After landing in the whole new world
called Cape Town I had no idea what to expect but also came with preconceiving
notions of what I would see and experience. I was wrong. For the first few days
with the exception of being sick for one of them, the group traveled around and
saw the sights and went to museums and other touristy activities, which was
expected. However, for me that all changed today, Friday the 23rd
when we spent the day travelling through the townships of Cape Town that span
miles and miles and consist of millions, yes I said millions of people. Hearing
that number is inconceivable and I had no idea that the struggles that people
living in the townships face are dealt with by that number of people. I had
seen pictures of these areas but it is hard to have true feelings when you look
at a picture versus seeing it and seeing these families first hand. I am so
confused by the way I am feeling after this that I cannot even put it into
words. How can these people literally living in scraps of metal put together in
a 4 by 4 foot home have a smile on their face? They wave to us in our passing
bus full of American students who attend an expensive university wearing
clothes and accessories that would probably buy them food for a month. I feel
so selfish and feel so guilty. Why should I enjoy these things and why should I
be able to get an amazing education while living at a beautiful and safe school
where I go home every night to a heated/cooled dorm room with my friends and sleep
on a tempur-pedic mattress pad because the bed wasn’t good enough for me when
these people sleep on mats or maybe even the sand. How can they wave to me and
be happy to see me? It’s hard for me to swallow. Coming to Cape Town I knew
that there were people living like this but driving around today showed me how
large of a population is actually living like this, literally millions of
people.
Visiting the community center in Manenberg
I loved to see the man, Keith Dumas, who had gone back to help a community that he was lucky
enough to leave and get an education in the states, yet he went back and chose
to spend his time helping people in the situation he was once also in. While
touring the facility we came across a dance studio and I thought wow what a
great way to get kids into new activities and keep them off the streets. Yet
then the man tells me that they are unable to use the facility because of the
gangs surrounding this area. This really saddened me and it made me consider my
activist project. Having been a dancer for 12 years of my life, I loved going
to dance with my friends and making such beautiful art with ones own body and
talent. I am thinking maybe I could do something to teach or help lead a group
of children that may want to take up dance to get them off of the streets and
to give them a passion of their own. This is an initial thought but I was just
really saddened that they had this facility and could not even use it. I just
hope that while I am here I can help in any way and I am hopeful for the future
of those smiling faces.
No comments:
Post a Comment