I want run around Cape Town wearing a t-shirt with an American flag on it or big "USA" print. It's a different feeling being abroad and feeling proud to be an American. Due to seven hour time difference from the east coast, I had to stay up most of the night to watch the results. Every minute was worth it. I am so proud to be an American.
I have fallen terribly behind in my updates and comments. I was in Durban for a week. I visited a game reserve/national park. I stayed with a Afrikaner family in Stellenbosch for week. And now I am staying in the final homestay in a muslim and coloured neighborhood of Cape Town. The Bo Kaap, as this area is calledis, like all the other communities we've visited, completely unique and vastly different from any of the others.
There is so much to tell about all of the above-mentioned areas so I will start from the beginning.
I did not like Durban. Maybe wench manager of the hostel had something to do with it or my already established Cape Town preference, I don't know. I found the city to be at the same time overwhelming and boring. It is so different form Cape Town specifically because the two major groups are not represented in CT at all. Zulus and Indians are the major ethnic classifications and we studied in particular Indian identity and how notions of indianness and south africanness are transpiring. We visited a hindu temple, the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere, talked with university students about identity, traveled around Chatsworth, a big Indian township, went out in all white neighborhoods and repeatedly ate the spiciest food I've ever had.
Then I went north to Umfolozi national park where we lounged around and went on a morning safari. We saw hippos, crocodiles, eagles, impalas, inyalas (kind of like an elk), wildebeests, water buffalo, rhinos, giraffes, zebras and some others. it was great.
Onto Stellenbosch... I think this portion of the trip was one of the most interesting intellectually. Through lectures and less formal discussions with professors from Stellenbosch University and community members we talked about guilt, memory, history, responsibly, morality and language. It was fascinating and eye opening. my view on this community (Afrikaners as a whole), who are almost exclusively blamed for the horrors and evils of aparthied are far from formed but talking about these issues made the situation all the more complex. they are not some enormous homogeneous guilty party but many of them are not sorry and that makes it hard to see them differently. Michael ( a fellow SIT student) and I stayed with an extraordinary family who graciously welcomed us into their home, their lives and every part of that experience was terrific. I could not have hoped for a more welcoming and generous and funny family. We partied in the town with university students, we hiked the surrounding mountains (which are enormous--I had no idea there would be mountains like that here), went to a very different church where I saw people being "saved" for the first time, tasted great wines, drank lots of terrible wine, and generally enjoyed our time with the family very much.
Now that I am back in Cape Town, staying with the Booley family in the Bo Kaap, I feel at home in the city once again. I am beginning to navigate it more easily, getting to know where good restaurants and shops are, where neat neighborhoods are located and parts of the city that are not so cool as well. This is one of the coolest, most interesting urban areas I have ever seen. Largely the decedents of slaves from malaysia and indonesia and east africa, the resident here are mostly muslim and maybe fifteen mosques are around this compact neighborhood. the old cobble stone streets and distinctive brightly painted homes gives this place a unique feel.
I am moving into a flat in a nice residential neighborhood on friday and excited for some independence and to begin/further my research project.
We are staying now, at a place called buccaneers. the place is sort of a resort on the backpackers scale and had unbelievable access to the beach and indian ocean and the rough scrubby--at times almost jungly--land that is largely undeveloped around here, hence the name "wild coast." also when we were driving we spotted zebras, antelope, ostriches and impalas. it is pretty cool to see these animals while driving along the highway, not in a park or zoo. the "resort"/backpackers is super plush and an extreme roundabout from Dongwe and the rural village home-stay. sand and sea replace dust. zebras instead of goats, cows, chickens and geese. white european backpackers instead of only-Xhosa speaking farmers and old mamas and throngs of young kids begging for attention. Everywhere in Dongwe and Chabo young boys and girls search for eye contact as we walked on the dusty roads or sat in the church pews. Mostly because we were white and very obviously not from round there, kids gravitated to us. many times we would be playing with several kids, our bhutis and sisis, and in fifteen minutes,15 to 20 neighborhood kids would be around and eager to play cards, sing and dance, play running games, anything really.
last night ten of us played football on the beach. nate correctly summarized the event saying it was one of those events we'll remember when we're fifty. as the sun went down and we were all ecstatic to have conveyances of flush toilets, showers, etc and we laughed and ran around like little kids. After some relaxing and quite a bit of surfing (i actually got up a bunch of time and had so much, way more than i expected) we left for durban. the drive was long--several hundred km--and hot and a beautiful mix of scenery. from the eastern cape to kwazulu-natal the lands scape changes and the population slowly transition from Xhosas to Zulus. In durban, where we just arrived, we are studying Indian identity and the this unique area because of its enormous indian population.
today we woke up, had soupy maize meal porridge (surprisingly very good with lots of sugar and milk), bathed in a wash basin with my brand new host brother and then trekked back up to the high school in chabo 2. Mr. Yako answered some questions ( for instance: "why is it called chabo 2?" "Because it was created after Chabo 1 and before chabo 3." or "What is the young male initiation practice this area is famous for and how is it incorporated into life today?" answer: "young men (around 18 or 20) go into the bush and are circumcised and lots of other rituals and customs follow") before we descended upon, all 20 of us, a ceremony of sorts back in bongwe. surrounding the ancestral tribute and slaughtering, the extended family and gerenall the whole neighborhood comes over and celebrates, performs rituals, sings, drinks heavily and eats lots and lots of meat. the slaughtered animal (ox i think in our case) is crucial and central to the proceedings. it was unbelievable to witness as visitors this rather common ceremony/party and be welcomed into this new town. People whether they be drunk men and old grandmas shook our hands many times, welcomed us, spoke paragraphs worth of Xhosa--none of which i understood-- and made me feel not quite so awkward watching this special event. the meat aspect of the event was hard to get over and i feel not too squeamish around meat especially after last summer's nz experience, but just tons of meat all over the place, no clean surfaces or even care and open fires and dirt and cow dung everywhere. side note... much of the ceremony took place inside the kraal where the cows are kept. only men went into the kraal for the most part and the women all sat aside. the ceremony was extremely gendered in every detail, women on the right of the round building where the actually communication wiht ancestors took place and men on the left. everyone was drinking Xhosa beer, which i drank quite a bit of since it was constantly being offered, but cannot describe --it does not taste like beer as we think if it at all.
after our visit we chatted excitedly about we had seen and went our separate ways back to our host families. Quite an exciting/mind blowing first day in rural village life. the night was pretty low key and after a traditional dinner of boiled chicken, samp and spinach/potato combo, and some more prayers we went to bed.
It has been a while since I last updated this, so there is a lot to tell.
On Robben Island, most of the tour guides are former political prisoner inhabitants of the island. Our guide was a high ranking member of the military wing of the ANC and is credited with blowing up a huge federal building in jo-burg--50 something casualties, but no deaths. The man was tortured, his family harassed, his father was even shot by security police during his 18 years on Robben Island. Unlike any other "tour guide" I could imagine, he offered very personal insight and made the experience all the more worthwhile and extraordinary. For instance while explaining smuggling methods, he would casually include that he used to stand guard in the doorway we had just walked through; or when visiting a cell block, he chose to show us his and pointed out the bed he used for almost two decades. It was a really unbelievable experience. On a very different note, on the ferry I saw whales breaching and hundreds of seals.
The next weekend we went to the Cape of Good Hope and hiked around the national park, saw ostriches, spotted whales from high up on the cliffs, small fury lemming-like creatures called hyraxes, springboks (type of antelope/deer), and some geckos. The seaside communities are old seafaring towns and are almost entirely English-Whites. Simon's Town, where we stayed, seemed like an old seaport in the U.K. more than a cape Town suburb. Also there is a penguin colony, the small penguins travel in groups of 300 and smell terrible but their awkward movement makes everyone laugh.
NGO Day: The group split up and went to a variety of NGOs ranging from trauma centers, peace and memory counseling centers, a women and child home. I went to a organization that facilitates workshops between people from lots of backgrounds that focuses on memory and the importance of sharing as a method for healing, sort of like a mini Truth and Reconciliation Commission on a lower level. No amnesty or blame is granted or attributed it is is just for sharing. I also went to an organization called, "Hoops 4 Hope." the organization is a partner with the NBA and brings famous basketball stars to Southern Africa and organizes almost daily basketball practices in conjunction with education about HIV/Aids, nutrition, risk, crime, etc. the Hoops 4 Hope organization was especially moving. We went to one of the sessions/practices in Nyanga/Philili, a much more impoverished township than Langa to observe and to play with the kids. Donated sneakers and jerseys are prized among the kids and their basketball skills and passion for the sport were surprising, basketball is not that big here. great day, a break from classes and got to pay for hours with kids.
What else is new...I am partially looking forward to leaving this friday for the Eastern Cape and eventually KwaZulu-Natal (Durban and game park), but will miss the comfort and relaxing home I have grown to feel comfortable in. Watching movies and chatting with my brothers, I've picked up on innumerable things that clash, coincide and shock with my own culture. My mama and her openness amazes me most days and her willingness to translate all of her conversations with her friends ( even when it is really just neighborhood gossip, or something else that i don't even understand) into english so that I can follow along is just one example of her kindness. We fly early friday am to begin an other homestay in a much more rural setting and experience more traditional and conservative Xhosa life.
I won't have internet in the E. Cape and it will be intermittent for the next couple of weeks but i am sure there will be heaps to share so I will work to write it down and share later.
I am trying , at least a little, to remain up to date with the election buzz and the crazy economy. If one just looked at SA and USA one would get a terrible idea of what economy and politics are like in this transformative time. The political situation is dire here. Especially among academics and progressives, people are not pleased about Zuma's rise and the kicking out of Mbeki, who really wasn't that great anyhow. None of the option are good here and people are frustrated by their lack of say and the criminals that rule (they may have been elected but they still rule, not lead) this country. it is depressing to hear about the dissatisfaction and apathy among young people. my brothers, who feel that yes, the leaders were great in the war/struggle but they have since turned into criminals and terrible leaders but the system doesn't allow change, or at least discourages ongoing reforms.
Okay, that's enough. Hope you all are happy and well and that you vote for Obama. The polls show that the race is super close in a lot of areas in the US, but in SA and the whole world (I think) it is not even close.
Clifton and Camps Bay--a beach day
For sure one of the best days i've had in this amazing country. Cape Town is one of the top three "best tourism cities" in the world, at least that's what they say. after today i am a true believer, especially if you can afford to party and live in high society. only about fifteen minutes outside the city center, the opposite side as langa and the cape flats, there are several extremely high end/posh beach towns that just roll in the wealth of international business and fashion. ferraris and lambarginis can be spotted amongst the villas and beach-side town houses. pictures i've seen of the Mediterranean coast or the hamptons come into mind at first, but the backdrop here is much more spectacular (on this side of the peninsula the enormous cliffs of table mountain go right into the sea and small developments of fancy homes and stylish cafes are perched between hillside and ocean. The ocean is a bright vivid blue and the sand is white. beautiful people bring their children, their skimpy bathing suits and champagne to the beach and lounge near the surf. (note: i actually saw several different parties with coolers filled with bottles of champagne and glass flutes to go and even one of those stands to hold ice you see at classy restaurants) At camps bay (one of the bigger small beach communities), snazzy cafes turn into snazzy bars and night clubs as the happy hour beigins. designer sunglasses, designer shoes, designer hand bags with matching designer bathing suits, designer fucking everyhting. everyone looks like a model or at least looks like they spend enough to be famous person. i guess these types of places exist in other parts of the world, but i've never seen anything quite like this. oh, almost, almost everyone is White.
after two seven rand (about 8 rand to one US dollar) mini bus rides i am back home with my host mother in Langa. These two worlds are separated by less than two american dollars in transportation costs. By the time we got home, around 6, it was getting darkish and I felt for the first time that day insecure--worried about where my wallet was or the wealth my clothes and color of my skin represented. not once while at camps bay, or walking through the shops at any of the overwhelmingly SA white and european dominated beach communities did i feel at all nervous.
This week is pretty exciting. On thursday we are going to Robben Island, the infamous prison island where Mandela, Mbeki, and many others were kept for decades. I am excited about going out on the ferry and getting out into the ocean. Then on friday we spend the morning in a local school. we are all split up, some go to former white-only private schools, others to townships. i think it is going to be very interesting. then friday evening we are taking the train to Simonstown, on the cape peninsula and to spend the weekend exploring the Cape of Good Hope. I am excited.
the actual "bar" aspect of tiger's is more a liquor store than anything else. little attention has been given to the decor and other than alcohol there are no other amenities other than some plastic chairs, one sofa and a tv. there are no mixed drinks or cocktails sold, rather one can buy a bottle of hard alcohol and a bottle of soda to go with it. there are several young women working behind the counter, of course guarded by a wire grate that only allows the simple exchange of money for booze through a slot. one can also buy potato chips. beer cost 7 rand (less than one dollar) no matter the brand and i don't know how much the hard stuff costs but it's super cheap and comes in bottle as big as fifths. most nights a patron takes the initiative to park close to the 'bar' and play music from his car. everybody was drunk and loud. mostly men and according to our guide/firend Vuyoo, tiger's is the place for the Langa elite--professionals and people that roll with that crowd.
during the earlier part of the evening the attached butcher shop sells meat and there is a communal brai place and people, even some families, brai and drink and have a great time. at night though it is mostly men and much more rambunctious. brais (barbecues basically) is the one national past time in this country that everyone, white, black, etc. enjoy equally.
At tiger's people immediately strike up conversation. possibly as result of the immense amount of booze but also the friendly and exuberant atmosphere of the weekend here in the township. going out in town (cape town city) people are always surprised to hear that me a white kid, is staying in Langa, usually they laugh and give me a hard time, a couple times they think i am lying and seem upset that i would joke about that. people at tiger's were excited to share their local tavern with us, people repeatedly told me that more people should come see the township and experience what it has to offer. i was also warned by one nice gentlemen wearing a straw fedora, pin-striped slacks and and what looked like white alligator leather shoes, that it was good to see me in Langa, but that i should not go to any of the other townships. I have experienced quite a bit of competition and pride in Langa. I think especially because Langa is relatively safe and as the nice man warned, if i went to Gugulethu or kahyelitche i would get stabbed, then robbed.
interesting side note... kahyelitche is mostly an informal settlement (very different than a township, although many townships have informal parts) about 30 km outside of the city center (way past langa) and because it is informal (i.e. lots of shacks and no designated streets) nobody really knows how many people live there. some estimates are around 1 million people!!! it is one of the most famous, largest, dangerous places in South Africa. it gets a lot of attention for being dangerous but supposedly really isn't that bad, just over crowded and poor. a lot of the xenoph
obic attacks last spring and this summer occurred there.
I have also ben to a couple other establishment including a couple of informal drinking places or shabeens. for instance, one of these locales was pretty much a friend of one of my brothers selling beer from his fridge in his living room.
By comparing two outings --Friday night in the township at Tiger's and then Saturday in Clifton and Camps Bay--I feel like i've seen such contrast that most people in both communities rarely see. perhaps that is not entirely true...township residents are often confronted with glamour and wealth of their white neighbors and beautiful beaches where they live, but the europeans and white SAs almost never go to the townships.
I go to school in Rondebosch--a wealthy formally only white suburb of Cape Town. Langa, where the group of us live with our host families, is only about ten/twenty minutes away but separated by race, wealth and decades of institutionalized seclusion.
The main village of Rondebosch has every imaginable convenience. multiply pizza places, tons of other restaurants and a Woolworth's ( the sign of true class in this country). it feels like a nice college town. it is a college town i guess with University of Cape Town real close and mostly white and wealthy.
We commute each morning from our host families in Langa to Rondebosch and only go "home" again in the evening. Even in only a few days I have grown accustomed to the rhythm and simplicity of the day. In the evening before and after we eat dinner we watch TV. actually the TV is always on. Soaps are big here as are horrible American reality television shows like fear factor and survivor. i've watched more tv here than i did at home all summer. I usually do my kindergarten Xhosa homework in front of the television set while my mama and brother Lwnazi watch and occasionally correct my pronunciation. We've got a pretty good thing here...
When I went to my mama's sister's home for lunch after Church last sunday, my mama informed me that "we black people don't need to call ahead, we just go." people stop by quite often just to say hi or to stay and chat. little kids/neighbors occasionally receive something to eat or have a request, but mostly the neighborhood women just walk around and visit. men also visit with each other, but the ratio of men to women is so disproportionate in favor of more old women that i rarely see the old guys. the matriarchal society is constantly visible. women are surely the leaders among families and I keep on being told that incase you don't feel safe or need directions or whatever, search out the biggest, oldest women you can find. it's really different to experience a society where women are more justly given weight in terms of responsibility and status.
Exploring Langa even a little I've been able to see where a bunch of the other students live with their host families and and the breadth of housing situations in this township. I've walked past and through informal settlements of varying levels of resources. some are the hyper-typical shacks that people often see on CNN and other images of poor countries and some are long established squatter communities. there are also gov't supplied housing projects that are way over -crowded and beat up. both of which are very different from where i am living although technically in the same township. it made me really uncomfortable to be in a group of mostly white kids, all wealthy and look at these people living in poverty, like extreme poverty. many of them live in shacks and have poor (at best) access to toilets and water. i thought it was weird but people often welcomed us into their homes and were willing to share about themselves, their ambitions, their disappointments, etc..it was eye opening and hard to deal with at the same time. there are heaps of ethical dilemmas here. for instance, we want to see poor communities, not to just point and be amazed but to understand and maybe help somehow but i think it easily comes off as a zoo visitor-animal relationship that is terrible. I don't know exactly how to deal with being exposed to such utter destitution and knowing that they are looking at me and I am looking at them and both of us don't understand anything. like i said, it made me uncomfortable.
Kokolethu township and Church
After a relaxing morning and a nice break from the commotion of living with twenty excited college students, my mama and i ventured to her church. to catch a minibus we walked a few blocks to a bus station of sorts. Ten minutes or so into our packed ride, a traffic police stopped the vehicle on the premise (i think) that it was a piece of shit. some fellow van riders immediately decided to walk from there, we too a few minutes and watched the driver get a resounding yelling at and i think a fine. all very exciting.
The service was enjoyable to watch although exclusively in Xhosa. Much dancing, swaying and singing as well as several hell fire sermons and readings from brothers and sisters of the Church. the singing was really good and quite awesome to listen to. Presbyterian. my mama works with a bunch of other women to organize a soup kitchen and she had a meeting after the service ended at which point i made awkward conversation and enjoyed tea and cake, all a around an excellent activity.
We caught a small taxi (note: small taxis are even worse than the minibus taxis and are in fact just beat up cars with no markings and rarely licenses) to my aunts home where we had lunch and watched tv. at one point my aunt's son and his friend (each about 13 or 14) went out to get some food. they came back with wrapped up pile of chicken feet. once seeing my response after being offered the snack they cracked up understandably. i probably should have tried one but couldn't bring my self to do it.
met up with a few other american students and walked around with a sister for a while stopping at each others' host houses. fun to see how everyone else was living, pretty similar. very middle class neighborhood, most are professionals, retired school teachers (like mama khaya), etc...
Driving around in the various taxis i begin to understand the levels/variable demographics of the townships in this area. a township is not synonymous with slum. although people living and suffering from extreme poverty are present, there are also places such as where i live, where it feels like a regular working/pleasent neighborhood. the streets are mostly paved and the curbs look new and intact. a couple homes on every block have cars in the drive way or parked out front, sometimes there are even nice new cars and well maintained facades on the houses. homes are simple yet some extravagances and money are often visible once inside. televisions, sound systems, kitchen ware and furniture mark the levels of expendable income.
there are areas that do not feel like that. not at all.
Life in the township is surprisingly similar to the movie friday( although the music has changed some). Lil' Wayne, T.I. and other popular American hip hop artists blares through the streets, especially at night. I spent the first evening here walking from home to home with my "moma" visiting her friends and generally just enjoying a little of the night energy. children run sporadically amongst teenage groups of flirty boys and girls. young men in their twenties carefully select their path through the dominant matriarchs who not only nurtured them before they were "tough" but continue to be skeptical of their every move. People are friendly and loud. Mamas yell across the street and laugh heartily at every response.
Mama Khaya and I walked into an informal drinking place (during apartheid they were called shabeens and were very illegal) where we met middle aged men drinking heavily and joked with me about why a white kid was in the township.
My friend Maureen is also staying with a family just around the block and for a minute my moma and I chatted with her and her hosts.
I spent the afternoon hanging out with my two host brothers. One 25 the other 24. we spoke about music and the deficiencies of new hip hop artists especially Lil' Wayne as well as the upcoming U.S. election and the merit s of Barack Obama. The boys were mildly interested in me but were in every way kind and repeatedly assured me that I would grow to feel more comfortable communicating and living in Langa. It is going to be great having those guys around to give me a different perspective of the township than Mama.
