Langa Township homestay weekend

This past weekend I lived with a family in Langa Township. During the apartheid a major initiative of the National Party was to confine the blacks and coloreds to designated areas and restrict their travel to urban areas and white suburbs. Bantu-stands, or townships, were created where thousands of blacks would live in shacks or cement houses in close proximity on a particular plot of land set by the government. Although they are now free, most blacks cannot afford to move out of the townships into the suburbs and their quality of life remains relatively unchanged considering the apartheid was abolished almost 15 years ago. Langa was formed in 1934 and many of the people living there have lived in the township their whole lives and do not have any intention of moving elsewhere. The living conditions range from literal shacks to houses with several furnished rooms. Community living is the best term to describe the way of life- everyone is constantly outside walking the streets, grilling food, doing laundry, children running around etc.

The family I lived with consisted of a grandmother (called a ‘mekhulu’ in Xhosa), her daughter Sibulelo, Sibul's two daughters, Hlumelo and Ntsika, and mekhulu's 22 year old granddaughter named Vuyokazi. The house was very old and stood alone, unlike most houses in the township that are all connected. There were three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. There was a toilet-seat-less toilet but no bathroom – everyone bathed in little plastic tubs, similar to the ones they washed the dishes in. Mekhulu said she was in the process of fixing up the house and building a real bathroom, however I am not sure if anyone in Langa has a shower due to water expenses. I shared a bed with my friend Samantha who stayed in the same house so all the others did not have to share one room.

We had an absolutely amazing weekend- with a risk of sounding cliche, it was such an eye-opening experience! On Saturday morning we woke up early and went to a morning service at their Seventh Day Adventist Church then took a long walk around the township meeting all sorts of people. After a big lunch we got in mekhulu’s car and drove all around to see different townships and a few colored areas. As we were leaving Langa, we stumbled upon a big ANC rally and were just in time to hear Jacob Zuma speak! It was kind of like hearing Obama except with a, um, wee shadow of rape and corruption charges hanging over his head. It was Human Rights Day in South Africa on Saturday and Langa is famous for its activist role during the apartheid; we were very lucky to be there for such a monumental day and be able to hear Zuma address the people of Langa about human rights. After our road trip we returned home and went to a PAC rally in the town hall, although we left after about 15 minutes when they started shouting for an “all black South Africa” while Sam and I were the only two white people in the hall. Mekhulu’s next-door neighbor is this old, old lady (as they call her) that was displaced to Langa in 1934 and she shared with us many personal stories about growing up during the apartheid. She was able to tell us what it was like to have to carry a pass book around in order to avoid arrest when traveling in the streets and how horrible it was to see school children shot down for no reason during the aftermath of the Soweto Rebellion in 1976.

Saturday night we went to a huge fish braii with a few others from my program for dinner, but they didn't even start grilling until 10pm. It was a lot of fun and it gave us a chance to meet a lot of people our age from Langa. Sam and I were exhausted from our day, as was Vuyokazi, and we went straight to sleep that night when we got home. Sunday morning Sam and I woke up early and made fresh raisin bread with mekhulu and then helped her prepare lunch for everyone. The whole weekend we got to play with Hlumelo and Ntsike, ages 3 and 4, who didn’t speak a word of English but were adorable and loved to jump all over us. Mostly all blacks speak Xhosa and learn English if/when they attend a white school or just from watching television and movies. I was given a Xhosa name by a few of the boys at the braii- it is Qaqambe, which means ‘shine’. The Q’s are both pronounced as a click, which makes it hard for non-Xhosa speakers to say…they said they chose a beautiful name but I think they must have not liked me very much. Luckily most of us are getting the hang of the whole clicking syllable thing, it is pretty awesome to learn a new language completely outside the romance languages. Most of us are getting the hang of it, I can say several conversational phrases now and I’m thinking of getting a book to study and learn more on my own. Afrikaans is the language that developed out of the apartheid but most blacks in Cape Town continue to speak Xhosa. My family said they would help me learn if I helped them practice their English and welcomed me back anytime.

I could go on forever talking about my experience, but I will have to stop there. Now I have a few days to get some research papers done before I head off to Durban for another weekend away! Then I get to spend my 21^st birthday in Krugar National Park which should be pretty awesome. I don’t have the internet credits to upload pictures right now, but I promise I will as soon as I am able!

St. Patrick's Day fire
(click to see the full photo)


I don't know if anyone heard about the huge fire in Cape Town last night that engulfed a large part of the mountainside, but I thought I would post and say that my house is still standing. It was the mountain that I just climbed a few weeks ago, the one that has the UCT campus at its base - luckily they were able to keep the fire from spreading to campus. It was amazing and terrifying to watch; we were all mostly in awe, I don't think anyone had seen such a large scale forest fire up close before. They think it was the work of an arsonist who started the fire by the Rhodes Memorial (see picture in previous post). Today there have been helicopters flying all over the area with huge buckets hanging from them, there is a reservoir on campus that they have been swooping low to dip in and refill the buckets. The fire is mostly out, but the land is still smoldering and they are just dumping as much water as they can to squash the remaining embers. There is a great deal of smoke and the once green and growing mountainside is now completely scorched. The scene from my window has changed quite a bit. When we were driving into the city today you could see how the fire went right up to the highway! Type "Table Mountain fire 2009" into google if you want to read the news reports on it.

I had my first Student Society of Law and Social Justice (SSLSJ) meeting on Thursday and I am really looking forward to getting involved with what they have planned for the semester. They seem really passionate about making sure the law curriculum at UCT is supplemented with education on social justice issues. The society formed in 2007 as an act of rebellion, in a sense, against the law department; many students felt they were becoming bogged down with the technicalities of law and losing sight of why they wanted to study law in the first place. I met some interesting people and I think my involvement will help me make the most of my time here and gain a lot of knowledge and experience to bring back with me to the States. They are having several events regarding the upcoming presidential election in April and I am eager to learn more about the issues and candidates.

The bugs are gone, the heat has subsided and all is well in Cape Town. Last weekend I had an amazing time in Stellenbosch. A small group of us arrived Saturday morning and after lunch in town four of us decided to go check out a Cheetah education facility where we were able to play with a baby cheetah! Saturday night we went to an amazing restaurant called Moyo that is like a giant tree house. They have buffet style eating with many different types of meat and traditional African dishes. Throughout the night they have various singing groups, dancers and musicians play and a woman travels to all the tables painting each diners face with a white design. It was a blast, to say the least! Sunday we went on a bike riding tour of 4 different wineries. The bike ride wasn't too difficult but the heat made it more strenuous - it was definitely a full day of exercise. After the first wine stop I think we were all doubting how drinking and riding was going to pan out, but in the end we all had a great time; our lunch stop at one of the wineries had a welcomed sobering effect. The landscape was absolutely beautiful and each vineyard had a different feel to it. I drank a lot of wine and even learned a little along the way!

This week I have been working on a case comment for International Law that is 20% of my grade. Talk about stress! I am working really hard on it and hopefully my effort pays off. Without the legal background most of the other students attained in their first year of legal studies I am already a step behind. I met with my professor today and he was really helpful and nice, he realizes my position and is more than willing to give me advice. After my meeting I went to the pool and swam laps for a bit before returning home to find some fresh guacamole waiting for me! I am really loving living with so many people, everyone is so interesting and brings something different to the table. We are all so open with each other and with all our security and bug issues nobody ever fights!

It is pretty strange being a minority everywhere I go. In the suburb that I live in here, being white sets me apart. On campus there is a decent mix of races, however the second I open my mouth I am immediately looked at a certain way. Most professors use examples of American society and politics in a negative manner and we are told that most South Africans view us as arrogant and fairly ignorant about the world. I have finally gained the confidence to speak up in my tutorials however I feel like I am under a harsher scrutiny when my classmates recognize my accent. Overall students are nice and welcoming, though. They immediately ask where in the States I am from and I usually end up talking about how different the US education system is from theirs. To get into university here you just have to have a certain number of credits from high school (which is just called 'school'), and to get into a school like UCT you just have to have earned beyond the average amount - no long applications, no competition, it is all a standard process. Sweet life, huh.

Happy spring break to all of you back in the States, I still have another month to go before I get time off here. By the way, feel free to share my blog with whomever you wish and also don't hesitate to send me an email at alexandra.edelstein@gmail.com - it might take me a while to respond, but I will eventually! I don't want to post my mailing address on the internet, but if anyone is interesting in sending me a letter I am happy to email you my house address. Oh, and check out the pictures I added to my last post!

The Cecil Rhodes Memorial that is part way up the mountain behind campus


You all might be cursing winter at this point with all the snow that has been hitting the East coast, but trust me, living in 100 degree heat for a week is no fun either. It has been so hot here the past few days all of our stomachs have been hurting. Luckily it is still beautiful out everyday so we can seek refuge at the pool. I am getting creepily tan, by the time I get home I will look like I belong back in Africa.

Last week four of us decided to spend Friday hiking up one of the large mountains that overlooks the Western Cape. The sandstone mountain range has several peaks and we were aiming to get to the top of Devil's Peak which stands 1000 meters (3281 ft) high. Table mountain is a hundred or so meters higher but is more of a tourist attraction as it is part of Table Mountain National Park. It was a cloudy morning when we set out and at a certain point we hit the clouds and just kept rock climbing upwards without a real sense of where we were headed. The different paths upward are not marked so it is a guessing game to get to the peak. It was a relatively steep hike and there were a few points where we were climbing up vertical stretches of rock (my fear of heights was definitely kicking in, luckily the clouds made the height less noticeable). The top was still amazing even though we couldn't see the entire Cape peninsula that is visible on clear days. I have not uploaded my pictures yet but when I do I will add them to this entry.

This weekend I am traveling with a group of people to the wine lands in Stellenbosch. We are leaving Saturday morning, staying in a hostel that night, and taking a Bike and Wine tour all day Sunday. We will be biking about 20 miles total and going to 4 different wineries. Drinking and bike riding in the heat is going to be an adventure for sure! Our house is being fumigated for bugs while we are gone so hopefully we will be greeted by a bug-less house upon arriving home. A group of people from my program are going to Durban this weekend; Durban is a large city in South Africa that is farther west and only takes a few hours by plane to travel to. One of my friends has a friend living there and we are planning to fly there at the end of March for a long weekend and stay in her apartment.

Classes are going well, I turned in my first paper on Thursday. I am starting to get a handle on how courses work here and am fairly caught up on reading. Only having class three days a week is great. Right now I am procrastinating writing a history paper that is due on Monday. The heat makes it hard to focus, as does having lots of people around that are procrastinating also. A bunch of us set up camp outside in the backyard with our laptops to get a little breeze.

My ear healed quickly and has not been an issue for a few weeks now and my money situation is finally mostly sorted out. I bought a new phone on the street for $20 US, it is an old school Nokia that nobody has used for at least 10 years - but hey, it works! I also bought a new wallet at the 5 Rand store, which is the SA equivalent to the dollar store...except 5 Rand is equal to .50 US. The wallet features a lovely photo of the Jonas Brothers and I put a sticker of an elephant on it; I am a little embarrased to use it in public so I might have to get an upgrade soon.

Back to the grind! Enjoy the cold, my endless summer almost makes me long for the need to wear a scarf and hat...almost.