Goeiedag (‘good day’ in Afrikaans)! I have enjoyed myself immensely this past week in Cape Town – it is such a relief to feel right back on track after last week’s minor setback.
I finalized my plans for Spring Break, which is already less than a month away! I will be flying with a few friends to Johannesburg where we will depart on a 10-day tour through Botswana (safari!) up to Victoria Falls in Zambia (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world!). I cannot wait to see more of what Africa has to offer – and what a relief to know the trip will be planned out for me. If you can’t tell, I’m very excited!
As for Cape Town, the wonderful thing about this place is that it is incredibly easy to find something fun to do. You can hike the mountains, swim at the beaches (or lay in the sand), visit the museums (admission is usually under $2), go shopping on Long Street or at the markets, explore the sights, etc. This weekend, I decided to go hiking – without any particular plans, my friends and I simply walked behind UCT’s campus and picked a path. As we were walking, we stumbled upon the Cecil Rhodes Memorial, which gave us a beautiful view of our side of the mountain – I was hoping to see some zebra since there is a breeding ground nearby, but unfortunately they were nowhere in sight. Continuing to follow the path, we found ourselves to be walking around the mountain (still elevated above the city). To give an idea of the geography, UCT is on the inland-facing side of the mountain – I have to travel around the mountain to go to the beach and downtown (about a 10 minute drive from UCT). Well, we ended up hiking all the way to downtown in 2 ½ hours! It was such a spectacular sight to come around the bend of the mountain and see the sun sparkling on the blue-green water and the tablecloth of white clouds covering the top of Table Mountain. The weirdest part is that when we left UCT, the weather was gray and damp, but when we got to the other side, it was beautiful and sunny. This is very typical in Cape Town – the weather simply depends on which side of the mountain you are standing.
On Saturday, CIEE took everyone to Stellenbosch for wine-tasting, but unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to go because I was required attend a volunteer training for SHAWCO (more about this below). After training, I went with two friends to the Bo-Kaap Museum and to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (a popular tourist destination that I had not yet visited). The Waterfront was very exciting – a seal even jumped onto the docks while we were there! As I sat on the docks overlooking the water, I enjoyed the performances of such impressive African dancers and musicians in full costume. While watching, I suddenly felt so disappointment in the U.S. as I realized the lack of ‘culture’ back home. The people here have such pride in their cultural traditions – it is so fulfilling and fun to watch. I love learning about and witnessing these traditions, but each time I do, I find myself wishing more and more that I would no longer be an outsider to this way of life.
My cultural experience continued into Sunday as Thapz and Lindizwe brought their houses (24 of us squished into one minivan!) to a braii at Mazoli’s in the township of Guguletu. This was my first time visiting a township, as we are never supposed to go without someone who knows the area. I couldn’t believe how ‘full of life’ the township was – small businesses were open, people were out in the streets, music was playing, children were running around. Mazoli’s, which is outside, was packed with people jumping on the opportunity to find a table and chairs. Basically, you pick the type of meat you want and they cook it for you – we ordered over 10 pounds of chicken, lamb, and sausage for only 30 Rand ($4!) per person. While waiting to get our food, which took approximately 1 ½ hours, everyone walked down the street to the local liquor store to buy some beer to bring back to the table. While walking, I couldn’t help but stare at the shacks that surrounded the place. Despite the conditions that the people were living in, most people seemed relatively happy and there seemed to be a strong sense of community. The food itself was delicious! – the meat came to the table in a huge bowl and we all stood around the table inhaling it (we did not have any utensils or plates). The bowl was clean in 4 minutes! All of our hands and faces were covered in sauce – luckily we were given a communal wet rag to clean up. While waiting for the minibus to head back, I saw some children doing acrobatics in their driveway – their mother was selling fruit, so we decided to buy some just so we could play – I even walked on my hands for the kids. The mother also allowed us to look inside of her house, which was a relatively large compared to some of the worn-down shacks surrounding it, but for such a big family (I believe 6 kids, mom, dad, and grandma), it was tiny.
On Monday, I got to volunteer for the first time for SHAWCO, which is UCT’s student-run volunteer organization. I couldn’t wait to finally get involved. I am volunteering with the STEP project, an after-school Math and English program for grades 3-7 in Khayelitsha. Khayelitsha is South Africa’s second-largest township – when we drove into it on the SHAWCO bus, I astounded by its size – the sea of corrugated iron roofs stretched as far as my eyes could see. I couldn’t begin to estimate the amount of homes – the shacks are squashed together and the paths between them, aside from the few main paved roads, are incredibly narrow. These living conditions are appalling – it’s difficult to conceive that this is part of the beautiful and first-world Cape Town that I know. The school itself was in better condition than the homes – it was a small cement structure with classrooms that one entered from the outside. When we drove up to the school, I was shocked to see the kids all in uniform. I was assigned to a volunteer partner and a group of ten 5th graders, who we will teach every week – because of a lack of space, we had to share the classroom with another teaching group – that significantly makes it more difficult to keep the children’s attention. Nonetheless, considering all of the chaos, we managed well. I was quite worried about the language barrier – their first language is Xhosa and they don’t start learning English until 3rd grade, but they were fairly fluent! I found it embarrassing that these children are bilingual, and I am not – a major flaw in the U.S. education system in my opinion. However, I am so happy to be taking Xhosa this semester and even tried a few words with them, which only brought about heaps of laughter, especially when I tried to pronounce their names. While I was impressed with their language skills, I was saddened by their math skills as they struggled to complete a worksheet with double-digit addition and subtraction. Almost everyone still counted with their fingers, and answered 1210 for 65+65 – but they were not dumb children at all, for the minute I showed them how to properly ‘carry the one,’ most understood immediately. It is difficult to watch these bright children struggle with the math I was completing easily in first grade. It is frustrating to know that they are not receiving the education they deserve. It is the system, not their intelligence, which is limiting their ability to be as educated as their peers in other parts of the world. I can only hope that in the coming weeks I will be able to make a difference, whether big or small, in the education of the few children I feel so fortunate to teach – however, I fear that I may be the one who learns the most.
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