More on Distillation

It came to my attention that I have made many posts about issues with South Africa’s water, and social struggles, but none on the process of water distillation. We, (Owen and Ed) plan to create a functional prototype of a distillation plant that can be used in rural areas of the country where access to potable water is needed. This site proved to be helpful in finding information.

Distillation works by changing the state of water form a liquid into a gas. The gas is then collected and condensed into water. The process of condensation is the cooling of a gas to change its state into a liquid. When the state of the water is changed impurities such as salt and other minerals whose boiling point is higher than water are left behind. Furthermore, the water molecule is split from disease and other organisms, and all of the dissolved solids are left behind. This makes the process ideal in an area, like South Africa where water born illnesses are prevalent.

South Africa Today

In my previous blog posts, I have spoke to the history of South Africa, about its water crisis, and its history of discrimination. Through this blog post, I will update on the current state of South Africa, seeing that they recently had an election. Through this article, we will explore how the South Africa may change as we know it.

Just last week the president of South Africa was overthrown and replaced by a new radical leader. Kgalema Motlanthe replaced Thabo Mbeki, the previous leader of South Africa. This concerns many people considering that the new president has had a history of disliking capitalism, and supporting communist ideals, this sent a shockwave through South Africa’s new middle class.

Some of the other post apartheid issues South Africa is facing is that most educated people are leaving the country, in what is being referred to as a brain drain. Furthermore, crime, and robberies are on the rise. Nevertheless, it’s not all gloom, South Africa is enjoying an amazing 3% economic growth, furthermore South Africa is building infrastructure to hold an international sports competition in 2010.

Response to Owen's Blog

This is a post concerning a post made by my project partner, Owen on his blog. He made this post on Wednesday, the 17th , stating that he had found a good source that displays a timeline of Major events in South African history prior to 1910.

After reading the article, I have to agree with him in the sense that it is very detailed and provides good information about South Africa. This data is presented in an easy to read manner, which omits useless information. Therefore, most likely this source will be used for the movie scrip that I have created. Furthermore if you are interested in more information about South Africa please check out Edmund’s blog.

Social Inequality in South Africa Today

I found a great source that documents some of the existing Social inequalities in South Africa.

For instance, it speaks to how the black schools are more ill equipped to teach children, whereas the white schools are more equipped, and funded. Interestingly enough this relates to a point, that Erin, our interviewee made, that in order to get out of poverty you need to be educated. In addition, this article states that the government is not providing black schools what is necessary for success. One may make the connection that the government is intentionally stifling black children by not educating them.

Furthermore, the geographical distribution of blacks and whites is still in an apartheid era. As you read earlier the South African government intentionally placed blacks and whites in different neighborhoods, and to this day, the landscape looks similar. The author of the article goes onto say, “townships still make social mobility a formidable task”

Though a good source the author displays a clear slant where he states, “it is quite clear that South Africa benefits from its Social Inequality.” He goes on to rationalize this by saying that the government preys on the cheap labor provided by the impoverished blacks. The author suggests that to solve the problem massive government projects must happen in order to increase literacy, and to redistribute the blacks over the city.

I found this source to be helpful, but must take it information with the slant. Therefore, I must be careful if I am to make a direct quote for my movie script.

Brown, Michal. 19 Sept. 2004. 20 Sept. 2008 .

Interview Reflection

We meet our interviewee at the Living Room coffee shop in Point Loma last Monday, the 8th. Erin promptly arrived, we got our coffee and sat down. It was an awkward setting , a busy street was behind us. However, nothing was awkward about the interview, Erin was forthcoming and very insightful.

Erin grew up in Cape Town, a city in South Africa about the size of San Diego. He grew up with his mom, and his sister. His parents were divorced so he did not see his dad too much. Erin’s parents were not of the same race, which means that Erin is colored, colored people make up a majority of South Africa’s population.

Throughout the interview I was repeatedly struck by such meaningful quotes like ,“Education is the most important”, and, “You can never fail, you only learn.” Such quotes are ones that inspire, but these coming from a twenty something are unexpected. Furthermore, I was amazed that he could overcome such discrimination to become more educated. Erin was the only colored person in his class.

Erin said that his life changed with his first trip to the United States in 2003. He liked the United States so much that he returned to snow board at Lake Tahoe in 2004. After that, he moved to San Francisco, then San Diego. Erin found that traveling really changed his life; he told us multiple times that any opportunity to travel should be seized.

I found that not only was the interview process fun and exciting but also provided me with more knowledge about other cultures and exposed me to other’s experiences. Now that I have completed the interview I feel that I have taken away so much, like education and travel are the best ways to expand your horizons. The process felt very natural because it was more like a conversation. Initially I was nervous, but eventually I became comfortable with the conversation. To a point, it became almost comical, because that for every question Erin answered it seemed that two more questions came into my head.

In conclusion, I feel that I learned a lot in not only content, but also about the interview process. I also found that the interview yielded a significant amount of useful information. The interview information proved to be unique, because it was something that you could not find in a textbook or on the internet. The process was so fun, and effective that I may use it in other projects throughout my time at High Tech High.

Computers and South Africa

The Use of Computer to Support Oppression

· Computers helped the whites control better
· UN arms trade embargos to South Africa
· Even though embargo was in place American computers made it through
· The computers played more than a support role, the country was dependant on them
· Used in all departments from military to police
· First computer to South Africa was in 1952
· In 1955 South Africa used computers to enforce the pass system
· In 1970 South Africa had 400 computer with a total value of more than $100 million
· Grew to 4,500 computers in 1982
· In 1977 only the U.S. and Britain spent more percentage of gross national product than South Africa
· More than 95% of South African computers were imported
· Most computers sold to South Africa were by U.S. companies
· This was against U.S. law
· IBM was a major component in South Africa’s computer market
· IBM South Africa sales rose 250% in 1978
· IBM sales to South Africa were about $300 million a year in 1982
· IBM had 1,500 workers in South Africa, but less than 20% of them were Black or Asian
· IBM knew that their products were being used to infringe on human rights, but denied the claims to the international community
· Computers tracked the passbooks of more than 25 million black South Africans.
· IBM computers track the personal information of more than 7 million colored people
· Such information was kept like fingerprints, photos, place of work, and marital status
· Fingerprints used to link colored and black people to crime
· City planning software was used to design black townships, but the townships were designed to allow the most effective way for the police to invade
· Military used computers for most tasks
· Military had a shortage of personal because only whites could serve
· U.S. exported computers for the purpose of “inventory maintenance”


Allen, Robert, Tove Martin, Deepak Gupta, Cale Carter, and Monal Chokshi. "Apartheid Regime in South Africa." Spring 1995. Stanford. 14 Sept. 2008 .

Water in South Africa

Water in South Africa:
• Women collecting water for basic needs can be killed by crocodiles
• 12 million people in South Africa lack access to potable water
• 24 million lack basic sanitation
• Children miss school because they are ill from contaminated water
• The lack of sanitation is a contributing factor to water pollution
• Whites have preference when water is scarce
• While lawns are being watered, black communities are in drought

Laws have been enacted to:
• Ensure that every south African has access to 25 liters of fresh water a day (6 gal)
• This source of water must be within 200 meters of their home
• Repeal the laws that allow whites preference when water is scarce
• Charging people who use water for non-basic needs twice as much

Haffajee, Ferial. "South Africa: water for everyone." 13 Sept. 2008 .