I
honestly can’t believe how quickly time here in Cape Town is going by, and feel
a new sense of urgency to meticulously plan out every last second here so that
I don’t miss out on anything it has to offer.
This particular weekend was packed with activities. On Thursday evening, Isabel, Maria, Mary,
Megan, Elizabeth and I traveled to Clifton beach for a beach front yoga
class. The beach itself was stunning,
with the waves breaking against the rocks and the sun setting as we enjoyed our
peaceful yoga instruction that was clearly not for beginners. After enjoying some additional time on the
beach, we had planned to walk to Camps Bay for dinner, but the weather had
other ideas and we ended up taking shelter in a local country club from a raging
wind storm.
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| Yoga on the Clifton Beach |
On
Saturday, we spent the morning at the Old Biscuit Mill (which I will never ever
get sick of) and the afternoon hiking Lion’s Head. I was a little disappointed that cloud cover
blocked one of the vantage points at the summit, but still enjoyed the other
views and incredible scenery. After
grabbing a quick dinner, some of us headed to watch the parade for Carnivale,
which was quite interesting.
 |
| View from Lion's Head |
In
addition to recreational activities, I also started my activist project this
week volunteering for an afters chool program at the Athlone YMCA. The first hour is spent assisting children
with their homework and helping them read if they so choose. One of the other volunteers told me how many
of the kids are behind in terms of their literacy level and that they don’t
receive very much help from their teachers to correct this, so the program has
been trying to dedicate time outside of their school day to helping them
improve. The second hour of the program
is dedicated to fun activities as well as life skills for the kids that pertain
to a topic of the week. This week, the
topic was gender, so it was interesting to hear the kids’ views on gender roles
and stereotypes, as this is something we have been discussing at length in
Marita’s class.
I
want to highlight a conversation I had with a local young man this week. On Friday, the YMCA took the kids to the
local pools and one of the life guards, who seemed only a bit older than me,
introduced himself and started talking to me.
At first, the small talk just centered on the normal things I get asked
on the regular: where are you from, why are you here, how do you like it,
etc. However, as I started to ask him
more questions and learn about his life, I felt I was getting a much more
personal view of Cape Town than is sometimes provided to most tourists. He spoke of the gang violence that occurs in
the surrounding areas and how it felt to actually live and work in these areas,
as he had previously held a position in Hanover Park. When I asked him how many of the kids in the
area, on average, will pass matric and go on to University, he stated that, unfortunately,
perhaps two out of ten may succeed in this path, whereas a number of the others
will be subject to the temptation of drugs and gangs. I have no way of knowing whether this is an
accurate estimate or not, but I do know that that gangs and drugs are very real
for many young children throughout Cape Town.
It just boggles my mind that some of the kids that I was supervising at
the pool, and most likely some of the kids at Maitland Cottage, will probably
see gunfire before they even reach my age.
This is what sometimes makes it difficult to keep an entirely optimistic
view. The children that I’m interacting
with here seem happy and to have a good outlook, but I so often wonder what their
future will look like, as I will never get to see that part of their life.
After
hearing his account of all the challenges that his community faces, I asked
this young man if he would ever contemplate leaving Cape Town and settling somewhere
else. While he expressed his desire to
travel, he was very firm in his decision to stay here in the long-run.
Throughout
this experience and others on this trip, I am just so struck by the dedication that
the locals have for their community.
They are far from blind to the issues that are so apparent within their
society, but are so incredibly proud to be from where they are from, regardless
of its current status or history.
As
I was FaceTiming one of my good friends from home the other day, she asked me
if I had had that ‘life-changing moment’ that everyone who studies abroad seems
to talk about or if I felt like a different person. I replied that I’m certainly the same person
with the same goals and values, but a number of experiences that I have already
had on this trip have caused me to view life in general in a much different
light that I know will stay with me when I return home from Cape Town.
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