First Impressions

Now that you know a little more about the city of Cape Town, I can't wait to share with you about my placement and I think that you'll be able to relate a little better.

I'm working at a preschool in the township of Athlone called Silvertown Educare. Athlone is definitely one of the nicer townships, and our driver sometimes even calls it a suburb. To my knowledge and after asking some locals, I believe Athlone was first settled by the coloured population when many were forced to leave their homes in and around Cape Town in the 1960s and 1970s, most from the infamous District 6. (We're going to the District 6 museum next week so I'll fill you in more of that when the times comes). Thus, Silvertown used to only serve coloured children, but now children from many townships come to Silvertown and there is a mix of coloured and black children. The kids range from just under 2 years to around 6, preparing for Grade 1.

Silvertown, as far as I can judge, is one of the nicer placements. The school has 4 classrooms each holding about 40 to 50 children, with a very caring and dedicated staff. On first impression, I felt very welcomed and at home, and found the school quite similar to ones back home in the states. In comparison to other preschools with volunteers from my program, this school is fortunate to have running water, available resources, and a loving and supportive staff.

I am working there with two other volunteers, Natalie and Karan, and the first day, we all decided to help out with the "babies" as we call them, all about 2 years old, because we were told they needed the most help there. Tuesday, my first day, was the first day the preschool was back from summer holiday, and we had about 14 kids, but the classroom is enrolled for 47 so more kids come each day. As expected, there were quite a few whiny toddlers would have never left their parents before (think first day of preschool) and everyone was adjusting to the school and each other. Certain kids cry a lot, some not at all, and there is an abundance of peeing and puking galore... my favorite! Their schedule is pretty scheduled with breakfast, snacks, lunch, outdoor playtime, and naptime. The other volunteers have discussed a lot a complete lack of organization and compassion by the teachers, but our teachers Patricia and Patty are both extremely loving and wonderful with kids. They both speak perfect english (but are native Afrikaans speakers) but are sometimes difficult to understand because of the accent. The kids aren't really talking yet and many of their families speak Xhosa or Afrikaans at home, so I'm not sure if they are even mumbling in English. However, at prayer time, they magically sing perfectly in English. I help out with everything, feeding, washing, but mostly playing. They really enjoy just rolling a giant tennis ball around so do that for awhile. We've taught them some childhood games like ring-around-the-rosy, and the hokey-pokey, but for the most part, they look extremely confused and I judge they aren't quite old enough to fully understand. They love to just jump and climb all over me, and although is often seems chaotic, Patricia magically calms them down and gets everyone ready for mealtime. They are so so adorable, and even though I can't quite talk with them yet, you can definitely communicate. One of the little girls always walks around humming and dancing. I can't wait to show you some pictures, but we're not supposed to bring our cameras until we get to know the kids a little bit better. I will soon!

Patricia's daughter, Quanita, is helping out too before going back to school next week. I really like talking to her about her homelife and she loves learning about "the states". Today we listened to some Chris Brown on her cell phone and she asked me if I was friends with Beyonce. One can only wish! She speaks great English (also Afrikaans) and seems very smart.

So it seems like a normal preschool pretty much so far, but there are definitely a few differences. The toys are definitely older and mostly broken. There is a figurine (no joke) from that Dinosaurs television show that aired on TGIF in the early nineties, really brings back the memories. The other toys are worn in blocks and dolls, some broken crayons. When the kids pee on the carpet, nobody cleans it up. And if the kids wet themselves, they lose their pants for the day. So by the end of the day, almost no one has pants on anymore. The playground is pretty broken down. The teachers watch from the doorway, and when I went out to the play with the kids, I found logs fallen off benches with huge nails just sticking out so I hauled those off. Mind you, all the kids are running around barefoot, so I was pretty scared. Patricia is great with the kids, but sometimes threatens them with a ruler.One of the girls throws fit and makes herself throw up because she gets so upset and doesn't want to eat, and Patricia was explaining to me that you have to kinda scare them at the beginning so they eat their food the rest of the year. Still kinda freaks me out.

After the first day, when I asked Luann, the program director here at CCS, about Silvertown, she said that although the place is probably better kept then the other schools, the children come from the same places at the other preschools. She said what really makes the difference is the key staff, and Silvertown has had an amazing director for many years, Mrs. Reynolds, and she really used the government funding in the best way, and keeps a great staff. So I'm definitely happy to help out and think that they really do need the help, it just seems like there are other places here that could use the help a little bit more.

There is so much more to tell and I will definitely fill you in soon. Thanks for listening.

Jackie

Cape Town, a history

So much has happened in the past couple of days and I've learned so much about the city of Cape Town. I have lots to share with you so bear with me! Most importantly, I began my volunteer placing yesterday. But before I go any further, I'd like to give you a brief history and culture lesson about Cape Town. I'm learning as I go and after living here awhile, will love to give you a more in depth lesson but here goes!

Cape Town was settled a long time (1650's) by the Dutch East India company as a stopping point to help stock the ships with fresh produce for the long trip from Europe to the Indies. When they got here, they mostly found a sparse population of hunter/gatherer tribes "the Bushmen" that almost completely got wiped out by Smallpox. Then, the Europeans decided they needed Slaves to help run their farms that supplied the food so they first imported them from Asia (mostly India), the South Pacific and Madagascar. This was followed by a long chunk of history where the British and Dutch fought over control of the well-located city of Cape Town, instigated by European wars and the spice trade. The British won control in the early 1800's and slaves were emancipated (as in Britan) in 1834. In the later half of the 1800's, when gold and diamonds were discovered in South Africa (mostly near Johannesburg), Cape Town benefitted from increased importance as an industrial trade capital. Along the way, many Africans (predominantly of the Xhosa tribe) within South Africa migrated to Cape Town to find work. Still held by the British, Cape Town based a bunch of segegrist laws, and when South Africa was granted indepedence, a government (only elected by whites, those with the right to vote) established Apartheid, which attemped to racially segregate all forms of life for South Africans. Many areas were given White Only status, and entire communities were uprooted and forced to move to different Townships farther from the city, organized by race. Within the whole of South Africa, black Africans (which made up 80% of the population) were granted 13% of the most dry and unariable land within the country. [That one is verbatim from a museum here]. Okay, so the white government basically set up a system that gave them all the wealth and power at the expense of black and coloured labor. There was peaceful resistance for many years by the African National Council (ANC) such as strikes, but the white minority government had difficulty continually denying others their rights. Police violence was eventually met with violence, and South Africa was a dangerous place to live in the late 1970's and 1980's. Finally, apartheid was abolished in 1990 followed by the first democratic election in 1994 that elected president Nelson Mandela.

Map of South Africa

I'm probably leaving out lots of critical details but feel free to goggle it to find out more information. Essentially though, this has left South Africa as having the best constitution in the world (at least in terms of granting rights) but without a government or means to protect these rights. There is still lots of racial separation and tension in Cape Town, and the city is plagued with extremely high rates of unemployment, 40% overall, 58% for black Africans.

In terms of the classifications of people, when the government established Apartheid in 1948, they classified people into white, black, coloured, and Indian. Black (or black African) is of African descent, most blacks in Cape Town are of the Xhosa (pronounced cosa) tribe (same as Mandela) and as far as I can tell, most black Africans belong to one of the tribes (Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, etc.) Coloured people are the descendants of the slaves, so are of mixed descent, many with African, European, Indian, Asian heritage, but with not enough black African to be considered Black. These terms "black" and "coloured" are not taboo in South Africa and most people positively identify themselves to these designations. There is still tension between the groups, apparently, but the school I work at for instance, has both black and coloured children.

Cape Town is still racially divided into townships. And these areas of suppressed black and coloured people for many years are very poor and struggling areas. Although they range a great deal in affluence, many people live in tin shacks with 2 entire other families, with extremely limited resources. The kids need a lot of help, and all the volunteers here are so excited out to help out in the schools and hospitals in these areas.

I'll be back soon to tell you more about my specific placement. My kids are sooo adorable, heads up!

First Weekend in Cape Town

Whew! Finally arrived... and couldn't be happier to be off that plane. We got in yesterday (Saturday) during the afternoon after around 19 hours in the air. I loved watching our plane on the movie screen flying over various African countries I can only hope to go to some day. 11 other volunteers on our program were also on our flight- more about the program later- along with three travelers sporting Michigan hoodies. Who would have guessed?

Soon after, we were kindly greeted and taken to our homebase. We live in one of the quiet suburbs of Cape Town and the place is great! A few volunteers have been here for awhile but most of the 30 others started with us yesterday. Most are from the states with a few from the UK and Canada, and everyone seems very friendly, outgoing, and compassionate. A great group I can't wait to get to know.

Our homebase front porch

We went out to a Cuban restaurant/lounge for drinks and to check out the college town scene near the University. They had some killer mojitos rivaling Cafe Habana, our favorite spot in Ann Arbor, but most likely because they were only $2. Everything here is such a steal. It's fantastic!

Today we had orientation, learning about Cape Town, the home base staff, our placements, and our schedule for the next few weeks. Lots of information to take in. Then, we went on a driving tour of Cape Town. We saw a few things in the city (but that is mostly saved for another day) but drove up all along the coast and got some great views of Table Mountain and the ocean. The whole city is quite picturesque. Not to mention 80 degrees and sunny. Not too shabby! More on Cape Town later though... already have had lots of observations.

Camp's Bay Beach, where the beautiful play they say

Colin and I overlooking the Atlantic- just to the left of us is Table Mountain

We finished off the night going to a concert of a local Cape Town band called Gold Fish. They were fantastic and played dance/pop/reggae tunes as well as DJed at this club right on the beach near Camp's Bay.

All I can say is I'm lucky to be here and can't wait to check out everything else Cape Town has to offer!

Warm regards,
Jackie