This post comes a little earlier in the day than usual, but that's because I didn't want to forget anything. Orientation is already over for me today, I just went for the morning announcements and the SHAWCO (township volunteer organization) presentation. The info was very informative so I'm glad that I didn't sleep in today. However, the SHAWCO presentation was all that I expected and more. They actually took us out into the townships. So it's needless today, I cried my first tears in South Africa today.
It was absolutely my most overwhelming experience yet. We split up into groups and boarded big coach buses for the 15-20 minute ride. Each bus went in pairs to about three different townships so that SHAWCO could show us where they do their work and give us a tour of the community. The township that I went to is called Khayelitsha (pronounced Ky-leet-chay) and the few moments I spent there are absolutely indescribable.
The program does all its services in the afternoon because the night is too dangerous. Khayelitsha is home to over one million residents in shacks and makeshift homes made of scrap metal, plastic, and any other available usuable materials. So you can imagine the drugs, rapes, murders, lack of literacy, HIV/AIDS, and unemployment, among other social issues. Khayelitsha is a black township, which means the residents are African. There are also colored townships, whose residents are of mixed decent. The best analogy I've heard to help describe the race classes here is that blacks are the "pure" Africans, coloreds are mixed with African and the Dutch and European settlers, comparable to Louisiana's Creoles, and of course the whites are Afrikaaners. So, Khayelitsha is pretty much as bad as it gets. Here in South Africa, blacks are the lowest on the totem pole, then coloreds, then whites.
My camera isn't working because my charger isn't charging my batteries but to be honest, I'm glad I didn't have it. It would have distracted me from appreciating what I was seeing. I was able to be 100% in the moment, or "present," as Alice Walker would say. But there were so many people there with me who were not "present." As we walked by the school, the children, the shacks, people were talking about what they wanted to buy at the mall, how cold it was outside, or how they were upset they'd forgotten their sunglasses. It was very frustrating to hear them not "being present."
The SHAWCO speaker was talking about how school costs R100 per year, and so many cannot afford it. That's $13 US dollars. After he said that, I couldn't help but think of how I spent over R500 yesterday at the grocery store. That's five years of school for a student, or one year of school for five students! Then, I was thinking about how cold I've been or how my knee has been hurting. But imagine how cold THEY are, or how many ailments they have that no doctor will ever hear of let alone perform surgery on. How many need glasses and can't see? Or have broken a bone? Or may have cancer and not even know it? It was really overwhelming.
But the kids we saw were so happy running along side us, imitating us, waving. One of them even pulled their eyelids back and started jabbering what sounds to them like an Asian language when they saw my Korean roommate, Gabby. (They don't know any better, but it sort of hurt her feelings.) We also saw the SHAWCO sponsored library where the kids can come after school to read books because they do not own even a SINGLE ONE!!! But then, the SHAWCO rep, Jonathan, explained that although they are grateful for their donated books, much of which come from America, that hardly any of them have black faces in them, which makes it difficult for the kids to identify with characters or believe that they can acheive like the people they read about. I want to organize a black book drive or something, maybe through AKA. Those kids need to know how successful Black people, African people, mixed people, Asian people, and minorities in general, really are.
Many of the townships began during, and of course as a result of, apartheid. Blacks nor coloreds were legally allowed to settle in Cape Town so many didnt. The only exception was for the migrant workers hired by the big white companies to work in the diamond and gold mines. Those migrant workers were put in something like barracks or dorms on the outskirts of town. The towns grew, workers began to bring their families, and the townships were born. Of course, along with the laws surrounding race and residency were laws preventing education, transportation, health care, and on and on. Hence, the poverty has multiplied and one inequity has led to another. The lack of education during apartheid has created millions of illiterate parents, who do not own a book to give their kids, who hate going to school because the drugs and sex look so much more fun, which brings up the HIV/AIDS rate, which spreads because they dont get testing, which creates HIV positive children and the cycle continues. Apartheid ended in the books in 1994, but it is still SO MUCH a part of these people's lives. It's amazing to get a glimpse of the things I've been reading about in books for so long.
There's so much more to say, and more that I can't even wrap my brain around yet, but I just wanted to share what I could as soon as possible, I didn't want to forget a single detail. More will come later, but it goes without saying, I will be volunteering with SHAWCO once a week, maybe more in the education sector. I can't wait. But that's one thing the SHAWCO people also warn us against. They say foreign volunteers, especially Americans, come over wanting to change the world, but that the volunteer experience, although fulfilling, can be very frustrating. We'll want to see results fast, but that's not how this works. And, we'll want to see academic results, but more often than not, the results are intrinsic and our time with them teaches them more than any of our lessons or workbooks can. Still, I'm excited about doing my share. Sign up is next week.
That's all for now.
Love always,
Me
ps.
http://www.shawco.org/ check it out
