I enjoyed immensely, my time with the Sea Point Rotary including my host Gavin Schachat! Yesterday we transferred to the other side of Table Mountain to continue our adventures, sharing and learning along the way.
We took tours of the Lavender Hill school (there is neither lavender, nor a hill), an under-resourced school in an area full of old apartment blocks that are ridden with crime, graffiti, litter and the like. Surprisingly, you see the extreme inequities in educational opportunities between less affluent versus wealthy neighborhood schools here, and a similar system in the Tucson metro area and across the US. The political and financial arguments are the same here, and with similar outcomes - some schools with high success, and other schools with terrible dropout rates and perceived as dangerous even though it looks like an ordinary normal school and schoolyard. But there is a glimmer of hope in these disadvantaged schools, as back at home.
We also visited the District 6 Museum (a "coloured" - mixed race - neighborhood which was completely leveled about decades ago, and was never rebuilt, with the exception of a few peripheral areas, and a University campus which also sits on land claimed by those that were forcibly removed. They took people's entire lives and literally knocked them over and filled in the bay with it (creating a new, upscale area that for better or worse is one of the highlights of Cape Town). I am now with Mike and Sheila Walwyn. They have a beautiful back yard, and I was greeted by two small dogs, two cats (one of which is usually shy but has taken a liking to me), and loud, honking birds of which I cannot remember the name but I had seen them as well.
We also visited the Rhodes memorial with a beautiful panoramic view of the urban sprawl of Cape Town (but not the city center which is hidden on the other side of the mountain. Rhodes, of the namesake Rhodes scholarship, Rhodesia now known as Zimbabwe, and many other modern colonial influences from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Today I met up with Lew Botha, an environmental lawyer, and Alex Amponsah, who is studying on a Rotary scholarship here in Cape Town, (he hails from Maryland originally but is a resident of Austin, Texas normally; he and his family immigrated from Africa when he was young, and he has also traveled the world).
We took a tour of additional City of Cape Town facilities meeting more staff and some familiar friendly faces, learning more in depth about the environmental plans for the city and 2010 FIFA world cup, and getting more in depth in one of my favorite areas, recycling! Now I believe we're heading out the door for a walk in a nearby park area.
My new hosts, Mike and Sheila Walwyn, have already made me feel at home! Their two dogs and two cats are a bonus, since I am missing my two dogs at home. Oddly the shyest of the cats has taken a liking to me!
My debit card was not working yesterday, adding a bit of frustration to the otherwise outstanding trip. I'll try to withdraw money this afternoon...
Lots of love, hugs & kisses to my family... Wish you were here!
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