The next morning we were bused to our classroom in Rondebosch again and had a workday to finish our papers as well as to work on the other 10 projects that we were in the middle of. That evening we headed back to Cape Town and into the Bo-Kaap. Bo-Kaap is an area of Cape Town that is comprised of almost only Muslim people. Many of them are descendents of slaves and so we also went to the Slave lodge (old slave area of cape town in which all slaves were kept but is now a museum). When we arrived in the Bo-Kaap we had a tour of the area and went to the local museum to learn the history of the community. We then went back to a local restaurant where we awaited our families. Oddly enough I had already met my mother. When we arrived my host mother was there waiting to greet me and she introduced herself and my host brother, shafika, and then said that they would be back to fetch me later. I later found out they were there early to get a look at me because they had never hosted before and were very nervous about having a student.
My host family was very very wonderful and probably the most welcoming family that I had so far. Because they had never had a student before, they spoiled me beyond belief. There was constantly food in my room, they always brought me juice and fresh fruit and biscuits. It was wonderful. We probably had five meals a day while I lived there. Every morning I would wake up and they would have yogurt and wheet bix (sort of granola sort of cereal). There was also fruit and juice and coffee and tea. One of my friends actually came over every morning to walk down to the restaurant where we all got picked up and she would eat breakfast there because my family was so nice and welcoming and always made coffee for her. Often they would also pack me a lunch of leftover food from the night before. As well as a few snacks to munch on during the day. (This was wonderful because I was still out of money and been skipping meals because I couldn’t afford to eat). When I got home we would have huge dinners that was basically like a different buffet every night. I had many different variations of curry. Oh and I absolutely fell in love with samoosas. They are my new favorite food and I think one night I had over 25 of them, after already eating dinner. Then after I was stuffed at dinner they would usually bring out chips and biscuits or cake or some other kind of dessert. That was usually followed by a round of samoosas or some other type of treat. And then they usually tried to get me to eat again before going to bed.
My host parents were pretty young and wonderful. The father did construction work and used to work on ships. He has actually traveled around most of the world and even lived in the U.S. for a few years so it was fun to talk to him about his experiences. The mother works in the community trying to create jobs and also trying to do work in the community for the people. The oldest daughter has finished her studies and is looking for a job while living at home. She was a lot of fun to be with and we hung out all the time. The son is a junior in high school and pretty funny. He is constantly picked on by everyone in the family but he also made me laugh the whole time I was there which was great. The youngest just turned 14 a couple weeks ago and is definitely trouble. She loves boys, fashion, and gossip. She was a lot of fun to be around as well and felt like my little sister.
They lived in a flat that had 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. I had one of the bedrooms to myself that normally belongs to the two girls. Shafika’s room doubles as the living room and the parents have the other room. The bathroom actually had a shower, which was a huge treat. They also had a TV in both of the bedrooms and the living room so it was such a luxury to get to lie in bed and watch TV, I almost didn’t want to ever sleep.
Although I absolutely loved my family, even with them I was not able to escape the racism that seems to still live in the hearts of so many South Africans. The first night I was there one of the neighbors came over and decided to give me a lecture on Islam. He basically attacked me and I kept trying to explain to him that I had had a class on Islam and knew a fair amount about it but he wouldn’t believe me. He kept talking about how Americans knew nothing of Islam even though they had a huge Muslim population in America. He then went on to insult Christianity saying that even in the bible Jesus tells people that he is not god and Christians are only Christians because they are too ignorant to know their own bible. I also had an interesting discussion with my host mother in which she revealed to me her very out rightly racist feelings and pretty much all around hatred for black people. She talked about how life was better under apartheid, and she wished that things could return that way. She also got a bit more vulgar, but I’ll choose not to repeat it all. It was interesting to learn about the coloured identity and experience it a bit more. There is still such strong ethnic divides and there is a strong perception that the coloured identity is one that has suffered the most. Under apartheid, coloureds were treated better than blacks but not as well as white people. However, since the end of apartheid blacks have been given better treatment (since they now dominate government) and whites are still treated well (since they still maintain the highest economic standings) and coloured treatment has only declined in comparison. It was hard to hear the hate that so many people had toward people of other skin color, but at the same time it was very valuable in my understanding of my family as well as feelings of people in South Africa today.
The first night I was there I actually got to go out with my host sister. One of my host sisters, Noaaz (20), took me and a couple of my friends into green market square to see the jazz concert. Every year there is an international jazz festival in Cape Town and the first night of the concert is outside and free to the public. It was packed and amazing but we managed to push our way to the front row. It was a lot of fun. We actually went out a lot while I was in Bo-Kaap which was interesting because none of the families there drink and we were told they would not go out, but they went out more than any of my other host families. Another night a bunch of us went to a movie and my host sister came with us as well. I also went to karaoke with a friend and her host mother one night, which was very entertaining. The family that we went to karaoke with goes there regularly, and they do not do it as a joke. Everyone who goes there is very serious about singing and apparently they usually stay there all night, we thought that they were joking when they first told us that but soon realized that it wasn’t so. We finally had to beg them to drive us home at about 1am because we were falling asleep at the table. My friend and I decided to wholeheartedly embrace the experience, despite our serious lack of singing ability. We thought it would be funny to open up with the song “Born in the U.S.A.” We thought it was a good way to make fun of ourselves. Although neither of us knew any of the words or the beat, and despite having them up for us it was very hard to sing with a song we didn’t really know. What made things even more awkward was that neither of us knew that song talked about going off to “fight the yellow man,” not really appropriate for our colored audience. We managed to salvage the crowd by singing “Aint no mountain high enough” later on in the night, but it was a tough lesson.
On nights that I didn’t go out, friends from my trip would often come over to visit me and hang out with my family. They were so much fun and gave us so much food that everyone wanted to come over. We would always sit around talking and laughing and watching TV. I felt right at home and it was such a wonderful environment. They family really welcomed me in and were very laid back about it. The mother was constantly taking pictures of me (in every room of the house and with every member of the immediate and extended family). She also had us walk up the hill to go on a photo shoot one afternoon and had the extended family over to meet me. They invited me to live with them for the last month of the trip and I seriously considered the offer, but thought that in order to fit into my bridesmaid dress when I return home, I better live in an area that didn’t have so much good food around. However I have already been back to visit a few times with friends. I planned to go every weekend but they said that seeing me just once a week wouldn’t be enough and I needed to come back more often. We have had a couple of braai’s and it has been great to have somewhere to go for food and a break whenever I need to.
were her sandwiches as good as mine?
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