Day Three in Cape Town

It's a gift to be invited into the lives of others. 

On Saturday we visited three townships: Khayelitsha, Nyanga, & Langa. We were able to experience each township for a short period of time, but our stay was not long enough to fully understand the lives of those who live in each community. Our tour guides from Coffeebeans Routes met us at the hotel and navigated the day with us. I am going to do my best to overview our day and experience, but recognize that I am overwhelmingly uninformed about the Apartheid and South African history.

The townships were first developed to physically separate the communities of white (European), colored, and black people living in Cape Town. These terms white, colored, and black) are used commonly by the local people to describe one another. The ending of the Apartheid in 1994 eliminated the housing restrictions that allowed only white citizens to live in the center of town. From the perspective of an outsider, it seems that little has changed with housing. The townships we visited were entirely black communities still today. Our presence as a predominantly-white group was noted, and even celebrated with wave, high fives, and picture requests from the locals.

We started in Khayelitsha, which is the biggest township in Cape Town. The current population is said to be between 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 people and growing. Khayelitsha is farthest from the city center, allowing for its expansion. We drove through part of the township before arriving at the square, where we met Brenda, the owner of the Harare Academy of Inspiration.

From there, we went to Nyanga. In many ways this was my favorite stop. We were able to spend time inside a family's home and shared a traditional meal together.

Our final stop in Langa was heartwarming. We met Tony at Ikhaya Le Langa, where we learned about the many initiatives that are in place to make Langa the city's center, as it geographically is. While in Langa, I learned that until recently, there was only one road into/out of Langa. There is also a wall separating a township from the white area.  

While we were walking through Langa a young girl came up to me and took my hand. Her friends joined us and we walked down the road together holding hands and snapped this picture together (excuse my face...it was hot!). 

Over dinner at Ikhaya Lodge we reflected upon our day and I asked the group which township they would choose if they were to move to one. The responses varied throughout the group, some students were inspired by the work being done in communities and others were inspired by the opportunities they saw in each community. Our day in the townships is one I won't forget. The students had an eye-opening experience. We met people from each township who took great pride in their community and were proud to share their stories with us. 

Day Two in Cape Town

Life won't always go as planned, but that doesn't mean life won't be good. 

Day two was another success. The group was clearly tired when we got started in the morning, but they picked up energy when we walked around the room like ostriches. Speaking of ostrich, I tried some at dinner. It was surprisingly tasty! We had spent quite a bit of time drawing ostriches on day one, so it felt a bit uncomfortable eating one, until we were reminded of how ugly they are. Fair point!

(Photo credit to Round We Go)

For lunch we went to a popular braii eatery, Mzoli's, which is located in Gugulethu Township. We were told it was originally just a butcher shop, but when customers came in, Mzoli's would offer to braii (similar to barbecuing) their purchases. We had a tour guide, Sabs (wiping his mouth in the photo below), join us for lunch. He gave us some backstory, helped us get to Mzoli's, and shared some more information about South Africa with our crew. Sabs explained that Mzoli's is not what Americans would consider a restaurant because you do not purchase a whole meal from them. However, as Mzoil's has grown, so have neighboring businesses. Houses have transformed into shops that sell beverages and trinkets to the large customer base and some folks have embraced the informal economy by creating parking jobs for themselves. While you go to the window to order, Mzoli's has also developed a large seating area for customers. Our group loved the food!

We tried to go to the mountain (again), but were disappointed to find that is was closed again. We're going to try again next week. Stay tuned! Life doesn't always go as planned. Traffic was pretty hectic, so we ended up heading directly to the house of a Penn State faculty member who is on sabbatical in South Africa. Brian King helped developed Parks & People and was so hospitable to our group. The Kings prepared a delicious dinner and he and his wife shared words of wisdom with our group. The Kings also let us practice our play in their front yard. I was hoping to upload the video of our dress rehearsal, but the file is too big!

After dinner, we had a great reflection with the group. Every student in this program is positive and exhibits the drive to learn. It's a neat opportunity to be in the classroom learning with them. I'm navigating this experience as I am helping the students navigate their experiences. I know there will be times this semester that the work may be challenging, but it will always be worth it. Life is good. 

Day One in Cape Town

Perspective matters and attitude matters, but the desire to learn changes everything.

I am so happy to be surrounded by a group of people who have a desire to know more about this world. For the next ten weeks I will be traveling South Africa with the Parks & People program. We’ll be focusing on migration, energy, diversity, and health, starting in Cape Town. When I departed State College on Tuesday, I felt incredibly nervous. I don’t know much information about what we’ll be doing, and I was feeling a bit uneasy about the program’s length. During my flight from Washington D.C. to Johannesburg I was seated next to a middle-aged hospice nurse who was returning to Ghana for her grandmother’s funeral. The nurse shared with me that she had gone 19 years without being able to return home to Ghana from the United States. Wow! Perspective matters. Ten weeks will blow by.

We have concluded our first day of the 2016 Parks & People program today and it is clear that we are off to a great start! We’ll be in Cape Town through the majority of January, where the weather is forecasted to be about 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) and we have a great group. Throughout the program I will be with 12 students in our group and 2 faculty leaders (Neil & Danielle). We’ll also have guests come and go, like 3 members of the education team who will be with us throughout our stay in Cape Town.

Our first module is about the people of Cape Town & Table Mountain National Park. We spent most of the morning in a classroom environment with the intention of preparing for our future school visits, in which the Parks & People students will teach lessons.

We got out to explore a bit today and hit up a local flower market. We purchased some flowers, including Protea, South Africa’s national flower. We later used the flowers to practice our technical drawing skills. IN the future, we’ll use those skills to teach lessons to children in South Africa schools. There are many components to this program, but they all tie together well (thanks to Neil’s big picture thinking).

We had plans to go to Table Mountain, but were unable to go to the top by gondola because of high winds. Our group was very understanding, but hopeful to make it back to Table Mountain. Attitude matters. Instead, we spent some time at Signal Hill, where we had dinner and watched the sun set.

Did I mention that I drove on the left side of the road today? I was a bit uneasy because it feels so different, but we came back totally unscathed! Here's a picture of some group members eating in our "bus," which Neil drives. 

Day one set a great tone for the Parks & People program and I'm looking forward to more adventure and learning in the next 69 days!