There have been a couple of requests for some more township pictures so I took some video and pics. I'll post them today so you can get a better sense of the living conditions here. In some ways, they are making strides. They are working on transforming the townships from all shacks to what we would consider low income development housing.
That said, I'd say maybe 5-10% have been moved to date. I believe the government's goal is to have these new developments built and inhabited in the next few years. We'll see what happens--I don't know that it is realistic or achievable goal. But they're up against the wall since Cape Town will be home to the 2010 World Cup.
We've learned a lot more over the last few days about how the townships came to be. Yesterday, we had a wonderful tour of the District Six museum. This is really the time to come to cape town and learn about the impact of apartheid, because the people recounting the history lived on both sides of it. They can give you insight that will be lost in 40 or 50 years time. In that way, we are so lucky to be here now.
Also, our staff at the house has been fantastic. We had a talk today during lunch where they discussed their heritage (clan name (if Xhosa), ethnic background, whether or not they were initiated (for men, this is a process by which they become men including circumcision in the late teens, early 20s....I'm pretty sure I've made a number of you males uncomfortable just now). Unknowingly, they recount such personal stories that give more information and a greater sense of what it was to live in apartheid than any text book possible could.
Side note: I'm reading Nelson Mandela's (aka Madiba [as he's known in cape town]) "A long walk to freedom". It's the best autobiography I have ever read. It's very well written, fast, and very informative. If you're looking for a great read, pick it up. You'll learn something and really enjoy it. I promise!
Side note 2: They have "Madiba is my homeboy" t-shirts with a huge pic of Mandela's head all over Cape Town. They're hilarious. Some of you are getting very special presents when I return...
Back to the important stuff:
District Six was a thriving, integrated area of Cape Town that was home to blacks, colored, Jews, whites, and Malay people. This area of Cape Town was harmoniously integrated--it seems to be a model which would benefit all of us today. Our tour guide yesterday grew up in district six and told a story of his parent's telling him to come inside and stop playing at certain times in the day because the Muslim families were praying. From the sounds of it, there was more than on great "melting pot."
Well, when the apartheid government took over and the 4 separation acts were put into place, which essentially divided ALL races from interacting, not just white and black, all non-whites were displaced. This happened from 1964-66. In the museum, they have testimonials of people from district six detailing the police showing up at their houses and telling them that today was their day to move and the government would be putting them in a specified location.
Here are the race distinctions as defined by the apartheid government. These distinctions were etched in the walls of the District Six museum:
Europeans:
Are regarded as persons of pure European descent. The offspring of all mix marriages which are of the parties not of European are to be regarded as coloured.
Asiatic:
The chief asiatic nation's represented in South Africa are Indiance, Chinese, Japanese, and Burmese.
Coulored persons:
This embraces all people of mix race and the census classification includes amongst others Hottentots, Bushmen, Cape Malays, Oriouas, Korawnas, Negroes, St hellenians, and Cape Couloured
I guess everyone else was black... (there is no description for that group).
For the first time, I realized that the apartheid system was as bad, actually worse (if that's possible), than the Nazi system.
The black population, which was the largest displaced population, was relocated to the Cape Flats which is where the townships are located to this day. The first township, called Langa (meaning sun) was created and from there additional townships came to be (including Khayelitsha which is where I work today and is comprised of over 1 million blacks alone). All of the townships were comprised of people of 'like' black backgrounds - Xhosa, Korisan, etc.
This huge upheaval led to financial hardship--increased costs to get to work everyday and fewer jobs for a black or coloured man which meant women needed to start working. This resulted in a lack of supervision in the townships that gave rise to gangs and the associated gang violence. Today, Cape Town is the most violent city in the world for this very reason. (You should see where we live and go to work. Our volunteer house is like fort knox and each house in and out of the townships has armed response security. It's a way different world here!) Also, when you put so many "unsupervised" young people in one place, it leads to increased sexual activity and drug use. Unfortunately, the AIDS epidemic began at the height of apartheid and therefore you have not only the issues of violence and poverty, but a health crisis that is unfathomable.
As a local South African, you ASSUME that every person you come into contact with has HIV or AIDS, and you treat them as such (physically, I mean). If you have a cut or open wound, you are extra careful. And if someone else is bleeding, you take plenty of precautions. It's a pervasive issue that has had me and many of my fellow volunteers checking out our hands for cuts or wounds we would never even think about back in the states.
I heard a great quote today from a speaker we had today named Themba who is a musician and humanitarian here in South Africa. He works for the Institute for Healing of Memories.
"Poverty is damaging because you lose self respect. And the moment you lose self respect, you lose respect for other people."
And that's what is fantastic about what we've been doing at Sibanye. We're giving people the opportunity to find ways to support themselves and their families financially...and that security leads to increased self-worth and humanity. Well, it may just be impacting a few right now, but it's certainly better than nothing.
Hope you're all well!
Love,
C
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