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!