"May the African sun always shine on you. May the rhythm of its drums beat deeply in your heart. May the vision of all its glory fill you with joy, and may the memory of Africa be with you, always." - Traditional African Blessing
This blessing was said to me as I toured the township near Stellenbosch on Saturday morning called Kyamundie, which means pleasant home. This township began as a "settlement" for blacks in the 1940's, and was built to house 100 men in hostels, while they were away from their families working to provide for them. Now the township houses over
40,000 men, women, and children. There is no running water, no electricity (unless you are lucky enough to know how to steal it from the power lines), and no cleanly source of food.
And yet, happiness overflows.
Going into my tour of this township, I had a bit of a bias as well as a picture in my head of what it would be like. Having seen the portrayal of black South African people from movies and television, I accepted this as true and thought them to be sad, desperate people who lived in grass huts and begged on the streets for food and money. This is not true for the native black South Africans. They enjoy their lives in the places they live, and many have chosen to continue living in such a way. For instance, while walking through the township (we had a seasoned guide, so we were not just strolling along since it would not be safe), many of the people living in these "hot boxes" had smiles on their faces, and invited us into their homes. Even if they couldn't speak English, they would usher us in and smile at us. Every single person in this township was happy with what little possessions they had, their way of life, and their families. I haven't felt so much positive energy in one place like this in quite some time.
And the children! What can I say about these little angels. They were SO precious, and if my suitcase is over 50 pounds on the way back it is because I am taking one or two home with me ;) These kids would run up to us (some even recognized me from the school I teach at and yelled teacher teacher!) and would just smile and grab our hands and hug our legs and want to take pictures with us. They loved snapping photos with our digital cameras, because they wanted to see what they looked like on the screen. I let a little boy (my favorite of the day) take my camera, and he just held down the button and took over 20 pictures in succession; then we had to go back and look at each and every one....
My favorite memory of this adventure however was one particular little boy who decided he didn't like how I was the only one to not hug him yet. Of course, I did not do this on purpose, just simply hadn't made my way to him yet. So he decided to get my attention and while my back was turned from him he smacked my butt extremely hard. Well, what makes this story funny is that my entire group saw, and one of my fellow travelers caught it on camera. Here I am, hugging and loving children, and one boy decided I wasn't giving enough attention to him so he smacked my butt!! Priceless. I died laughing, and scooped him up and spun him around in my arms :)
Needless to say, I left this tour with a better understanding of the struggles of the black South Africans, as well as what a township really looks like. I can never imagine living the way they do, but they are happy and love life, and isn't that all we can ask for at the end of the day?
I leave you with a traditional South African blessing, which I found on a piece of paper on the wall in one of the houses in the township:
"Walk tall, walk well, walk safe, walk free and may harm never come to thee. Walk wise, walk good, walk proud, walk true and may the sun always smile on you. Walk prayer, walk hope, walk faith, walk light and may peace always guide you right. Walk joy, walk brave, walk love, walk strong and may life always give you song."
Blessings,
Jen
