This past week I had the most
important experience as of yet since my time in South Africa started about a
month ago. It was a field trip I took with my Sustainability and the
Environment class.We were told we were going to
Hout Bay, a local coastal community about a half hour drive from campus. I had
no clue however that we would be going on a tour of the township Imizamo Yethu,
which our guide Kenny told us means Our
Struggle in Xhosa. For those of you who have not read my first post,
townships are essentially shanty towns of informal homes and shacks. Cape Town
is home to several townships, most of which are home to tens of thousands of
people.
Kenny, who has lived in
Imizamo Yethu for 25 years, now working full time as a community development
worker, told us many statistics and facts about the township. First off, roughly
25000 people live in IY. There are 4000 families. Essentially, IY was
established by black residents of Hout Bay who, under the laws of Apartheid,
and due to financial constraints, could not buy and own property in suburban
Hout Bay. So this now 18 hectare, or roughly 45 acre township was constructed
in 1989 when the local government had to intervene and do something about the
rising tensions between scattered squatter families and local white residents. Kenny
said the land that IY was built on was originally a landfill. He informed us
that 80% of the residents share water sources for sanitation and sewage. He
also told us that the Disa River runs right through the settlement and has one
of the highest E-coli concentrations ever recorded in South Africa, making the
need for clean water of the utmost importance. Thankfully, IY has in recent
years started to be revitalized through the efforts of international development
aid and more specifically the efforts of Irish business man Niall Mellon. In
the last few years over 300 permanent brick houses have been built, yet only
20% of the families in IY live in these homes. 70% of IY has access to
electricity; however, the 30% who struggle to gain access often do so by using
a very dangerous system of what Kenny called spaghetti wires, that stretch for
hundreds of yards over the shacks, and often start fires that regularly burn
down people’s homes throughout the community. In fact, just one day before we
arrived ten homes were burned down as a direct result of these poorly
constructed electrical lines. Naturally, IY has not escaped the HIV/AIDS
epidemic. Sadly, Kenny believes that the number of people with HIV/AIDS living
in IY could be well over 35%, noting that only 900 people are actually in the
system and receiving the Antiretroviral drug used to treat the disease. The
national average for HIV/AIDS is somewhere around 30% making IY an extreme
microcosm of the problem. Many of the buildings we went into had posters urging
people to be brave enough to know their HIV status. It was striking to see just
how big a role the HIV and AIDS epidemic plays in everyone’s life in IY. One is
reminded of the situation around every corner. One of the other major struggles
for the community of IY is the problem of overcrowding. Expanding the property
for IY is a huge struggle because all of the surrounding land is privately
owned, and much of it is protected national park. If IY continues to grow in
population without expanding access to more land than IY will be invariably
overcrowded. So many of the informal dwellings seem so unbelievably small, and
they literally are back to back to back. Walking along the streets you can see
little corridors running between all of these cramped shacks. It was truly
shocking to see just how many people seem to be living right on top of one
another. In addition to the problem of crime, disease, and drug and alcohol
abuse (IY is home to 63 pubs), unemployment is high on the list of concerns for
Kenny and the locals. According to Kenny, Cape Town only employs people who are
in the employment database, but most residents of IY, who lack access to
sufficient education and do not have an official employment history, are not in
the database. Despite all of these struggles that me and my classmates learned
about on this day, it was clear that there is a tremendous spirit of hope in
the community. The community center Iziko Lobomi, Xhosa for Center of Life, was recently built and
is used daily as a place where local officials can go to discuss and attempt to
address the community’s problems. Imizamo Yethu also seems to be growing into a
very proud community that has in so many ways embraced their struggles in a
sense of oneness, determined to make the community a place that people can soon
call home, in a permanent sense of the word. The streets are filled with
smiling children running around, playing, and laughing with one another.
Members of the community clearly care for one another and most everywhere we
went we were greeted with a sense of hospitality and friendliness. Entrepreneurs
abound, and almost every street has convenience stores or Spasas where people
can find many things they might need for daily life. Many people, especially
Kenny, were so eager to give us a snapshot into the lives of the Imizamo Yethu
community. This sense of hope echoes throughout IY, and as Nelson Mandela once
said, “If you don’t live with Hope, what are you living for?” As Kenny put it,
it is a hope that the people of IY can reach their goals of being out of
poverty, for the children of IY to one day be out of their current situation,
“for the people of Hout Bay to be one, to work together, and equally enjoy
god’s creation.” It was comforting to be given a tour of the community after school
daycare facility, Ikaya Lethemba, or Home
of Hope. Ikaya Lethemba was established to help especially vulnerable
youth, and its volunteers help to raise many children. Many of the kids in the
program have parents or families who struggle from HIV/AIDS or abuse problems.
Most of the schools around the community (less than 5 schools) are overcrowded,
and this center offers an opportunity for one on one support and a greater
sense of structure. The schools surrounding IY are a great concern and have not
really changed with the times if at all since Apartheid. In particular, the
schools for the children of IY are black only and reflect no sense of
integration. As Kenny put it, “South Africa belongs to all who live in it,” and
South Africa will never truly be united until all children receive the same
opportunities to learn and grow. Someone once said to me that the educational
opportunities I’ve had in my life are something that only 1% of the people in
the world have. This humbles me greatly.
While I walked through
Imizamo Yethu it was really hard to pin down the feelings that I was
experiencing. While I was so happy to be given this learning experience, it was
hard to reconcile that I was receiving this snapshot into such extreme poverty
with the knowledge that in just a couple hours I would be back on the air
conditioned, luxury tour bus that brought me to IY. To know that I would be
back in my million dollar home in Rondebosch in just a couple hours. To know
that I would drink clean water and take a warm shower and never struggle to eat
a full meal whenever I wanted. To know that my whole life I have been in a
completely safe environment, surrounded by structure and opportunity. To know
that so much of my time here will be spent experiencing things that many of
these people will never have the opportunity to do, simply because I was born
into a different reality. Little kids would run up to all of us yelling
jubilantly “Mlungu! Mlungu!,” which in
Xhosa means “White people! White people!” Some would even run up and touch us
just to touch a white person. But than some older people would look at us and
with what I could only register as disdain in the tone of their voice and in
the look in their eyes say “Mlungu.” From IY you can look to the hills across
the valley and see mansions. You can drive two minutes down the road to five
star restaurants, with BMW’s and Mercedes Benz’ filling the parking lots. The
inequality is shoved right down your throat and so blatantly evident for the
people of IY. I can’t help but ask myself, how can a heart be filled with
anything but hatred and animosity when everything around you makes you feel
like you are less of a human being than someone else? And for what reason? Skin
color? As happy as I was to see the hope that the people of IY have I was
simultaneously being eaten from the inside out walking through the streets of
this township knowing that I will never face the struggles that they have and
will continue to face. It was obvious that many of the people who have lived
here for so long must hate that their home has become some sort of spectacle
where privileged people from the developed world can come and see, and take
pictures, as if the people of IY are some sort of tourist attraction. Kenny
informed me that he gives tours everyday, and that most tours are given not to
students or volunteers, but to people on vacation. I was at a loss for words
most of the day so I tried to soak up as much as possible. Afterwards, when I
had time to reflect on the day, I tried to imagine being the shoes of an IY
resident, and as I did this all I could think about was how unbelievably lucky
I am. The reason I have said that this experience is the most important I have
had so far in South Africa is because it has enabled me to truly understand why
people say the words “Smile. Life could be worse.” People say those words all
the time but I don’t think people really get it most of the time. We will all
face adversity throughout our lives, and sometimes that adversity will feel as
if the world is crashing down around us. But at least for me now I truly
understand why people have told me and my peers our whole lives that we can do
anything we put our minds to. So many amazing people have come from IY, people
just like Kenny who have faced the toughest adversity imaginable, and overcome
it with gumption and a positive attitude. I guess what I am trying to say is
this: I continue, everyday, to gain a greater appreciation for the cards I have
been dealt, the friends and family I have, and the experiences I have had and
will have in the future. I continue to understand why living each and every
moment of my life to the fullest is more than just a catch phrase. To be happy.
To constantly be thankful for what I have and show the love that I’m surrounded
with to as many people as possible. Compared to most people in the world, we’ve
all been blessed with the greatest set of circumstances anyone could ever ask
for. It is thus imperative to wake up every day with a smile on your face and
attack each day as Jim Harbaugh says “with an enthusiasm never before seen by
the human race!” Being abroad has brought this enthusiasm back into my life in
a way I never expected. I’ve decided to start working through the university
for Habitat for Humanity. We will be going out to local townships out here in
Cape Town and my first build will be taking place here in a couple weeks. I’m
fired up.
On a lighter note, there was
a huge event called 6 by 7’s on Friday on campus at the rugby field. Don’t know
if I was entertained by it, or ashamed to call myself a homosapien.
Essentially, it’s a relay race. There are a bunch of teams, all of which are
made up of either the bravest or the dumbest guys ever conceived. Before the
race starts, each person eats as much crappy food and drinks as much beer as
physically possible. Then they also drink an entire bottle of food coloring
between the team. Then, the race starts. At which point, the teams will run
quarter mile laps around the track surrounding the cricket field. After each
lap each member of the team has to drink a beer. This continues for seven laps.
What I haven’t told you yet is the point of the race. Well it turns out it
really ended up not being much of a race as much as it was a chunder-fest, or
what us Americans would call a puke-fest, or vomit-fest, or up-chuck-fest. The
food coloring is your team color and the goal is to cover as many men as
possible on opposing teams with your color. So yea, a few thousand UCT students
and I watched as about a hundred drunk idiots covered each other in puke. How
this became an official event I will never know, but I did find myself laughing
until my stomach hurt. And then I cried a little. It was really confusing.
Wednesday nights are now
officially Stones Brewery night in Observatory. It just so happens that
everyone and their brother goes to this place every Wednesday. Everyone I know
is usually there. It’s one of the most fun bars I’ve ever been to and I’m
finally getting pretty nice at pool. Met a really cool Zimbabwean guy named
Comfort who works at the local internet café I’ve been going to. We talked for
a while today, became friends and we’re meeting there this Wednesday for a beer
and a game of pool. Went surfing at Muizenberg again yesterday and tried using
a smaller board. Got my ass kicked most of the day. But got up twice. Almost
drowned once. My buddy got stung by a jelly fish but the shark in the water
flag didn’t go up at all! What a day! My hair color keeps getting lighter as my
skin keeps getting darker. This sun does weird things to people but the beach
is too irresistible. Then we went to the Cape Town Stormers v. Wellington, New
Zealand Hurricanes professional rugby game just five minutes away from my house
in Newlands. Cape Town of course won because we are the shit, or the sheisse as
my German friends would say. The game was out of control. It was good to be
back in a professional sports stadium surrounded by fifty thousand nutty rugby
fans. And afterwards we all went to a sports bar called Springboks just down
the road, which I swear everyone in the stadium must have went to. The place is
massive and it was completely packed. Thursday night seems to have become the
night for clubbing in Claremont. And I just recently bought some real nice
little button up collared shirts. Not gonna lie I clean up pretty nicely. Look
forward to some pics of me looking like a studly gentleman in my new shirts on
FB here pretty soon. Oh yea, and on Thursday before going out I went to this
thing called Jabooly (not sure about the spelling) where people basically get
shitfaced and play water polo. I liked seeing water polo again. Brings me back
to freshman year of high school. Once again I can’t tell you how much I enjoy
doing little solo day trips by myself to have some exploring time. I went to
this market in downtown called Green Market Square Friday afternoon before the
6 by 7’s debacle, and just walked around and talked to venders. Green Market
Square is pretty close to Long Street and is basically a huge market for street
venders that sell all sorts of African art, clothing, and trinkets of various
kinds. I met this guy from Mozambique (his name escapes me at the moment) who
was selling these incredibly cool pique material t-shirts and just talked with
him at his little street shop for like a half hour about the environment and
each other’s lives. I couldn’t believe him when he told me about his father’s
six wives and his 15 or so siblings. He definitely comes from a very different
world than me but he seemed to enjoy my company very much. He had a very
enlightening perspective on the environmental problems I am studying, most
notably the exploitation of African resources that have so often only
benefitted economies of the developed world. He’s gonna make me a special shirt
because he didn’t have the one I wanted in a crew neck so I will be seeing him
again in about a week to go pick it up. I look forward to another great
conversation. Tomorrow I’m having lunch with Ida Cooper. Just the two of us. Not that often I have lunch dates with little old ladies so it should be real nice!
Anyway, that’s all for now!
To all my family and friends, I love and miss you with every fiber in my body!
Peace, Love, and Music!
Patty O’Malley Mason McWilliams
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