St. Peter's United Methodist Church

I wanted to start off by saying that it is 2:16PM here in Cape Town and 94 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not to rub it in or anything!

Yesterday was an amazing day, we went to Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town. It is the prison where Nelson Mandela and several other important political people of South Africa were held between the 1960's and 1991 when the prison closed. It was the most interesting excursion I have ever experienced! Our first tour guide was a very humorous black South African who showed us a general tour of the entire island, including the medium security prison, the graveyard, the chapel, the wildlife, and the current community living there. We then were sentenced to 45 minutes in maximum security prison! Our tour guide there was an ex political prisoner who served his time with Nelson Mandela and others! He was a fascinating man with tons of information to share with us! We were able to see Mandela's cell where he spent 18 years of his life...absolutely amazing! We also got to tour the courtyards and bathrooms where these political prisoners were allowed minimal freedoms! After a long tour around the prison and island we headed back to the Waterfront for some lunch at a nice restaurant.

Today was spent travelling around the townships surrounding Cape Town. We first toured the District 6 museum in downtown Cape Town to get an idea of why the townships are situated outside of the city. Whites came in and destroyed blacks and coloureds homes near the coast forcing them to relocate outside of the city. Today these people live in tin or wood shacks along the highways into the city center. There are no paved roads and limited water and electricity. Some shacks house up to 4 families...it is one of the saddest things I have ever seen! Children walking around with no shoes or shirts, women washing clothes in buckets and men sitting in the "pubs" drinking beer the women brew themselves. We visited a traditional township pub where there were 4 men sitting around a bucket of beer socializing. The pubs are strictly for men and is one of the only places they can go to socialize with other men. We got to taste the beer, which was disgusting, and talk with the local people. We then visited a township doctor or spiritual healer as they call him. He uses animal skin, urine and feces to help the mentally and physically ill. Quite different from the usual practices of American doctors! He was wearing animal skins and furs all over him....in 95 degree weather!!! We then went on to a Bed and Breakfast in one of the youngest populated areas in the township. It was called Vicky's Bed and Breakfast and she gets people to stay there from all over the world! It is still a very old run down cottage that only has two rooms available, but Vicky keeps it very nice for her visitors! Behind the B&B there was a pre-school where 50 children were learning in a room half the size of an average American classroom with only 2 teachers! There were Downs Syndrome children, HIV children, mentally ill children and "normal" children all in one area. I feel in love with a little Downs Sydrome boy who cried when I left:( These children have nothing....they barely have enough food to eat, but these women teaching them believe that education is the key to success/getting out of the township! They are very determined women, which was very nice to see in such a depressing atmosphere! All in all, the township tour was very eye-opening and made me realize how lucky we are in the US! The poor in US look like movie stars compared to the black and coloured communities here in Cape Town.

Other than that things have been great. We are preparing for our host families and projects to begin on Tuesday! All of us are very excited to start our volunteer work, especially after our tour today! The people here are so warm and friendly and accepting of the help we are offering them! I hope everyone is doing well back at home and I can't wait to write again about my adventures here in South Africa! Sorry if I can't respond to everyone's emails, but I don't have enough time or money, but I really really really enjoy hearing from home!!!! I love you all and miss you:) Love, Libby

This entry was posted on Friday, March 09, 2007 at 07:38 AM and is filed under Missions. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.