Cape Town Through Different Eyes

     The first few days we were here we had many of the tourist-type of experiences. We took a cable car up to Table Mountain and explored the top for a while. The views were mesmerizing, a camera could not capture the amazingly beautiful landscapes that we saw, and my eyes could barley believe these images were real. Every time we would go to a different place I said “It can’t get much more beautiful than this”….I was wrong, because it would only be a matter of time before we stumbled upon another look out, a different view of a mountain, The Cape of Good Hope, Lion’s Head, or just driving up the coast, it was all simply breath-taking and the amazement was never-ending.

     The first week of the trip I missed my long hot baths, I missed being able to actually spend more than 20 minutes getting ready, I missed having my own bathroom, I missed having reliable internet, I missed being able to sleep in, my juicer, my healthy foods, my television, I missed having many of the luxuries that I have at home…

     I am unable to put into words the emotions I felt when we visited the townships. To be honest, I have been home for over a week now and the experience of this entire trip is something I’m still processing. I have found myself hesitant when someone asks “How was South Africa?”…well, do you have a few hours?? It’s not the kind of thing you can casually say “Oh, it was great!” Don’t get me wrong, it was great, however, I went through a lot of learning, processing, thinking, engaging, and changing while I was there and it’s something I’m still going through. I want people to hear the many stories about the amazing people I met, the abundance of knowledge I gained, I want them to fully understand my experience..but they can’t, and certainly not in a quick thirty second reply.

     After seeing the townships and informal settlements, I thought about all the things I had been complaining about in my head during our first week in South Africa. I realized just how much I take for granted. In the evenings we would often get together and reflect on our experiences. A few of the major topics that we discussed were observations about the gross inequalities that are still very prevalent in South Africa and the segregation of people based on land locations. While keeping in mind the vast amount of poverty that we observed, we had to wonder…how many people who live in South Africa actually get to see the tourist attractions that bring so many vacationers???

     As far as the township tours go, there might be further writing on this subject in the future, but for now I just can’t really put my thoughts into words. Someone told us that the government wants to tear down a particular township that is located not far from the airport, solely because it is an eyesore for tourists. This reminded me of a poem I read by Burnedette Muthien (One of the many amazing people that we had the privilege of meeting while in Cape Town, who I will be writing about in another entry).

wannabee's

let's preserve all the green spots in our green city & forget of the grey asbestos (lead poisoning for the uninitiated) & rusted tin shanties (sepia-toned, as some would sneer) of the hordes of humans stuck in batteries filled with sewerage water way out there