Waka Waka

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land." G. K. Chesterton

How are we already done with Europe and Africa? We are making quick headway into South America, and it'll be back to real life before we know it.

Cape Town was a city of contrasts. My days were packed with learning about its history, issues and development in the day, as Bob and Alice planned a wonderful itinerary for us, while we packed as much as we could into our free time, at night. I officially got 8 hours of sleep over the 4 nights we had, but it was worth it for a city I definitely need to go back to.

Going into the township on the first day, I was struck by how terribly the conditions were painted, and I say that because to me, they were no better or worse than the 'sampa' in Sabah (the farmhouse my mum grew up in, and we used to visit as kids), apart from the lack of land surrounding them, and the stark contrast with which they stood in relation to the urban buildings around. I had been expecting worse - something like the slums in India, and was met with slight bemusement as we saw the modern technology like televisions and speakers in the houses we went into. I realized that we are invariably influenced by the lens through which we are told to look, but who are we to say what is 'poor' or conversely 'wealthy' enough, in deciding where to allocate resources? The townships still do not have running water, six to eight households share an external shack as a toilet, and there are severe economic and social conditions that cannot be seen merely from a guided walk through them. As the pastor of JL Zwane, who does amazing work connected to HIV/Aids prevention and help explained, some people who can afford to move out of the townships even stay, to help the rest of the community move up, as that is sometimes their only connection to the outside world. While some of us felt uncomfortable just waltzing into the area and into people's houses, we later learnt that they did it just for themselves as much as for us, as the adults in the community wanted to expose their children (everyone in the township is usually black) to the fact that people of other colors can exist, to prepare them for going out to work in Cape Town when they are of age. It was a sobering moment when he told us to think about the kids we met at the primary school (who were really some of the friendliest, most adorable ones I've met recently) - 15% of them are orphans, 10% of them are living with HIV/Aids, 15% of them have single parent homes, and 15% of them have parents living with HIV/Aids. It was intense.

There are many times during travel where I have been grateful for my background. While I am in no way 'at home' in rural landscapes, and will admit am very much a spoilt prissy city girl sometimes, I have just come to realize its the exposure i had to the sampa and other less 'clean' environments as a kid that might have prepared me somewhat for Cambodia, India, and everywhere in between thus far. I guess I should remind myself how things can come to make sense years after, as everything invariably affects your life in little ways.

Over the next few days, we visited parliament, spoke to a cool young MP who told me to email him for places to go at night, who I later find out is mandela's grandson, making it less cool when everyone freaks out about it,  met Mary Burton who was one of the original six protestors and part of the Truth and Reconciliation council, saw how upper-middle class blacks live, met Craig Arendse, a very skilled mediator who's cases we role-played in class, visited the District 6 museum, the actual District 6 and drove out to the Cape of Good Hope.

I was struck by issues of inequality and racism, but also recovery and hope. Is it possible for a country to truly move on from such a recent, horrific past, when they are still staring at the issues right in front of their face? Talking to Storm, my couch surf host, who was white, he explained how it still always boils down to issues of race, with failures in education or economics blamed on apartheid. And this might rightly be so, but apartheid ended 20 years ago, with 1/3 of the current population having grown up under new policies of equality, at least officially. 

This was what I wrote for the explorer seminar I put together for people to hear the different perspectives of those of us who got to do the workshop (and it was amazing how I just asked everyone to share what touched them the most, and everyone literally had a different focus and we covered all the grounds collectively):

" The thing I've been thinking about most from our workshop with Bob and Alice is how one of the first steps to conflict mediation is finding common ground. And there always seems to be a common ground – even if it is not immediately apparent, or the common ground itself serves as the catalyst for conflict. Going into Cape Town, I felt that despite it still being a very polarized society of extremes, the common sentiment was for recovery and progress. But I wonder if it is possible to pursue both at once, or if the focus on one will lead more naturally to the other, because as we all noticed, there are still many cracks under the surface.

  Going into communities like the township, a question that always weighs on my mind is potential sustainability of service. I believe in doing service abroad, but only if it is done right. The pastor explained to us that he would like volunteers for a longer term of a few months to a year who would effect systemic change, although he would still welcome short term volunteers for things like painting houses. I wondered then, about whether a culture of local community service existed, given the hugely visible discrepancy and the public sentiment of apology for grievances commited in the past. When I asked the pastor if private schools  come to volunteer in the township, he told me "Yes, of course! In fact a team from Canada is coming for a few days from tomorrow." I had to repeat local private schools three times before he understood, and then he looked surprised and said "no, no they don't come." So, I've been thinking about the possibility of having overseas volunteers focus on working with advantaged kids from local private schools, teaching the service learning cycle and instilling community spirit instead of working directly with the township. It would be helping the country help themselves, and maybe serve as a way to reconcile the goals of recovery and progress. The nature of overseas volunteer work however, is that it eventually has to come to and end, and people want to see their results. It is harder to work for the big picture than to rely on emotion. It might also be hard if both sides are still heavily preoccupied with race. Walking through the township, everyone was welcoming to us foreigners, but I was caught in the middle of a very uncomfortable situation with our white tour guide, who was greeted by a black woman in her African language, took a little too long to answer, and was accused of 'being hypocritical and fake' 'Why should I have to learn your language when you don't care about mine', she said. It revealed the deep divide or sore emotions that still exist. As one of the white locals I was speaking to said 'If they make it all about race, or use it as a fallback when the education or economy sucks, it will always be all about race, and we can never truly develop.

 Honestly, the biggest thing I got out of our course, and this is going to be terribly cheesy, is that while I still don't know what path life will take me or even what I want to do for sure, I know who I want to be. I want to be touching lives, making a difference, still travelling, working in a team and still scuba diving when I'm 73, or basically, Alice."

Bob and Alice were really so, so sweet. And yet they revealed that they almost didn't make it through their first year of marriage, despite now nearing their 50th. I guess nothing's perfect, and you just gotta be able to feel what's worth it?

It wasn't all societal issues and exposure. I didn't get to do things like a Big 5 safari, shark cave diving or the highest commercial bungee, but I did catch some pretty good views of penguins and whales and visited a Hindu temple on a whim where we danced at a religious festival, sticking out like sore thumbs. It was a different kind of dance on Long Street, where we paid full homage to our motto 'Sleep is for the Ship'. I never fail to be amazed by the ability of people to let themselves…. go, since I like retaining control of what i'm doing, lol. Might have done some silly things the night I ran on 0 hours though, or the reason why I had 0 hours…. The Cape of Good Hope was STUNNING, I love being reminded of the beauty of the world.

Keep catching viruses from my roommate. Coughing like a dog now it sucks hope I get better asap :(((