Cape Town 2

These are pictures from the prison on Robben Island that I couldn't get uploaded before.

 Mandela's cell.

Our second day in Cape Town was very full.  We started out at MaAfrika Tikkun, an international organization that helps people in disadvantaged communities.  (Tikkun is a Hebrew word that means to correct or repair.)  The Western Cape branch works with the people in the Delft and Mfuleni Townships providing basic needs such as education, health care, and social services.  The community center we visited was very busy, with people coming and going all the time.  We toured the facility, including the garden where they grow many of their own vegetables, the computer lab where basic skills are taught, and the kitchen where cooks were preparing lunch in the biggest pots I have ever seen.

After a brief orientation, we divided into small groups to visit people in their homes in Delft and learn more about what their lives were like.  We decided before we went that we would designate one photographer, so we weren't all snapping away taking pictures.  Those pictures haven't been posted where I can download them yet, so I don't have photos of the home visits.  I will add them later, but this picture shows a typical street in the area.

My group visited two homes.  We walked through an open field and then down some roads into the housing area.  In the first home lived an elderly woman, her daughter, and her three great grandchildren.  The children's mother was away receiving care.  We stood outside talking in the sun about what their needs were while the children played around us and curious neighbors lingered nearby.  Getting by on just her small pension, the elderly woman said she washed the children's clothes every day so they could wear them again the next, because they didn't have any more.  She also said she shared her blanket with them at night because they didn't have enough for everyone.  We were invited inside the front room, which was very neat and showed efforts to decorate and keep it nice.  There were large, framed photographs on the wall of each of the women in younger days with their husbands.  They looked very happy in the photos and were very well dressed. 

The second home we visited was a little larger, but not by much.  At home were a mother and several of the 11 children who lived there.  The father, a truck driver, was at work.  Because of several moves, some of the kids' birth certificates had been lost, so they had not been allowed to attend school for three years.  One of the boys led us through the house to the back to show us where he had built a makeshift pen for his six pigeons.  He was very proud of it.  Then the mom asked her two youngest girls to sing for us.  She told them to sing the Jesus song from church.  I was expecting "Jesus Loves Me," but instead they belted out Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel."  Mom was very emotional while talking to us, especially when she said she was glad none of her kids had committed suicide yet. 

We went back to the community center to share our experiences and eat the lunch that was cooked in those gigantic pots.  Then we were treated to a demonstration from the Iqala Ngam Dance and Drama Group.  These girls come after school to learn dance from leaders who were themselves part of the group when younger.  After they danced FOR us, the girls danced WITH us, trying to teach us some of their moves.  FORTUNATELY, I don't have any pictures of me dancing; that would just be too painful for anyone to see, but here are some of the kids.  They were so excited to have us there.  I should add that the dancers are all girls.  Those boys just wandered in to see what was going on.



Later in the week on our free day, a couple of the teachers traveling with me went back to spend more time with the girls.  They have since posted a couple of videos on YouTube if you want to check them out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dArk-IPjwdk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JbGpg5omWo