This is long overdue, but this post is from a Sunday in February or March (2009!!) when we were invited to a township tour and braii in Walmer (where we helped with Homework Club.)
Yuka, the coordinator, thought it would be a good idea to have a few local men take us on a tour so we'd be more informed and comfortable working with the kids from the township. I didn't feel comfortable taking my camera (more for the awkwardness than being worried about it being stolen,) but my friend Jane and many others did, so I'll be using her pictures. Thanks Jane!
Also, I found out that Masifunde is the name of the German organization that sponsors children so they can attend school. Then, as part of the sponsorship, the students must attend Homework Club with us (as part of their end of the bargain.) Click here to learn about Masifunde's project in Walmer. Or read this updated description that I just found in some of my paperwork:
“They (Masifunde) sponsor 24 children from Walmer Township by allowing them to attend high quality education schools outside the township. They take over the financial school fees and uniforms and offer daily transport to and from the schools. Furthermore, they are in constant contact with the schools about the children’s development.”
And here’s a description of the township they gave us:
“Gquebera is the oldest township in Port Elizabeth and the only one that successfully resisted the Group Areas Act. Since 2000 the population has grown to nearly 60,000 in an area less than 4 sq km. Gqebera is a Xhosa name for the area now known as Walmer.
“People in Gquebera live mainly in tin shacks (though this is changing with current government housing schemes,) and there is an unemployment rate of up to 80%, with the associated problems of crime, alcohol and drug abuse. This struggled existence has seen the formation of gang-related youth groups who survive by means of violence and crime. Shebeens (bars) are where most people spend their social time. These have been centres of violence where many have been killed, incapacitated or scarred for life.
“The township has 3 schools (2 primary schools and 1 high school) with an average of 1600 learners per school. Even though Walmer Township is the oldest township in Port Elizabeth, it was the last one to have a high school when compared to other old and even new townships.
“Other issues also face the Gqebera community: teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, TB, street children, orphans, poor education, and inadequate access to basic amenities. To aid and improve a community faced with problems of this nature is both necessary and ambitious. Many people know only a life of day-to-day survival without room for hopes and dreams.”
The township tour...I can't even think of words to describe it. It was weird because we started out in the "nicer" part of the township. Nicer, meaning that the houses had electricity, water, and they were made with materials nicer than sheets of tin. Then, (keep in mind that this was a 2-hour tour,) we made our way deeper into the township. 100 shacks shared one water pump (which isn't even too bad, they explained, since the water is clean and endless.) Broken glass and other litter lined the dirt roads. Goats and dogs ran rampant. There was no electricity. The children smiled and posed, expecting the cameras that eventually came forth to snap their photographs. It was crazy...as bleak as things seemed for one split second, in the next, I'd see a small convenience store (Cash and Carry, or something of that sort.) The guide explained to me that a lot of those stores are owned by Somalians. The other thing I was struck by were the vehicles driving to the shacks and houses in the townships. Sure, some of the drivers didn’t live in the township, but some certainly did. And the televisions. These people barely had roofs over their heads, yet they had color televisions. Then again, who am I to judge how these people spend their money? I guess it's comparable to people who live in trailers but drive huge SUV's and trucks with rims. Side note: please keep in mind that these reflections were made after only being in S.A. for a few weeks. I still don’t have all of the answers, but I feel that in learning more about the history of townships and the people who live in them, things make more sense to me now.
We also saw many shebeens (that are mentioned earlier in the description of Walmer.) Outside of the first one we walked by, a woman was lying on the ground screaming and crying with her clothes barely covering her body. Across the street at the tavern, a group of men was laughing at her because she was drunk.
As we continued walking, we learned about a house that had been built over a period of 10 years by a man who never bought one material. Instead, he collected bricks from junkyards and from piles that were leftover from other homes; he even found leftover paint to use on his home. His house is called the “The Pleasure Dome.” Since then, my friends Jane and Frances have named their hut in Annie’s Cove “The Pleasure Dome.”
We learned about animal sacrifices (on cows or goats) that are done in the Xhosa culture as an offering to one’s ancestors. It’s part of an ancient ritual in which the family drinks liquor and communicates with their ancestors... To be continued.
