Andrew on his Saturday adventures

This past Saturday, about seven other students and myself went on a surreal adventure.  Our plan was to meet MK, a township kid that students who previously participated in the program know, at a well-known meat restaurant in Guguletu called Mzolis.  Everyone was on edge because we left half an hour late.  When we flagged down a mini bus taxi, the driver told us that this was not the way to Guguletu but he decided to take us directly to the restaurant.  As we were riding, he was talking to Avery (one of the students) about the townships and some of the progress that is being made.  He told us he wanted to take us to meet a friend of his and that he wanted to give us a tour of the townships.  We were skeptical and just said “Mmm hmm”—the plan was to get dropped off and then find another mini bus home but the driver said that we wouldn’t be able to get a ride back so took his number and were about to get out once we arrived at Mzolis.  But he wouldn’t let us out until we found MK.  After convincing him that MK was inside, we got out and went in.

After sitting down for 30 minutes talking to a local family, we realized that we were supposed to go up and order our food.  Right when we sat down a father handed us his baby and asks us, “Will my daughter make it as a Hollywood model?” Puzzled, we said “Ohh yeah yeah yeah, definitely” The baby actually did look cute.  As the baby was being passed around, we started to talking to the dad about the use of the n-word and its nuances in the states.  He seemed intrigued how white people try to avoid the word so that we don’t appear to be racist.  After this interesting conversation, we got up and went to pick out our food right from the deli, which we then delivered to a braai.  When the meat was done, we had to go pick it up.  The lamb and steak were some of the best I’ve ever had.  We didn’t end up meeting MK because he was running late, but the experience was still great.

We called our mini bus driver and then he came within 25 minutes.  He sacrificed his time and money to come and get us.  As we started to drive, he told us that he was going to give us a tour of his town, Mannenberg.  Manenberg has a reputation among some for being one of the most violent and gang-infested of townships.  I started to sweat when he said that but I just went with the flow.  He started to point out certain corners that were controlled by gangs but then he pointed out the nice areas of Mannenberg, where the teachers come back to.  He said that he never wanted to leave because that’s his home.

Then he drove us to his friend who is a community organizer at the Manenberg People’s Center which strives to improve the Manenberg community through job preparation, computer lessons, and advice giving.  He graduated from NYU and Oberlin with a social work degree.  I was amazed how people can do such great work.

Andrew at far right at parade in Manenburg

Afterwards we were brought to a parade where troops from the Cape Town Minstrel Festival were marching.  The “call” guy on the mini bus taxi led the way for us as we walked past the parade.  They played songs of joy in their colorful attire.  The feeling was magical because everyone playing seemed soo happy even though they have very little.

After a whirlwind of a day, we finally returned home and couldn’t process what had just happened.