Peninsula Tour

Hi there!  So yesterday, we went on a tour of the Cape Peninsula with all the exchange students from UCT.  We still have about 2 weeks before class starts, so it’s been really nice getting to see the sights and get oriented with where we are.  The Cape Peninsula is in the Western Cape (the province where UCT is located).  We drove down the Garden Route for a bit and made stops along the way.  This got me super excited for the Garden Route trip my friends and I are planning for next week!  We got a tour (by bus) through the central city of Cape Town, which was nice because we got to see more than what we did the other day on foot.  We then drove the coast and made numerous stops at popular and beautiful beaches.  Every beach here is stunning.  It actually looks just like a movie or a postcard or a dream.  I imagine this is what heaven would look like (when I casually sit around imagining what heaven looks like). 

Did I mention it was RIDICULOUSLY windy yesterday?  Also, there were 13 buses of UCT exchange students, which is why there are 3472981459 people behind me.  I think there also was an Asian tour group there as well.

Anyhoo, one of the stops along the way was at a township called Ocean View.  For those of you who don’t know, a township is the equivalent of what we’d call “slums.”  This is where the majority of people living in poverty live in SA.  Townships are normally divided by race – either black or coloured.  There are no white townships.  They can range a lot in size and quality.  The worst township I’ve seen between the time I visited last time and this past week is a township that goes for miles on the way in to Cape Town.  Houses are tiny shacks made of tin metal, black plastic bags, and other various materials.  There is no power and no toilets.  They are extremely close together, dangerous, and highly unsanitary.  The other day we learned that the majority of Cape Town’s population lives in townships.  Many of the workers in stores and throughout the city come from these townships.

The township we visited yesterday was a coloured township.  This means residents were a mix of black and white.  It was not as poor as other townships I’ve seen while driving, but you can vividly see the poverty in the community.  When apartheid was enacted (I think that’s the right word for this.  I’m not sure if it was a specific legislation passed during apartheid though.) during the 60s, black and coloured people were forcibly removed from where they lived and made to live in these townships together – all because of their race.  A woman yesterday spoke of how as a young girl she watched her family and friends all trek to this new location with absolutely nothing.  She described it as a heartbreaking experience.  She said within a few months, many of the older members had actually died of heartbreak.  It’s a moving and horrific story, but also very powerful.  Ocean View came into being because this is where the people chose to build their new home.

Ocean View’s story, however, is one of hope.  This coloured township is working to improve and help the youth.  During the past few decades, there has been a ton of violence, drugs, poverty, and other problems as a result of this forced removal.  The town has decided to empower youth through the arts in order to give them skills and keep them off the streets.  This township also has a unique partnership with UCT and I believe this is where I’ll be staying when I do my weekend homestay in a township (although I’m not sure if this is it, I just am guessing based off the relationship between UCT and this community.)

When all 600+ students came in, we were greeted by a youth wind band that played for us.  These children ages 9-18 were AWESOME.  I actually was holding back tears because the whole experience was so moving (I didn’t want to be that one girl crying in the front row).  A retired Navy Commander who wanted to help Ocean View created the band.  It is an afterschool program that they also said has positive disciplinary effects because of the commander’s past.  Although many of the students were young, four of them were now enrolled in college.  To me this is absolutely incredible!  Here are these kids who may not realize they have the passion or talent for music because they cannot be exposed to it.  This man totally changed that and the community is already seeing positive results just in these four students who are now attending a university.  It’s also really cool to see how many young kids are involved now – it’s another positive sign for the future of Ocean View.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, we were served a great lunch and got to see other performances from the local kids, including some really great dancing and singing.  It blows my mind to think that something as simple as exposure to music, art, or dance can severely impact a life and a community in such a positive way.  It sounds like it would be impossible for something as simple as this to make such a change, but I think it is one of the best options out there.

It’s also got me thinking about what I want to do when I volunteer here.  We’ll have a lot of great opportunities and I’ve been thinking about helping with education through tutoring or mentoring, but after yesterday I’ve started thinking about maybe trying to organize some type of bi-weekly dance class for kids in one of the places UCT students volunteer.  I’m not sure how feasible this is, but I definitely want to look into it.  Dance has been a huge part of my life.  I love it and even though I don’t dance a lot at GW, I honestly know I wouldn’t be where I am today without it.  I would love to share my passion with kids who might also benefit from it as well.

That’s just my thoughts on the Ocean View part of the day, but back to the Peninsula Tour. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.  We walked around the Cape of Good Hope and had an awesome time.  It is an amazing place! (I should stop using that word).