I have so much to write about that I feel like I am going to end up forgetting to include something in this post. This past weekend our program participated in a home stay with the Ocean View community. This colored township is the same as the one where we ate lunch during our Cape Peninsula tour, and our arrival dinner ended up having a similar theme to the performances we saw a couple weeks ago. Our arrival in Ocean View was greeted by all of the home stay families with a delicious dinner while singers and dancers showed off their talent on stage. Another girl, Annie, and I were placed with a family of five; the parents, Althea and Reuben, had three children who were 13 (Simone), 9 (Joshua) and 2 (Hannah). After the performances, we hopped in their car and drove about 5 minutes to a quieter part of the township where their home was located. Their home was very modest; entering through the living room, where there are only couches and chairs (no dining table), you can essentially see the entire house’s floor plan. A small and basic kitchen joins the living room, while the three doors for the two bedrooms and bathroom are plainly visible. As soon as we put our things down, Hannah was busy at work showing us everything about the house about five times over. She was an endless burst of energy during the entire home stay, and one night she stayed up until 3 am! We went to bed around midnight and woke up the next morning to tv and cereal. I definitely wasn’t expecting the first time I watched TV in South Africa to be in a township, but sure enough, we were watching Paula Dean and the Disney Channel on a Saturday morning. Later in the afternoon we went to watch the basketball game between the Ocean View team and our team. Surprisingly, we weren’t completely slaughtered and we were able to keep up! Then…it was time for the braai! A group of families joined ours as we went over to our neighbor’s house at 6. As soon as I walked into our neighbor’s house I was shocked. His house had tile floors, leather chairs, a flat screen TV and a spacious kitchen. The exterior of the house is completely unassuming, potentially to prevent people from breaking in, but it was a huge shock to see such a nice house next to our humble home. This really changed my perspective on the families that live in Ocean View. Before seeing Mark’s house, I thought that everyone was in relatively the same financial situation; however, there is actually a huge range of people living in Ocean View. The wealthier families tend to stay in the township because they have family members there, and they don’t want to leave them.
We didn’t end up eating until 10:30 (typical African time), but in the meantime, we talked about politics and post-Apartheid with the adults. It was fascinating to hear about their position on the current president, JZ, as well as the effects of “reverse Apartheid”. During Apartheid, colored people were considered to be in the middle because they were not as poor as black South Africans, but they did not have the status of white South Africans. Now, that view has negatively affected their political power, as black South Africans are continuing to use the past to their benefit. After Nelson Mandela, the past two presidents have not been nearly as qualified for their position and tend to only help black South Africans. The same works when it comes to job applications. During interviews, job applicants will be asked what their nationality is, i.e. are you black, colored or white?
Furthermore, we learned more about the poverty of Ocean View, and the struggle of unemployment. If I remember correctly, the rate of unemployment in the township is around 60%. Most of these people have high school degrees, and around 40% of those who earned a college degree were unable to find a job. Thus, this leads to boredom and crime in Ocean View. The main drug that is abused is called “tuc”, which is similar to crystal meth. This drug was once used by the army to keep soldiers alert, but now has infiltrated the poor suburbs and is ravaging the young and old.
There is really too much to mention in this post, but I wanted to give a little bit of insight to South Africa and the township where we stayed. The braai was amazing, as always, with lots of boerewors, chicken and pork. Sunday morning we went to Long Beach, which looks like a shot taken from an old Hollywood movie. The white sandy beach and endless waves for surfing are stunning against the backdrop of Table Mountain. All of this beauty has to be taken with caution though, as our host dad reminded us of the dangers of sharks in these waters.
We said our farewells at 3 and made sure to exchange contact information. Sunday evening was pretty low key as we were all exhausted. This past week of classes has been same old same old, and now a group of friends and I are preparing to go on a road trip on Route 62 for the holiday weekend! I’ll be sure to post about it when I get back, so expect some details on wine, cheese, cheetahs, caves and ostriches!
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