...by Kelsey Gunderson
Langa - Township
l WELCOME l WHY l HOW IT WORKS l BUILDING A FIELD l OUR PROGRESS l OUR TEAM l HOW WE RAISE MONEY l
l FIELDS l TOURNAMENTS l FUNDaFIELD SCHOOL CLUBS l A FIELD IN YOUR NAME l
l DONATE l YOU CAN HELP l STEEL WATER BOTTLES l MAKE CHANGE l
l MEDIA l OUR WISH LIST l THANK YOU l CONTACT US l
l STORE l PAPER BEADS FROM AFRICA l
On our first day in Cape Town we were taken into an area that is referred to as a Township. This particular Township is also known as Langa. Americans would think of the area as somewhere homeless people would live. The houses are mostly made of scrap building materials, pallets, tin roofs, miscellaneous sized blocks, tarps, metal storage containers, and anything else they could get their hands on. It is quite startling to imagine that people are living there and that they are grateful to have the accommodations.
There are rows and rows of “apartments”. They are made up of: a 2 bedroom apartment that usually houses from 10 – 17 people and is owned and rented by the government. We were guided through one to see how they worked. Our guide had lived in one of the apartments, which we were allowed to enter, since he was 10 years old. He now looked to be about 25 or so. He explained that only men were originally allowed to live there. He lived there with his Father and Grandfather. His Mom and Sisters lived in another facility for women only. He originally slept on the floor under a table. Over a period of time he “graduated” to the floor of a bedroom and was now was able to sleep in one of the 3 beds in the bedroom. He pays the rent of 20 Rand a month (this equates to $2.50 US) for his bed and the living quarters of a common room. The common room is used for eating, cooking, cleaning the dishes, and laundry. He also is on a list to eventually get to move into an apartment, still owned by the government, which he can live in with only his family for 300 Rand per month (equating to about $33.00 US). This can only be granted to someone who has been previously living in the above accommodations and he has no idea of a time frame for this to happen. The truly amazing part was how happy, hopeful, and positive this young man was. You had to be really careful how you expressed yourself because your immediate reaction was of dismay and his was of hope.
We next stopped at a day care center for 3-5 year olds, provided by donations from outsiders. This experience really tugged at my heartstrings. We all knelt down and were smothered and hugged by happy, laughing children. Becca and I have long blonde hair and the little ones wanted to run their fingers through our hair and massage it and they were so fascinated with our hair. The day care kids sang some songs and danced for us then we sang for them. The only song we came up was “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, but I don’t think the children cared. The performance brought lots of clapping and laughter by the youngsters. This was such an amazing experience for me, one of my personal favorites of the trip.
Next stop was lunch at a home that had been turned into a restaurant called Lelopa. The lady, who lived there and owned the facility, told us her story of how she used to have 2 jobs and tried to go to night school. She realized the only way she would ever be able to better herself was to get an education. She noted that she saw the “tours” come through her neighborhood and over a period of time was able to enlarge her home to provide food service. She recognized an opportunity for herself and her neighbors by being able to put some of them to work. She felt that if people were interested in driving through her neighborhood that they would like to stop and eat there and talk to the “real” people who lived there. She was older and it was obvious that she had struggled for many years. You have to give her plenty of credit because her restaurant was amazing.
We ended this wonderful day getting a bit to eat and then heading back to our hotel. I think seeing Langa has really taught me to be very thankful for where I am now and to not take anything for granted. Langa has really changed my view of my life forever.
Each of us had different memorable stories.
Click on each FUNDaFIELD Team Member’s face to read theirs.