Hostel, Omelets, and Journals

We went forward with the project this week. On Thursday we went into Khayelitsha and we were able to meet with almost 20 of the club members! We made them omelets to try and then told them how to make the omelets and how much it would cost to make per serving. They were really receptive to it and it looked like they really enjoyed it! We also were able to give the initial introduction survey to get a feel for how much people already knew about the South African dietary guidelines and how much they were already following it. We then were able to present the South African dietary guidelines through our translator. The reason we wanted to present the guidelines was to refresh the memory of those who were aware of them and to give the information to those who didn't know the guidelines. We believe that our goal is not to just give them a menu and to have them follow it; instead, our goal is to actually make them aware of their diet and how to change it so that they will be healthier. So we thought the first step in this is to make sure that everyone was aware of the dietary guidelines, how many fruits/vegetables/starches/etc they should be eating, what foods are in those categories, portion sizes, things to be wary of, and the importance of a diverse diet. The ladies were really receptive and our translator, although still very liberal with her translations, was helpful and included some anecdotes about what foods to wary of, like fizzy drinks/coke, that really helped the club members to understand what we were discussing. We had also wanted to present the menu to the club members this week, but the menu is still being reviewed by the dietician at the UWC. After revising it, we sent it to Thandi and from her suggestions made even more changes.

Though we did not present the menu on Thursday, we were able to tell them how we made the menu (their answers from the interview + the South African dietary guidelines) and about the journals. We bought the journals and pencils that when we do present the menu we will hand out to them so that they can write down if they were able to follow the menu, if they couldn't why not, what they liked about it or didn't like the menu, and just on a day to day basis how it was to follow the menu. Apart from the original surveys, the journals are the way that we are going to measure the success of the menu. The journals will be the best indicator of what worked and what didn't about the menu. So we really tried to impress upon them that when we do pass out the menu, that the journal is a really important part of following the menu. We figured that the more we mention the journals, the better it will be and then they know clearly what we want in the journal.

On a personal note, we love Cape Town but we are anxiously awaiting our safari! Both of us are just really excited about it and so the days seem to be creeping by a little slowly! Ha ha! It?s OK, but Cape Town has been beautiful this week. We also met up with the other Duke Engage group that is here doing a project on recording the memories of the anti-apartheid movement and service projects. It has been really nice to meet up with them and it's amazing because it has made us realize a few things. First, how far we've come since our first days in Cape Town! We just feel so comfortable here and we know our ways around really well! We're both very happy that our group is so small. We like the fact that we have each other but we also like the fact that we can't just shut our selves off to the rest of Cape Town and we are able to easily socialize with people from all over. We also feel lucky to be staying in the hostel! In case you haven't noticed, we LOVE our hostel! It was probably the best decision we made! We feel that staying in the hostel and being in a smaller group has allowed us to really experience Cape Town.