SOUTH AFRICA

DAY # 1

My first day in South Africa was one I had been anticipating for a while and one that I will never forget. I got to spend the entire day in a South African township at an orphanage called Home from Home. Unlike most orphanages that uproot children from their communities and place them in large institutions in the city, Home from Home builds homes within the local communities, hires a house mom, and places only six kids in her care. This allows the children to remain in their same environment where their native language is spoken and lets them feel like they are part of a real family. These networks of “families” all have the help of the day care facility set up by Home from Home and it was here that we spent most of the day playing with the children.

When we walked in all the kids got so excited and were waving and smiling at us. We tried at first to give them high-fives (the American hello) but this confused them. So one little girl came up to me, shaped my hand so it look like I was giving a thumbs up, turned it sideways and then snapped her thumb against mine (apparently the South African hello). The kids thought this was so funny that we had no idea how to snap. We had come right about lunchtime so we sat down with the kids while they ate a bowl of rice and fish (it was pretty gross) but not one kid left their bowl unfinished, something I had never seen American children do. After lunch the kids laid down for a short nap and we took a walk to visit some of their homes. The first home we went into was ran by housemom Nikki, a sweet enthusiastic black woman who had no children of her own and enjoyed being a mom to her six orphans so much. The home was small but it had a living room, kitchen, one bathroom, and two rooms for the children (one for the boys and one for the girls). Like a mom, Nikki had pictures of her kids up on the refrigerator and large calendar hung on the wall of the children’s schedule. There were a few of the older kids there and they introduced themselves as brother and sister, it was so sweet.

Back at the day care center the children were rested and ready to go. We had brought with us lots of toys and school supplies that we had been collecting along the way for them. So we began building and coloring and putting together puzzles. When that got boring we moved outside and had an Easter egg hunt in the yard for them. We played tag, swung on the swings, sang children’s songs, and just ran around. I forgot how exhausting it can be to keep 4-8 years olds entertained for 4 hours. But we had so much fun with the kids. They loved when we took pictures with them. They almost never see images of themselves so they love taking a picture and then getting to see the image on the screen after. It kept them busy for hours. For the most part they knew English, but they also spoke in their African language as well.

Sadly we were informed that over 2/3 of the children we had been playing with had HIV/AIDS and that many of them were placed here because the disease had killed their parents. It made me angry to watch these young innocent children playing and enjoying life but knowing theirs would be all too short because of the ignorance of their parents. HIV/AIDS is 100% preventable but still too much of South Africa is in denial about how to stop spreading this deadly disease. At the end of the day we gave the children some tearful good-byes and watched their sad faces as we drove away. On the drive back our bus driver told us he was going to take us through some of the more underdeveloped townships.

When you arrive in Cape Town you will see this big beautiful colonial city with lavish beach houses built into the coast and high-rises that fill the city, but as we drove only 5 minutes outside of the city all we could see were never ending sprawls of shacks. Square huts made out of tin all compacted together. The roads switched from pavement to dirt and there were no restaurants, stores, or industries anywhere. We had learned a lot about the apartheid that happened in South Africa and while so much has changed since then, seeing these townships made it all seem too recent. The discrimination and isolation that the white South Africans imposed on the blacks has lasting effects well past the new legislation brought in my Mandela. Overall though it was enriching to get to expierence this side of Cape Town to and understand the healing that is still taking place post apartheid.

Day # 2

I didn’t have much planned on this day so when my friends and I saw this big red double decked open toped bus driving around we thought it looked like fun so we boarded it. Basically it made a bunch of stops all around the city and you could get on and off and explore at all the different places. It was kind of touristy but we had so much fun and I got to see almost every inch of Cape Town.

Stop #1: The V&A Waterfront. This is where our ship was docked and it was one of my favorite places in Cape Town. It was a large port filled with boats and line with amazing restaurants and shops. It was colonial looking and had some of the best food ever. We ate almost all of our meals on the waterfront. I’ll have to put up pictures to show you all how pretty it was.

Stop #2: St. George’s Cathedral. This was a big beautiful church that was built by the British who colonized South Africa and brought with them Christianity. It was Easter weekend and the church looked so beautiful. We went inside and said a few Easter prayers and walked through the garden out back.

Stop #3: District Six Museum. It showed the area where 60,000 blacks were forced out of their homes during the apartheid. It was so sad and upsetting to think this kind of cruelty occurred so recent in our world’s history. District Six is the famous example of this isolation but it happened all throughout the city. It was all really interesting to see and hear the stories of the families.

Stop #4 Castle of Good Hope. The oldest building in Cape town and beautiful historic castle set right on the hill of Cape Town Coast. We walked all around it and got to take great pictures from its high walls. Though a little startling we got to see them shoot off a cannon which they do every day at noon.

Stop #5: TABLE MOUTAIN. The most beautiful place in all of Africa! It is a big flat top mountain set in the background of the city and coast. To get to the top we took a gondola that spun in a circle so we could get a 360 view of the whole area. The view at the top was incredible and you could see the ocean for miles. We took pictures and hung out at the top for almost 3 hours. We ate at a little restaurant and I got to just sip champagne while sitting on a bench enjoying the spectacular view.

Stop #6 Sea Point. This is the lavish and expensive beach area that has endless houses built into the coast like Malibu. Also there is a huge beach where tons of people were laying out, playing volleyball, and swimming. There were tons of restaurants and hotels along the beach and we learned that it was the “it” place to be seen or live. If I come back to Cape Town this is definitely the area I would love to stay in.

Stop #7 The World Cup Stadium. Though it was still a month away, buzz about the world cup was everywhere. Endless merchandise being sold, space and area being cleared to accommodate for all the people, ship docked early to keep their prime spot. The stadium its self was very cool. We didn’t get to go inside but outside it was very modern looking and actually slightly isolated out on a huge piece of land left of the city. But it made me so excited to watch the world cup this summer.

Stop #8 The Aquarium. Cape Town is known for its incredible marine life, especially it’s great white sharks. So despite not getting to go shark cage diving like most of my friends I still got to see a lot of what the beautiful ocean has to offer.