Out of my comfort zone

Written Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The reason we're in South Africa is because Elizabeth is involved in a project trying to encourage kids to choose healthier after school activities. So not drugs, sex and alcohol.

Today, we took a tour of several of the schools she's working with, along with the surrounding neighborhoods. I've seen poverty in the U.S., but my god this is on a new level for me.

Khayelitsha area outside Cape Town

We got the opportunity to walk into a few schools and talk to a few teachers. Well, Elizabeth and her co-worker talked. I just stood there hoping not to not get them in trouble. But I paid more attention to the students, all dressed in uniform, anyway. Mostly, it was that there is no cafeteria in any school, so either they bring lunch or they visit local vendors that set up just outside the school gates and sell cheap favorites. Like the lady with an huge pot full of cooked chicken feet. I felt bad for all the complaining I did about cafeteria food growing up.

Throughout our tour we saw thousands of homes in the township of Khayelitsha built out of sheet metal or corrugated metal, many leaning against each other. There are electrical poles spread all over and apparently people climb up them and just attach their own connection to a pole.

Standard house in the township

The subsections in the township were mostly divided by race, with most being black and some being "coloured". To explain, blacks are, well, black. And coloured are people of mixed backgrounds. In the days of apartheid, coloured people ranked below whites but above blacks. And since that was not really that long ago, the echoes can still be felt. God knows the U.S. is far from the ideal in race relations, but it seems SA still has some major issues to deal with. After seeing the place we're staying compared with shacks just a few miles away, it's tough to reconcile.

Stop lights are robots and swim suits are cosi's

Which is short for costume, not that that makes any more sense.

So we're back traveling again, this time in Cape Town, South Africa. It's much harder to do a big trip like this since we've got the kiddo at home now. Luckily we've both got great parents, so Caitlin is getting lots of grandparent time.

This is my second full day here, while Elizabeth has been here for almost 10 days. The flights took over 24 hours total and I got to experience 4 consecutive meals on a plane.

I just spent about 4 hours walking, about half an hour each way to the nearest train station to get into the city and about 3 hours wandering the city and waterfront areas, minus a fish and chips lunch near the ocean. Holy crap I'm tired. I'm used to freezing temps and its in the 80s here.

I need to write something about safety and security that I've noticed here. I have never felt unsafe at all, But there is clearly a high level of crime here. We're staying in a predominantly white and affluent suburb. And I haven't seen one house without a high wall at the very least.

Security fence topped with electric wire

We're staying in a cottage attached to a house and it is surrounded by a fence with electrical wires running along the top. Many fences have barbed wire or sharp points along the top. Many also have signs saying they're protected by ADT Armed Response teams. So yeah, crime is an issue. But we were told it's almost all opportunity crimes. Leave a phone, computer, wallet or whatever in view and its likely to get "pinched". It's not fun being on alert at all times, but it keeps things safe.

I pick up a rental car tomorrow so we can do some site seeing in the area. That includes a road trip to an animal park (lions!) and seeing the Cape of Good Hope. I'll try to update again and upload a few pics when I can. 

Scott