A Day in Khayelitsha, Cape Town

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a great turn out and the weather, despite being winter, was clear and sunny. When we arrived we were welcomed warmly by the guys manning the registration table and pointed in the direction of the coffee station inside the pre-school building where the event was held.

 

 

 

We then got into groups of about 10, each with a local leader or two, under the tent in the grounds. We had Stones and Neo heading up our group, with a cross section of other participants including an American or two, a Swede, and some SAffas, including my son and me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We dived straight into an hour long Xhosa lesson, learning everything from the basic African handshake and greetings, to the three Xhosa clicks and how to make them, to asking questions such as:

 

 

 

 

Useful phrases included Kushushu (It''s hot!)  and “Ndilambile” (I''m hungry)

 

 

The lesson was interspersed with spontaneous singing (and dancing!) songs such as “Shoshaloza”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day was advertised as a family event and there were a number of couples with kids, including one pregnant mom with her hubby and toddler. While the ratio of foreigners in the gathering was high, it was cool to meet a few other locals from the suburbs amongst us, including 3 young Afrikaans students, individuals from the ''coloured'' communities and some Xhosa speakers who live in the suburbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the lesson we set off en masse (but still, loosely within our small groups) for a stroll around the neighbourhood, practicing our new language skills with those we met along the way. Lots of people were enjoying the sunshine, sitting on chairs in front of their homes, while the kids played in the street and posed willingly for photos. While we had been reminded before setting out that we were not visiting a zoo and should engage with people and ask permission to take photographs, I found a number of people including groups of young men actually asked me to take their photo – in exchange for a lolly or juicy naartjie.

 

 

   

 

 

 

We took a bus to Look Out Hill for views across the sprawling township, which revealed how many government subsidized houses there are – many with solar water heating apparatus on the rooftops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch was next – a lot of the visitors passed on the steaming pot of tripe – while it’s a local delicacy I couldn’t bring myself to try any – but we feasted on the samp and vegetables while being entertained by local schoolkids who put on some pretty impressive dance routines for us in the garden.

 

 

My son asked when we left why there were so few other ‘white’ South Africans there compared with the numbers of foreigners we met. He said

 

 

 

 

I couldn’t agree more, and really encourage you to look out for community days like this one and bring your family and friends out to meet with your fellow South Africans where they live.

 

 

You can be assured of a warm welcome.