Zulu singers at the waterfront area where our ship was docked
Capetown
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| The view from our ship of Table Mountain under a tablecloth of clouds |
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The day we arrived in Capetown was sunny, but there was rain in the forecast so we decided to rent a car and drive along the coast for two days. The second half of the week I had scheduled visits to a township, and a school in a township. At the end of our stay, we saw how the privileged white people live and how the repressed black people live in a week, it was alot to take in and process.
First, we drove along the east coast to Betty's Bay and Hermanaus Bay to see penguins and whales, and the amazing coastline. During the course of our drive the rain became heavier and it was a full blown gale by the time we reached the penguins. We still walked out in the rain to see them, and there was a person at the entrance gate hut who let us in for free. After about 3 minutes in the rain we were soaked through even with the raincoats on. We got to enjoy the penguins all to ourselves and the waves were so huge that all the penguin were taking refuge on the shore, so there were lots to see. We got back in the car and cranked up the heat, and headed to Hermanaus bay to see the whales. The storm was letting up a bit, and we were able to see whales, even with the choppy water. The wind and rain were relentless during our drive up, so we decided to get a hotel to stay the night in Hermanaus. We had no plans to stay the night when we left, so we had only the clothes on our back. After a 2 hour long Italian dinner, the girls wanted a hot bath before bed to warm up, and we had not had a bathtub since we left home. We woke up the next morning to sunshine, and puffy clouds. We saw many more whales the next morning right out in front of the hotel, and we had a beautiful drive back to the ship. We had to return the rental car by 11am and we had a township visit the next day or we could have easily spent our entire time in South Africa Hermanaus Bay with the whales.
We also visited the Langa township, which is one of the oldest townships in Capetown. I learned that there are three ethnic distinctions in S. Africa. White, Colored and Black. Colored here means anyone who is not pure white or black, or who anyone who is any other ethnicity like Indian. The term are not derogatory in S. Africa like they are in the US. Within the township there are economic groups, and some homes were shacks built from steel sheets and others were cinder block and built to last longer. Most of the people traveled outside the township to work, and there was no infrastructure within the township, for the most part. Electricity was stolen, and toilets were outside. If there was water it was in a giant tank on a rooftop, and it was shared. We walked through the township and children followed us and asked us to take their picture and pick them up. As we walked we also heard people speaking with clicks in the words, and our guide taught us a few words with clicks on our way to the township. Africaans and Zulu were the two that the guide told us were mostly spoken in the township. Africaans is a mixing of Dutch and the native language, and Zulu is one of the many languages that has click in it. We tasted a home brew beer and a roasted sheep head.
The school we visited was in one of the poorest townships in the area. We learned that even among the townships it was looked down upon, and most of the children do not get to go on to high school because they cannot pass the test to get into high school. They spend $20 per year on each child in this school!! That was less than some of the schools we saw in Ghana. We went there to help serve them prepare and serve them lunch. They received government funding for the lunch and for some of the kids this was the only meal they got. They girls loved helping and they said this was their favorite school visit so far. The principal said that the expectations of the kids from the community is that they would fail, and that they struggle to change those conceptions. They also teach the children in Africaans, not english, and that puts them at an immediate disadvantage. There is so little support from the families of the children, because the are so poverty stricken, so the school ends up helping to get basic needs met before they can teach them academics. It was hard for me to return to the ship and all the luxury we enjoy in our daily lives after having visited this school, and the townships.
Apartheid may be over, but there is still strong socioeconomic division in South Africa. The people are full of hope from all races. They are working to create a place where all the people can live together and get all their needs met, and live happily. There is alot of pride in the rainbow flag of S. Africa, and how it symbolizes the coming together of all the different races. It was difficult for me to go shop in the mall by the ship right after I had been in the townships, and reconcile those opposite extremes. The girls preferred to go to the penguins, and wanted to go back to the cheetah rescue from our visit 2 years ago. But I told them that going to the schools was their work while we were on this trip, and to see how other kids go to school since we are not at our school at home. There were so many fun things to do in Capetown, from safaris to shark diving, but I am grateful we got to see how the people live. We saw how the white and black and colored people all live together in this country that is struggling to bring equal opportunity to everyone.
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| Nelson Mandela made from tiny seed beads and wire! Must have taken thousands of hours and lots of skill. |
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| The girls loved having our own rental car. |
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| The rainy drive up the coast |
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| We found a huge penguin beach and braved the bad weather to see them. |
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There were literally thousands of penguins!
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| We decided that we need a house with penguins in our front yard! |
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| Mike did great driving on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road. |
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| The waves crashing on the rocks while we were looking for whales. |
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| Riley enjoying the flowers on the way to the whale lookout |
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| Rachael found a big yellow slug coming out in the rain, it was like our banana slugs at home. |
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| We braved the wind and rain to see the whales, and we were rewarded with lots of whale sightings |
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| The 100+year old hotel we stayed in overnight |
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| The next morning the sky was blue but the waves were still huge |
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| We found a spot under the rocks on the beach where we guessed a baboon slept. |
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| Exploring the shoreline |
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| Daddy trying to capture a picture of the whales |
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| The shore in the front of the hotel. |
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| "where is the whale?" |
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| The white dot above the white line of the wave is the splash of a whale tail. It was tough to catch them on camera, even though they were close to shore. |
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It was a beautiful drive back to the ship the next morning after the rainstorm.
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The girls were making up their own language on the way back from our trip to the whales.
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| The southern tip of Africa is one of the most magnificent places we have visited, and a favorite. |
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| The rainbow colors of spring the southern hemisphere. |
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| A township by the side of the freeway on our way home. |
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| A township with table mountain as the backdrop. On the other side of the mountain is the harbor where our ship is docked, and the wealthier section of town. |
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| We visited Langa township. This was the office where black people had to show papers to leave or return the township during the time of apartied. |
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| A section of the township where the people lived in shipping containers that were converted to homes. It was mostly women and children in this section. |
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| Riley noticed that the ground was littered with all kinds of trash, especially bottle caps. |
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| A walkway with the shipping container homes. |
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| The inside of one of the shipping containers |
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| Here is the other side of the room, the "kitchen". It was about 8 feet by 11 feet inside and a mom with 3 kids lived inside. |
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| We went inside in one of the shacks and sat down to learn about umqombothi, a home brew beer made in the townships.
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| We learned about the importance of sharing this drink in the township community and we all got a taste by passing the bucket around the circle. The girls chose not to taste! I tasted and it was sour and malty. |
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| A girl running to get her friends to show them we were in the township. |
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| We got to see them roasting sheep head! Riley asked what was on her face and we learned it was sunblock. |
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| roasting the head to cook it. |
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| Sheep heads ready to eat |
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| A girls the kids age who was helping with the sheep heads |
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| The homes that they lived in where they cooked and sold the sheep heads |
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| This man bought a head and asked me to take his picture! |
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| our guide bought a sheep head for our group to share and we all got to taste it! |
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| Sesame street in South Africa on the side of a van bus in the township |
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| A group of kids who followed us through the township. |
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| Some of the nicer homes that were built in the township. But no one is living in them, they cost about $100,000 US dollars each. |
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| The poor part of the township where the homes are shacks, it was mostly single men who lived in this part. |
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| Here are some toilets that flowed straight into the creek behind them. |
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| more of the hand built shacks |
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| I respected the eclectic materials and creativity the people used to build thier home |
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| Here is a little girl enjoying seeing herself in the camera |
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| This family let us look inside thier home, the girls were a bit shy with the kids |
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| This was an old brick building where families lived, and it was the place where our guide was born and raised. |
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| Here is the bathroom in the brick building, the bucket is filled with water to wash the floor after you are done. |
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| They performed a dance for us at the end of the walk. The kids come to learn how to dance, and call themselves Happy Feet. |
Here is some video of the township. She is burning the hair off the sheep head by rubbing it with a hot stick, and the sounds and rhythms of the kids dancing for us at the end of our visit.
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| Riley climed up into this tree to get some quiet away from all the kids, but they scrambled right up after her. |
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| The inside of the brick building in the township. |
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| The school we visited to help them with thier lunch. |
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| The outside of the school. |
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| The inside of one of the classrooms, with old wooden desks |
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| The kids out at recess |
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| Rachael is setting the plates out for the kids before linchtime |
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| The beans and corn that they are cooking for tomorrows lunch |
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| Rachael and Riley helped to make peanut butter and jelly for the kindergarten kids. |
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| Some boys who asked for thier picture |
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| Riley and Rachael helping to scoop the rice onto the plates. |
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| Hungry kids waiting for their lunch. |
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| The library |
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| The colors in Africaans |
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| Vandalism from the local community. They steal the materials to use themselves. |
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| The money we paid to go on this trip went as a donation to the school to help them provide for the children. |
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| Riley asked what this was, and no one really could tell us, all we learned it that it was witch doctor medicine. |
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| A playground township style. |
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| Finding ways to pass time in the township |
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| The V&A waterfront where our ship was docked. |
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| There were restaurants and a mall, with the expensive stores on the top floor. It was a stark contrast to come back through this after the visits to the townships. |
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| We were delayed 1 day leaving S. Africa because the winds and water were so rough, and it was dangerous to leave the harbour. We were not allowed off the ship though and still had to go to school. |
