Day 12 - September 10, 2006

Today was the day in which we explored the townships from an insider's perspective. Nora's friend Cleopatra and her boyfriend Serge took us to Gugulethu - the township where they grew up. The part of Gugulethu where they live is called Barcelona and was comprised of tin-roofed shacks. We visited Cleo's mother, who owns a shebeen - an illegal bar where they braai and sell drinks. The tin shacks are actually a lot bigger than they seem inside. But the conditions are deplorable. There is no running water, and they have to use buckets in order to use the bathroom and then carry the buckets out to the government bathrooms, which only get changed once per week.

We then visited Cleo's sister Hillary, who lives in a shack behind the shebeen. Hillary is HIV+ and has a little 2 yr old son, a single mother. She talked to us for a while about what it's like to be HIV+ in her community. It was frustrating to hear her speak because she was under the impression that a good diet would keep her healthy instead of ARVs, a position that the current Mbeki government espouses. After speaking to her for a bit, we continued on a tour of Gugulethu and walked around. The township used to be a landfill, and there are remnants of trash and stink everywhere. It was important to see it with my own eyes though.

Then, we got into taxis, called cockroaches, and drove to Mandalay, a part of the black township Khayelitsha. It used to be a completely coloured area, but now it is a mixed area. It is also more upscale than the rest of the township. The people here live in actual houses with running water and electricity. First we went to one of Cleo's friend's house, who was a Rastafarian. They were deeply spiritual and even grew ganja in their backyard. It was quite an experience to say the least. Then, we headed to Cleo's dad's house, who has a pretty nice home in Mandalay. He even drives a nice Camry and is relatively well-off in comparison to the people in Gugulethu. They had prepared us a lunch there, which was nice to share with them.

Around 4pm, we decided to head back to Rondebosch, so we went to the Nyanga bus terminus station. This was probably the most unsafe part of the day, just because there were lots of people around, and we were in a sketchy location. But, we ran into some more of Cleo's friends, who served us coke in her bar, while we waited for them to flag down a reliable taxi. Finally, we got a taxi and headed back to Ivydene.

We arrived in time for dinner, and Katherine did a great job again with it. We chatted for a bit, and then went our separate ways. Cammie, Nora, Summer and I went to Lauren's place and shared music and checked our email, since the internet wasn't working properly in Ivydene. Then, it was bedtime as tomorrow would yield another early day.