Love Life Youth Center
The Love Life Youth Center is in Longa Township. It focuses on helping youth deal with AIDS. Over 15 people a day, die in this township from AIDS. Is leaving many moms or dads alone to raise the children without financial resources. Here, there is NO social welfare from the government. However, caregivers of orphaned children are given 120 Rand ($18.00 US) per month, by the government, for that child's care.
In this area, unemployment is 30% or more among the blacks. Jobs that some have, are cleaning houses and doing yard work. Others have started their own businesses, like cooking lunch on an outdoor grill, cutting hair, repairing cars in their yard, selling fruits and vegetables by the roadside, and recycling the discarded items. This was told to some of us by Lungi, a lady who works for the Western Cape Educational District of South Africa after being a teacher for more than 20 years. She also was one of our host mothers for our weekend stay in the townships.
Mama B's Neighborhood
Longa Township has basically two types of housing. One type of house is like the one that Mama B (she was one of the main people that made our weekend stay possible) lives in, and the other is the shanty style housing. Mama B's house (in the background of the photograph on the left) was our home base for our weekend stay. The people who live in this neighborhood have jobs, so they can afford to pay for these nicer homes. From here, we were taken to meet our different host families for our weekend stay. All students (in groups of twos or threes) were assigned to families in similar housing conditions. For our safety, we were not going to stay in any of the shanty houses. Shanty houses are made from any thing that can be used, from scrap wood, corrugated tin, and cardboard (photos and information more about these houses is included toward the end of this page).
We had several events planned throughout the weekend for both the SCC and UW students. One was an Umgidi (Manhood) party, a lecture at the Longa (Guga Sthebe) Community Center by Fatima Dike on the events that led up to apartheid, and a Bri (neighborhood) Party.
Umgidi (Manhood) Party
There were about 17 of us who showed up for this party and were welcomed on the spot. An Umgidi celebration is a rite of passage from childhood to manhood. It is done as the male turns 18. Our featured young man had a ceremonial circumcision about three weeks earlier. After healing, there is a big party with a few presents, and a lot of eating. The cooked meal
consisted of two freshly killed lambs. Their skins were left out in the corner of the yard. The lamb was cut into small pieces, and then placed into a large pot, on an open fire in the backyard. The spinach was cooked in the kitchen at the same time as the samp and beans (coarsely ground corn and pinto beans). While the cooking
was going on, the men and women spent time outside singing and dancing (not together), to the music.
When the food was ready, the men stayed outside in the yard, and the women went into the house. The men were served first, but they sat in age groups 18 and under. Then came middle aged, and older men. They were served the meal, per age group, with the samp, spinach, and lamb. Each man was given a spoon. The women and children were served lamb (without bones), on separate plates, with forks. Some drinking of Umqombothi (homemade beer) was done in a ceremonial way.
This beer ceremony involved getting on your knees, facing the lady of authority who was dressed in orange, and drinking from the large beer container. We got to do this several times. The beer tasted better each time it was sampled. After several hours, it came time to go. We got so many hugs and sad goodbyes from everyone at the party. It seems that other outsiders, have come to similar parties, and pretended to have a good time. Our hostess told us, that we really had a good time, and that they enjoyed having us.
Fatima Dike
Fatima Dike spoke on the history of oppression in South Africa. Dike talked about her real life experiences, as they related to the voice of change, which lead to end of apartheid. As Dike was growing up in the Cape Town area, education only went through the tenth grade. Missionaries's taught grade sixth through tenth. The only higher education was at the Department of Education and Training (DET) in Eastern Cape, Fort Hall. There were only two choices, being a teacher or a nurse. Teachers were only allowed to teach what the school wanted them to teach. They had no say in the matter. This turned off many students. Women got together and started to protest the limitations. Dike also talked about the differences between the Nguni, Zulu, and Swazi, three of the nine tribes of South Africa, and described the basic foundation of their folk religions. To end, Fatima Dike recommended Africa My Children, as a must-read.
Bri Party
Mama B's house was used to celebrate the visit from the SCC and UW students. We were served dinner of lamb, spinach, samp (coarsely ground corn and sugar beans), rice and soft drinks. Many of the neighbors, and our host families, came to the Bri party. We were fortunate to also have a local dance group come and dance for us. The dancers are part of the programs at the Longa Community Center. They wanted us to pay them. They wanted 100 Rand to dance. Instead we passed-the-hat. In this way, they were able to get several times more. The money was used for new dance outfits for the growing girls.
Older Government Housing
There are very small "train houses," cosisting of long rows of buildings that appeared to be no wider than a train. The average size is 10 feet wide by 20 feet long and runs the length of the street. We did not have the opportunity to go inside these houses, but were told (by the host mother) that they have cement floors, no room dividers, a roof, and door that will not blow down in the winter. The newer style government houses are duplexes that are slightly larger, more square in shape, consisting of brick walls, cement floors, windows, a roof, a door, and best of all, indoor plumbing! The newer houses are slow in coming, and rent is charged for these particular homes. Shanty houses are free except for the materials to build them.
Visit to Mantana Township
During our home-stay weekend, each group of students (two to three in each home) were taken and shown around, by their host families. Jen, Bernadette, and I had the good fortune to visit the Mantana Township. One thing that we noticed, even though the people here had so very little, the area was clean, with no trash anywhere. Everything here was used and reused. It would make an environmentalist proud. This is one of the largest townships, with over one million people living there. The first tent city, that later turned into a township, was established in 1901. At this time, the whites imported thousands of black men from all over South Africa to work the fields. This information was gathered from talks with Lungi, my host mother.
Township Children
While touring through Mantana Township, many neighborhood children followed us. We drew the attention of many children, no matter where we went. We, as a group, brought books and good used clothes to be given away to the children as we met them. The reception we got from the children and their parents was so moving. No one said the clothes were the wrong size or color. The kids put on whatever they were given. The books brought big smiles to their faces. The children sat right down and started to read and share with the other kids. It made us wish we had been able to bring more.
Widower and his Kids
Aids has orphaned many children of all ages. About 25% of South Africans are infected with AIDS (so says local South African media reports). This man, Manabo, had lost his wife to AIDS.
He now cares for five children two of his own, and three that were orphaned, due to AIDS. Our host mother Lungi told us that about 15 people die every day here, from AIDS, in this township alone.
We asked Manabo to show us his neighborhood. We learned to ask a local resident to show us around when entering one of these townships. In this way, you show respect for their property, and you're not perceived as a threat to them. Shanty homes are made out of anything: cardboard, small scraps of wood, corrugated tin, dirt for floors, and the lucky ones, have windows. Township people have overcome so much, but still have a lot of work ahead of them. I did not find them looking for a handout, just a job and just a chance.
Neighborhood
This township was like so many other townships, with freeways, roads, and fences separating the brick homes from the shanties.
As we crossed over the freeway, the housing changed dramatically. These one-room shanty houses, looked to be no more than 8 feet by 10 feet, were where many family members are forced to live. When the rains come, the floors get wet, since they have no drainage system. Children run around bare-foot; shoes are such a luxury. These townships go on as far as the eye can see.
The lucky families in the shanty homes have electricity, but none of the homes have running water, or inside plumbing. Everyone must use the outhouses that are scattered throughout the township. The outhouses consist of four walls and a bucket, with a phonebook for toilet paper if you didn't bring your own.
As we walked through this township, we found freshly washed clothes on the line, and a lady carrying water in a five gallon bucket on her head. Children wearing sweaters shorts and no shoes, were a common sight.
We saw no trash anywhere. Someone always finds a use for all the discards, turning it into something useful. Kids washed their hands in the standing ground water from the rains the night before. One lady had just hauled out her 50-gallon oil drum, which was cut in half and used it as a grill to cook up some lunches to sell to the passersby. There were several cars outside two shanty houses that were undergoing repair, motor and body work. Another house had its door open. There was a small store inside, with some single rolls of toilet paper, sugar, and a few potatoes for sale. All were doing whatever they could to get by. Consistently the people, young and old alike, had smiles and hugs to greet us wherever we went.
Longa Guga Sthebe Community Center
Volunteers run the community center in Longa. Henry of Ilanga Le Afrika Music School (Phone 021.7908825, Fax 021.7908826) teaches music. They make many of their own instruments and are in need of donations of brass ones. The children that have this opportunity to learn, not only develop their music skills, but are helping to preserve their culture and perform in their respective communities, for all sorts of functions.
We were privileged to see and hear the children play they were very talented.
Arts and craft classes are popular, and many of their projects are made from recycled materials. Some of the items for sale were handmade teapots and cup sets, candleholders, decorative items, and children's push toys made from pop cans and wire. These projects are sold, and the money goes towards buying additional supplies. The community, under the guidance of the volunteer art coordinator has decorated the building. It is unique, colorful and inviting as you can see from the photographs.