Getting to know Cape Town

My first two weeks in Cape Town have been unbelievable.  First, we took a tour of the townships, seeing some of the roughest, most impoverished slums on the outskirts of the city.  Highlights included meeting a traditional healer, sampling fresh homemade beer out of a communal tin bucket, seeing a local woman cook sheep heads on an outdoor fire, and getting our hands dirty over a lunch of Braai (afrikaans for barbeque) meat and paap.

The traditional healer in his "office"

Sheep heads- apparently you eat the skin.  Sadly, they weren't ready for us to sample.

home-brewed beer

Langa homes

latrines in Langa

Later, we visited the Bo-Kaap, the vibrantly colored muslim district of Cape town perched on the side of table mountain with gorgeous views of the water, ending our tour in one of the homes with a delicious meal cooked by our local hostess, Habiba.

lunch at Habiba's

the Bo-Kaap

about to go inside the mosque

Aside from these highlights, we also went to the Ubuntu festival in honor of Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday, visited the District 6 museum, and explored UCT's gorgeous campus and the surrounding community nestled at the foot of the breathtaking Table Mountain.  So far, I see why so many come to visit Cape Town and never want to leave.

My Semester in Cape Town: CIEE Service-Learning Fall 2010

Two weeks into my semester in Cape Town, South Africa, and I'm finally getting around to starting a blog.    I hadn't planned on keeping a journal or any kind of record of my trip, thinking that a few pictures here and there would be enough to keep my thoughts in order and my experiences well-documented.

It only took a few whirlwind hours in Cape Town to realize that I couldn't let my memories run together into one semester-long blur. Besides, these crazy stories and incredible moments were just too good to keep to myself.   I'll share some of them with you here.  Hope you enjoy.

"Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu"

The word 'Ubuntu' originates from one of the Bantu dialects of Africa, and is pronounced as uu-Boon-too.

It is a traditional African philosophy that offers us an understanding of ourselves in relation with the world. According to Ubuntu, there exists a common bond between us all and it is through this bond, through our interaction with our fellow human beings, that we discover our own human qualities. Or as the Zulus would say, "Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu", which means that a person is a person through other persons. We affirm our humanity when we acknowledge that of others.

The South African Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu describes Ubuntu as:

"It is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness, it speaks about compassion. A person with Ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are. The quality of Ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanize them."