South Africa (2) - Township Experience     

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Other travelogues :    Sailing 1 : Sardinia to Corsica     Collioure, France   Sailing 2 : Turkey ; The Lycian Coast    Acapulco     Derbyshire Dales     Egypt   South Africa

While we were travelling to and from airports in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth we were astounded to see miles of  'townships' each side of the motorway. I had thought of townships as being groups of shanty dwellings, not the endless accumulation of shacks that I saw.  Many had electricity poles running down each of the dirt roads between the shacks but little else in the way of amenities. Some attempt has been made to build small bungalows to  rehouse people.  Some townships are 'official' and some completely unofficial and unregulated.  If one is lucky one can get electricity if you can afford a card to use it. If you are lucky you are not too far away from the water standpipe. You are unlikely to be lucky enough to have a toilet and drains, so your 'loo' is a bucket. If you are lucky this will be collected and emptied.  But what puzzled me was that the children, especially schoolchildren, were well turned out, and their clothes, spotless. We visited some of these areas where we saw various attempts to help, with creches, play areas, craft workshops and some teaching of pre-school children. Also a Training Centre for teenagers, many of them AIDS orphans, where they can live in, learning carpentry, domestic skills, catering etc.  See Umzi Wethu  and Oliver Foundation **  It was encouraging, but the housing problem seems overwhelming.

For instance, one of the children who attends a creche sponsored by the Oliver Foundation is called 10c.  This is because when he attends he asks for 10 cents so he can buy a Fetcook a sort of African Cornish Pasty, ingredients: Bread dough with filling, the most popular being a mildly curried mince & chopped up vegetables, deep fried.

This is where 10c lived and this was his bed until recently.  However he has now been placed in a hostel run for street children

Since this photo was taken in March 2008, 10c has left "home". He was found wandering on the streets, was referred to Social Services and was taken into care. I just hope he is still smiling.

** Anyone wishing to donate to this charity can do so via my Paypal Account at kpaterson1931@ntlworld.com  or directly with a Credit card to http://www.justgiving.com/oliverfoundation I can assure you that 100% of the money will be used to help these young people.

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