I thought I would send one more quick note before I take off for Lesotho today. I don’t know what my internet access will be there so this may be the last time you hear from me for awhile!
Yesterday was yet another highlight in my short stay in Cape Town. A group of us from my hostel went on a tour of Imazabulyu, a black township south of Cape Town whose name is the Xhosa word for “of our collective efforts” an interesting name for a shanty town. The name relates to the struggle that the people of this town have had to wage over a number of years to get this land set aside for them. They had been previously in a location that more degredated with no running water or electricity. However through their collective efforts they have been able to secure these basic amenities.
We are all pretty accustomed to seeing pictures of shanty towns of third world countries on the TV, but to come face to face with it is another story. We were a bit of an odd sight I’m sure…a van load of white people entering a community where white people rarely tread. However, these tours occur once or twice a week, so I guess the locals are becoming somewhat accustomed to it even if they still stare.
We had a local guide who is a social worker in the community.
She is fortunate that her position and better income allow her to live in one of the few real houses in the community (very small 2 or 3 bedroom cinderblock structures with windows and walls inside). Ninety percent of the other houses were shacks ranging from flimsy to utterly dilapidated.
Our guide, Nomashlubi, took us around on a walking tour of the community. We met a couple of artisans, who are coping with very high unemployment by finding other sources of income. Some make greeting cards and sell them to the tourists, others sell fruits and vegetables outside their homes. We went to a mosaic workshop inside the local church. They do fantastic work and are slowly covering the front facade of their makeshift church with gorgeous mosaics made of mirror, glass and tile. In such a harsh environment, creativity abounds and certainly takes the edge off.
Walking around the community was at times uncomfortable but always interesting. The children often run around in the streets in barefeet through the dirt and puddles found in the ruts in the road. But their presence helped take away the culture shock, as they waved to us, approached us and let us take their picture. These kids are on the ball though.
As soon as they got their picture taken, they wanted to look at the back of the (digital) camera to see their image. Then they wanted another picture taken! They’re absolutely adorable. And despite the chaotic environment of the community, the kids are extremely polite and well behaved. The older ones can speak some English as all kids in the community will learn Xhosa, English and Africaans in school. Usually they say hello in Xhosa (Molah) or they say “Abeluyu” meaning “white people!” Very cute. See?
We visited a traditional healer who was very interested when I told her we have traditional Aboriginal healers in Canada. I told her I wished I knew more about Aboriginal healers so that we could have shared information on the subject.
Virtually all of the people we spoke with were women or children. Most of the men seemed involved in other activities like fixing cars, sleeping and drinking – interesting how things don’t change that much from one part of the world to another. Men tended to be a little more suspicious of us but I made an effort to wave and say hello all the same.
While the better parts of the shanty town had paved roads, other parts did not. And what roads they had were heaved from heavy rain storms which is eroding the soil away. The most appauling conditions were found in the back part of the community where shacks were constructed without roads, water, electricity or sewage for the more recent arrivals coming from Zimbabwe, Zambia and as far away as Tanzania for a chance for better opporuntities in South Africa. We didn’t visit these but it was hard to believe that people lived in them.
sedativegunk 