Friday, Aug. 31

Another interesting day, as we started with a tour of Robben Island. It was gray and drizzly - the perfect day to be in a prison, I guess.
We were on the "fast ferry" going to the island; it only took about 30 minutes. Our return trip was on the "slow ferry," so it was about 45 minutes return.
It was a tour with lots of people, so we were herded like sheep to a waiting bus when we arrived on the island. No time for dallying.
Our first stop was the prison. Our tour guide was a former political prisoner, who was imprisoned for running guns (I believe that's what he said). He was there with Nelson Mandela. Mandela, of course, is the most famous prisoner on Robben Island but there were hundreds of political prisoners. You can see a list of the political prisoners here: http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/list-robben-island-political-prisoners
In the 1960s, Robben Island was the exclusive home for political prisoners but there also remained a prison for convicted criminals. The two were separated to assure the political prisoners would not influence those convicted of crimes. Parties and individuals representing freedom and democracy were imprisoned; two of the most active political movements of the time were the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
The maximum-security prison for political prisoners closed in 1991. The medium-security prison for criminal prisoners was closed five years later.
Let's back up - prior to the Europeans arriving in the mid-1400s, Robben Island was inhabited by a variety of wildlife including birds, penguins, seals and tortoises. For instance, when we stopped for our "snack break," we spotted tons of birds congregating on a hillock far from us. We inquired of one of the employees, and he indicated it was the Egyptian Ibis. That may mean the same as what my research indicated: they were African Sacred Ibis who were first recorded breeding on Robben Island in the 1991 breeding season. The peak breeding season for the African Sacred Ibis in the Western Cape is from August to January. The birds are part of a heronry on the island that incudes Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night Herons and Crowned Cormorants. I think we saw the cormorants but, again, we didn't have time to actually stop and photograph them or enjoy their presence.
The term Robben Island comes from the Dutch word Robbeineiland, which means Seal Island, probably because of the high seal population that was found around the island.
The island had a plentiful supply of fresh water available from a number of springs, and it was "discovered" in 1488 by Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguese explorer who anchored his ship in Table Bay.
Robben Island is designated by UNESCO as a world heritage site, and it has quite a history. Our tour focused solely on the political prisoners because it is most famously known as the place where the late President Nelson Mandela was jailed for 18 of his 27-year sentence. Prior to that, however, Robben Island was the place where a number of Namibian criminals were incarcerated including Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, who was a founding member of the Ovamboland People's Congress.
The Dutch were the first to use the island as a prison. The island, in the 1840s, was used as a leper colony but it also was used to imprison political dissenters. During WW II, the island was fortified and BL 9.2-inch guns and 6-inch guns were installed as part of the defense for Cape Town. But the island also held criminal and political prisoners until 1961 when it became a maximum security prison for political prisoners.
        We visited the cell in which our tour guide was imprisoned for eight years before proceeding to the cell in which Mandela was imprisoned. It was a rectangular cell that held 40 prisoners, first on thin mats on the floor, then on triple-decker bunks.
We briefly glimpsed a kramat on our way to the prison. A kramat is a shrine and, apparently, there are several kramats in the Bo-Kaap section of town. The kramat on Robben Island was erected in 1969, and is the Moturu Kramat. It is a sacred site for Muslim pilgrimage on Robben Island and was built to commemorate Sayed Abdurahman Moturu, the Prince of Madura. He was one of Cape Town's first imams and was exiled to the island in the mid-1740s. He died there in 1754. Muslim political prisoners would pay homage at the shrine before leaving the island.
        We also heard about the story of Robert Sobukwe, who was a professor at the University of Witwatersrand and an Africanist who believed the future of South Africa should be in the hands of Black South Africans. He was instrumental in initiating an African breakaway from the ANC in 1958, which led to the birth of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
        The PAC initiated a campaign against the pass laws with the aim to free South Africa in 1963. He encouraged non-violent protests and called for those protests at police stations across South Africa. He was arrested and charged with sedition in a march at the Orlando Police Station. When a group of 5,000 marchers reached Sharpeville police station, the police opened fire and killed 69 people and injured 180 others in what now is known as the Sharpeville Massacre.
        Sobukwe was banished then sentenced to three years in prison for inciting Africans to demand the repeal of the pass laws. At the end of his sentence in 1963, Parliament enacted a General Law Amendment Act that included what was termed the "Sobukwe Clause," which empowered the Minister of Justice to prolong the detention of any political prisoner indefinitely. Subsequently, Sobukwe was moved to Robben Island, where he remained for an additional six years.
        While on Robben Island, Sobukwe was kept in solitary confinement. We viewed his living quarters, which were separate from the main prison. He had no contact with any prisoners nor with family, and he was forbidden to read anything until a few years after he came to Robben Island. Then he studied and earned a degree in economics from the University of London. He was released from prison in May 1969, and successfully applied for a teaching post at the University of Wisconsin but the apartheid government refused his request for a passport despite assurances he would be given a visa by the US government. You can read more about Sobukwe here: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/robert-mangaliso-sobukwe
         Before we viewed the building in which Sobukwe was held, we stopped briefly (we didn't get to get off the bus) at the Limestone Quarry on the island. The prisoners who worked at the quarry over the centuries included Nelson Mandela, who worked there for 13 years. There was no real need for the island's limestone during the time of Mandela, although they said it was used for roadways. Prisoners would break up the stone and carry it to one end of the quarry one day and then back the next - the work was really just to keep them busy. As a result of working with the white limestone every day, Mandela suffered from eye problems.
        There was a stack of rocks which I photographed from the far side of the bus through the window, and the pile of rocks was started by Mandela when there was a reunion of former prisoners in 1995. Former prisoners of Robben Island add to the pile of rocks when they visit.
We both found the visit to be a moving experience and reminder of how horrifyingly cruel people can be.
        After we returned to the mainland, we enjoyed a lunch of seafood and purchased some electrical converters since the ones we brought were the incorrect converters.
       Then we called our new best friend, Gilbert, who drives a taxi and he drove us over to the District Six Museum. We only got about 30 minutes to browse because it closed at 4 p.m. - on the dot!
       District 6 was a multi working-class area to the south of the Castle. Before being torn apart by the apartheid regime during the 60s and 70s, it was an impoverished but lively community of 55,000 of predominantly coloured people. In the 1940s, plans were formed by the Cape Town municipality to demolish houses under slum clearance ordinances, but it was only after the declaration of District Six as a white area under the Group Areas Act in 1966 that extensive demolition began. Resistance by inhabitants was intense and the last residents only left in the mid-1970s. More than 250,000 were forcibly removed from various areas in the Cape Peninsula to the Cape Flats where the townships now are located.
       It now is home to the police and armed personnel as well as a Cape Technical College. After the 1994 democratic election, claims for restitution were made by families forced from District Six, and a large number of them have been given the option to resettle in District Six, or accept financial compensation.
        There were numerous stories from District Six residents as well as a cloth on which former residents wrote their stories.
        There actually were 42 areas of forced removal including Simon's Town and Constantia where we're going on Monday. Constantia is a wine region.
        What caught my attention, of course, was a brief panel describing the newspapers that were published in the area. The Guardian was published in 1937, and The Torch, the paper of the Non-European Unity Movement, advocated non-collaboration as the cornerstone of resistance.
The name Ruth First prompted me to do some research, and she was an amazing woman. She was the daughter of Jewish immigrants and became the Johannesburg editor of New Age, the successor to The Guardian. She wrote South-West Africa, a book that remains the most incisive history of early Namibia. She also helped organize the first broadcasts of Radio Freedom from a mobile transmitter in Johannesburg. She was, of course, arrested in 1963 after the arrests of Mandela and others in the underground ANC, and during her confinement, she attempted suicide but eventually left with her children and joined her husband in Britain. For more on Ruth First:
http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/ruth-heloise-first
       We hung around the steps of the museum for about a half-hour before Gilbert picked us up to return home. It was an interesting 30 minutes. There was a group of young men who were videotaping themselves rapping and a woman down the street who was homeless and had her home set up. We watched as she undressed, cleaned herself and put on different clothing.
       We also learned that Gilbert, who is from the Congo, is on some kind of committee that is meeting with South African Parliament in the near future. But we weren't exactly clear about the issue; we know it's political. He also advised us that he views Trump as "normal" - now, remember that's coming from a black person from the Congo who now lives in South Africa, and is used to the corruption and such. Ha!
       It's been an educational adventure in Cape Town. We're picking up our car tomorrow and going to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden since it's supposed to be nice. We're also going to attend an avant garde performance at the Artscape Theatre Centre.
       Sunday is supposed to be rainy - again - so we're doing laundry and lying low, as we're taking off on Monday in our rented vehicle to Simon's Town via Constantia, the wine region.
       It will be nice to get out of the city!

Robben Island as we approach on the ferry.

This is the cell in which our tour guide was imprisoned for eight years. The mats in the foreground were what they slept on for years until the bunks (in the back) were installed. The room housed 40 prisoners.

This is our tour guide. We think his name was Albert. The photo to the left is a propaganda image in which the convicted criminals are seen doing "hard" labor and the political prisoners are doing "soft" labor so as to show that the political prisoners were being treated better. To the right is a photo of a young Nelson Mandela.

This is one of the cell blocks that was built with the limestone that was quarried on the island. The rain barrels provided some fresh water to the prisoners.

This is the cell in which Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.

This is the leper cemetery on the island. Lepers were quarantined on Robben Island.

This is the pile of rocks started by Nelson Mandela in 1995 when former political prisoners convened for a reunion on Robben Island. Former political prisoners continue to add to the pile.

Just one of the displays/exhibits at the District Six museum.

Our friends who rapped on the corner where the museum is located as we were waiting for Gilbert to pick us up. Notice, he has a Minnesota sweatshirt on. :)

Gilbert, the taxi driver who took care of us for a couple of days. He's from Congo and is an activist for the Congo here in Cape Town.

Thursday, Aug. 30

            This is how our day started after we left the apartment to meet Lucy at Castle Good Hope for a tour: as we stepped out of the cab, she said, “How did I know it was going to be two dykes?” Ha! We corrected her: one dyke, one femme. Ha!

            This is how someone described Lucy’s tour in their blog: “Lucy Campbell’s myth-busting, grassroots, warts-and-all account of the little recognized pre-1652 founding of Cape Town, and the trauma of slavery, is a meaningful educational experience that few visitors can afford to overlook.” 

And indeed, it was educational, and we were given a glimpse that many on the tour probably don’t get – about being lesbian and how homosexuality was viewed. 

This blog offers information about the tour: http://blog.sa-venues.com/provinces/western-cape/cape-towns-true-history/

I want to talk more about Lucy’s “heritage” activism, as she is attempting to do what Native people also are attempting to do in the United States: decolonizing colonial institutions and helping reclaim the history and the voices of indigenous people and others who have been oppressed by the colonizers. To re-imagine their history is what Lucy wants to achieve.

Lucy was featured and was involved in the production of “Secrets of the Dead: Slave Ship Mutiny” that premiered on PBS in November 2010. I have not watched it nor can I while I’m not in the United States, as it is not available in South Africa due to rights restrictions. I intend to watch it when we return. If you want to watch it, here’s the address: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/slave-ship-mutiny-behind-the-scenes/758/

The stories Lucy told resonated with us, as it is the all-too familiar story of colonialism.

We met her at Castle of Good Hope but we never stepped inside the Castle. Built between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is known as the oldest surviving building in South Africa and has been the center of civilian, political and military life at the Cape from approximately 1679. The website for the Castle indicates that there is not enough space “To delve into the rich, difficult history of this world-famous building. Save to say that the story of the Castle is a story of our young country.”

Well, that’s not the way Lucy describes the Castle. She described it as a crime scene because it was built on land stolen from the Khoi and for the injustice perpetrated by the Dutch against indigenous people. The Castle was built by Khoikhoi, slaves, burghers (ex-slaves) and company workers.

She told us the story of Krotoa (Eva), who was the niece of Autshumao, a Khoi leader and interpreter to the Dutch. When she was 11 years old, she was “taken in” by Jan van Riebeeck during the first few days of Dutch Settlement. She worked as a domestic servant for Van Riebeeck ‘s wife and became a translator for the Dutch authorities. She negotiated a co-operative relationship between the fort and the followers of her rich relative Oedasoa, and she was later instrumental in working out terms for ending the First Dutch-Khoi-khoi War. Her marriage was the first recorded union between a “native” and a “settler.” She was eventually banished to Robben Island in 1669 for “immoral behavior.” It was her drunken behavior at the dinner table of Commander Wagenaar and her increasing bitterness against the settlers that prompted a warning, then her banishment.

She was a cultural broker but she was torn between her loyalty to the Dutch and her own people whose land was being taken over by the Dutch in the late 1650s.

These are the kinds of stories Lucy told us – stories that are not part of the colonizer’s narrative.

We stopped at a memorial that memorializes the hundreds of orphans from Angola that were brought to Cape Town by the Portuguese. The children were forced to work in a spinning factory. The spinning factory marked the eastern boundary of Church Square, which is one of the three early areas of land about which the early town developed. The first public building was a slave lodge – more about that later – that was erected on the southern side of the area. The Dutch Reformed Church, known as the Groote Kerk, was erected in 1701 on the northern edge. Originally, the square served as the site of the slave market, and it was declared a national monument in 1961.

While we were at the children’s memorial, a woman was sitting and listening to Lucy. When Lucy finished, she shared her story. She was born in 1956 to a Scottish woman and an Egyptian man so she is classified as “coloured.” She lived in Canada before returning to Cape Town 20 years ago. She came to Cape Town to be with her step-sister who, upon seeing her get off the airplane, told her that she was not allowed to tell anyone they were sisters because her step-sister could pass for white and the woman telling us her story could not pass for white. It’s the story that was told in “Blood Knot,” a play by South African playwright Athol Fugard that we saw at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green before we left.

Oh, and the woman asked a question to which Beth and I responded simultaneously using the same word (I can’t remember what it was) but she remarked that she knew we had been together for a long time. Ha!

We moved down Spin Street (where the spinning factory once was located) to a rather understated memorial designating the location of the Slave Auction Tree. As you can see from the photo, it’s nothing more than a plaque on a traffic island in the center of Spin Street. As the inscription says, a tree grew on the spot, and it became known as the slave tree because in its shade, people were auctioned once a week. People from East Africa, Madagascar, India, Indonesia, people who had been caught by slave traders and brought to be sold. But also people who had been born in bondage in Cape Town.

Cape Town was founded on slavery, Lucy will tell you, although it’s difficult to know because the shame of those who were slaves and of those who enslaved has been deeply buried, and Lucy’s mission is to bring those facts, stories and narratives to the surface.

Our next and last stop was the Slave Lodge, another of the oldest buildings in Cape Town. Built in 1679, the Slave Lodge was built to house Dutch East Indian Company’s slaves. Between 1653 and 1856, 71,000 slaves were captured in South East Asia and brought to Cape Town by the company. Many were sold to colonial homes and farmers, while the rest were trained by the company and housed in the slave lodge on the periphery of the Company’s Gardens (where we were yesterday).

When the slaves landed at the Cape of Good Hope, they were stripped of everything including their identities and were either renamed after the calendar month in which they arrived or the country from which they came. There was an exhibit in the lodge that featured faces of people named after the months along with their stories.

The slaves lived in appalling conditions. At night, they were kept under lock and key in the Slave Lodge to prevent them from absconding. The lodge had no windows, only barred slats in the walls and so the interior was always dark and one needed a light to move through the slaves anytime of the day. Leaks in the roof caused perpetual dampness and poor air circulation led to a permanent stench in the building.

In the evenings, the lodge operated as a brothel welcoming free men inside. Lucy explained that this was also a method for breeding more slaves. 

The lodge housed between 700 and 800 souls, and it is estimated that between 7,000 and 9,000 slaves including men, women and children, lived in the Slave Lodge over a period of 132 years. Aside from slaves, the lodge also housed petty convicts, the mentally ill and political exiles. The Slave Lodge operated until 1811 when it was transformed into government offices by the British colonial authorities. Later, the lodge served as a Supreme Court and the South Africa Cultural History Museum before it was renamed the Iziko Slave Lodge Museum in 1998.

After we left Lucy, we got a cab and went to the Lower Cable Station on Table Mountain to spend the afternoon.

Table Mountain gained national park status in 1998. In 2004, the Cape Floristic Region was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it was inaugurated as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in December of 2012. And it is, by all accounts, the most iconic landmark of South Africa.

It’s breathtaking, to say the least.

We ate lunch then wandered around for a couple of hours.

The Khoi name for Cape Town is Canissa (Place of Sweet Waters), and they call Table Mountain Hoerikwaggo or Mountain in the Sea because the rocky promontory seems, almost magically, to rise from the ocean.

The history of the mountain dates back to over 30,000 years and there is some evidence that the mountain was inhabited in the Stone Age as well as hand axes that were found in the Kirstenbosch Garden, which is at the foot of the mountain and which we hope to visit on Sunday.

The first European to climb it, Antonio de Saldanha, called it Taboa de Caba (Table of the Cape). It is the only South African and only natural site on the planet to have a constellation of stars named after it. The constellation is called “Mensa,” which means “table” in Latin. It has withstood 6 million years of erosion, and it hosts the richest floral kingdom on earth with more than 1,470 floral species. The mountain often is covered in cloud (as it was the first three days of our visit), and the cloud that forms around the mountain is called “the table cloth.” The rocks on the mountain are over 600,000,000 years old making Table Mountain one of the oldest mounts in in the world, and more than 70% of all the plants found on the mountain are endemic, meaning they are not found anywhere else.

We saw several black girdled lizards and a beautiful orange-breasted sunbird. Some of the flowers we saw were the Yellow Margaret (!), Conebush and Cluster Disa.

Enjoy the photos of Table Mountain!

This is the woman at the children's memorial that shared her story about being colored. She said she frequents the memorial and has read every card on it.

This is a model of the Slave Lodge.

This is Lucy Campbell, our inimitable and intrepid tour guide.

The aerial cable car on Table Mountain. See that square black portal on the peak on the farthest left? That's where we ended up when we took the cable car to Table Mountain.

This is a view of Cape Town and Table Bay from Table Mountain.

This is looking toward the Cape of Good Hope and includes a portion of the Twelve Apostles.

This also is a portion of the Twelve Apostles in the foreground, looking toward Simon's Bay where we're heading on Monday.

There were several rock climbers on the top of Table Mountain. Here, one gets ready to descend with Lion's Head in the background.

Taking pictures on top of Table Mountain.

That's the Cape of Good Hope extending to the right in the top of the picture.

A Protea Hummingbird feeds on one of the flowering plants on Table Mountain.

A black girdled lizard.

A beautiful orange-breasted sunbird.

These are Yellow Margarets.

This is a Conebush.

Let's call it a day - workers from Table Mountain waiting at the bus stop to go home.

Eucalyptus trees and Lion's Head at the end of the day.

Wednesday, Aug. 29

We woke to beautiful sunshine today, and we could see Table Mountain! And it’s beautiful.

            Our main attraction today was a cooking class in Bo-Kaap. It was wonderful – the folks were warm and funny, the techniques we learned are invaluable, and the eating – well, it was gastronomical! 

            We trundled down to the Rose Corner Café in Bo-Kaap, at the intersection of Rose and Wale streets – a historic location, as it has been in continuous operation since the early part of the 19^thcentury.

            A little history of Bo-Kaap (which means Upper Cape): It formerly was known as the Malay Quarter and has been the traditional home of Cape Town’s Muslim population since the second half of the 18^thcentury. When it was first colonized by the Dutch in the late 1700s, the area’s indigenous tribes fought back, refusing to cede their land or work for the invaders. So, the Dutch kidnapped people from Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of Africa and forced them into slavery. Slaves from Southeast Asia were brought there by the Dutch East India Company. Nearly 200 years would pass before slaves were officially freed in this region. Generations of Malaysians, Indonesians and Indians have lived in this neighborhood of Cape Town for nearly 400 years. I’ll tell you more later in the blog.

            We met cook celebrity Zainie Misbach in front of the Rose Corner Café. Zainie is an internationally known cook and a celebrity, having been a food consultant for MasterChef South Africa and featured on numerous local and international TV programs. She is a Bo-Kaap local with strong community ties and a passion for preserving the Cape Malay culture with over 30 years experience in Cape Malay cuisine, having owned two restaurants. 

We didn’t get to spend much time with Zainie, unfortunately. She met us and took us over to the Atlas Trading Company to introduce us to the many spices used in Malay cooking. Atlas Trading Company also is historical. Established in 1946, the company is a “purveyor of fine spaces, rice and rare products from across the world,” and indeed it is what it says it is. We wanted to buy every spice, legume and various other cooking ingredients – and they all were sold in bulk. Oh, to have a store near us…..

Anywho, Zainie’s father died 10 days ago, and she had to leave to tend to her mother who is pretty distraught about her husband’s death so we were left in the capable hands of her son, Zayred and his wife (whose name escapes me).

Zayred took us to a tunnel in which there are murals that depict historical moments including the development of Islam in Bo-Kaap and historical figures including Tuan Guru (Imam Abdullah) teaching children at his madrasah. Imam Abdullah was incarcerated in Robben Island from 1780 to 1792 because he led the Indonesian resistance against the Dutch invasion in the 1700s. He was finally captured along with a handful of other Indonesian resistance fighters and was incarcerated. During his time on Robben Island, Imam Abdullah wrote several copies of the Quran entirely from memory, two of which are preserved to this day. When Imam Abdullah was released, he was 81 years old; he stayed in Bo-Kaap and started the first madarasah or Islamic School and he taught 

Islam and Arabic to freed slaves. There were other stories Zayred related in relationship to the visual representations in the mural.

Bo-Kaap, essentially, was a ghetto area similar to all those ghetto areas in the world where people who are deemed to be “less than” and valued only because of their labor are forced to live. Residents needed a “pass” to leave the area. 

Zayred related how those in Bo-Kaap could only rent the units in which they lived until the early 1970s after students revolted about being taught in Afrikaans. 

While they were on lease from the Dutch, the facades of these buildings in Bo-Kaap were all white. After the liberation, the locals painted them in bright colors, as they remain today. 

Bo Kapp also is home to the first mosque in South Africa and considered the birthplace of Islam in this part of Africa.

Unfortunately, Bo-Kaap is falling victim to gentrification, and some of its distinctive character is wearing away as wealthy outsiders move in and purchase property, evicting long-term residents. Yep – gentrification. Apparently, people with money think Bo-Kaap is a cool place to live so they’re driving up housing prices so the locals no longer can afford to live there. 

Zayred related stories about multi-national corporations that are attempting to build skyscrapers amidst the Bo-Kaap residents without even telling the residents. Apparently a group of students continue to protest every day at 5 p.m. at the corner of Rose and Wale streets. You can watch this brief video from a local TV station regarding what is happening to Bo-Kaap: https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0geKVvk0oZbbzoAS7gPxQt.?p=gentrification+in+Bo+Kaap&fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&fr2=piv-web&hspart=Lkry&hsimp=yhs-SF01&type=ANYS_A0DSC_ext_bsf#id=1&vid=5dd3c09d473040d85efacce5ef487cff&action=view

We also learned that one of the attractions of Signal Hill (on which Bo-Kaap is built) is the Noon Gun. A cannon shot is fired every day at noon on the battery on top of Signal Hill to uphold an old Capetonian tradition. People set their clocks to the Noon Gun. We might get up there at noon one day before we leave to witness it.

So after Zayred provided us a historical context to Bo-Kaap, we went to Zaine’s home and cooked! Zayred and his wife were so gracious, and we really enjoyed our time with them.

First thing was sauteeing onions to carmelize them so we could start the curry. While that was being done, Zayred’s wife showed us how to make dough for roti. We had to let it rest, then we twirled it with butter on it and let it rest again before we rolled it out into a circle in order to fry it.

While the dough was resting, we learned how to make dhaltjies, which are hot and spicy little chickpea fritters with authentic Cape Malay flavors. Then we learned how to make samosas. We used beef that was browned and soaked in spices and onion, and that mixture was put into a pocket made by holding samosa pastry then folding it appropriately. Those were fried in oil, as were the dhaltjies (same oil).

We munched on them as well as these crispy things that, to my refined tastes, looked like what we called pig skins or pork rinds in the South. But, of course, they weren’t since observant Muslims do not eat pork. Actually, Zayred and his wife are vegetarian but they put chicken in the curry for us.

They served two delicious dips with the finger foods – one that was a spicy apricot and another was a spicy cilantro dip.

Before we ate, we rolled out the roti and slipped each into oil, and we learned the technique to make them crusty. It took several flips, brushed with oil before we took it off, flipped it a couple of times in the pan (one-handed) then set it on a plate to be “45’d” – yes, we’re referring to our inane president; what we did was crunch the roti on each side. That was the way Zayred described it: 45!  

We sat down to eat, and it was so good! We shared it with Anna, a German woman who has lived in South Africa for six years and owns a travel agency. She was doing her job and checking out the cooking experience for future clients.

We left the house full and contented!

We then visited the Bo-Kaap museum, then went over to see the first and oldest mosque in South Africa on Dorp Street – the Auwal Mosque. The mosque is the most important institution in a Muslim’s life, and there are at least nine mosques in the Bo-Kaap. On the hillside behind the houses, there also are several kramats, or tombs, containing the remains of much-respected religious leaders.

We heard the call to prayer as we were enjoying a cup of latte at a Bo-Kaap restaurant.

On the way home, we ran across a car dealership in which there were new and vintage Jaquars so we perused the inventory, explaining that we were not potential buyers but just interested in seeing the vehicles. There were some older Jaqs around 1960 and some Roll Royces that were produced around 1960. They were also some Bentleys. There were beautiful things. 

It was an enriching and interesting day.

A section of Bo-Kaap with Lion's Head in the background (well, we think it's Lion's Head). :)

A pair of men affixing a number on one of the Bo-Kaap homes.

A photo of Bo-Kaap looking toward Signal Hill.

A larger view of Bo-Kaap with Signal Hill in the background.

Us with Zainie and our friend from Germany, Anna.

A portion of the mural in the tunnel that depicts Tuan Guru (Imam Abdullah) teaching children at his madrasah.

Zayred's wife tells us about the proper procedure to do the roti dough while Zayred is in the background fixing the curry.

Ah - the spices to mix for a sumptuous garam masala - cumin, cardamom and coriander but then added to it is numeric, paprika and Father-In-Law Masala. There was a Mother-In-Law Masala too - the difference being in the heat (the Mother-In-Law was stronger). :)

Beth successfully flipping her roti. :)

Zqyred and his wife, our Malay culinary guides.

A mural on the wall to the entrance of a school, and the school kids are done for the day.

The first and oldest mosque in South Africa, on Dorp Street in Bo-Kaap.

The Strand Street Lutheran Church, built in 1784.

Aug. 28

            The drizzle and yucky conditions continued this morning BUT we were collected at 9 a.m. by Xolani (with a click) from Uthando for a tour of Uthando’s projects. Uthando means love in Xhosa, and it is a non-profit and Fair Trade in Tourism accredited organization that raises funds for life-changing community development projects in South Africa.

            We got out of the city and drove about 15 minutes to the township of Khayelitsha, home to more than 2 million souls who, because of apartheid, live in corrugated shacks that are no larger than 8 x 10 feet. It’s a humbling experience, to say the least. 

            Khayelitsha is located on the Cape Flats, and it is the second black township in South Africa and the second largest in South Africa after Soweto. The name is Xhosa for Our New Home, and it is the fastest growing township in South Africa .

Built under the principle of racial segregation, Khayelitsha Township was established in 1985 and large numbers of people were forcefully relocated there, mostly peacefully, but there was occasional violence. 

Khayelitsha is one of the poorest areas of Cape Town with a median average income per family of around $1,872 a year compared to the city median of $3,743. In other words, poverty is still a crippling issue, with 70% of the township’s residents living in informal shacks and a third have to walk 200 metres or more to access clean water. Unemployment is nearly 30% generally and nearly 50% for young people.

It’s a complicated history, and you can read more about it here: http://www.sahistory.org.za/place/khayelitsha-township

Of course, we’ve all seen pictures of the poverty of townships throughout South Africa but being in one amongst the people brings home the injustice and tyranny of apartheid, and the lingering effects of apartheid regardless of the fact that South Africa now is a democracy.

But Uthando is one of the bright spots in all the darkness, and we were blessed to have visited three projects that Uthando supports: a pre-school for children 0-6 years old (mandatory school attendance is seven years old), a community garden and a center that empowers women.

The children at the school were delightful. We visited each of the three classrooms - the younger students were thrilled to see and meet us; the older students didn’t care so much. JWe actually got to participate in planting a tree on the playground so shade will be available once it has grown a little larger. it was exhilarating for all when we gathered in the yard to plant the tree. Each student got to put a shovel full of dirt into the hole dug for the tree.

Then we went to a community garden project that provides food to the primary school on the premises and a learning experience for children who said “food came from shelves.” The education includes climate change. It was a small, but lovely garden that, apparently, the state provided. The young man who visited with us about the garden was very passionate. He was self-educated, having only graduated from high school (our tour guide actually attended university for politics but decided community development was his passion). The garden had everything from lemon trees to strawberries to herbs, spinach, peaches, squash and some native plants. The garden has provided education to the township residents but also is the beneficiary of the elders in the community who are revealing how to use the plants properly.

Much of what I heard is very similar to the project at Winona State with Frances Bettelyoun in relationship to healing the soil and letting the process be a spiritual guide. Many things we heard today, in fact, resonated as we heard about colonization, forced removal and the degradation of the indigenous population.

The last stop was at the eKhaya eKasi (Home in the Hood) Art and Education Centre, set in a residential neighborhood and a haven for families impacted by extreme poverty. The centre empowers women, provides after-school activities for children and skills training for unemployed adults. It acts as, what we would call in the States, a micro business incubator. The women were learning how to sew, bead and do silk screening with the hope they would become entrepreneurs in the community.

It was a morning well-spent.

After lunch, we decided to go to the National Gallery which is near Parliament and the Company’s Garden. It was a pleasant walk and the Parliament and Supreme Court buildings are massive. The Company’s Garden was originally created in the 1650s by the region’s European settlers and provided fertile ground to grow fresh produce to replenish ships rounding the Cape. 

We didn’t go into the garden, although we saw some HUMONGOUS rats as we were sitting on a bench resting. Along the walkway, besides the National Gallery, were the National Library of South Africa and St. George’s Cathedral as well as the South African Jewish Museum and Cape Town Holocaust Centre. There was a beautiful synagogue too.

The garden area and the walkway which we traversed was ill-kept, and there were many tents erected along the walkway and homeless people sleeping on benches. There were several folks we thought were on drugs or something. One woman, for example, sang to herself and danced.  No one was threatening; it was just uncomfortable.

The National Gallery included some interesting artwork. One gallery featured abstractions, another was an ode to printing and its many techniques. I personally liked the printing exhibit, as I discussed those methods in my Print & Web Production class when I was teaching. Another exhibit was “Hidden Treasures” that featured African artifacts that were interesting. Apparently, the gallery – since democracy gained a foothold – has revisited its collections and is reorganizing them, and what was displayed in “Hidden Treasures” were artifacts the gallery didn’t even know existed – I suppose because they didn’t have to acknowledge black people.

One of the more interesting pieces was Maurice Mbikay’s “E-Munkishi,” done in 2015. It is the Grim Reaper that is created by computer keyboards and lying at his feet are computer cables. His walking stick is composed of mouses. It is his comment on the impact of information technology on society. If you’re so inclined to read an academic paper, here is the address for Maurice’s “a minor dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of master of fine art:” https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/13772/thesis_hum_2015_mbikayi_lmh.pdf;sequence=1

You also can visit his website: http://mauricembikayi.com/about/

When we emerged from the National Gallery, the sun was shining, and we were feeling very optimistic about the next few days as we think the break in the weather will afford us the opportunity to go to Table Mountain on Thursday! But before Thursday, we're doing a cooking class in Bo Kaap. :)

The Zizamele Educate Centre is the benefactor of Uthando, that provided a new cement building for the school.

One of the children at the school.

Another child at the school.

Children at the school.

More children at the school.

All the children and adults after having planted a tree in the school yard.

The school's principal, whose parents started the school.

These were children outside the gates of the garden who were not in preschool.

Just a very small portion of the Khayelitsha Township in which 2 million people live in abject poverty.

Our guides for the community gardens.

A woman sewing at the eKhaya eKasi.

Women beading at the eKhaya eKasi.

The director of eKhaya eKasi.

The city as we were driving back into it from the township. It was nice to get out of the city and actually see it from a distance.

The Centre of the Book or the South African National Library.

"E-Munkishi" by Maurice Mbilkayi, 2015, in the National Gallery.

An obelisk that was part of a 1995 exhibit in which six artists journeyed from their homes in the far north to participate in a major exhibition of Ndebele art at the National Gallery. The exhibition sought to celebrate the triumph of Ndebele artistic expression between 1940-1970. This portion of the exhibit was part of "Hidden Treasures From the Permanent Collection." The holdings have been re-organized recently, and as a result of the process -- wallah - "many outstanding and rare objects have come to light, some never previously exhibited, others newly re-discovered."

The Mother Synagogue, which is South Africa's Jewish Museum, built in 1863. It is the first synagogue in South Africa, and Nelson Mandela opened the museum 2000. 

The sun finally made an appearance late this afternoon as we were in the park. A couple of city workers take a break and enjoy the sun, just as we were doing!