South Africa

Of all the countries on this voyage that were repeats for me, Cape Town was the one I was most looking forward to and it didn’t disappoint. We had gorgeous weather – it is the end of summer down here so it was warm and sunny but not humid at all.

Cape Town is a very western city so it was an easy city to play in and it offered all the amenities we haven’t had for the last few ports. I strolled through the downtown area, went to the beach, climbed Table Mountain for a second time, visited the District Six Museum (sort of an Apartheid Museum), rode the topless bus all through the city and around the coast, watched the sea lions play in the harbor, went on an all day wine tasting tour in the winelands, and ate some yummy food.

I think my favorite part of the week was the evening township tour that I did with two other staff members from the ship. I had been on township tours the last time I visited South Africa but the evening tour that we did was very unique. The townships are the areas outside of Cape Town where the blacks, Indians and coloreds (that’s what they call people of mixed races and it’s apparently not an offensive term) were moved to during Apartheid. Most parts of most of the townships are full of extreme poverty. Quite a huge contrast to the wealth and prosperity of the waterfront and downtown areas of Cape Town.

We visited a township called Langa – which is one of the largest black townships in the Cape Flats. Our guide – Thandis - lived in Langa so we got quite a candid view of life in the Township. First we stopped in the middle of the township where there were women preparing and selling boiled sheep’s heads. It is one of the main staples in the townships. There was a table full of sheep heads and each woman had an open fire burning so that they could heat strips of scrap metal and burn the hair off the head so as not to waste any of the meat. Next they would split the head in half and put it in a big barrel of boiling water before they would put it out to sell. There were lots of friendly people walking by chatting with us.

Next we visited one of the old, unrenovated hostels. The hostels were originally built for the men who worked in Cape Town. The women and children were sent to townships further outside the city but the men who worked in the city were each given a bed. When Apartheid ended all of those men brought their families to Langa. So instead of one man per bed it became one family per twin bed. That meant 16 families per “apartment”. The hostels are very basic – concrete walls, floors, bed frames and tables. I think there is one bathroom per apartment and one kitchen sink – some have a stove and a refrigerator. The government is in the process of renovating the hostels but it is a painfully slow process. And when they renovate a building it goes from holding 64 families to only housing 22 families. The rent also goes from 20 rand a month (about $3) to 300 rand a month (about $43). They have pretty much run out of land to build new hostels so each renovated building displaces dozens of families. So these renovations are very mixed blessings.

Next we visited a renovated hostel and had a drink of soda with the family in the apartment. They were super nice and hospitable. The woman their had the most adorable 6 month old daughter. As we got ready to leave the sun had gone down so the streets were full of people laughing, talking and hanging out. There were children running everywhere – coming up to us to hold our hands and follow us. It struck me that even though the people lived in an extremely poor conditions they had an extremely strong, vibrant, close-knit community.

Next we headed off to the most memorable part of the evening – the shanty town. During the time of Apartheid when the hostels filled up shanty towns rose up all around the outskirts of the townships. The shanties that we visited were considered formal townships because they had a row of public outhouses, a public water spout and each shack had it’s own electricity box. Each shack is built out of scrap wood and corrugated aluminum. We went to a shabeen – a pub (I use that term loosely). It was a shack with about 5 or 6 people in it (including one man rolled in a blanket on the floor sleeping). We sat down on a bench and some of the old men tried chatting with us – they were super jovial and friendly (as well as a little drunk). It was difficult to understand them and they had difficulty understanding us – their main language is Koso so their English was not as strong.

One of the women brought out a big silver bucket of frothy liquid. Turned out it was a homemade beer that was popular in the townships because it can be made in just a few days. We proceeded to pass the bucket around and each take a sip. It was kind of gross but I’m glad I got the chance to try it.

Then everyone in the shack started dancing and singing. Their voices were so soulful and beautiful. They got us up dancing with them. It was a little difficult because the shack was barely tall enough for us to stand. I always worry about tours like this feeling contrived or having a “human zoo” feel to them but I didn’t feel that way at all during our visit.

After leaving the shanty area we made a quick drive through our guide’s neighborhood to meet his son and his sister. Then we headed to our final destination – dinner with a family. We visited the house of a woman – Lorraine whose sister and mother lived with her. They lived in a shack-like house but it was much nicer than the shacks in the shanty area. They had siding on their house and it was painted and festive inside. They had three bedrooms and a full kitchen. They also had three dogs that lived out in the front of their house for protection.

The meal we had was wonderful – chicken, rice, cabbage and vegetables. Nothing fancy but quite yummy. Lorraine, Vanessa and Flora were very nice and enjoyed chatting with us. They were watching a South African awards show on TV while we were there. It was great fun to watch them guess the winners and celebrate or lament the decisions – they spoke a lot in Koso which is a fascinating language.

After Thandis dropped us back off at the waterfront area to get to the ship I was struck yet again at the huge disparity between the haves and have-nots in Cape Town. It also struck me that all of it had been created, condoned and perpetuated by a political government system. I couldn’t decide if our experience in the townships felt more surreal to me or if walking among the shops, restaurants and tourists on the waterfront felt more surreal. I do know that the visit to the township felt more like “real life” as opposed to the “Disneyworld-like isolation and blinders” that exist in the tourist parts of the city. They say that Apartheid has been gone for over 15 years but the impacts and effects of Apartheid will be around for decades and decades to come.

We are now back at sea for our longest leg – 10 days until we get to Cape Verde for one day and then back at sea for 6 more days to Barcelona. Lots of activities and events happening during this leg – Casino night, North American Intercultural night, a Drag show, Open Mic night, European Cultural night, Global Scholar lectures, language classes, Salsa classes, Capoiera classes, another RAD class AND A WEDDING! Yes, I said a wedding!! More to come on that one….