On Thursday and Friday,
Megan, Elizabeth and I headed to Athlone to work on our activist project at the
YMCA after-school program. I love spending time there with the kids. At first I
was surprised about the universality of kids behavior across all socioeconomic
conditions. However, this time something else surprised me. Let me preface by
saying that Athlone is a township with one of the highest rates of gag related
violence in Cape Town. I noticed that the kids were playing a game similar to
something I play with my campers where they sit in a circle and sing a song
with their hands laid out. With each, beat the player taps the hand of the
person next to them. The last person to be tapped is out. In their version of
the game, the last person got to choose a kid to “shoot”. The kids would act
out the shooting. It was clear that they had a understanding of guns that most
kids their same age that I have babysat or counseled do not. Another surprise
came when we were painting during craft time. One girl didn’t know what to
paint and so she asked Megan for help. “Can I paint a gun?” she asked. When
Megan shared this with me I was so disconcerted. It breaks my heart to see
violence so normalized for kids who haven’t even entered middle school. Especially
in the boys, I notice this look they get in their eyes if something doesn’t go
their way. It is this palpable, vitriolic anger that scares me. When I talked
to another volunteer who has been at the YMCA for an extended period about it,
she confessed that she believed it was the result of the displays of
gang-related violence that they saw so regularly as a means to solve conflict
in an area where resources are scarce. It pains me to know that the oppression
I learn about so profoundly impacts kids. It is so unjustifiable and it makes
me so mad, especially when I know what beautiful, funny, intelligent people
they are.
On Saturday, Emily and I headed to
Kalk Bay and Muizenberg to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather—probably one of
the last chances we’ll have to go to the beach in Cape Town.
On Tuesday, my dad arrived. I think
that this is actually the longest I have ever gone not seeing my parents and
seeing him was great. He was a little bit out of it, but enjoyed the walking
tour I gave him of the city and a dinner of the South African specialty “Bunny
Chow”—a bread bowl full of curry. I’m looking forward to showing him around the
rest of the city.
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