These last couple of days have been crazy. We have had interesting activities pretty much every day. For example, on Saturday, we had a lecture on Multicultural diversity which was followed by a visit to Bookaap which is one of the most famous neighborhoods in Cape Town. It is a predominantly Coloured, Afrikaans speaking, and Muslim neighborhood which is known for its great food, colorful houses, rich culture and tradition and for its people.
The residents of Bo-Kaap are mostly descended from slaves who were imported to the Cape by the Dutch during the the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Slave were brought from other countries in Africa, Indonesia, Java Malaysia, and other parts in Asia. They were known as "Cape Malays", which is acutally an incorrect term as most of BoKaap's residents are not entirely of Malaysian descent.
We first visited a Mosque which is Cape Town's first and oldest mosque. Islam was brought to the Cape in the 1700s by Said Alochie who was probably the first imam to live in Cape Town. But later on, in 1767, PriAbdullah Kadi Abu Salaam of Tidore was exiled to the Cape. He wrote a copy of the Quran from memory, and the volume is still preserved in Cape Town; Abdullah assumed leadership of the community in Cape Town and became known as "Tuan Guru" which means something like great master.
After walking around a bit we had lunch at a typical place. The food was amazing - a mix of Indian, Malaysian and other kinds of foods. It was very nice, right when we were coming out a group/band went down the street performing some sort of local dance. I didn't get what it was but it was pretty cool.
On Sunday morning we started with a lecture on poverty – what it means, who experiences it and how, how do we measure poverty, etc – and then we went to do a township tour. Although I was skeptical about the concept and did not fully understand the intentions behind it (‘foreign tourist going to ‘visit’ and ‘experience’ how people live in townships), I guess after having visited it I kind of understand that local can benefit from this kind of tourism. That is not to say that I don’t feel uncomfortable with the dynamics of it, but I have appreciated how tourist can bring in income for some members of the community as they pay for food, drinks, crafts, transport, etc.
Anyways, we first visited Langa and a center that they had there. In these center locals are able to learn some marketable skills and children are involved in some activities as well. A group of kids performed a dance that was initiated by the miners in Johannesburg as a way to find entertainment within the compounds that they were forced to live. The kids were amazing and a lot of fun. After that, we went to a local pub which was more like a shack where we had a taste of the local beer. This beer is locally brewed by women and is widely consumed in local festivities. It is made out of sorghum and maize and has 2% alcohol, very sweet tasting. We also visited a local witchcraft/medicinal healer place. That was very interesting..in the room they had all kinds of dead animals and plants hanging. From huge snake skins to birds, from mammals to bugs, uf, it was very interesting.
We also visited the Gugulethu township. There we learned about the Gugulethu seven memorial which was built in 2005 in recognition of the seven men that were shot dead in their back on March 3rd, 1986 when they were protesting against the apartheid government. When the police officers involved got amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission - many residents of Gugulethu were not pleased with this decision. Following that we went to a very popular tavern called Mzoli’s which is located in the township of Gugulethu. This place is known around Cape Town for its great braai (barbeque, parrillada) and it welcomes people from all races. According to some locals, it is great to see how there you can see people from all classes and races…however, amongst Gugulethu's residents, Mzoli's Place has a reputation for public drunkenness and disrespect for the local community.
No comments:
Post a Comment