I know I have said this before but I can definitely say, Friday September 9 changed my life and my way of thinking. This day made me realize how fortunate I am, as well as the miracles of life. Throughout the day we went to different townships on the Cape Flats in South Africa. We started out in Langa, which translates to “the sun.” Langa is the oldest township on the Cape Flats. In Langa we drove around to catch a glimpse of what it is like to live there. At one point we all got out of the bus to go into a “project.” It was like a craft store in a way and we were able to see them make the crafts right on the premises. Most of us bought a few souvenirs there. All of the proceeds from our souvenirs went directly to the people of Langa, so it was great to help out in ways that we were able to. The next township we visited was Gugulethu, again. Gugulethu was the township we went to when we went to the church, on the first Sunday we were in Cape Town. Gugulethu is Xhosa for “our pride.” In Gugulethu there were people on the street plucking, butchering and cooking chickens, that is something you sure don’t see everyday in the US! The next township we went to was Khayelitsha, the largest township in Cape Town. Khayelitsha in English means “new home.” There were many people on the streets of Khayelitsha selling shoes, clothes, food, jewelry and much more to try and make some money. I have attached a picture of a typical house in the townships of South Africa. There are typically six people who live in one of the houses and they usually do not have electricity or running water. If they do have electricity it is usually stolen and port-o-potties are outside for human waste.
In Khayelitsha we went to TAC (Treatment Action Campaign). TAC has made such a difference in South Africa and it was both interesting and informative to hear everything TAC has accomplished. TAC focuses on people with HIV/AIDS to get treatment, support, and much more. They run clinics around the districts of South Africa where they do testing, support and treatment. TAC advocates for people with HIV/AIDS in South Africa and hopefully other organizations develop that do the same.
After we toured around the townships we went to the Elonwabeni Project. Elonwabeni is a safe place where children who are in some way or another affected by HIV/AIDS can go, when they are abandoned or need temporary housing. Elonwabeni is not supposed to be permanent housing but some of the children have been there for over five years and are taken care of by the volunteers and housemothers. When we visited there were fourteen children staying in the two houses and the housemothers were making crafts to support the project. In order to keep the project alive the housemothers learned to make and sell a wire and bead type art. After buying some crafts to help the project we all went to play with the children. When we stepped into the backyard a few of the children ran into our arms and hugged us. We toured around the houses that the children and housemothers live in and then the children sang songs for us and danced, it was beautiful. One of the little girls at the house was completely blind and she had the most beautiful voice. It was so amazing to see the other children walk her around the yard and the house to help her find her way. At the end of our trop to Elonwabeni all of the children came up to us and hugged us goodbye, it was probably the best part of my day. Elonwabeni and the women who make Elonwabeni happen, in my opinion, are miracles.
For dinner I ate at my first Thai restaurant and it was so much better than I imagined it would be! Maybe when I come home I wont be so picky of an eater!
Today (Saturday, September 10) we toured two of the wine estates. The first estate was Altydgedacht, translating to “always in my mind.” At the estate we tasted about four or five wines and then went for a tour of the vineyard. The vineyard was so beautiful and at the top there was an amazing view of the city. The owners of the vineyard told us all about how they take care of the vineyard, as well as the history of it. On our truck ride we even saw ostrich!
After Altydgedacht we went to Spier Wine Estate. At Spier we started out by eating at their African Cuisine Buffet, and their were so many foods I have never even heard of! It was so great to be able to try all of the different African dishes! While we were eating a woman came around and painted our faces and others came around to sing! It was definitely a lunch I have never experienced in America!
At Spier they also have a cheetahs and if we wanted to we were able to go inside and pet them. We all thought that in order to have us pet them they sedated the cheetahs, but in fact they are really good at their job and after a while they will just lay down and let you pet them! They were so cute and purred and played just like a really loud/big cat!
This afternoon I had my first full grocery shopping experience. The twenty-thirty minute walk there was really great and pretty. On the way back we were five American girls struggling with all of our groceries as we hiked home! The groceries became so heavy after a while. We will definitely all be much stronger by the time we get home (and appreciate our cars a lot more!!!). Tonight we all went out for Michelle’s (another student on the trip) birthday. It was a lot of fun but we definitely need to try and scope things out more as we go because we realized half way through the night that most of the people at two of the clubs were high school seniors!!! We all still had a blast and cannot wait to go out and continue to try new things.
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