Day 4 - Townships Round 3

After returning from Vicky's that morning I went back, yet again to the townships. This time was for an official SAS homestay with many of the same ladies who hosted the cooking class on the first day. Townships are an essential part of South Africa and are often are overlooked by vacationers passing through. Every waiter, taxi driver or busboy you meet in Cape Town has probably commuted from one of these townships by taxi or train and will head back that evening.

This time another SAS student Alex and I stayed with Mama Nucintu, her husband and five children.  We walked from the bus in which we were dropped off through the township of Gugulethu to her house. We were greeted by the neighborhood children outside of her home (including two of hers) playing soccer. She let us in on the fact that her son was happy to have two boys to play with instead of the two old ladies they had hosted previously. With that in mind when they asked us to play we immediately joined in and I took my place as the position I am most suited for, absolutely dominant goalie. They may be a bunch of little 5-8 year olds that come  up to my elbows but I wasn't going to show any mercy. Don't worry too much though, the kids were very capable and after a lifetime of practice they were able to sneak a few past me.

With the setting of the sun, our soccer game dissolved and most of the kids went back to their homes. Mama Nucinto had her young daughter and her little friends show us around the neighborhood. All of them took us to meet their families (I got a marriage proposal after one found out I was studying engineering!), we walked by spazas (tiny snack shops) a makeshift arcade and a hairdresser housed in a shipping container. In fact, a lot of the buildings were in old shipping containers. It was in one of those containers I met the local carpenter who used it to house his workshop. He studied his craft in England, served with the military I believe and somewhere along the way learned 11 languages. Various people in my group of SAS students (a few more had tagged along our walk around the neighborhood) tested his French, Spanish and Portuguese and surprised even his neighbors with perfect responses. That was definitely one humbling experiences you have so often during your travels.

Eventually, the gaggle of girls returned us home for the evening. We sat down for the evening with our host family and just talked over another delicious dinner. We heard concerns about how Somalians were moving into townships and taking over spazas with the Wal-mart strategy of undercutting prices. We found out that both of our parents were technically unemployed and unable to find jobs, though they were resourceful. They get money through a local snack bar they opened, by driving students to school every morning and by doing the homestays we were on. Maybe the most interesting tidbit of info I  remember from my trip was our host fathers passion for classical music and WWF wresting, a combination almost never found in the US. Later in the evening when the conversation died down Alex and I passed out after a few nights of little sleep.