Day 8. 13-2-13, Ajax Cape town (township+schools
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Laura
03 April 2013 | Zuid-Afrika, Kaapstad
Today waking up early, about half past four. We went to the townships with the busses at about six o’clock, we all still slept a bit there. Today for the first time with Esther and further on with Jeroen, Lisanne, Yvette, Nienke, Lieven and Anne. It’s bad, driving past the townships, I felt bad taking pictures, to show how shocking it is here… When we were at the buddies it didn’t seem so bad, but I didn’t realize they live there all their lives.
On the primary schools in the townships (which you could call slums) they were all very friendly, but people from the townships were calling things and threatening us from behind the fence… I only heard it later on, Esther didn’t want to scare us. Ajax Cape town is an organization on primary schools, were people educate the children about sex, drugs, weapons etc. and after that they play football, to keep the learning fun.
The first school was coloured blue and it looked cheerful, the kids were cute, and they all look so happy, even though they might not even get enough food?! The lesson was about weapons, and most fathers or uncles of these children had weapons, without a good reason. When the man asked the kids: ‘If someone shoots your brother, will you shoot that person?’ we heard quite a lot of yes’s. It was difficult... Timo and I were discussing this, because here in the Netherlands someone simply won’t get away with it, he’ll get locked up and the victim’s family is fine with that. In these townships maybe police doesn’t go after murderers... It’s weird, I can imagine that you would like the killer to die, but you can’t just shoot people?! The second school was the school where people were calling things. This school was in the middle of the slums, it really stood out. No wonder there are lots of burglaries… The lightning was stolen and in one classroom we even saw holes in the ceiling. The facilities weren’t that good, but they didn’t have the money for that, they were spending most of it on security and bars in front of the windows I guess.
After this we went to Cape Town, we had about four hours of free time. I went together with Jeroen, Yvette, Lisanne, Nathalie, Lonneke and Nienke. First we went to a supermarket, but when we wanted to leave there was a homeless guy asking for money, he was really closing us in, asking for money and food. Then we went to the market, and actually we didn’t have much time left after that. My first attempt to bargain was a failure, and we were chased by this man who wanted to sell me these masks after he ‘cleaned’ a pink spot with Tipp-ex… Luckily I found a nice pair of masks for my parents at this other tent, with a nice guy and I found coasters and a nice statuette for my grandparents. After our purchases we ate at Nando’s, a kind of fast food restaurant with mostly chicken. I got three wings and some fries for less than 3,-, it’s crazy! It was fun with the group, after this we went back to Cape Town centre, to the McDonalds for a Mcflurry and wifi. I need to mention, when we were walking to waterfront, the centre, a random guy walked up to us with his middle fingers in the air saying: ‘fuck you, fuck you with your white skin and your money!’ It was so weird. This guy doesn’t even know us… But I think he had kind of the right to say it.
After that we dressed up warm to go to the Ajax game. The stadium was really big, but from the inside it looks smaller. We were told we could bring food, but as we were in line, all the food of the first person was dumped in the garbage can. Then we all frantically start to eat our food, but there was too less time. There were some lucky boys next to the line which I gave my precious left over Oreo’s and not even opened biscuits and chocolate cereal bar. It felt way better than the garbage can. The game wasn’t very interesting, there weren’t much people and the score was 1-1 in the end. We had a lot more fun with the free condoms in the toilets. On our way home in the bus I slept a bit, that’s also a nice thing, falling asleep with each other, leaning on someone else’s shoulders etc.. It was about twelve o’clock when we got home, we sang for Demi, who has her birthday on the 14th of February and the boys threw balloons in our room, that was nice. Then all to bed, because we needed to get up 5:15 again the next morning!
On the primary schools in the townships (which you could call slums) they were all very friendly, but people from the townships were calling things and threatening us from behind the fence… I only heard it later on, Esther didn’t want to scare us. Ajax Cape town is an organization on primary schools, were people educate the children about sex, drugs, weapons etc. and after that they play football, to keep the learning fun.
The first school was coloured blue and it looked cheerful, the kids were cute, and they all look so happy, even though they might not even get enough food?! The lesson was about weapons, and most fathers or uncles of these children had weapons, without a good reason. When the man asked the kids: ‘If someone shoots your brother, will you shoot that person?’ we heard quite a lot of yes’s. It was difficult... Timo and I were discussing this, because here in the Netherlands someone simply won’t get away with it, he’ll get locked up and the victim’s family is fine with that. In these townships maybe police doesn’t go after murderers... It’s weird, I can imagine that you would like the killer to die, but you can’t just shoot people?! The second school was the school where people were calling things. This school was in the middle of the slums, it really stood out. No wonder there are lots of burglaries… The lightning was stolen and in one classroom we even saw holes in the ceiling. The facilities weren’t that good, but they didn’t have the money for that, they were spending most of it on security and bars in front of the windows I guess.
After this we went to Cape Town, we had about four hours of free time. I went together with Jeroen, Yvette, Lisanne, Nathalie, Lonneke and Nienke. First we went to a supermarket, but when we wanted to leave there was a homeless guy asking for money, he was really closing us in, asking for money and food. Then we went to the market, and actually we didn’t have much time left after that. My first attempt to bargain was a failure, and we were chased by this man who wanted to sell me these masks after he ‘cleaned’ a pink spot with Tipp-ex… Luckily I found a nice pair of masks for my parents at this other tent, with a nice guy and I found coasters and a nice statuette for my grandparents. After our purchases we ate at Nando’s, a kind of fast food restaurant with mostly chicken. I got three wings and some fries for less than 3,-, it’s crazy! It was fun with the group, after this we went back to Cape Town centre, to the McDonalds for a Mcflurry and wifi. I need to mention, when we were walking to waterfront, the centre, a random guy walked up to us with his middle fingers in the air saying: ‘fuck you, fuck you with your white skin and your money!’ It was so weird. This guy doesn’t even know us… But I think he had kind of the right to say it.
After that we dressed up warm to go to the Ajax game. The stadium was really big, but from the inside it looks smaller. We were told we could bring food, but as we were in line, all the food of the first person was dumped in the garbage can. Then we all frantically start to eat our food, but there was too less time. There were some lucky boys next to the line which I gave my precious left over Oreo’s and not even opened biscuits and chocolate cereal bar. It felt way better than the garbage can. The game wasn’t very interesting, there weren’t much people and the score was 1-1 in the end. We had a lot more fun with the free condoms in the toilets. On our way home in the bus I slept a bit, that’s also a nice thing, falling asleep with each other, leaning on someone else’s shoulders etc.. It was about twelve o’clock when we got home, we sang for Demi, who has her birthday on the 14th of February and the boys threw balloons in our room, that was nice. Then all to bed, because we needed to get up 5:15 again the next morning!
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
