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TIME TO EXPLORE
Woke up to winter again but it started to clear up by mid morning, well the rain stopped anyway!
Went downstairs to the lounge and cranked the air conditioner up to a respectable 28 degrees, was considering bringing my pillow and luggage down and moving in here until… two staff (presumably management of the hotel) decide to have a meeting with a couple of people in OUR lounge, walked in and turned the heater down to an almost arctic 24 degrees! When we turned the tv up so we could hear it over their talking, they talked louder, so we gave up, let them have their win and went out in search of lunch.
Went to a place called Manhattan’s. Good food, a little dearer than the other place we’d been eating but more of a range and also had free internet. Was run by a gay guy who had a few interesting places of interest advertised throughout the menu, like a men’s only bath house… Still great food, and the service was fantastic.
HOW THE TOWNSHIPS CAME TO BE
We decided to do a Township Tour which covered the other side of
life in Cape Town. We had 2 guides, both locals who lived in these settlements so we were able to get a very personal account of the history.
Starting in District 6, which became a whites only area and approximately 60,000 people were forced from their homes and into settlements on the outskirts of Cape Town. Inter-racial marriages were now illegal and families were forced apart. Most of the buildings were demolished with only 5 churches and a handful of buildings being kept. Sadly, to this day, much of the land where homes of the displaced had been demolished is still vacant….
We were then taken into three of these settlements. The first was where our lady guide lived. She was 23 years old and took us to her daughter’s kindergarten where the children sang and danced for us. It costs 70 Rand (about $10.85 Aus) per month per child for them to be able to go to school, which is almost unobtainable for so many, the schools rely on donations of cash and supplies (pens, pencils, paper, crayons etc) to keep going.
The address is:
Daluklanyo Pre-school
PO Box 209
New Flats
Vokwana Way
Larga 7455
Kindergarten
The kids all sang The South African Anthem for us and danced.Cape Town, South Africa
Then we walked through the township to her home. When everyone was forced out of District 6 they weren’t thrown into the street homeless, but some were given a home with 1 bedroom and kitchen/sitting area. Others were given rooms in a hostel (each room in the hostel had 3 bedrooms, with a shared kitchen/living area), the policy was 1 man, 1 bedroom. But when the men had families this ratio wasn’t increased, so it became a whole family (2 adults and maybe 3 children, possibly grandparents etc) still allocated one bedroom. Our guide lived in one of these hostels. There were 3 families with a total of 16 people living in the 3 bedrooms. The bedrooms are just big enough for a single bed and chest of drawers. At night, only the parents sleep in the bedrooms, mattresses are put in the living area for all the children and any other extended family that is living there.
There were people selling crafts etc for the tourists that come through, we bought a handmade 3D picture of the area.
We then walked through the rest of the town to a ‘local bar’. We
were given a drink of ‘beer’ out of a shared bucket - one in, all in. It was warm, quite thick and sweet, it didn’t taste or smell anything like beer.
I made the mistake of giving some lollies to one little girl that was walking with me when all of a sudden I was mobbed by a dozen kids that came from nowhere! Our guide had to shoo them away. I felt terrible for so many reasons.
We saw where they cook what our guide called Shanty McDonalds - lambs head (they cook it whole and call it ‘smiley’s’ - they eat all of it except the brain, believing it will make you think like a sheep!). It costs 16 Rand for a whole one and will feed a family of 4, she offered me some, for obvious reasons I declined…
We drove through another town and was shown how they steal the electricity from anything they can, including traffic lights! Last week the officials cut the stolen power to these houses and so the community put rubble and concrete across the roads so no-one could pass, their stolen electricity is now back, people power, haha!
Traditions
Herbal medicine is still widely practiced. In this same town, we were taken to a local traditional healing place. Using herbs etc is widely practiced and is handed down mostly from generation to generation - at least they don’t have to wait 2 hours to see a doctor! There was shelf after shelf of all sorts of dried bits and pieces, everything from leaves, roots to animal pelts.
Lastly we went to Vicky’s Bed and Breakfast. Was set up very well and caters for visitors from the rural areas. It brings income to an otherwise impoverished area and Vicky who runs it had to set it up from nothing and also had to convince the locals to accept her idea.
All in all, a really well run tour. Was good hearing it from people who are speaking from the heart and are living the life. It seems a hard life and the conditions are heartbreaking but everyone was smiling and there was a great sense of community. One of the other people in our group asked why people don’t move when they are given the opportunity, the reason being that they have already been relocated sometimes 2 or 3 times and now this is
Traditions
A doctor who practices in the traditional ways. their home and home is where the heart is.
The skies are clearing and the sun actually shone down on us while on the tour so hopefully karma will work in our favour and the weather will be good for the rest of our stay in Cape Town.
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Mum & Dad
non-member comment
Well does it ever stop?
Beautiful blog but appears you have too much time on your hands Sammie! As Tania said don't forget to have a holiday as well. I guess in this day and age of technology one should expect that communication is good so we at least know what our Daughter and Son-inlaw are up to. Darn about the weather but then they (Capetown) is not far off our own latitude and it is cold here as well, but the sun is shining, wind very cutting. Love from us! Mum and Dad