Ocean View Homestay

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I just got back from a packed weekend including a homestay in a coloured township called Ocean View! Ocean View was created during the forced resettlement of the 1906s, and several hundred coloured families from neighboring towns were moved there. Today the township is still a poor area, but it has respectable houses, water and electricity, clean roads, and stores/parks/public facilities/etc. 

Many of the students on my program had amazing homestays with wonderful, welcoming families. Unfortunately, I was a lot more ambivalent about the youngish couple I was placed with. They were in their mid-30s and had just been remarried to each other about a year ago. I think they were kind of desperate to prove to me and the other girl placed with them that they are "cool" people, so they made us stay out until very late both on Friday and Saturday night. They and their friends all drank way too much for middle aged people, and I got the impression that the children of the community constantly have to entertain themselves while their parents get drunk and ignore them. On Friday one woman (who had to be at least 50) actually puked in the yard where we were sitting, and one of the kids had to go get her water. When the children start getting ridiculously tired (usually around midnight), they wander into whoever's house they happen to be at and pass out on the couches or floor, despite the loud music inevitably playing from the speakers. I was just really upset to witness the way these kids are being raised, even though I know I'm supposed to be open minded and experiencing different cultural habits. Additionally, I learned that most coloured people are extremely racist against black South Africans (they would use the n-word). During the apartheid era, coloured people had a preferential status in the Western Cape and were allowed to still work and travel where they wanted. They were considerably better off than the blacks. After the democratic transition in 1994, blacks have made great strides, and black affirmative action programs have been implemented, but the coloured community has been completely forgotten and left behind. (Now remember from several entries ago - a coloured person is a mixed race person, usually both black and Afrikans). 

Of course during the day we had a nice time. On Saturday we went to the beach in a quaint town called Fish Hoek, and on Sunday there was a large international cycling race around the Western Cape that Matt Damon was participating in for charity. I watched and cheered for a couple hours down with the rest of the Ocean View community, but didn't see Matt :(

Anyway, things were just a little intense for me, and I didn't get the quiet weekend of cultural exchange and interesting chats that many other students did. But it was still an important experience that got me way outside my comfort zone, and in many ways I'm glad I did it.

Thing continue to go well at Baph, and my students' confidence level and English skills definitely grow each week. I will soon be able to post pictures of them - volunteers have to wait a month before photographing any of the children at the home. 

I realized I rarely post about my day-to-day experiences during the week at bars, clubs, restaurants, and tourists sites, so next entry will be a recap of my favorite spots in Cape Town. Until next time...