A Closer Look at Township Life

Wednesday June 1, 2011 — Pietermaritzburg

Our group flew to Durban.  When we landed in Durban, where a beautiful African landscape and WARM weather greeted us!

The appearance of the country here is much more what I had pictured in my mind. Vast arid landscapes contrasted by lush jungle-type valleys. We rented cars in Durban and drove to Pietermaritzburg, where N's sister is living. We drove the remainder of the way, just over an hour drive. It is a beautiful route.

We arrived at N’s sister’s house, in Pietermaritzburg, early in the evening. All of us Canadians immediately stripped down into tanning clothes and sunning ourselves on the lawn. N’s sister laughed that her neighbours would think she was going crazy to have these pasty half-naked people lying all over her yard in the middle of winter. We stick out in our shorts while everyone else has on jackets and winter hats.

The view from the BnB window of the Botanical Gardens

N’s sister booked he and I a room at a quaint little BnB called The Babbling Brooke.  It’s lovely and private. The BnB backs onto a botanical garden, so the view is lovely. Even though it’s in the city, we feel nestled into the middle of nowhere.

We are getting all kinds of fantastic insider experiences that would never be available to us as tourists here. I am loving getting to see past the sights and having a view of what real South African life is like. It is a fascinating culture with a complex history—I suppose most places are if you really get the chance to see them.

The traditional Zulu meal they cooked for us

N’s sister is a doctor here and yesterday she took us to the Edendale Hospital, where she is currently working. In South Africa, they have both public and private hospitals, the difference in care and clinal is quite stark. Edendale is a public hospital. The facilities are decent but minimal, and the doctor to patient ratio is insanely bad.

After our hospital tour, we went to Ashdown Township where N’s sister has an old friend she met when she first came to SA, called Gogo Regina (Gogo means Granny in Zulu).

Regina takes in kids who have nowhere else to go. She currently has eight children living with her but has had as many as sixteen at one time all living in her tiny cement home.

We took one of the young women who help Regina shopping for lunch groceries. They are cooking us a traditional Zulu meal, in her home. Butternut squash is super cheap and eaten with everything, which all of us are really enjoying.  We also picked up some cow stomachs, from the butcher.

They performed some traditional Zulu dancing for us in Costume

We had to take a taxi to get to the store, which was quite a cultural experience. I use the word taxi very loosely here. They also have taxi service like much like what we have in North America. These “taxis” are big white 15-passenger vans. They are the primary form of “public” transit, although they are privately owned and operated. There is no bus or train system, so this is how everyone from the townships travels if they need to go further than they can walk. It is a bit of a mystery how the system works (even when I asked locals) as there are no official stops or schedule times but it is a relatively effective system. Each taxi has an approximate route they drive. I do not think the timing of these taxis is particularly reliable but, then again, most of the rest of the world is far less obsessed with punctuality. There is comfortable seating for fifteen passengers, but in reality, they usually squish closer to twenty people into them. At the end of a long workday, you can imagine they do not smell fantastic. It only costs R7 per person ($1.00) to ride in them though so who can complain. It was quite obvious that white passengers do not customarily use this form of transport; the other passengers were very amused and curious about why we were there. I am also fairly confident that this was only a safe option for us because we were travelling with someone from the township. 

City Guide || Cape Town

The trip has just been a whirlwind of activities and excitement in these first weeks in Cape Town. Hardly two weeks and I’ve taken over 1,250 photos! It feels like we have done so much in a very short amount of time. I lose track of the days. Jet lag finally seems to have worn off, and I am enjoying every moment of our stay in this beautiful country.

Cape Town Water Front

May 19th

We hiked up Table Mountain. It gives a view of both the Indian and Atlantic oceans and almost the entire city.

May 20th

We had a small family reunion of N’s dad’s siblings. The place, we stayed at, was quite cool it was called !Khwa ttu. It is a bushman museum. It was an excellent location for a group gathering. We slept in tents with sticks over them and the communal area it was all built with sticks. We went on a mini-safari, to see some of the wildlife and learn a bit about the culture.

May 21st

We went down to the Waterfront, which is just breathtaking. The place, where the ocean and mountains meet, is strikingly beautiful.

May 22nd

We toured a Vineyard/Winery. Groot Constantia established in 1685 is the oldest one in Cape Town.

May 23rd

We went to Boulder’s Beach to see the penguins. I thought they were pulling my leg first, but there are hundreds of African Penguins.

We drove up signal hill that night. You can see all the lights of the city. It’s a bit of a lover’s lane apparently and rightly so, it’s a wonderful view.

May 24th

We went to Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point. Tourists are often told it is the most Southern point of Africa but it is more a South Western Point, but it still offers quite a spectacular view. It is thought to be the place where the two oceans meet.

May 25th

We took a ferry over to Robben Island and took a tour of the prison where Nelson Mandela detained as a political prisoner. Our guide through the prison was a former political prisoner there.

We also went on a tour of the Langa Township. My understanding of  townships, based on what I have been told, is that townships were historically where all the black, coloured, Indian and Millay (people of Malaysian descent) people were forced to live. Everyone was separated by racial group and placed into designated areas around the cities.

They still exist all over the country even though people are no longer forced to live here they stay because they have strong communities in these places. They are areas associated with great poverty.

Our guide, who grew up and still lives in a township, was very positive and hopeful about the work of the government and the improvements happening in these communities.

It was a very interesting experience for us to walk around with him (it is not really considered safe to do this without a guide). We went into people's homes. Most live in hostel style quarters; these have six rooms per building. The hostels were originally built to house sixteen working men to live in while they were employed away from home. Now several families live in one small room. The one we visited had eight people living in an extremely tiny room, with three beds. It becomes easy to imagine how impossible it would be to protect yourself and your family against crime, violence and violation in this living situation. Families pay R20 ~$3/person/month in the older hostels. The more newly renovated ones rent for R 80 ~$11/person/month. The rest of the residents mainly live in shanties.  The occupants of these more temporary looking houses  families who have moved into the city for work. Some people live in stand alone concrete housing, and we did see a few quite nice homes of people who have chosen to stay in their township after becoming more successful.

We drank homemade beer in a kind of “pub” shack and sang with the men. And we visited a “traditional healer” aka witch doctor. He wore what looked like a whole raccoon on his head and a red sash and waved a wand made of some tale with long hair around. I was pretty sure he was under the influence of something—his hut was very cramped and filled with mysterious and creepy things. Between the smells, the tight space, the weird hanging everywhere and the flies, I nearly lost my lunch.

May 26th

Today has been a wonderfully relaxing day for me. I got to sleep in and then go to the beach and read. N and his siblings went surfing early this morning. Now they are off with some of his sister’s friends caving. I have had the perfect day sitting in the sun with my book and now taking refuge indoors as the day cools.

Yesterday’s tours were a lot for me to digest. Thinking about Mandela and the other political prisoners and what they fought so hard to have; what they sacrificed for freedom, what they endured not knowing if it would ever change anything. Looking at the lives of the people in the townships and the extent of their poverty. And beyond their poverty are the social issues that occur because of the poverty.

I could say, yes, that’s just how it is but at the same time it is hard for me to reconcile with my standard of living standing in this poverty. As well it forces me to confront the complacent way that I thoughtlessly pass my days. When you see these people, you question how you are justifying yourself. The suffering is very real. There are no easy answers. It greatly troubles me. I could just stop everything and change everything in my life but what good comes of that. I could give all my money away to whoever asks but is that the best way. Seeing these dirty children running aimlessly between the shanty houses, I felt sick about how comfortable I have become in my life.

It is not all bad. There are many positive things in these communities as well. There is hope.

 Tonight N and his brother drove a few hours from Cape Town to Hermanus where they will go shark cage diving. I have opted of this activity. I hope will not regret this choice, N has promised to take extensive pictures so I can live vicariously. The girls I will join them on Friday, to entertain ourselves more safely, and on dry land.