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| Avery, Auntie Netta, and Wylie in OceanView |
This past weekend, our UConn group spent a long
weekend with families in Ocean View, a “coloured” community about 40 minutes
outside of Cape Town. Avery and I stayed
with Auntie Netta, our host mama, who was in her early seventies and had lived
in the community for over thirty years.
She lives in a government-funded apartment complex, where laundry lines
were strung between houses and young people stayed in the street all
night. I loved looking out the window in
our room to see all the people walking between the houses and the vibrancy of
the social life. The importance of
family was very clear, and the young people in the community were very
special—I loved working with children at the crèche— as well as meeting kids in
the street who wanted to talk to us. On
Saturday, we walked into town to play soccer and some young boys asked to play
with us. Later we saw them at the talent
show, where they performed with so much charisma and absolutely no fear. They were so talented! It reminded me that self-respect, confidence,
and dignity can be grown in any environment.
Every child I met was lovely, and I worry for their futures. I want such beautiful, well-behaved, loving
children to have successful, happy lives but their environment suggests that
this may not be their fate.
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| Wylie greeted by some of the beautiful, well-behaved, loving children of Ocean View. |
It was very different from Khayelitsha, the “black”
township I am most familiar with, in that there were no informal settlements,
well-groomed public spaces, and better kept infrastructure. While the living conditions were still deplorable
in many ways (ie. overcrowded crèches, huge unemployment problems), the
conditions in Ocean View were vastly superior to Khayelitsha. My homestay experience backed up one of my
pre-visit assumption— the apartheid government established a clear hierarchy
between the coloured and black townships.
Auntie told us that many of the young people in
her community abuse Tik, which is sad and disappointing, but
understandable. Disillusioned,
unemployed, impoverished people turn to drugs, to ease pain (especially when it’s
only R10 to get high). Avery and I talked to our Auntie about many things—mining,
unemployment, the ANC, and South Africa’s condition. I admire her ability to forgive and advocate
for recognition, as she is very empathetic towards whites. She told that everyone was a victim because
of the apartheid system, and that it’s not the white’s fault that forgetting
racial hatred is so challenging. Auntie Netta also said that apartheid is over
and that it can no longer be blamed for the way South Africa is today.
I’m not sure if I agree with her; apartheid only
ended very recently, and erasing laws doesn’t change the entrenched
consequences of the apartheid system. Everyday
that I go into Khayelitsha I am reminded that the sole reason for this informal
settlement is because of apartheid. It
simply wouldn’t exist otherwise. It’s so
unfair to be told that apartheid is over when the conditions and living area
(because of being trapped by social conditions) is exactly the same. It is hard to talk about, but Auntie really
impressed me with her forgiving and reconciliatory spirit. Auntie has also shown me that speaking about love
and emotions, and openly caring for people, is a really special and important quality.
Overall, the homestay experience was extremely
rewarding. I am hoping to do another
homestay, perhaps in a black township to better understand the differences
facing both.
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