Welcome to My Home

This is my house:

12 Lake Road

Grassy Park

Cape Town, South Africa

 
    It’s a cozy little home that houses twenty people. That’s right…there are twenty people living in my house right now including three little ones all under three. It is quite chaotic at times, but always very entertaining! I live in a bit of a sketchy neighborhood so my home has a gate in front (although most houses in South Africa have gates), a wall all around, barbed wire atop the wall, and bars on the windows.

I live in Grassy Park, but my house is literally four houses down from the border between Grassy Park and Parkwood. Both of these towns are in the Cape Flatts, which is home to the majority of the coloured population in Cape Town. Parkwood was first built to be a coloured township whereas Grassy Park is more of a middle class community. The “apartments” in Parkwood were built so that there were four apartment buildings in a square and then roads around this square so that if there was every an uprising the police would easily be able to surround the buildings and quell the violence. Parkwood is technically no longer a township, although many people I talk to still refer to it as one. As there is not enough space for everyone, many little shacks made up of tin sheets and pieces of limber sprang up in between the apartment buildings.

      Parkwood is to the left of my house. Grassy Park is to the right. One  of the first things my roommate told me when I arrived was that I was not allowed to go left. When I told Nazeema, my host mom, that I wanted to go take pictures in Parkwood her exact words were “You want to do what? Are you crazy? I would never walk in Parkwood.” But I drive through Parkwood everyday on the mini bus and there aspects of it that I want to remember. All of the pictures below are taken within a five minute walk of my house.

Without further ado: Welcome to My Home.

To the left:

     People used to dump old tires along the side of the road. One man, Zeb, decided he was going to do something positive with them. The result is this tire “garden.”

     As Christmas is just around the corner Christmas decorations are up all over town! A local tent church put up this Christmas tree to ring in the season.

       I love how the people of Parkwood have taken to "cleaning it up" by adding a tire garden, putting up a Christmas tree, and other little things which make it a brighter place. They make the most of what they have and I know this is a constant reminder to mind to seek out the bright spots in a seemingly dark place.

The most beautiful mountain range surrounds Cape Town. This is the view I wake up to every morning:

A glimpse of the shacks that have been built up against the “apartments”:

And then there are just these homes that miraculously stand up on their own:

To the Right:

     Grassy  Park is your average neighborhood. There’s the local butcher, the local bakery, the BP Garage (my source of milky bar smarties bars [basically the greatest invention ever – white chocolate chocolate bars with smarties {essentially M&Ms} in them]), a few small supermarkets and a handful of other shops. Most of the homes have high gates/walls around them but as you go farther to the right some of the shrink down to about waist height. The neighbors are all super sweet. When I was talking pictures one older man stopped me to warn me that I need to be cautious and aware. His friend then started talking to me about the days when he used to drive foreign exchange students around. Everyone is chatty and friendly and wants to know what we are doing here.

     This is my street. Lake Road. I can’t get enough of the mountains that surround us. Some days I’ll walk down the street and you always have a view of this magnificent range. This picture doesn’t do it justice but shows the normal parts of life. There are cars on the road, people walking down the streets, street lights, and telephone poles.

     A neighbor’s garden. There are a few houses down the street that have beautiful gardens and whenever I pass them I can’t help but smile.

The local elementary school:

And the playground at the school:

     It boggles my mind that these kids grow up with barbed wire constantly around them. Fences topped with barbed wire surround their school. Fences topped with barbed wire surround their homes. Fences topped with barbed wire surround the shops they go to. In a way it seems as if they are always caged in.

The local bakery that my roommate and fellow gap year-er, Kayla, and I visit on an almost daily basis! Everything there is delicious!

    Every morning the streets are plastered with signs from The Voice, the local newspaper. Occasionally the signs are in Afrikaans and they are always kind of ridiculous. They provide a constant source of entertainment as they rarely say anything of substance and often make absolutely outrageous claims.

The local church:

The local playground:

This isn’t the best picture of the playground, but all of the rides are painted bright red, blue, green, and yellow!

Even Grassy Park has a few shacks:

     Most notable about this picture is the dog hanging out in front of the house. There are animals that roam the streets everywhere from townships to your average neighborhood. We even have horses that come by pulling carts on occasion!

     My favorite picture from the entire trip is one that I took in Parkwood. It brings a smile to my face every day when I pass by this sight on the mini bus. To me, this picture sums up the attitude of Cape Town and my experience here in South Africa. The shacks and the barbed wire and the high walls and the constant reminders to be cautious and the funny looks from locals when two white girls get on the mini bus do not define South Africa for me. This photo is South Africa. 

This is my home. Where you always know that You Are Special and that God Loves You.