Township Homestay 10/03-10/04

Around 3 the evening I had SAS trip to a nearby township. It was only about 20 minutes from Cape Town. When we arrived there weren’t a lot of shacks which is what I expected. But instead there were houses that lined the streets you could tell it was a poor community though. The children were waiting for us and immediately the playing began! We played a version of ring around the rosie that they played and other childhood games that I remember playing growing up – just in a different language. We also gave TONS of piggy back rides which was the highlight of the activities.. every kid wanted one hahah. They were so cute!!

My “mama” for the night came and picked me up after about an hour of playing and we headed to her home. It was right down the street and it was a 2 bedroom, 1 bath cozy home and they had 2 extra bedrooms built outside of the house for their other children. My “mamas” name was Mama Pinky and she was so kind. Jules spent the night with me there. We hung out with her and chatted for a while before we met everyone.

Later on Yoli, her oldest daughter stopped by and we went for a short walk with her and one of her friends around the township. We ran into a random guy – who seemed like he was drunk – he was claiming to be a police officer and that he knew all the street names around and would show us around anytime. Lol it was amusing. Anyway we walked her friend home and then headed back, her friend’s house was a lot different from hers. It was actually a home made out of scrap metal.

Shortly after getting back to Mama Pinky’s home her son Siya got back from playing with friends. Siya is a ten year old boy and he is the sweetest little boy you’ll ever meet!! Jules and I spent most of the evening, well basically all of it, playing and hanging out with Siya. I brought a big box of crayons and some colored construction paper and we all drew for hours! Siya is such a good drawer he drew me a picture for his 2 little puppies and his big dog named Blacky and I drew him a picture of our ship. When I gave him the picture he said “my friends will not believe this! Will you write you name!?” It was so cute. I also had my portable printer and printed out a bunch of pictures from the night for him – he loved them and he even drew a picture of him holding his dogs based of one of the pictures. It came out so good, he’s really talented.

Siya definitely made the experience so great at our homestay. He was so great full of everything and always had a smile. I wish we could have stayed longer to get to know everyone more. The father, Waitlord, didn’t talk much until later on into the night when he saw us all drawing. But when he saw us drawing her said “oh, I can draw too!” and he grabbed some of his blue print drawings from work to show us. Waitlord is in construction – I think he is an electrician. He was explaining to us that the whites were usually the ones who got the education and now his work know that he’s the one in charge and they are paying for him to get the certifications to show he has the skills that he knows. It was really nice that he opened up to us and was able to talk to us, he seemed really reserved at first.

I had a great time on my homestay. It was my first Semester at Sea trip. My only complaint is that it was too short. It went from 4pm to 10 AM the next day. Which is not that long at all. I loved getting to know the family though they were all so kind. And Mama Pinky said “I have never met people like you, so kind and so talkative” to me and Jules. That was so nice of her. I wish we could have spent more time with her.