uncomfortable exchange with protesting students.  The main portion of campus has been largely quiet since Tuesday with protests occurring in other areas of campus.  Steve is scheduled to lecture next week (when and if they resume) and disruptions are a real possibility.

It has been a stressful time for everyone and evokes deep-seated emotions on both sides.  The vast inequalities in South Africa have contributed to these emotions and make negotiations complicated.  The universities will have to make some tough decisions.  Please join us in praying for peaceful engagements and a mutually-agreed resolution to these protests.  Please also pray for Steve as he engages with students and deals with any possible disruptions.  We will keep you updated over the next few weeks.  Thank you for your prayers, Steve, Diana, Aaron and Seth



Here are few links if you are interested in more information

UCT Campus Updates

New York Times Article - FeesMustFall

Article - Future of SA Universities

foreigner in a foreign land.

a friend asked me recently about my thoughts on living in a foreign country...i just thought i'd paste what i wrote into a note and share it with all of you...

i guess everyone knows that feeling of doing something for the first time with people you don't know. when you live in another country it's like that but on crack! 

we moved 3 times in our first 4 years of marriage. i felt i had it down to a science...it takes about 2 years to feel settled with friends that you know fairly well, doctors you're happy with, regular places you go and restaurants you can't live without! but in a city of 4 million plus, in a country where there are 11 national languages and where people know you're foreign every time you open your mouth it takes even longer.

i think the things that help are: 

1 - we know God planned for us to be here. we see the way he worked out so many details and called us in our hearts to africa before we even knew what that looked liked. 

2 - it also helps that it's so easy to contact friends and family in the states these days. i remember when i went to cameroon in 1998...to some that may seem like a long time ago but to a lot of us it seems like yesterday...and i only called my mom on the phone 1 time because it was expensive but also inconvenient...where i lived for a year we couldn't even place overseas calls. 

3 - God's family helps you feel connected even if you're struggling with the culture. it's lovely that thru jesus christ i can have a foundation of similarity with people all over the world!

[reposted from Diana's facebook page - original date: 20 February, 2014]

The Mountain

The first thing that you will see when you enter Cape Town is the Mountain.  It is impossible to ignore.  The city surrounds it and I feel like it defines the city.  Although there are many aspects of Cape Town that help give it its personality, I don't think that any other attribute (beaches, ocean, cultural diversity, history) has the same impact as the mountain.

View of Table Mountain from ferry out to Robbin Island.  Table Mountain is the flat part in the middle with Devil's Peak on the left and Lion's Head on the right.

Now, let me define what I mean by the mountain.  There is Table Mountain, which is the most recognizable image of the mountain and probably most visited, at least by tourists.  But the mountain (as Capetownians call it) encompasses all of the "mountain" that extends from the city bowl to Cape Point.  It has all been grouped into the Table Mountain National Park (check out the website).  The range of hills and mountains extends for 47 miles, along the entire length of the Cape Peninsula.

View of Devil's Peak from Rondebosch.  To the left of Devil's Peak is the side of Table Mountain.  Notice the campus of UCT (with the red roofs) just below Devil's Peak.

Two things about the mountain that immediately grab you are its beauty and its proximity.  When we first moved to Cape Town, I would walk up the hill to the campus, and would stare up at Devil's Peak, which is adjacent to Table Mountain and directly above UCT, and be amazed that it was so close.  Now, it is not particularly high mountain (just over 1000m or 3280ft), but because the city is so close to the mountain, it can feel like it is on top of you, although not every one gets to work under the shadow of the mountain like I do.

The walk up Stanley Road to campus and Devil's Peak.

I hesitate to go as far as I saying that the mountain is the heart of the city, but it is certainly close.  It is a part of everyday life for many of the residents of Cape Town.  It is very common on a Monday morning during the "how was your weekend?" conversation to hear people discuss the time they spent on the mountain.  Two weeks ago, it actually snowed on the mountain and there was a buzz around the department.  This last Friday, rain was forecasted for the weekend and people were scrambling to make plans that did not involve the mountain (although we went hiking anyway).  The mountain is also used as a navigational tool, directions are given relative to the mountain.  The most interesting impact of the mountain is in dreams, on occasion someone's dream will come up and there are an inordinate number of dreams involving mountains or steep slopes or hiking.  I don't think that is a coincidence.

The view of the mountain from our kitchen window.

Lastly, the mountain provides a certain measure of comfort.  While we were in the US, there was this sense of something missing.  We drove into Houston and saw the impressive downtown skyline, which is a comforting feeling, but just doesn't have the same impact of the mountain.  As I sit here writing this, I look out the window and can only catch a glimpse of the mountain (it is rainy and cloudy), but it is just nice to know that it is still there.  Just like the reminders that we get from God to reassure us that He is still there.  Cheers, Steve

Picture of Aaron on our recent hikes.  We got a little wet, but he enjoyed it anyway :)

PS.  We have now been on three hikes on the mountain on three consecutive weekends, so I feel like we are fitting right in as proper Capetownians :)

CTE: Aaron receives jabs from Sister Penny

Aaron at 4 months

    Seems like a strange title for a blog post, but it briefly illustrates the strange language they speak over here in South Africa.  Aaron went for his 4 mo. vaccinations on Thursday, even though he is 6 days away from being 5 months old.  (We're a little slow)  Anyway, we went to the paediatrician's (actual spelling) office and met with Sister Penny (recommended by a friend).  And, of course, my first reaction was: Why are we meeting a nun at the doctor's office?  But, I did not ask that right away.  She took us into her office and wanted to see Aaron's records and started talking about the differences between the US and SA vaccination schedules, seeming very professional.  At the appropriate time, I had to ask what the title Sister meant.  Penny just looked at me a little bewildered, so I asked what she would be called in America.  Her response was that sister is a British term for nurse, stemming from their history where a large number of nurse were actually nuns.

    After that was cleared up it was time for the jabs, which is another word for shots.  They still use terms like vaccinations or immunizations here in SA, but the colloquial term is jabs instead of shots.  Not sure which sounds worse.  Anyway, Aaron did great, took his jabs like a champ, with some minimal crying and was ready to go again.
    The last order of business was Aaron's measurements.  Sister Penny weighed and measured Aaron.  His official 4 mo. plus 24 day measurements were: 7.28 kg and 65 cm.  Pretty amazing, huh!  For those of you who are not a metric-savvy as Diana and I (which means we have a handy iPod conversion tool), the American measurements are: 17 lbs, 4 oz. and 25 5/8 inches.  Unfortunately, they do not do percentage sizes here, but to put that into perspective, Aaron has grown about 3 inches and more than 3 lbs in the last 2 months.  Good work, son!

CTE: The Braai #2

Mike, Jane, Paul, Lee, Aaron & Diana

    As a follow-up to the Braai post from last week, we were able to have another Braai at our house on a beautiful Friday evening (see picture).  Some of our friends from Common Grounds Church (Paul & Lee and Mike & Jane) came over for the braai.  Mike brought his Weber (pronounced Wee-bur) over and was dubbed the Tong-Master (see video below).  We were exposed to one additional type of meat, the SA version of Bratwurst, the Boerewors.  As far as I can tell, there is no standard to the Boerewors, as there are an infinite number of varieties in the grocery stores.  They are typically beef and very long (one continuous sausage) and very tasty, with an assortment of spices, like coriander (very popular in SA), black pepper, garlic, nutmeg, etc...).  They are great on a hotdog bun with tomato sauce (like ketchup) or just plain with salad.  An excellent substitute for the Wisconsin Brat (although I miss them).  Still hoping that we can find some here.
    Lastly, I wanted to add this Youtube video that we watched that night about South African Braai Ettitque.  Enjoy, very funny!

CTE: The Braai

  For my first post about the Cape Town Experience, I wanted to go right to the heart of South African culture, the Braai.  Okay, maybe it does not represent all of South African (or SA, for short) culture, but it certainly seems to be an important aspect.  So, you ask, what is a Braai?  Well, in a nutshell, it is barbecue.  Braai is the Afrikaans word for barbecue.  If you want the Wikipedia definition, click here.  I had been hearing about Braai-ing (actual usage by real South Africans) since we landed in Cape Town and we were keen (great SA word!) to participate in one.  The opportunity presented itself two weekends ago.  September 24th is a national holiday entitled Heritage Day, a celebration of South African culture.  It has also become National Braai Day.  Since Sept 24th fell on a Friday, we had a three-day weekend with lots of time to Braai.
  So, Sunday afternoon, we were invited over to Andy's (fellow UCT professor) house for our first official SA Braai.  (He is the one brandishing the tongs in the picture.)  By observing Andy and querying him on the Braai, I was able to gather enough information to determine what distinguishes a Braai from and American barbecue.

  So, the basic premise is the same.  Men gather to cook meat over an open flame.  Women stay inside and prepare the salad, drinks, etc...  A Braai generally consists of cooking over a wood fire, that is very important and there was a brief ridicule of the Americans and their gas grills.  It is also important which type of wood is used.  That being said, Andy started his fire with wood, but then supplemented it with charcoal, so charcoal is okay if needed.  The other big difference is the type of meat.  At Andy's house, we had sirloin steak, kudu, and lamb chops (all pictured on left).  Kudu is a form of antelope, perfectly legal to eat, quite tasty and expensive.  Andy prepared it for us as a special occasion, our first SA Braai.  Overall, our first SA Braai was a tremendous success with hopefully many more to come.

The Cape Town Experience (CTE)

We have now officially been in Cape Town 5 weeks, at least as of 10 pm tonight.  It is hard to believe that it has been that long.  Of course, in some ways, it feels like we have been here forever as well.

We hit a major milestone yesterday.  Our DSL service at home is finally fully functional!  YAAY!!! Now, I was not using this as an excuse, but it did make it harder to keep everyone up-to-date without the internet.  (Maybe I am too dependent on technology.)  Anyway, I no longer have any excuses to update our blog.  My new plan (if you haven't noticed I like to make plans :) is to give you all brief glimpses into our life in Cape Town, South Africa through short little stories or experiences.  I am calling it the Cape Town Experience Blog Series!  I know,  it is a long name, so for short it will be CTE.  I hope that you enjoy them and I hope that I can keep the momentum going.  Cheers, Steve

Our Cape Town Cottage

Here are some pictures of our cottage in Cape Town.  Address: 5 Stanley Road, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7700 SOUTH AFRICA.  Check it out on Google Maps.  Notice the UCT campus on the left-hand side of the map.

Here is our living room on our first morning in South Africa.  Still in our PJs at noon.  The furnishing are nice, if not a bit out-of-date, and poorly arranged, prompting Diana to rearrange the entire place.

A picture of the front door.  Gotta love the giant lion's head on the door!

Here is our entry way with the 4 gates to get in.  Not shown is the gate between the carport and the road.

Here is a picture up Stanley Road towards the university with Devil's Peak in the background.  Pretty amazing sight every morning.  Also a vigorous walk up the hill.  Building up those calf muscles :)

Here are some guinea-hens or pea-hens that roam the neighborhood.  Here they are in the park-area across the street from our cottage.

Here is a picture of Aaron hanging out on the living room floor.  Notice the space heater behind him.  The cottage has no central heat (or central air) and gets pretty cold at night, necessitating the heaters.

The Trip to Cape Town

We have arrived in Cape Town!  Here are some pictures from the 3-day trip.  Check out more pics on Facebook.

Our flight from Houston to Amsterdam went well.  Here we are ready to go!  There are a few perks to having a baby, like early boarding!

Aaron also got his own little bassinet to sleep in.  He wasn't crazy about it, mainly because he was almost too big for it, but did get quite a bit of sleep, unlike Mom and Dad who struggled to get comfortable.

We arrived in Amsterdam at 9 am local time (2 am Houston time) and were a bit groggy, but made it through customs fine (Aaron got his first passport stamp) and had to go to Odd-size baggage to pick up our stroller.  Diana particularly liked how the Dutch say Odd-size baggage :)  Good luck with the pronunciation.

We were able to stay with our friends the Parkers (missionaries in Amsterdam).  Here is Ashlie with Annabelle and Elijah at their front door.  They have a great three-story apartment west of downtown Amsterdam.  Check out their blog at: theparkersadventures.blogspot.com

Being good Dutch, we went for a bike ride.  They have these amazing bike with boxes on them (you can't really see the bike in this picture).  But it was great for Aaron who was strapped into a little seat and covered from the wind.  According to Chad, there are more bikes than people in the Netherlands.  The Parkers represented by having 8 bikes between the 5 of them!

I had the honor of driving Annabelle around with her doll, which she never dropped.

Chad had the other two kids, Elijah on front and Whit on the back.  Diana had it easy and was riding a bike by herself.  Of course, she did ride the box bike back from dinner, which looked like a lot of work.

We eventually got to our destination (after a few wrong turns), which was a Mexican restaurant.  The food was actually pretty good (for Dutch Mexican burritos).  No pictures of the food, but here is Annabelle and Whit loving on Aaron at the restaurant.

After a good night sleep in Amsterdam, we were back to the airport and back on the plane.  As you can see, Aaron is ready to go!  After breezing through luggage check-in in Houston, we were a bit worried about having to recheck our luggage in Amsterdam.  The lady at the counter was very nice, but strictly adhered to the 23 kg limit, forcing us to shift a few things into our carry-ons, but the real problem arose when she told we were not allowed to bring a stroller, a pack-n-play and a car-seat for Aaron.  After 30 minutes of discussion in Dutch with all of the nearby check-in attendants, the rules magically changed and everything was okay.

The 11.5 hour flight to Cape Town was long, but manageable.  Our plan was to stay awake the whole flight because it was daylight the whole way.  We left at 10:30 am and landed at 10 pm in the same time zone.  It gave us a chance to get caught up on the latest movies we had missed like Nanny McPhee 2, Ironman 2 and How to Train a Dragon.  All good movies.  Aaron, of course, slept and was the center of attention.  Once we landed and cleared customs, UCT spent a driver to pick us up.  Of course, had it get a picture of that.

Peterson Update: and the decision is ...

Here is an email that I sent out to our email list. Let me know if you want to be added to the list.

Greetings! This email is long over-due and I hope that the suspense hasn't been killing you :) So, our decision is (insert drum-roll here): Cape Town. We finally made the decision late last week after some long deliberation and a deadline extension from the University of Cape Town. Quite a bit of agonizing went into the decision (see blog for more details), but ultimately it was made quickly. I asked for a extension from UCT because I wanted to give the University of Nairobi more time. Turns out the Vice Chancellor had been out of town and wasn't available to make a decision until last week. So, late last week, I got an email from the Physics Chair at Nairobi telling me that the Vice Chancellor had decided to conduct a full interview process with multiple candidates. The Physics chair estimated that it would take two months for the whole process to play out. So, I told Nairobi that I couldn't wait that long and accepted the offer at Cape Town on May 7th.
So, now what? We finally get to start planning our future. Lots of details yet to be determined, but this is what I can tell you. My start date is Sept. 1st, and we would like to be there 1-2 weeks early to get settled, so we will try to move in mid August. It also means that one big headache is resolved, mainly getting our stuff moved, because UCT will hire a moving company to move us, which is awesome. It also sounds like I will get to start teaching right away, which I am excited about. UCT's second semester starts in July and ends in Nov, but the Physics Chair told me he is working on getting me some time in the classroom once I get there.
Well, that is it! The decision is finally made! Thank you so much for your prayers and we will keep you posted on our plans and the arrival of the new Peterson, Steve & Diana

The anatomy of a decision

As always, I delayed in writing this, but here it finally is. I wanted to blog/journal about the recent decision process of choosing between the job offer at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the potential offer at the University of Nairobi (UN). The benefits of each are outlined in previous postings, so I will not go there. What I want to talk about is what I learned/relearned about myself in this process.
My first confession is that I am not very good at making decisions. For those of who know me well, you know that this is true. I agonize over everything. Pretty sure that it will shorten my life. This decision was no different and there did not appear to be any clear leading towards one or the other. And when it boiled down to the moment of decision on April 30th, I couldn't do it. I asked UCT for a week extension and made a deal with God that if UN offered me a job during that week, that is where we were going. We'll never know if I would have keep that promise because the UN door was closed that week, ultimately making the decision straightforward, for which I am immensely grateful.
Now, my decision struggles was not something new, but as always my struggles brought me before God seeking guidance and direction. A couple of things that He pointed out to me is what I really want to share with you.
First, I have been listening to a book entitled Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell during my runs. Recently, I was listening to it and the author described having a breakdown in the midst of leading a wildly popular church. He visited a counselor and described that he was overwhelmed and wasn't sure why he was doing all of this. After talking through his problems for a while, the counselor pointed out that Rob was spending most of his time trying to please the people around him or being the "Super Pastor." The counselor reminded Rob that there is only one goal that he should pursuing: "to relentlessly pursue all that God had created him to be." Everything is secondary to that goal. As I thought about the decision that I was trying to make, who was I trying to please? I certainly wanted to help this guy in Nairobi. I wanted my friends and family to think that I was going to be a real missionary by going someplace more difficult, like Nairobi, instead a vacation spot, Cape Town. It just really made me stop and think about the motivations behind my indecision.
Second, I received the same Oswald Chambers post from two different people entitled The Graciousness of Uncertainty, which I am sure was not a coincidence. Oswald Chambers says things in a way that no one else can. The entire devotional is good, but what struck me was: "Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing," which is so true, but then he said: "We are not uncertain of God, but uncertain of what He is going to do next." Once again, I was struck by the misdirection of my focus. I was feeling like my/our entire future hinged on this one decision, but it wasn't true. God doesn't change and as long as I was focused on him and pursuing what He created me to be, the uncertainty in life would work itself out and could actually be exciting. Wow, now that is a concept!
Now, I can only hope that these ideas will stay with me as I continue to make decisions regarding our future (hopefully it will help to write it down). Just remember: I am striving to pursue what God created me to be and my focus is on God and not on the certainty surrounding me.

Peterson Update: the end is near?

Here is an email that I sent out to our email list this week. Let me know if you want to be added to the list.

Hello all, just wanted to give you the latest on the job search. Two weeks ago, I received via email an official job offer from the University of Cape Town, which is very exciting. They decided to open up a second experimental position and offer it to me. I think that their first offer to Andrew is still open, but he is wanting to delay it two years, presumably prompting the second offer. Anyway, they have given me 3 weeks to decide, which ends on April 30th.

In the meantime, I have been corresponding with the chair of the Physics Dept at the University of Nairobi and the process has been progressing and looks promising. The Physics Dept agreed to consider me for a Lecturer (professor) position and has submitted the request to the Principal (Dean of Science) who has in turn passed it on to the Vice Chancellor. So, we are now waiting to hear back from him.

These are both exciting possibilities and we are constantly weighing the options, Cape Town vs. Nairobi. Baring a huge breakdown in Nairobi, it looks like we will be making a decision this week about where we will be moving in August. We currently are unsure of where God is leading us to go, with both being very good options. Please pray with us this week as we consider the two locations and seek God's direction. We appreciate your support and will keep you posted, Steve & Diana

PS. Our baby has reached full-term! We just hit 37 weeks and are less then 3 weeks from the due date. It is hard to believe our baby is almost here. Pray for Diana and the baby as we near this amazing and slightly terrifying event. (And maybe pray a little for me too :)

Peterson Update: the Job Search Continues

Here is an email that I sent out to our email list last week.  Let me know if you want to be added to the list.

    Hello friends, I just wanted to give you an update on the job search.  There have been quite a few developments and we would love if you could pray with us as we wait and discern God's direction.  I also apologize for waiting so long to let you know what has been going on.
    First, the University of Cape Town (UCT) emailed me soon after I returned from South Africa, telling me that they had offered the position to another candidate.  I was discouraged when I heard this because I felt the interview went quite well.  Although, they did tell me that if this initial offer was declined, then they would extend the offer to me.  Now, four weeks later, the chair of the UCT Physics Dept. emailed me today informing me that they could possibly be extending me an offer in the next week or so.  This is exciting news, but is tempered slightly by another opportunity that we have been pursuing in Kenya.
    Second, the University of Nairobi (UN) became an exciting option a few weeks ago when my sister (Joy) contacted a missionary friend in Nairobi on my behalf to ask about connections to the university there, specifically in Physics.  She forwarded me the response she got, which read: the head of the Physics Dept at the University of Nairobi is in our REAL Group. His prayer request every week for over a year has been for the staffing shortage in his dept. He keeps trying to hire from everywhere, and business keep poaching his talent. Can I forward your email to him?  Needless to say, we just about jumped out of our skin because of this incredible connection that had been orchestrated by God.  In the midst of the disappointment from UCT, this was such great news and we immediately felt this is where God wanted us to go.  So, I contacted the chair of the Physics Dept. and sent him my CV.  He responded with a email saying that he has initiated the process to consider me for a position.  (I know, kind of cryptic, but really just academic talk for this might take a while).  Now, three weeks later, I am still waiting to hear more from UN and getting a bit concerned.
    Third, it looks like we will have an impending decision to make concerning the job at UCT and although Diana and I both want the security of knowing where we will be moving to, we want the assurance of knowing God's direction more.  We would ask for you to pray with us to seek what God's wants before our own wants and that his direction will be clear.  We appreciate your willingness to pray with us.  Sorry for the length and I promise to keep you posted more frequently.  Thank you, Steve & Diana Peterson

Trip to Cape Town: Day 6 (Thur, Feb 25)

Last day in Cape Town. The tentative plan was to try and hike up to the top of Table Mountain. Since our flight was at 3:50 pm, so we figured that we needed to leave around 7:00 am to walk up and down and get back in time to head to the airport and return the retnal cars. After some discussion, we decided that that was too early to get up, so we got together at 9:30 am and rode up the cabel car instead. The picture on the right is looking up to the top of the cable car and you can see that the clouds were rolling in from the back side of Table Mountain, so when we got up there, we could see too much. Here are some pictures of Cape Town from bottom of cable car.

I did take this cool video of the clouds rolling in. I sped up the video to make it go by a little faster.


And here is a video of a snake that we saw sitting on a rock on top of Table Mountain. He is not happy that we were watching him.


After heading back down, I got washed up and headed to the airport. The trip home was uneventful, but extremely long. Got to watch four movies on the way home (The Informant, 9, Duplicity, State of Play) and tried to sleep as much as possible. Happy to be home. Now we wait to hear back from UCT.

Trip to Cape Town: Day 5 (Wed, Feb 24)

My third full day in Cape Town started with another amazing breakfast (I skipped the run because my legs can't currently handle running on three consecutive days). After breakfast, I headed up to the UCT campus to use the internet and try to upload some pictures and videos. Turns out the campus internet is difficult to connect to and incredibly slow, so that did not work out so well.

The plan for the day was to tour iThemba LABS, the national cyclotron facility about 15 miles north on Cape Town. At 10:45, I headed down to meet Rudolph, one of the Physics lecturers, at teatime. After an interesting discussion about health care policies with some of the Physics faculty and students over tea and coffee, we headed out to iThemba. After a 20-25 minute drive, we arrived, stopped at the gate to get our passes and drove around this large building (picture above). The other thing that I noticed was the wildlife inside the compound. There were birds, gazelles (picture left, new movie studio in background) and even zebra just wandering around the buildings. Rudolph tells me that the animals are there to reassure the public that radiation is safe.

iThemba LABS (Laboratory for Accelerator-Based Sciences) has two basic operations and is split into two halves, a medical radiation half and Physics research half. The director of the medical radiation portion was going to be my tour guide for the day, but there was some problem with his son, so he was not able to come. Instead, Rudolph showed around until one of the Medical Physicists was able to take over. There is a hospital wing where patients could stay if necessary, a CT scanner to image the patients and find the tumors, a proton treatment room and a neutron treatment room. There was a patient undergoing neutron treatment while we were there. The facility was impressive, but clearly set up more for research than for clinical aesthetics. There was also an effort to build another proton treatment room, but had stalled due to a lack of funding.

Over lunch (toasted tomato and cheese sandwich), I found out that they were looking for a research Physicist with Monte Carlo experience (right up my alley minus the teaching). In the afternoon, we headed back to campus, but Rudolph wanted to show me another area university, where he used to teach, the University of the Western Cape. It also gave me a chance to see some of the area outside of the city of Cape Town. The drive made me feel like I was back in the Africa that I knew. Trash blowing across the road, "buses" stopping in the middle of the road to pick people up, dirt roads running through neighborhoods and barely-standing make-shift buildings. It was a reminder of the history of South Africa with apartheid. The racial barriers may be gone, but there is a still a clear 1st world feel to Cape Town contrasted by the 3rd feel of the surrounding areas. We arrived back at the UCT campus in time for tea. I ran into Will and we decided to head up to Table Mountain on our last day in Cape Town. More on that tomorrow.

Trip to Cape Town: Day 4 (Tues, Feb 23)

My post yesterday was a bit long, so I will try to keep it shorter today, so here is a quick video update with words to follow.



Day 4 started with another run, with another amazing view, but no snakes this time. During breakfast (passion fruit was added to the fruit bowl), I did Experiencing God Day 3 from Week 6 and it really helped me to realize that I need to not focus on my discouragement from yesterday, but instead to focus on the situation from God's perspective.

After breakfast, I was able to meet with the Relocation Coordinator and get an idea of moving costs (none since UCT will pay for it), the net salary and possible housing options (UCT have furnished apartments they rent out to new faculty until they find a place to live). I decided that I should head up to the campus much earlier today. On my way up, I was able to replace some of the pictures I tried to take on Sunday. I also took this video of campus and the rugby field in front of campus.



Once I got the Physics building, I was able to talk to Andy Buffler, one of the professors on the selection committee about the job (permanent, equivalent to tenure-track) and what the expectations are (half teaching, half research), which were questions that I have had since the beginning of the process. It was certainly nice to have a chance to have those answers. I also got a chance to visit a couple lectures and see the lecture halls. After tea-time, Will, a candidate from Ohio State University give his talk.

While the selection committee prepping for the interviews (all four 30+ min interviews in a row), we went to the UCT Club for lunch and had the buffet. Not American style, but South African style, which means you only get one trip and the food was kept warm in kettle pots sitting on large hot plates. The food was very good, and I had a chance to try a South African dish, Bobotie, which a mince-meat pie with an eggy, custard topping (picture). I thought that it was very good.

I was the third of four interviews, with the entire selection committee (12 in all) sitting in the room, waiting for me. Something that was interesting was that they all stood up when I entered the room. Very impressive. I felt like the interview went well. A lot of the questions were similar to the phone interview questions. I just tried to give honest answers and be myself. I was also able to stay relative clam and not nervous, which was good. Overall, a good feeling coming out. Ultimately, I think that the Selection Committee will just have to determine they want in a candidate. I feel like all of us did a good job, but we will just have to wait and see. I was told that a decision would be reached in a week or two, so now the waiting begins.

Okay, well, that ended up being kind of long. Oh well, time for bed.