Masiphumelele

Yesterday we were taken on a tour of Masiphumelele, a settlement that's part "RDP" government provided housing and mostly shacks added on, squeezed in and bulging out towards the marshes where houses get flooded in the wet season.  38,000 people are estimated to live here, much smaller than the million or so in nearby Khayelitsha, but it seemed pretty huge.
I was apprehensive going in - driving through slums in a shiny van full of white people, how do you relate to people whose lives are so vastly different than yours?  But at least we were hosted by a few people from Masicorp, a group from the US and UK who are trying to improve things.  Still, I felt like a voyeur taking pictures, even though I was encouraged to.
Masicorp is really busy, raising money and sending in volunteers to do really useful things, like teacher training, building a library and setting up community programs in conjunction with the municipal government, trying to help local entrepreneurs such as women who run daycares and a bakery.  There were lots of places where anyone who wanted to volunteer with any kind of skill in organizing, teaching or dozens of other high level or simple realms could quickly find a way to fit in and make a difference - they need and appreciate all kinds of help - I mean the community, not just Masicorp.

A really nice RDP house, with a rare patch of grass and a paved road.  Across the road is more typical...

Grandmother and child, maybe an AIDS orphan

Construction is scrap: corrugated tin roofing, bits of wood, shipping containers, whatever can be scrounged or bought.  Electricity is metered to formal houses, and jerry-rigged to others.  Fires happen and are devastating.

But it's a real community, with real people, little businesses and schools.  This is Ukhanyo Primary, which Masicorp is trying to make into a model of what all township schools should be.  They've focused on a science lab and literacy skills, especially by having a couple of ace volunteers (retired teachers we met) train and mentor the school's teachers, who aren't paid much and have little confidence or training.

The science lab had an overhead, a rarity. That's the principal, really dynamic and fighting for his school and students...

...but who wouldn't fight for these kids?

A nursery school, apparently better than many...

A daycare, cramped, dark and hot, but still some happiness...

The woman who runs the two daycares/nursery schools, and a man from Masicorp, who are doing a lot to make these places better and more viable to run as a small business.  Echoes of Comart, another foundation my cousins run, trying to help seed projects that will self-perpetuate.

A free course in computer basics at the Masiphumelele library.  Masicorp found a talented young Zimbabwean to teach the classes.  Several students per computer.  Mostly in their early twenties. 

Meanwhile, minutes away (if you had a car), stunning beauty and some of the world's best vineyards...

...and a dazzling fabric store.  We're heading off with Jenny's cousins for 9 days, so I may not blog for a while - see you later!

Last word to the kids...

Multi-faceted

So many things we've seen and done inn the last 2 days; you don't need every details, but here are a few highlights of more whirlwind days.  We've started to see a few other faces of Capetown and South Africa now, although still dazzled by the beauty.
I'll start with last night.  No pics, but in a way the best thing yet.  We drove into downtown Capetown at night, with Steven Carver, to see Boodie Carver's band rehearse.  Already this crossed some barriers we'd set up:  I was driving, "wrong" side of the road, at night, into the heart of a city which although very different than other African cities, still carried the warning "be very careful at night".  We were held up, not by muggers but by thousands of cyclists taking over the street in a web-enabled mob that appears every full moon and just takes over the streets.  Joyous!  Thus we were late and sadly arrived just as the band (Suitcase Hearts) was tearing down.  But we met Boodie's bandmates, lovely funky people.  Then we had a beer outside on Long St., Capetown's equivalent of Queen St. in Toronto, but smaller and more packed with people - mostly young, all races (predominantly black but lots of whites, "coloured" and Asians).  It had a beautiful lively energy to it, music pouring out of various bars, people just having a good time, no obvious reason to be fearful, celebrating life despite the deep political and economic difficulties of South Africa.  We felt lucky to be there, and will definitely try to see some of Jo'burg's street scene when we get there in 6 weeks, whereas we've been told that this was a bad idea by several people.  I don't think we're being naive - we'll be under the wing of Steven and his animated business partner David. More on them and their progressive Win-Win consulting firm later, but let me just say that Steven is yet another remarkable Carver, full of positive energy and brilliance.  Boodie, Steven and David all insist that Jo'burg is the best city on earth, and the most interesting in Africa. Here are Steven and David:

Ok, gotta get to bed rather than nerding away here all night, but a few more pics:
Wonder who lives, works and shops in central Capetown? Here they are...

Of course, not all South Africans are smartly dressed and middle class.  We drove by two "informal settlements" - vast shantytowns - today.

There's a lot of grinding poverty, and the stories of deep corruption, cronyism and derailing of hopeful initiatives by Jacob Zuma and his government make you think they need a new Mandela, and that there's a very long way to go.  There's also violent xenophobia by South African blacks resentful of the millions of migrant and refugee blacks from elsewhere in Africa, who seem to be doing all the service jobs that (according to some) the South Africans don't want to do.
But somehow things move along, and coming back from a tour of wine country today, we saw the roads full of people apparently returning from jobs.

John and Veda continue to be remarkable.  For instance, they talk to every service person they encounter, often in their own language (there are many), because they somehow recognize them as being from Malawi or Zimbabwe, where they lived and worked for decades.  This has a beautiful effect - huge smiles, appreciation that someone relates to them as humans and understands something of their story.

Klein Constantia and Kirstenbosch

Another great day, starting with a walk with Caroline & Dick through the vineyards above their place.  Klein Constantia is the oldest, started by the Dutch settlers in 1685, and the favourite wine of Napoleon and Queen Victoria.  We like it too!  The harvest starts tomorrow, but today we were free to wander, climbing high overlooking False Bay and the Capetown Flats, with craggy peaks towering over us forming an amphitheatre.  The temperature, like the view, was perfect - such an easy place to be.

Caroline & Dick's fabulous house again...

Before sunset we saw the Capetown Philharmonic play in Kirstenbosch Gardens, another gorgeous setting rich in a huge variety of plants and trees.  A big crowd spilled up the hillside from the stage, enjoying a violin concerto and several crowd-friendly classics.  Excellent music, but very relaxed - the conductor even encouraged the crowd to clap along at one point.  People picnicked and drank wine - very civilized!

Boodie's daughter Maru, whose mom Cam was performing, stole the show by standing at the very front in pink dress and Minnie Mouse ears, conducting and putting her whole body into it.  So sweet!

That's Maru on Boodie's shoulders in the distance...

The true conductor (sorry I didn't get a pic with her arms waving!)

Video of Maru conducting...

Good Hope, good penguins, good people

Another full day, and I should be trying to synch my sleep cycle, but so much to report on that I'll at least list the highlights and post some pics.
We drove down to the actual Cape of Good Hope, again on spectacular cliff hanging roads, hundreds of healthy looking bikers going the other way.  Breakfast at a restaurant hanging high over the cape, outside as always in perfect temps. Of course John and Veda soon determined that our waiter was from Zimbabwe, and we had a good chat. He's not going home to vote out Mugabe because it's expensive and he perceives it as hopelessly rigged.  Apparently all the service industry and mining jobs are done by migrants - South Africans shun them, yet resent the foreigners.
The climb to the peak was not short, and John, in his mid-eighties, set the pace -a goer!  The views were worth it, towering sandstone cliffs,  with currents and waves from both we the Indian and Atlantic battering against the base. Far below were idyllic coves with rock, white sand and turquoise water, backed by Fynbos vegetation that grows in the cape area and now her else.
it's a nature reserve, and we saw grazing botsbok ?, the giant eland, a small rodent closely related to elephants, kestrels and other shore birds wheeling in the updrafts of the mighty cliffs.
And penguins!!  Boulder Beach offered beautiful swimming (Jen died not to have the time to jump in) and close encounters with a recovered population of African penguins. They nest above the beach apparently unconcerned with humans staring at them (they find ufs amusing too...).  Watching them waddle awkwardly into the beach, then turn into playful torpedoes is fascinating.  they form a hunting group near to the shore - We can watch them and form up - and then they go searching, swimming out up to forty km.
A total delight was a visit by Boodie and his uber-charming 4 year old daughter Maru, who was thrilled to play with goofy Canadians, telling us what was what in her squeaky little voice with SA accent. An outgoing charmer!
Dinner was with Boodie's sister Caroline (J&V's kids) and husband Dick in the spectacular house they built in Klein Constantia wine country. Again warm hospitable fun people with their heads in the right place despite material success.  We hope to hike with them tomorrow, then picnic at Stellenbosch gardens while listening to Boodie's wife play viola in the Cape Philharmonic.
Love from j and j, and once again, sorry about the randomizing of the photo order...