Hope and color in the townships~

Gladstone, our township tour guide said, "You can't say you've seen Cape Town until you've seen the townships."  

They are a sobering illustration of South Africa's painful past as well as a commentary on all that still needs addressing by the government, which basically promised too much too soon.  Residents, who make up the majority of Cape Town's population, share living quarters that defy imagination -- sometimes four families in one room.  

But there's color, music and laughter anyhow because Life cannot be suppressed.

 Local artwork.

  Transistor radio made from coke cans.

 These children sang and danced for us.

 An example of the newer homes being built to get families out of shacks, but with limited availability.

The newest apartments being built in Langa Township, soon ready to be occupied. Hopefully. 

 At the local pub with a bucket of freshly brewed corn & sorghum beer.

 Our guide explaining both the health benefits of the beer (excellent for the digestion system, as studied and proved by Western doctors) and the very strict drinking rituals.

South Africans believe that women make the best beer but the women are not allowed to taste the beer they make for fear they will change the recipe -- a recipe that has been handed down through the generations. If the beer makers want to indulge they must partake at another pub.

 Passing the bucket around for a sip.  

 Now we're shown how to really drink up by the husband (?) of one of the beer makers.

 Where there are barrels, there's a pub.

Some more of the new homes. But building is slow and families must 'qualify'.

 Tile mosaic on a sidewalk.

 This tree offers hope.  And as Nelson Mandela said, People must have hope.

 Fruit stall.

 A Sangoma -- native healer.  Sangomas are chosen through dreams to become healers.  And it was explained to us that people, in order to be healed of physical ailments, do not necessarily need to believe in a Sangoma's remedy.  But in order to be healed of spiritual and psychological troubles,  faith in the remedy is essential.

 And finally, at Guguletu Township, the place where American college student & anti-Apartheid activist, Amy Biehl, was killed by some Pan Africanists who took the extreme position that NO whites were to be trusted.  As a result of Amy's death her parents took up her cause, forgiving the young men who killed her and establishing a foundation to carry on the work of highlighting the injustices of Apartheid.

~ ~ ~

As Nelson Mandel wrote in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom:

NO ONE IS BORN HATING ANOTHER PERSON BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN, OR HIS BACKGROUND, OR HIS RELIGION.  PEOPLE MUST LEARN TO HATE, AND IF THEY CAN LEARN TO HATE, THEY CAN BE TAUGHT TO LOVE, FOR LOVE COMES MORE NATURALLY TO THE HUMAN HEART THAN ITS OPPOSITE.

(If you click on the photos, you'll be able to see them better.)