Langa, Khayelitsha, and Stellenbosch

Friday

Breakfast was great as usual and they had fruit smoothies that morning so that was delicious. We had to be up early because we needed to head on the road to a couple places after a 2 hour class session. The class session went really well. I was surprised at how well the discussion flowed for that amount of time so I was impressed with everything we all brought to the table.

After class we packed up the car and headed to a township of Cape Town called Langa. Townships are where you see all the poorest people living together in a community with varying degrees of housing and utilities. The poverty was really surprising because until I saw it up close it was nothing like I've ever seen except for possibly the footage on tv after natural disasters. We get really far into discussion during our class sessions but it is too complicated to get into on a blog. In Langa, it was the first township ever, and the closest one outside of Cape Town so they seem to get tourists and they had a visitor's center where we stopped and they took us in and showed us some of the things they do and crafts they have. My favorite part was when they had neighborhood kids come in and play songs for us. I always enjoy music and these young kids were really into singing and playing for us so when they encouraged us to get up and dance, we all did.

After the performance we headed down a couple blocks to a youth center called Love Life where they have different activities there such as computers, debate teams, motivational workshops, they put on plays, they have a dj booth, playstation and game tables to keep kids 12-17 off the streets away from drugs, alcohol and inform them about HIV/AIDS. They also have a clinic with a nurse in case they need it. It was very interesting to see that it was run by 19 and 20 year olds who get paid to help out with these teens from the townships. Outside there were different sports areas and things for people to have gatherings.

When the tour of the Youth Center was over, we went back into the van and drove to another section of Langa where it was not as tourist ready as when first entering off the highway where the visitor and youth centers were.

From Langa we drove to Khayelitsha which is another township that is much bigger than Langa. We were a bit hungry so as soon as we got to the center of the township we stopped at this whole block filled with food stands. They had sausage and pork. It was really interesting to get out of the vans and interact with the people there because they didn't have any tourist stuff for us to do there so we had discussions about the differences in that and what we thought their impressions might have been of us being there. After we got the food, we ate in the car and drove up and down the streets waving at the little kids and sticking our hands out the windows and hi-fiving them. As one of our group members pointed out, it felt disrespectful like we were on safari and I did feel bad just driving around looking at these peoples homes but as we discussed, it was something that was necessary for us to do.

After Khayelitsha we drove to Stellenbosch which is the famous wine route. I fell asleep for about 20 minutes in the car on the way but it was about 45 minutes away from Khayelitsha. We arrived at this vineyard where the rooms were really nice and it had wireless, we were taken aback that we got to stay in those type of accomodations after having just witnessed what some people have to live in everyday. (The hotel in Cape Town was very nice but the room was very small and it was different) The place in Stellenbosch was really awesome. We relaxed and I skyped with a few people that night. We had dinner at the vineyard and we got free wine. (My first and only alcohol on the trip! We are allowed since the age is 18 but PSU won't pay for it so we would have to pay for it ourselves.) Dinner was regular steak, potatoes, and veggies since the vineyard was owned by a couple that was 1/2 American 1/2 German. We also got dessert which was not unlike flan. That night I skyped with more of you but we also had a 30 some paged double columned article to read and reflect on for our discussion the next day which is why I didn't finish all of my blog posts up to that point.

END DAY 3

I think this is where I will leave off for tonight...I will get to yesterday and today and any other days I have not written about the next time I am able!