Beginning Thoughts - Orientation Week

It's hard to believe I haven't even been here a week yet. Cape Town is beautiful and I'm enjoying getting to know the city. There is so much to see and do in South Africa! The people on my program are great and we're all very excited to be here; because our classes and internships haven't started yet, we've been seeing some cool stuff and have a good bit of free time. We tend to stand out a lot seeing as we're a group of 15 obviously-American students, but hopefully we'll blend in with the Capetonians soon enough. The food has been wonderful and I haven't had any trouble with water, etc. So far, I've visited surrounding winelands including Stellenbosch, experienced a worship service at Sivuyile National Baptist Church in the township of Gugulethu (which was incrdedibly moving and unlike anything I've ever seen - the passion of those people was so clearly evident in their beautiful voices and dancing), and gone to the District Six Museum.

There are many townships that surround the city of Cape Town, which exist because of apartheid and specifically the Group Areas Act, which relocated native Coloureds, Indians, and Africans out of the homes they had been living in for years so that the land could be used for whites. The juxtaposition of the wealth in Cape Town and the extreme poverty in the townships right outside the city is unreal.