My Home Stay in Ocean View

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! 

Today was my first official day at UCT! Academics are a bit different here; first of all, there are only 3 years of university (“varsity”) and additionally, each student typically only takes 3 courses per semester. That being said, I am registered for 3 courses, which actually add up to more than a typical semester’s worth of units at USC. Two of my classes meet 3 times a week with a discussion section, while my science class meets 5 days a week – yikes –. The class sizes aren’t very large, and it will be easy to get to know South Africans through discussion sections. Finding my classes was a bit of a hassle because they weren’t posted on our student accounts and I had to wander around the department buildings to find the class lists. After looking like a freshman all over again, however, I was able find my way about on the relatively straightforward campus. I’m really looking forward to my “Defense and Disease” class, which discusses immunology and vaccine research. There are going to be guest lecturers from the medical school who will present on their specialties such as HIV, malaria and TB (the top infectious diseases in Africa and the world). I had to take a Jammie shuttle to the medical school to sign up for SHAWCO health, another thing I’m really excited for, and it was pretty straightforward. SHAWCO health is a student run volunteer org at the UCT medical school that runs weekly night clinics in townships around Cape Town as well as weekend pediatric clinics. I’m really looking forward to participating in these clinics and getting a firsthand experience of the healthcare situation of most South Africans.

This past weekend, our house did a range of fun activities around Cape Town. Saturday morning we woke up early to head down to the Old Biscuit Mill, which is like a gourmet farmer’s market. There are cute delis and antique shops, but the most important part of it is the food stall building. As soon as you walk in, you can see dozens of stands set up with delicious, fresh food, ranging from pastries to Greek to charcuteries. I was in HEAVEN. I barely ate anything for lunch because I was so stuffed on samples from each of the vendors. We had to rush back to the house for another trip so we couldn’t stay for long, but I’ll be sure to head back on another Saturday. When we went back to Highstead we met up with the rest of our housemates to drive up to Signal Hill. Initially, we had intended on staying until sunset, but because the winds were so strong, we ended up leaving after an hour or so. When I say the winds were strong, I mean so strong that they will push you over if you stand too close to a ledge.  This was our first experience with the Capetonian wind called, the Southeaster, and is definitely not the last. The winds bring down the clouds that enshroud Table Mountain so that they roll downwards, appearing like a falling avalanche. The following day, we took a house trip to a place called Mzoli’s that’s well known for its large braais. Mzoli’s is in the middle of a township and is relatively inconspicuous, save the billowing smoke and delicious smells being pumped out of the tented establishment. We had to wait about 2 hours until all of our meat was done, but in the meantime we were able to walk outside to a couple stands that men had set up to sell knick knacks and crafts. Two men had competing tables of glasses that they had made from recycled liquor bottles, and I picked up a set of 4 Savannah Dry (alcoholic cider) drinking glasses for R20, i.e. $4. When it was time to eat, it was time to feast. A giant white plastic bin was dropped on the table, filled completely to the brim with meat. There was boerewors, chicken, mutton, and who knows what else, all piled in there and ready to eat. Everyone had to use their hands because there were no utensils, plates, or napkins (except a roll of toilet paper). There was also a bag of amazing bread that was being passed around made by being placed over steam so that it puffs up and stays moist. The bread is also covered with some curry to give it a bit of flavor. The whole braai took about 20 minutes to eat, but the anticipation really gets you in that savage mood to eat with your hands.

This weekend is our homestay in Ocean View and I’m generally looking forward to it. I do wish I had a day to relax a bit, but with only 100 days here I also really need to make the most of it. There is so much to do here and I’m a little stressed that I won’t be able to do all of it! I’m doing my best to organize everything into manageable outings that can be done in a day.