So yeah...I really fail at updating this. The past week has just been insanely busy so I haven't had the chance to write anything. We began the service portion of the program this week. For the first 2 weeks, we are teaching adults of Manenburg (a "coloured" township) IT skills. I was assigned to work with Patricia and Pamela (a mother and daughter). Pamela is a 60 year old pensioner who wants to learn computer skills so she can get a job again (she used to be a tea lady at a factory before it closed down). Patricia is her 30 year old daughter who works as a security guard at the local elementary school. She wants to learn how to use the computer so she can teach her 4 year old daughter, Genevieve. She dreams that one day Genevieve will be able to leave Manenburg and attend "Uni." They are two of the friendliest people I have ever met and their desire to learn is obvious. Teaching them has been a both very frustrating and a very rewarding experience. Thus far, I am supposed to have taught them how to use Microsoft Word, send emails and surf the internet. However, we are still perfecting the most basic Word commands such as putting spaces between words and capitalizing letters. While it is frustrating to see other people in our group helping their "learners" with more advanced computer programs, Patricia and Pamela are working so hard and I'm very proud of their progress. I am excited to see what they can accomplish in the coming week. Through talking to them and a tour of the town, I have learned a lot about the township of Manenburg. Despite the high unemployment rate (60%) and high rates of gang participation, the residents have incredible pride in their community and there is a lot of hope for the future.
The coolest part of the week was on Tuesday night. A few of us went to a comedy show and managed to get front row tickets. Before the show started, we met Desmond Tutu! I'm a huge dork, but that was easily one of the coolest experiences of my life. He is a true international hero, having been one of the leading anti-apartheid figures and promoting peaceful protesting. The actual comedy show was hilarious and Tutu even did a stand up routine of his own!
We have also been doing a lot of touristy stuff which has provided us with an excellent glimpse of Cape Town. Earlier in the week, we went to the District 6 museum, which provided moving accounts of the hundreds of families who were forcibly moved out of the area during the apartheid movement. We then visited the actual location of District 6. I was shocked by the vast amount of open space that still remained. In the morning on Saturday, we went on a boat ride to what we thought was Seal Island..you know the one they show on Shark Week. After surviving the extremely rocky boat ride there, we discovered that it wasn't the actual Seal Island, but it was rather just a rock covered in seals. Still cool, but the Animal Planet nerd in me was a little disappointed. We then went on a driving tour of the Cape Peninsula. We stopped at several key points with beautiful views and hiked up Cape Point. On the way back, we stopped at Boulder's Beach and saw the penguins that live there. We saw an egg hatch and the mother waddle out to sea to let the father nurse it till she got back. It was adorable and was like a scene out of March of the Penguins! I was imagining Morgan Freeman narrating the whole time.
This morning, we went to the best breakfast place called Cocoa Wahwah and geared up for a hike up Lion's Head Peak. The weather was perfect for a hike and the views were absolutely incredible and we all felt very accomplished when we reached the top (after scaling ropes and all...). There was this Jack Russell Terrier named Roxie who climbed with us like a pro. I secretly wanted to steal her. Going down was pretty tough as the rocks were covered in dry dirt which was very slippery. Although being passed by a group of 7 year olds served as motivation to keep going.
We have been going out a lot, so I'm pretty tired. The funnest night was on Wednesday when we went to the Long Street Cafe to do karaoke. It was the first and only time so far the entire group went out and it was a blast! I was even convinced to do a duet of "She Bang" by Ricky Martin (made popular by William Hung)...yes, there is photo and video evidence...
This past week has been incredible. We have done so much, yet I feel like I have only barely scraped the surface of all Cape Town has to offer. Ok, well I should go to bed, we have another long week of service work and classes ahead of us. I'm fairly technologically inept, but I'll try to upload some pictures soon. Thanks for reading!
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