More on Culture

People: Cape Town is a little mix of everyone. You have about 80% black (which can be tribal South Africans, township people, ect.), and 20% white (this group consists of native South Africans, and a mix of Europeans). Among the black population, the people can distinguish groups. For example, they can tell which township someone is from, or which tribe they are a part of. The different groups do not get along with each other generally. I have seen a lot of hostility among the different groups.





The white population is still somewhat thought of as the ruling class. After apartheid when many white non-native people stayed around to claim land and such, the blacks were kicked off their land and treated as slaves. Since this happened in the recent past, hard feelings still stick around.





Overall, hateful attitudes remain among many of the different groups in South Africa.




Poverty: poverty is a huge problem among South Africans. Especially the township people, who make up about 70% of the entire South African population. The townships people live either on the street, or if they are lucky enough they get the opportunity to pay 20 Rand a month to live in government housing. Government housing is a new option for the township people. The system works by providing each family with one bed. And there are 4 beds per room, and about 4 rooms per apartment. So, about 16 families live in one apartment. However, these families are so thankful for any housing, even if it is shared with numerous other people.






Language: Cape Town is filled with languages. Locals generally are at least bilingual. There are about eight common tribal languages in South Africa, and then there's English, Afrikaans, German, and Russian. Then, when you add the tourists into the mix, you have just about any language you can think of. Walking down the streets is amazing. You hear so many different languages.

Religion: Most South African are Christians. They hold Sunday as their day of worship. Alcohol sales are prohibited and everything on their days of worship. You see the strongest beliefs in the townships areas. Even though these people have nothing, they still have faith in God and believe that he can help them overcome all of their problems.

Another majority religion in South Africa is Muslim. There is even a street in Cape Town devoted to Muslim places of worship, eateries, ans shops. Other religions and tourists are not welcome on this street.

Food: You can get any foods you please in Cape Town. They are very similar to Western countries, in that they have just about anything you want. In the city, you can find Chinese, Turkish, Mexican, and American restaurants, along with any other types of foods you could possibly want. Vegetarians can easily survive in Cape Town. Meat is a common meal, but meat substitutes are also available. Restaurants usually even have veggie burgers and fake chicken and sandwich meat.

Overall, Cape Town is very similar to Western style countries in terms of culture. The big difference is the townships, poverty, and arts and crafts.

I will be making a visit to a township in a couple weeks and will learn more then. That's all for now!

Culture of Cape Town

Basic Culture:

Cape Town is filled with many different kinds of people. The only population that I haven't seen yet is American.

One thing that you can count on in Cape Town, especially the Western Cape, is an overwhelming homeless population. When walking down the street, whether in Table View (where the volunteer house is) or in the city, you can never fail to see atleast fifty locals hanging out under every bridge. They have boxes, blankets,matresses, and clothes EVERYWHERE. You pass fields with clothes scattered everywhere.

Walking through the city at night is horrifying because of all of these people. They stand inside of narrow little pasageways and reach out at you when you pass by and then continue to follow you down the street screaming that they are going to take your bag. And this happens when you are in a group of seven.

I got to learn a little more about Cape Town from a taxi driver names John. He has lived in Cape Town all his 67 years and he has een a taxi driver for 52. He told us about the overwhelming homeless population, and the high crime rate in the area. He told us to avoid mini busses, as these busses are where people get rapped, robbed, and murdered at. He also told us never to wlak alone, and to try to be out of he city before dark even if we are in a large group.

When John heard that I was American, he told me to be extra careful and to try and pull off anoher accent. He was such a nice little old man, and I think I have found my taxi driver for the next 8 weeks:)

More info to ome on culture . . . .

Culture of child rearing and schooling:

Cape Town is an interesting place. The culture here is very different than in the U.S. The Capetonians believe in saying what they think, and they don't really care what others think of them. From what I have seen and heard, they believe firmly in independence from a very youg age. When I was talking to the owner of Home of Hope, she was asking me about American culture and, ofcourse, telling me her opinions about it. She felt that Americans were ruining their future generations by spoiling their children too much. She also felt that American teenagers were the way they are because of too much affection.

Elenore's views reflect a lot of the South African ways. Many South Africans feel that Americans have went about things in a way that has left our society screwed up.

I got to pull of a visit to the top of Table Mountain via Cable Car yesterday. I'm not brave enough to hike it yet. John told me that it was straight up, dangerous, and even that experienced hikers had trouble with it. But, I got some decent pictures from teh top. Check out the cute little guinea pig looking creatures:

First Days at Home of Hope

I started on my volunteer project this Tuesday. The first few days of Home of Hope have been fun, sad, and shocking all at the same time. I started out with the impression that Home of Hope was an orphanage that had volunteers to provide the babies with care, love, and extra attention. But, on the first day of my project, the long term volunteer that serves as the teacher of the younger kids explained to me that the project had changed up a bit in the past few months. Now, Home of Hope functions as three foster homes, with a total of 18 children in their services right now. So, instead of actually needing volunteers to do the care of the children, they need volunteers to help with the day programs for the children. There are two day programs, one for the younger kids and one for the older kids. I am on the project with the one to five year olds.

I get picked up at eight o'clock every weekday morning and I go pick up four kids from their foster mother's house and carry them to the house that they have their day program. At the house, we meet two other kids, making a total of six. There is one 16 month old, one 22 month old, one 2 year old, two 3 year olds, and a 6 year old who participate in the day program.

The first shock was picking the kids up from their foster mothers house. I am so accustomed to safety laws and rules about infant seats and booster seats in the States, that I guess I didn't even think about kids being thrown in the car without any safety belts at all. Even the one year olds! They are just thrown in the back.

The second shock came when I picked up one of the babies and started to carry them into the house. At home, this would be common way, especially when the child was in danger of running into a road. But, immediately after I picked the child up I was told to put her down and make her walk. It was shocking at first. So, I made a point to ask why later. Apparently, it's customary in South Africa to build a child's Independence from a very early age. So, the children are never really held or allowed to sit in your lap at any age. Because of this early Independence building, babies are learning to crawl and walk at a much earlier age. During my orientation, I was told that volunteers who come tend to bring their Western ways with them and generally carry the kids around too much and baby them more than needed. So, part of being a volunteer is to respect the South African culture and force the kids to build Independence by not allowing them to sit in laps or be carried around.

The first few days have been very shocking to me, and after the second day or so I seriously thought about switching projects so that I could work with some of the animal ones. I did not necessarily agree with the way the babies were being treated and I wasn't sure that I could stand eight weeks of watching it. But, I talked to several people about my thoughts and ended up settling with a different conclusion after speaking to the owner of the orphanage, Elenore. Elenore explained to me that one of the reasons that the children were treated without too much affection was because of their circumstances in the foster home. The foster mother generally cares for 6 children. This allowes very little time for individualized attention. With this idea, I was still a bit upset. But, then she gave another, more reasonable explanation. She explained that the children were all orphans, of course, and they all have FASD. Being orphans, they could be allowed to move back with their parents if they aren't adopted, or if their parents come back for them at any time. These poor kid's parents live in the townships of the Western Cape, some of the poorest regions in the world. The parents spend everything they have on alcohol and drugs, and they are completely incapable of caring for themselves, much less a child. So, if these children did end up going back to their parents, they would be forced to fend for their selves completely. This reason sparked a little more meaning for me. These babies and kids started out with a tough life, and are most likely going to continue with a tough life throughout. So, building independence in these children is the integral step to survival for them.

After about three days of my project, I had so many thoughts going through my head. I was thinking about poor Timba, who I have already gotten attached to, and little Harry who tries his best to sit in my lap every chance he gets, and KlanKlan who does his best to jump on every last nerve I have left in me. Then, I was left to think about how hard of a life these kids have been through. Many of them were found in dumpsters, or in boxes by the beach, and are forced to live with FASD and HIV from the very start of their life. I just couldn't stop thinking about all of them and their circumstances, and I kept wondering if I could stick around for 8 weeks and watch them and keep thinking and worrying about them.

After my meeting with Elenore, though, I decided that sticking around for 2 months could REALLY help these kids and that being firm with them would allow me to get control over activities and really help them learn and build new skills. I dropped the idea of moving projects, and decided that being too nice to the children would only hurt me and them in the long run.

So, somehow I am going to have to learn to be firm about discipline and "really let these kids know I'm the boss" (according to Elenore). If I can establish a leadership form of trust with these children, I think that I can really make a positive impact over my 8 weeks.

I still can't help but to think about how these kids would be if they would have been fortunate enough to grow up in the US, to normal middle-class families who loved and cared about them. What would they be like if they didn't have to face all of the challenges that they do? I guess sometimes it makes the child stronger, and without all the challenges they wouldn't be the child they are. All of them are great children, they just have many many challenges to face that cause them to have many many problems. But, after only a week, I am already attached to them and their little tiny hands, runny noses, and sticky fingers. They are going to jump on every nerve I have in me, plus some, but in the end it will make both me and them stronger.

I never thought orphanage work would be such of a challenging, rewarding experience that would push me to new levels, but this first week has shown me that this experience is going to be one to remember for many different reasons, both positive and negative.

More on arrival and first impressions..

Note to anyone thinking of entering a foreign country: always have your return ticket printed out and with you. I didn't even think about printing my return itenerary with me, and I almost didn't get into SA. They had me stopped for 20 minutes (after a 28 hour plane ride) trying to figure out why I was showing them an AVIVA paper that said the person traveling was Sammie. Obviously my name wasn't Sammie becaue my passport had Samantha on it, not Sammie. But eventually they must have gotten tired of it because they gasve up and stamped my passport and let me go through. It was an adventure though.

The first very stupid thing that I did happened at the airport getting into the car. I was getting in the front seat and I go to get in the normal passenger side for the States, but I end up getting in to the drivers side. The stupid thing is that I was so tired and jet lagged thatI didn't even notice. The AVIVA man laughs, hand me his keys, and asks if I am already ready to drive. :)

The second crazy thing that I did was expect all of the Brittish people here at the AVIVA house to understand my twangy American English. They still laugh at me everytime I talk. But, apparently there is an American guy coming in net week, so I want be the only one being laughed a

A note on Cape Town:

So far, I have been into the City Centre, the market, the orphanage, and the cinema. My first impressions are that Cape Town is a beautiful city, but it is over taken by crime and overall hate of Americans. It's really funny how the people respond to my accent versus how they respond to the Brittish and other European accents. I would never dare walk down the street by myself, or get into a mini bus or taxi. I'm very thankful for the group that I am with. I am also trying to copy the Brittish accent so that I can pass as one while I am here. :) IT would help me out a lot!

The AVIVA house where all the volunteers live is in Table View, which is about a 25 minute bus ride from the City Center. The bus that takes you between Table View and the City center is apparently brand new, and it is a fairly safe center filled with security gaurds and such (except for Americans, and even the security guards hate us). But, anyways, on the bus ride we get to pass through a lot of the rougher areas of Cape Town and get to see the 'real' Africa. It is just like you see in pictures, except much more real and much more depressing. Before, I thought the bums in Birmingham were sad, but these bums do not even relate to those. There are about 100 of them under one bridge. And they have acres of land beside the bridges that are covered in trash, clothes, and maybe even bodies, who knows.



But, Cape Town is the perfect place to experience a bit of African culture, see how real Africans live, and still survive through it all (if your smart, and not American). I am defintely getting a good taste of South African culture and I'm not exaclty sure how I feel of it, yet. I'm also learning ot speak with a great fake Brittish accent:)

Arrival in Cape Town, Oh, and some penguins

First, I have to say that 28 hours in planes and airports SUCK! They especially suck when you are stuck with a lady and an 18 month old baby (who decided it was fun to scream during the whole 7 1/2 hour plane ride) sitting beside you. Also I would never suggest joining in on a 12 hour plane ride just for the heck of it. They aren't the best way to spend your Saturday night. BUT, I can totally say that all the plane rides were worth it! Cape Town is gorgeous!

There are 12 volunteers at AVIVA House. I am the only American volunteer at the accommodation, which has proved to be very funny thus far. English accents are very difficult to understand, especially when you are running on about 3 hours of sleep within a two day period. But, everyone is very nice and welcoming.

Today I got to go to the Sancoob Penguin and bird sanctuary where we cooked for a group of 40 children and got to tour the center. Apparently penguins are vicious animals, but I did get the opportunity to pet one penguin who was known to 'only nip' at hands. I have pictures of me and the penguin, but they are on someone else's camera, so I will upload those later. For now, I just have some of the penguins: