On my first night in Cape Town, I signed up for a township homestay where I would travel to one of Cape Town’s townships and stay the night in one of the family’s homes. We left the ship around four in the afternoon to drive to the townships; it was only la fifteen minute drive. We drove past the first township, which was very similar to houses in Ghana. They were extremely tight together, and constructed from metal shed roofs. The name of this township is Langa, which means sun. It was named after their chief, who died at Robben Island. We then drove to the second township, which is where we would be staying. This township was much newer than the first township. It was constructed in 1998.
We went to the main Mama’s house where we were put into groups to meet our respective Mamas. I was paired with a girl named Kelly, and we had Mama Numbailey. Mama has three children: she has a son who is 32, a daughter who is 25, and another daughter who is 19. She had another daughter, but she was shot by her boyfriend (which exhibits some of the crime that the townships endure). She has 8 grandchildren, but they all live pretty far away. She picked us up, and we walked to her home. She treated us just like her own daughters. We walked to a market and bought some vegetables that we would need for dinner. We picked up some peppers, potatoes, and cabbage. I never saw a guava before, so the gentleman gave us four guavas, and also gave us bananas and apples.
After we collected our vegetables, we walked back to Mama’s house. We started to peel the carrots and potatoes, while Mama cut up the cabbage. While she was boiling the vegetables, we played with her 18 month old grandson. After a while, we drove with one of her daughters to where her son was staying. His grandmother died that day, so he was dressed up very nicely to go to her funeral. He said that he cut off his afro that morning as well so that he could look clean-cut. It was really interesting to be able to drive through the different townships. After we met Mama’s son, we went back to the house and ate dinner. We ate stiff pup (which looks like mashed potatoes, but it is a little harder and is a maze dish), chicken stew as gravy, jem squash, carrots, cabbage, and potatoes.
After dinner, Mama told us all about her life and dreams. She was born and raised in Port Elizabeth, but wanted to move to Cape Town so that she could make more money. Once she moved to Cape Town, she worked in a fish packing factory. This compant allowed her to take out loans so that she could build a home. It took three years to build her home because the workers were untrustworthy. As soon as Mama would go to work, the men who were building her house would leave her house and go to another area to do a different job. They only worked when she stood there, which she couldn't do because she had to be at work. Once her home was complete, she and her children moved in. It rained that day, and the rain came straight through the roof. She did not care what people said about her faulty roof, because she finally had a house in Cape Town, something that people told her she would never have in her life. After a couple years, she hired a colored man to redo her roof and add on a room in the house for her son. He finished this job in four days time! He worked from 7 in the morning until 11 at night in order to finish this job for her. He would not leave the house until her daughters were asleep, because he wanted to make sure that they were safe. Needless to say, her home is very safe now, and they have remained friends. Mama wanted a room around the back of her house for her son because "she was a single mom, and she knew that he would be bringing girls over a lot. She did not want a fight over girls in her house."
We talked to Mama about movies and books that she liked. She said that she really likes action movies, so I asked her if she liked James Bond. It turns out that she has seen ever James Bond, and her favorite actor was Roger Moore. She agreed with me that the new James Bond movies are very good, but we do not consider them to be James Bond. Unlike with her movie preferences, Mama likes books with romance complications. One of her favorite books is The Thorn Beds, which was also made into a movie.
Mama said that if she could go anywhere outside of South Africa, that it would be to go to the United States. Having heard this my entire trip, I asked her where she would like to go in the United States, and why. She said that she did not have a preference in where she went in the United States, as long as she went there. She wanted to see what it is like to have black, white, and colored people all living together, and not being separated. Although South Africa is starting to improve, they are nowhere near our equality levels in the United States. Although people may argue that the United States has a long way to go for equality of race, it is doing a hell of a lot better than South Africa. South Africans look at the United States as a role model for what they want to be like one day. She did say that she would like to see where the twin towers were. She said that South Africa was also affected by 9/11 because it was a world-wide tragedy. She asked, "Who would do this? All those people still in the buildings. Who could do that?" It really opened my eyes to the fact that what goes on in our country is not just out issue, but the whole world does feel the effects as well. The world is more interconnected than we would think.
Upon coming to and leaving the township, many children would run up to us and hug us. Mama told us that they are raised to hug and greet every white person that comes into the township. She said that seeing white people in the townships is a hope for the residents. It is a sign that what they fought for so hard during Apartheid is starting to come true. They are starting to become desegregated and equal, so seeing white people is there sign that it is real and it is happening. That is what really hit me the most on this trip.
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