This was billed as a half day excursion.
First thing our rep - Ursula - came to collect some volunteers to take them to an orphanage in one of the townships. She asked if we wanted to come along for a ride and a few of us agreed.
The orphanage is situated in a township about half an hour drive from Observatory. This particular township is a ramshackle maze of corrugated iron homesteads split down the middle by a series of made up roads.
The orphanage is run as a charity with Aviva volunteers operating a shift of working there 3 days and nights and then 4 days off. It is situated behind a high walled fence and comprises a number of one a two story buildings and accommodation of some German volunteers as well who are on 12 month terms. As soon as the Aviva mini-bus arrived some of the youngsters came out to greet us and dragged us inside by our hands. They were smiles all around as they asked to be held and asked for their pictures to be taken. We had a quick look around and went into the baby section where there were about 20 kids some hardly old enough to walk yet they crowded around us and one little girl in particular just buried here head into the side of me all the time I was there. The children are either abandoned by their mothers or taken away by social workers because their mothers are either drug addicts or alcoholics.
After a short stay we made our way back to our house to pick up the rest of our party. In all there were 7 of us. Three blokes myself, Rauul from Canada and Ralf from United States.
Our first stop was to see the remains of what was once District 6. This was a coloured area whch was cleared by the aparthied movement at the end of the 60's. The authorities were able to bulldoze down houses of all the coloured people and resetlle them in home lands on the outskirts of Cape Town with the idea of making this area a white only area. However they were not allowed to demolish churches and schools. In the end the anti-apartheid movement took hold and the site was not developed. What is left now is an open space right next to the the centre of Cape Town with a number of schools and churches standing out in the middle.
We then saw the full story of Distrct 6 by visiting the museum which is a converted Methodist Church.
We then visited the homelands on the outskirts of Cape Town where people were resettled. This is in the Cape Flats area and memories of 40 years ago I recall this being a series of sandy dunes and bushland. Today it houses several districts the size of a city in itself. The government has spent money on the infrastructure to put in roads and build small bungalows to replace the shanty town they were at first but as they do that more unofficial buildings spring up in the form of corrugated sheds.
We made our way into the districts and paid a visit to a local witch doctor who gave us a spiel of how his powers had been handed to him by his ancestors. His "surgery" was a concrete unit, dark and covered in all kinds of animal skins, hoofs and the longest snake skin I've ever seen stretched over the ceiling.
OUr next stop was a local craft shop where local unemployed are taught local crafts such as bead weaving, painting with sand, wood craft etc. Some local children who were at the playgroup gave us an impromptu display of traditional African dancing.
Next was a visit to was is reputed the smalled B&B in Cape Town. A two storey corrugated iron building run by a lady called Vicky who runs her own web site getting business from back packers etc.
Behind the B&B was a creche run by Gloria. She set this creche up to help her neighbours. She receives an allowance of R50 per month per child. ($3.50) For this she provides breakfast and lunch as well as the normal activities for her preschoolers. The parents are not able to support her as they have no money themselves.
After a few more stops and a visit to the other Aviva house in Table View it was back to Observatory.
