Courtney experienced the happiest someone has ever been to see her

Today I experienced the happiest someone has ever been to see me. We participated in a community tour today of some of the townships located in the Cape Flats region of Cape Town.

During apartheid, those who were classified black and colored were forcibly removed from their homes in prime locations near the downtown area of Cape Town. They were moved further from their jobs, and spread out away from their neighbors and friends. They were relocated roughly half an hour outside of the downtown area in flat sandy areas. Here the various townships (or slums as we would know them) sprung up. Some live in typical houses, but others live in informal settlements made of sheet metal and anything else that can be found.

As part of the tour we visited Sithembele Matiso High School in Nyanga where the school day literally stopped due to the presence of 26 American students. Kids were clapping and yelling and shouting, so excited we were there. It was complete mayhem, but so touching that these young students were just so excited for us to be there. As someone put it, they were so happy just seeing us as white Americans, but we have to actually give them a reason to love us.

Some of the grade 12 learners from Sithembele Matiso High School
greeting their UConn visitors

This school lacked basic resources, and was actually the site of a group of last year’s UConn in Cape Town students’ advocacy project where they created a library for the students, since very few of them have computers and resources at home to do school work. There are boxes upon boxes of books that have been donated from the U.S. that we will be sorting and putting on the shelves for them to use during our time here in Cape Town.

Jen, Courtney & Snigdha try their
hands at drumming.

We also visited the township of Langa, where my roommate this year at UConn, Sabrina stayed when she visited Cape Town. Here, they practice sustainable ways to make a living. Instead of begging on the streets, which can only get them so far, they teach trades so artisans can create and sell pieces. We first visited a pottery studio, where women were painting beautiful pieces of pottery. I purchased two dishes for around 100 rand each. We then got to participate in an African drum lesson. Even though I’m not very musically inclined, it was still a lot of fun.

Thus far into my trip, this has been my favorite experience here. Prior to this community tour, the townships seemed like scary impenetrable places. However, every single person was so excited to see us and so happy that we were visiting them. My housemate, Jessica, compared these visits to how (we imagine) we would be received if we visited any poverty stricken urban area in the U.S. We believe we would absolutely not be welcome, and would probably experience some type of crime or other negative reaction to our presence.