Back to the Townships

Thursday was a total 180 from Wednesday.  Thursday I led a Habitat for Humanity trip.  It was the 4th of 5 trips this week to build the same house.  Don, a faculty member, started the house on Monday, my friend Holly brought a group on Tuesday, somebody else went on Wednesday, and I went on Thursday.  Our job was to, literally, raise the roof.  The house was in a township, Mfuleni, and Habitat has already done a number of houses there.

We arrived to the site and our site leader came out to greet us.  There were only 15 of us (which was good for my heart, since I was really anxious about leading 15 students in a construction site all day long – the first aid kit they gave me was tiny).  Almost immediately, the 7 guys in the group hopped in the back of a pick up truck to go pick up wood.  Ahhh, I was on Anxiety Level: High.

Anyway, we built some scaffolding around the house and relocated a ton (literally) of tiles for the roof.  Thursday was really cold outside, which wasn’t really bad, but the wind was out of control and the house was on a sand pit.  I spent all day getting sand out of my eyes and mouth.  But, it turns out I look great in a hard hat (sooooo kidding).  Mid-morning, the owner of the house (whose shack was literally picked up and moved down the street while the house is being built) made us some tea and fat cakes.  Fat cakes are these little balls of fried dough – kind of like a donut, but not sweet. 

The afternoon was spent moving the tiles again (seriously, these things weighed about 7 pounds each and we were lifting them up above our heads 3 at a time onto the scaffolding).  One of the students dropped 2 on his foot and the scream silenced the whole construction site.  He wouldn’t let me look at it, but I ran into him today and he said it’s bruised pretty bad and his toenail cracked in half.  Ughhhhh.  I made him promise to visit Dr. Chris tomorrow.

At one point, everyone was on the roof except for me and 2 other students.  The police pulled up and walked over to the site.  I went up and talked to the guy and he basically wanted to know why so many white people were in the township because we shouldn’t be (he was concerned, not angry).  Anyway, it was funny because he just couldn’t grasp why we’d come to Cape Town and spend time in a township building a house.    Most people that I met in South Africa looked skeptical when I mentioned the ship and all the places we visit.  When I dropped Desmond Tutu’s name, they would laugh and slap my arm, because they knew then that I was making it  up.  Crazy American!

We left the township around 330, happy to have given a roof to the modest home, frustrated we couldn’t do more.  It was a really great day to spend in Cape Town.  When we got back to the ship, I went to spend the last of my money and went grocery shopping. 

I woke up yesterday morning and was absolutely covered in bruises, in the WEIRDEST spots.  And I’m no stranger to bruises, but these are unique.  Thanks for the souvenir, South Africa!

I had a trip with Operation Hunger, an NGO in South Africa, to visit some of their sites and see the work they’re doing.  At our first stop, a school, we helped weigh the children and plot their age/weight combination on a chart that helps determine malnutrition.  Most were underweight, but only 1 was in the danger zone.  Our leader, Clement, will then follow up with the family to determine how much food is available.  We then stopped by another school and the kids put on a little concert for us.  We presented them with a One World soccer ball (football).  Much like Toms shoes, whenever you buy a One World soccer ball (which is completely indestructible and doesn’t ever need to be pumped with air), the company donates one to a community in need.  One of the professors and his wife had contacted the company before we set sail about being a distributing party for all the donated balls.  They agreed, and we have 50 that we’re bringing around the world.  I believe we’ve left about a dozen in Cape Town alone.  It’s a really great program.

Anyway, we then stopped for lunch, and after lunch we visited a soup kitchen of sorts where a woman feeds kids after school.  The kids typically haven’t eaten anything all day and for many that is the only meal they’ll eat.  It was heartbreaking, but inspiring at the same time.  The mama of the kitchen started the organization before Operation Hunger even started supporting her.  She just saw that work was needed to feed kids and even though she has next to nothing, she set off to collect any leftovers from the community to share among the kids.

Our final stop of the day was another school where we made a food donation and played with the kids.  Some of them are kept off the streets by practicing and performing traditional African dances, so we got a special show. 

I ended up spending about half of my time in townships in Cape Town, and I am pretty happy about it.  Most of my students at reading group hadn’t visited one, so I’m not sure how they can really feel like they got to know Cape Town or South Africa.

There are a number of things I didn’t get to do here: the winelands, Robben Island, Table Mountain, the Sunday market, Camps Bay, safari, etc.  But I’m not upset about it – it just means I have to come back.  And I’m hoping I will – soon!  My friends Chris and Jodi are moving to South Africa in January.  Just gotta keep an eye on airfares!

We were all sad to leave Cape Town when the ship pulled out of the harbor (I watched the pilot hop off the ship as usual).  Seas were rough almost instantly.  The Cape of Good Hope (where a ship going around Africa starts to sail more easterly than southerly) is also known for shipwrecks.  The Flying Dutchman is the haunted ship of legend (and also the name of the funicular at the Cape) that supposedly could never make it around the tip and haunts the area to this day.  We hugged land pretty closely yesterday to avoid the crazy currents that come from the Atlantic and Indian oceans meeting.  This also meant seeing a lot of whales from the ship.  I saw a cute baby tail flip. 

Still no dolphins.  Never any dolphins.