This weekend was definitely one of
my favorite weekends in Cape Town so far. After we finished classes at UCT on
Thursday afternoon, we got on a bus and headed to Ocean View, a township
outside of Cape Town that was classified coloured during Apartheid. Chantel
organized a homestay weekend for all of the UConn students. We were split into
pairs, (I was with Emily W), and each pair was placed with a different
family in Ocean View. Throughout the weekend, we had the opportunity to meet
wonderful people, eat delicious food, and truly become engulfed in the daily
life of Capetonians.
Immediately after arriving at our
host family’s house, I felt welcomed. “Auntie” Sylvia and “Uncle” Russell
greeted us warmly and introduced us to their two sons, eighteen-year-old Chad
and fifteen-year-old Charlton. Chad is studying travel and tourism at a local
university right now, and so he was very interested in hearing about the United
States.
On Friday, Valentine’s Day, all of
the students volunteered at a creche, or a kindergarten. I was paired with a
boy named Damiko, and I can honestly say that he melted my heart. He was really
shy and quiet at first, but once we started decorating Valentine’s Day cards
and handing them out to people in the community he became quite the comedian.
Later in the day, we taught the children some songs and Damiko LOVED it. He
sang “Boom Chicka Boom” for the rest of the day (thank you, Katrina and Tina!)
Then we brought all the children to an animal farm in Ocean View, where they
got to play with different farm animals. Well, they actually just cornered a
bunch of birds and rabbits and terrorized them, but they definitely had fun!
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| Lauren & Damiko |
Emily and I went back to our host
family’s house, took a much-needed nap (I had forgotten how exhausting little kids
are!), and had a delicious meal of fish and chips. I was surprised to see that
our host family watched basically all of the same television shows that I am
used to seeing at home – we watched a lot of Cake Boss and American Idol. We
also watched an Afrikaans soap opera that the whole family watches every day,
so that was really interesting to see.
On Saturday, we went to the beach
for the whole day. And I mean the WHOLE day. By the time I got home, I was so
sunburned I could barely move. Then on Saturday night, we were invited to
go to a braai at Uncle Russell’s sister’s house. They were also hosting UConn
students, so we got to hang out with David and Ryan. Everyone was really
welcoming and interested in our experiences in Cape Town so far as well as our
lives back home. And the food was absolutely amazing – I had three platefuls!
That night was honestly one of the most relaxing, comfortable nights that I
have had since being here. After such delicious food and a good night’s sleep,
I really felt like I was at home.
Over the past few years, my family
has hosted students from UConn’s Social Entrepreneurship program for African
students. I have always loved meeting the students and showing them around my
town, sharing what a typical weekend in an American household is like. It was
really interesting to be on the other side of the situation finally. I hope
that when we host students in the future, they feel as comfortable and welcome
as I felt this past weekend. As we were leaving Auntie Sylvia told us that we
were welcome to come back anytime, and I truly believed her. I feel as though
we have another home now, and I am so grateful that we were given this
opportunity.
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