Week #9 - Getting to know your township

On the morning of Saturday, September 26th I woke up to meet Reverend Dr. Spiwo Xapile for breakfast. Dr. Spiwo is the main Reverend of the JL Zwane church and also the main director of the JL Zwane Community Centre. We had talked before about meeting up and having him show me around the townships. He wanted me to see how the JL Zwane centre gives back to the townships. He also wanted to give me a more in depth taste of what township culture is like. The last time I actually walked through a township was my first week here in South Africa and that was very much a culture shock. I was curious to see what it was going to be like when I was more acclimated to the sights of shotgun shacks, overwhelming trash piles, stray dogs, and everything else that makes up township living.

I met Dr. Spiwo at a restaurant nearby my house for breakfast. He was with another gentleman who was apart of the church and he was coming along for the ride. As we ate breakfast we discussed the issues of poverty in South Africa, how the centre helps in terms of community service, and how the centre and church are funded. I found out that there are no government appropriations used to help finance the centre and that much of the funding for the JL Zwane centre comes from grant funding from partnering churches across the United States. The money is used for all the essential functions of the centre including programming, employee salaries, stipends, maitenance, etc. It was very interesting to here about the lack of government support to fund community innitiatives like the JL Zwane Centre. It seems like much of the support for any community based endeavors in South Africa are all supported from outside parties including churches in the US, Non-profit and Non-Governmental Organizations. We continued to chat about the prospect of my presbyterian church back at home, called Bradley Hills Presbyterian, becoming a partner. In this way my volunteer wouldn't be just associated with Siyaya, but with the JL Zwane centre as a whole. In the grand scheme of this program I want to establish sustainable relationships with my placement in South Africa so I can really make a difference.

After breakfast we drove into Guguletu to visit some of the orphanges that the JL Zwane Centre supports. Our first stop was an orphanage for children that have disabilities (i.e. autism, cerable paulsey, etc.). One of the many issues in South Africa is that many of women who give birth to new borns with disabilities will abandon their kids due to the burden of taking care of them. Many of the children will be found in dumpsters or trash piles where they'll be taken to social services. Most of the time social services will not have enough resources to actually provide any real support so they get in contact with one of the many independent 24 hour care orphanages in the townships. Being in the townships, these orphanges are no where near the type of place that these kids should be raised in terms of the unsanitary conditions of the townships, but it's all they have. The JL Zwane centre provides funding to these orphanges for food, clothes, and activities. It was a very impacting experience as at least 15 children were packed in one very small room. Some of the children very ill, while the others played on the floor with the balls or other small toys they had. One of the children immediately spotted me and jumped into my arms. They were so excited to see some one different and just enjoyed the feeling of being held. The manager of the orphanage asked me if I had a questions and I had a few, but it was so hard to speak because of how emotional I felt towards the situation. Next, Dr. Spiwo took me to another orphanage with non-disabled children. This time comparing to the first stop I was pretty impressed with the accomadations. I mean in reality it still was not a great place to raise children, but there was a new bathroom, new flooring and new bunk beds that had all been paid for by the JL Zwane center. The children were all really kind and the main care taker was extremely kind and welcoming. It was very interesting to see all of this, especially when I discussed with Cross-Cultural Solutions program director, Luann the other day about my trip and she informed that the JL Zwane does more funding for community services like these than the governments' social services.

The next stops were around the Guguletu open air market where people gather to buy vegatables, meat, play pool, and other activities. It was very busy so Dr. Spiwo had his friend walk me around to look at everything that was going. Over in the corner was a big fire where they cooked a very distinguished food called "Smileys". A "Smiley" is the head of a goat, sheep, or cow and is a popular feature in the township diet. They call them "Smilies" because you can see all the teeth once they finished cooking. Don't worry, there was no way I was thinking about trying one. My guide then took me around to the surrounding Shebeens. I was a little hesitant at first because Cape Town Shebeens are not always the safest, but it was daytime and I was with my guide. We quickly went into a couple shebeens where people were drinking, playing, pool and listening to music. One of the shebeens had food and a person came up to offer me what looked like buffalo wings. My guide insured me that it was safe to try and I didn't want to be rude so I ate a piece. I quickly found out that they were actually chicken feet. The taste I have to say was pretty bad and there were many bones.

The rest of the week in my volunteer work included me going to other shebeens and clinics with siyaya to help promote the group and book them gigs. They are now preparing a township tour where they'll be performing at different shebeens and clinics through out the month of October. I'm sad to say that I'll be missing it.

Thanks everyone for keeping in tune with this edition of "Kevin Tackles South Africa". I'm sorry I wasn't able to go into more detail about my week, but I've been very busy working on burning mix cds for everyone in siyaya and preparing for my departure. The next blog will be very short as well due to my very hectic schedule.

Thanks everyone,

Kevin Gschwend