UW in Cape Town — September 18, 2017

Wow.. Our days are beginning to wind down, but today was a killer.

Started out pretty normal… Chris headed out with three students in the car to go to the high school (where each has been doing classes and some tutoring, and lots of meetings with teachers). They always leave at 7:30 am to be at school by 8:00 for the morning teacher meeting “check-in.”

We’d heard that there might be (or would likely be) a taxi strike which would affect the townships (or “suburbs” as they are often referred to). There has been ongoing tension between buses and the formal and “informal” taxis in the township. Actually, a very complicated issue. As in many developing countries, the townships (which in some ways are almost like little countries) are not serviced well by public transport. There’s a train in some townships, but most likely if you take the train you need a bus and/or a taxi to get to your job downtown and also back home. (This chews into your salary by at least 30%.)  Anyway, the formal taxis (cumbis) pay all sorts of fees and the informal taxis aren’t paying the fees that have been imposed. So this morning there was a strike of the taxis — making it virtually impossible for people to get into or out of the townships. As in many demonstrations many of us know about in the states, the poor wind up physically destroying or damaging their own communities because they have no place to unleash their anger. The taxi drivers are “organized.” They are frustrated at how the police treat them – they are pulled over frequently because they haven’t paid the fees imposed on them. Often many people (men) pool their money to buy a car to become a taxi (informal)..

So, the group that works at the school left as usual by car with Chris driving — to Sinethemba High School in Philippi. They left, as always at 7:30 am to get to the school at the starting time, 8:00 am. By about 7:30 am, I was getting lots of WhatsApp messages (everyone here uses WhatsApp instead of messaging and emails.. But that’s another story). First I heard from one of the NGOs that their staff could not get to the organization due to the strikes. Then I heard from another. Essentially, all were saying “do not come today.” I tried to find Chris and eventually heard from him that the drive in to Philippi was very complicated and he needed to keep turning around, that at least one bus had been torched and that people were throwing rocks at cars. Fortunately, he made it to the school where things appeared safe. But tensions were high at the school, including the issue of whether or not students were seriously taking the “matric” exams – tests that determine whether or not they will graduate and/or attend university. He told me that he was taking our students back to town at 10:00 am.. Usually they stay until 3 pm  I had also been in touch with the leaders of two other NGOs who said that their staff could not come to the organization so they were pretty limited.

I decided that the other students would not go into the townships today and that we would have a meeting at 9:45. The meeting went fine although students were worried about their colleagues. I assured them all was well. We agreed to meet end of day at 4:00 pm– after students from the school would be back and those going to programs that were not in the townships would also be back… and once they could all come to grips with what was happening.

Chris returned with the students at about 11, but I was at one of the other organizations; we finally met up for a late lunch. He described the situation as “mounting rage” over the strike, the disruption, lack of services and so much more. In any case, one of the assistant principals at the school “escorted” Chris in his car out of the township, since I think a car filled with obvious foreigners and three white people was probably not the best of situations. Students took it pretty hard– to be expected since they witnessed violence and were pretty scared. Beyond that they saw the impact on the school in that many classrooms were only half filled and many teachers could not get to school. School closed at noon.

At 4:00 we held a debrief session with students sharing their sense of what happened… and ended with ice cream… always a good way to end a heavy meeting.

Chris and I had dinner at a place called Carne which sort of lets the steak tell its own story… as the wait persons (many wait persons in Cape Town are from the Congo — another story for another time) bring a huge platter of raw meats of different types to your table to make your selection– prime beef, lamb, venison, hanger steak, spider steak, prime rib on the bone. And even a 1.2 kg T-bone. Once you decide on your appetizers and the kind of meat you want, they bring a platter of many different sizes of that meat for you to select the actual portion you will have cooked for you. We started with an amazing steak tartare that came in three separate scoops.. one with anchovies, one with olive oil, one with a chili thing… all were fantastic, even though I really don’t like anchovies. We also had sweetbreads—simple in lemon and garlic… And then we shared one of the meats.. A good way to end such a messy day.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we go to Albie Sachs’ house and then to Chris’ lecture at University of the Western Cape… and then end with a Turkish dinner with all the students. I head out on Wednesday afternoon… but even Wednesday (when the program is actually officially over) has turned into a complicated day… because we will take the students who didn’t get to Philippi on Monday to say their goodbyes to their NGOs… then whisk some students directly to the airport I will come back to town for lunch and then head to the airport…

My final report will be written at the airport or on the plane… So for now, I’m signing off…

See you all stateside!…

It’s been an intense, challenging, sometimes rewarding, sometimes frustrating, always interesting period…

So much more to say.

But stay tuned for tomorrow’s report… just might not get to you immediately – depending on wi-fi…

Fern