Cape Town!!!

Gonna be good – 10 hours to go

Gonna be great – 5 hours to go

Gonna be AWESOME – 30 minutes to go

As indicated, the closer we got to Cape Town, the more exited we got!

 

It took us 17 hours to get to “The Mother City” of South Africa. Our coach ticket said it would take us 25(!!!) hours. Luckily enough, we didn’t have to travel by coach. The staff of GBT Maccassar was kind enough to offer a lift, since they’re based near Cape Town. So, with a few boys and a few staff members we traveled down within 17 hours.

 

The first sign of getting close to Cape Town (other than distance-indicating roadsigns) was the famous Table Mountain. Even though the mountain is just slightly more than 1 km high, you can see it from quite far. We got dropped off in front of Long Street Backpackers (based on Long Street, how original) by the staff and after saying goodbye, we headed towards the backpackers.

Long Street Backpackers is literally in the middle of the pubs and clubs (unlike Tekweni Backpackers, where I expected the same, but never mind). Based on the first and second floor of a building, it is a fantastic place to stay. Within the backpackers you scarcely hear the noise from outside. There’s a kitchen, bar, TV-lounge with DSTV (which provides hundreds of channels), there are two balconies and plenty of rooms.

 

We met up with the other PT volunteers and, again, shared stories (I’m not going to do my entire story again about how nice meeting other volunteers is. Read previous blogs :))

A few other volunteers stayed in Carnival Court Backpackers, which is also based on Long Street and just a minute walk from Long Street Backpackers. Those in Long Street Backpackers all slept in the same dormitory, which was obviously very cosy.

 

I’ll give a summary of the “basic” days (well, my basic days than). In the morning (read: 11/12 o’clock) I would have breakfast which consisted, almost the entire 13 days, of bread with Nutella (living the student life). Almost every day I went to the Smoothie Shop next door, where they sell amazing (AND HEALTHY) smoothies. They aren’t ordinary smoothies, at least that’s what I thought, since some of them have peanut butter in it, or beetroot, cacao powder, special milk etc. Anyway, after the morning ritual it was usually hanging around with the other volunteers. Either going to the local market, or discovering the area a bit more, just filling the day (priority: no stress! :D).

Like my time in Durban, going out almost every night was one of the reasons I came in Cape Town. So, as intended, almost every night we went out. As I mentioned earlier, the clubs and pubs etcetera are just around the corner, so finding them wasn’t really a problem. During all the clubbing I would often take a break to go to the Burger Shop, where they have the best chicken burgers in the whole of Cape Town. And then?

REPEAT

 

It wasn’t just that though. As I said, those were the standard days, but obviously we had some special days as well! On Christmas Day, our backpackers organized a trip and lunch (everybody had to prepare something, and then we would share) to Table Mountain. Not to the actual top, but to a cave halfway up the mountain. We got dropped of in front of the hiking path, and then we had to climb towards the cave. It wasn’t that long a climb, but it was the heat that was killing. Though eventually we got there and had lunch, with a nice view on Cape Town and Robben Island. Something that surprised me was that Robben Island (famous for the late Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment) actually is very close to the coast. That probably is one of the things that is (or were) so tormenting about the prison though. You can see the country, but you’re not allowed in it ever again. After the lunch (about 5 o’clock, so a pretty long lunch) we climbed down and went back to the backpackers.

 

We also had supper in several restaurants. One of the favorites definitely is the small Mexican restaurant with the friendly staff and delicious food. To be a bit cultural, we also went to a restaurant called “Mama Africa”, across the road. We knew it was going to be expensive, but it was only going to be a one-time-thing, so we didn’t care. Here I tasted crocodile for the first time in my life. Just like every kind of meat you haven’t tasted before, crocodile tastes like chicken, but it is extremely chewy. Therefore (and because it took long to get my meal, which made it free for me!) it took me quite some time to finish it, but it was a nice experience anyway. Another restaurant/bar we went to was “The Beer House”, where they serve 99 different kinds of beer. What made the restaurant so appealing for me was the fact that they serve bitterballen! (I don’t know a proper translation, so look on wikipedia or something) I hadn’t had this Dutch snack for quite some time, so it was a must-have. They weren’t fantastic, but bitterballen nevertheless, so I enjoyed them.

 

The most fantastic experience I had was on New Year’s Day, when I climbed Table Mountain (this time completely). I went with a small group and started a climb which said it would take 2 hours (a bit demotivating, I have to confess). As we climbed higher and higher we kept on watching the time, to have an indication how long we still had to go. Whilst walking you meet other hikers as well (some going up, some going down). A few of the hikers going down gave us a very motivating talk, saying that we were already halfway (when we had only climbed for about 20 minutes, hell yeah).

After that we kept on climbing, taking a break every now and then. Since we were making a turn in the climb (we had to climb up to a part where the mountain splits a bit), we lost sight of Cape Town itself and only saw rocks, grass and the mountain. As we came higher, the road got rockier and the wind heavier. When we were walking through the split the wind was very heavy (as if in a wind tunnel, which is the effect the split creates).

When I was completely in the split and I looked back to see the path we had walked on, I couldn’t see much of the path anymore. Behind me the clouds were crashing down on the path beneath me. It was as if the mountain was flooding with clouds and they all crashed down as a waterfall, with me standing behind it. A wondrous thing to see. Then I turned around again and got amazed again. As if a stairway to heaven, up at the end of the path the clouds were shining red/gold due to the setting sun. The last few meters I rushed to the top.

Whereas inside the split the wind was heavy and noisy, at the top was complete peace. It was a feeling hard to describe. The clouds had a golden shade and were calm, the noise had faded and nothing seemed to be wrong in the world anymore. After being astonished by the serenity and beauty of the nature around me, I walked towards the restaurant built on top. There we met up with the other volunteers, who preferred to take the cable car to the top. We relaxed and chatted a bit with them, and walked around on top of Table Mountain. Again I could see Cape Town and all what is around it. It wasn’t long till sunset, so as a group we watched it, and it was magical.

It is definitely something I want to do again, and out of all the things I’ve done in South Africa, this is what I would recommend the most. Do it. Before you die. You have to.

 

Spending Christmas and New Year’s away from home was weird, but I had a fantastic experience. 11/10 (yeah that’s possible okay shh) I would give to Cape Town. As a city, as an experience, just AWESOME.

 

 

 

Cheers from South Africa!

Tom

 

 

 

(Also, it turned out we climbed Table Mountain in 56 minutes, instead of the 2 hours it said on the sign. Nice!)

Camp Caroline, away from Tongaat

“Never ever going back to Boys Town!”, shouted one of the boys. And he was right, it was the last day he would be at Girls and Boys Town (GBT) Tongaat.

The beginning of December means the end of the fourth term in South Africa and thus the end of a school year.

A GBT contract is for two years (but it can be extended by court) and so at the end of each school year some boys will leave the Youth Development Centre forever.

 

Most of the boys go home (or they go to foster parents, uncles, aunts etc.)  for what is their summer holiday. (It occurred to me that I’ll have three summer holidays within one year time: one in NL in 2013, one in SA in 2013/2014, one in NL in 2014. I don’t complain!)

Sadly enough, not all the boys have a place to go to. For these boys is Camp Caroline (dubbed as Munster Camp for the nearest city) the answer. It is owned by the organisation Girls and Boys Town. In total there are four Youth Development Centre’s (YDC’s) and numerous Family Homes. The YDC’s are for boys only. Some Family Homes have girls, some have boys, but they’re never mixed (probably because they would have to change the name into Producing Family Homes then…). Only the boys who stay in the YDC’s and don’t have a place to go to, can go to Camp Caroline.

 

This year there were only two boys from the Tongaat YDC (where I work) who were going to Camp Caroline. (Well that’s gonna be quiet, I thought)

Well, no. From the YDC in Magaliesburg came 4 boys, from Kagiso came 1 boy and from Maccassar came… 18 boys. (FANTASTIC)

 

Despite the surprise of the amount of boys, the time in Camp Caroline was fantastic. The boys showed a lot of discipline (especially during the first days). The environment of Camp Caroline is great as well. It is just a seven minute walk to the beach. The food was delicious (had several braai’s, woohoo!) and because the staff kept the boys busy 95% of the time, I could relax as well. The boys and staff all sleep in cottages. The boys have eight per cottage (four in one room, four in the other) and the staff have six (three-three).

 

With the boys from Magaliesburg came a colleague too. Lewis Sweeney-Slavin works at the YDC in Magaliesburg. As I explained in my previous blog, meeting up with other volunteers is a chance to exchange experiences and such. Jack, Lewis and I slept in a cottage room together and on the other side the bus drivers.

 

Almost every day we had an outing, which was awesome. We went to different beaches, to a snake park, crocodile farm, to the cinema and so on. I had a lot of fun with some of the boys from Maccassar. The languages they speak there are English and Afrikaans, where at GBT Tongaat they speak English and Zulu.

I’ll give a small history lesson. When the Dutch colonists came in South Africa, they obviously spoke Dutch. When after that the English kicked them out, and after that South Africa became an independent country however, the language remained. Afrikaans is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa and it is really similar to Dutch.

Because of this, I could understand the boys from Maccassar whenever they were speaking Afrikaans. I didn’t tell them at first that I could understand them, and needless to say that this resulted in some funny moments (like me replying in their language whenever they said something to me, and didn’t expect an answer back).

 

Camp Caroline was an amazing experience for me. It gave me a wider view on the organisation Girls and Boys Town. I think the camp is an fantastic initiative to give boys who can’t go home a great time.

On one hand it was a pity that I didn’t stay longer than two weeks, but on the other hand a new trip waited: Cape Town! (That’s for next blog though muhaha)

A weekend in Durban

Up in the sky, dark grey clouds were the only thing to be seen. A fantastic night to go out, it would seem…

But let me begin from the start. It was November (yep, so long ago, and again my apologies) and almost summer. With “almost summer” I mean that daily temperatures are 26°C, with sometimes 30°C.

As a (well-needed) break from our project, Jack and I decided to join Jasmine (from the Durbanville project in Cape Town) and Anna and Lauren (from the Clouds of Hope project in Underberg) to spend a long weekend in Durban.

We arrived on Thursday. Our host, Mr. Jakes Raman, had given us a lift. Before we stepped out of the car he told us to be very careful, since Durban apparently is quite dangerous for white people.

With the warning kept in our mind, we walked towards Tekweni Backpackers, where we would be staying. It’s a great place to stay. There’s a pool, snooker table, free wifi and there are nice people. It also has a code-secured door at the entrance (so at least inside the backpackers we would be safe). We met up with Lauren, Anna and Jasmine and started sharing stories.

The thing I like about sharing stories is that it opens your mind a lot. If you hear stories from others, you can compare loads of things. For example: the people you work with, experiences, colleagues, the way you approach your project etc. It gives me a fresh look on my own project, and with a new way of looking at your project you can see new opportunities and achieve new things.

After telling about our projects, we started to discover the area a bit. Tekweni Backpackers is based near Florida Rd, which is supposed to be the party area in Durban. (completely coincidental of course achum…)

We found the nearest shop and noticed that there were a lot of restaurants on Florida Rd, but we didn’t see many clubs yet.

That evening we had a braai at the backpackers, underneath that grey sky I spoke about in the intro, and after that we got ready to go out. Apparently everybody in the backpackers was going to a club called “Cool Running’s”. We walked towards Florida Rd, to find out we needed to get in a taxi. (Fantastic. We are supposed to be in a party area and still we need to get a taxi)

After a short drive we arrived at a Reggae bar. It was a disappointment for me. Reggae is not my favorite music at all, let alone party music. But, since complaining wouldn’t solve much, I went in with the others. They were walking towards the back and I followed them, to arrive in a different room at the back of the building.

My disappointment vanished the very second I entered the room. In the middle of the room were at least 30 people busy drumming on all sizes of traditional drums. The sound was overwhelming and the vibe was amazing. It was probably one of the most cultural things I’ve done whilst in South Africa and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

After a while we went back to the backpackers and I took a late-night dive in the pool.

The next day we woke up late, had breakfast and were hanging around in the backpackers. We played some snooker and swam in the pool. At night we went out again. A taxi (yup, again) drove us to a club called Tiger Tiger.

We were waiting in the queue when we heard that there was about an hour waiting time from where we were standing. We made up our minds quickly and jumped in a taxi, heading once again towards Cool Running’s.

Full of enthusiasm we walked through the Reggae bar, to the room at the back of the building. My enthusiasm vanished the very second I entered the room. In the middle of the room were no more than 5 people busy talking. The only sound came from the radio and the people talking. And the vibe? Well, it was just not there.

Saturday (already, hmpf) we spent the day much like Friday. In the evening however we went (BY TAXI) to a club called Origins. It was fantastic. 3 floors, 4 rooms, 4 types of music, under which my favorite for a party: house music. It was the best night out I’ve had in South Africa.

Sunday was a quite day, but that was needed though, since Saturday night was exhausting. After having lunch in one of the restaurants on Florida Rd, it was time to say goodbye to Lauren and Anna, who were going back to Underberg. Afterwards I went to the beach (Oh yeah, got there by taxi). Durban’s beachfront is very nice. The waves are good for surfers and the beach itself looks great.

The rest of the day we spent at the backpackers, hanging around with people we met during the other days. We played some snooker, swam a bit more and finished the weekend with another braai.

The next day, after saying goodbye to Jasmine, it was also time for Jack and me to go home. Weird, how Girls and Boys Town (GBT) Tongaat already feels like home. The boys were quite enthusiastic to see us again, which was a very good thing to witness.

However cool the weekend in Durban might’ve been, I’ve settled down in GBT Tongaat and I wouldn’t want to change projects for all the biltong in the world.

This blog post wasn’t really about my project, but I hope it gives a wider view of my gap year. I spend a lot of my time at my project, but there are also times where I can relax and enjoy the amazing country I’m in.