On our fourth day in Cape Town I decided to go on a solo adventure around the city on foot. A lot of the touristy things we had been doing were definitely a lot of fun, I just really enjoy seeing a city by foot and meeting random people and wandering. It was really exciting to be in such a big city with all of the diverse people and activity and things to see. Probably the most interesting part of my adventure was meeting three individuals separately throughout the day. Here’s a little bit about each of them.
Edward (I mentioned him earlier in the View from Long St. entry)
Edward is an 11 year old 4th grader who I ran into on a number of occasions while we were staying in Cape Town. One of the days he had one shoe on his feet. The other days he didn’t have anything on his feet. Every night we were there he was zipping around Long St. asking people for money or food. It’s never easy to know how to respond to this. So Edward came up to me while I was walking and we began to chat. What a kid! He was so charming and smart and fun to talk to. I asked him about his school and where he sleeps and if his parents were around. He said he was in 4th grade at a school for street kids nearby and that his parents are no longer around. It’s difficult to verify these stories, but whatever, he was interesting to talk to regardless. We went into a convenience store and got something to drink and a sandwich. He said he was going to save half of it to share with his friend who was at another part of the street ‘working the crowds.’ Talk about friendship, eh? I think we all need friendship to survive, but needing friendship to survive by just getting food into your stomach is another level. We ran into each other a few more times over the next couple days and we chatted and I gave him some peanut butter sandwiches. I still know so little about where he comes from or what his life is like every day, but I don’t imagine he’ll have the most illustrious educational or economic opportunities (or even nutritional opportunities for that matter). I don’t know what to do. But I don’t think I’ll forget that kid for a long time.
Leonard
Somewhat of a different experience from Edward, Leonard is a 40-something man who runs a sustainable income development company. He travels around to different parts of South Africa and tries to identify marketable skills in people in more economically poor areas. For example, if a group of women have a skill in making bead necklaces, Leonard might work with them to have them make more business practical products with their bead work. Then he works to get orders for their goods and the income goes back to the people. Sounds really interesting. We talked for a while about poverty and development and apartheid and the pros and cons of volunteerism. He said he was part of the more open-minded crowd back in the day and his mixed race parties would get busted by the police, as mixed parties weren’t allowed. Cool guy.
Fahim
Fahim is a 50-something flower vendor in Cape Town. I was just sitting on the curb in a market area and he was walking past selling flowers. We greeted each other casually and then he stopped and thanked me for greeting him in return with a smile. And then somehow that turned into a 30 minute exchange about human interaction and faith and God and being friendly. We were both talking about the notion that belief in God must be manifested in how we treat people, strangers and family alike. It was very interesting because about 20 minutes into the conversation we still hadn’t made any reference to any specific denomination or religious classification. Then I said that much of my understanding comes from a Christian background and he said that he is a pretty devout Muslim. We both agreed that it would be nice if people could remember some of the basics on a larger scale and decide to work together in peace no matter what their religious background. Though we did have a few minor discrepancies in understanding self-centered small actions in relation to larger social problems coming out of religious faith, we both seemed to think we were headed up to the same mountain top.
Edward (I mentioned him earlier in the View from Long St. entry)
Edward is an 11 year old 4th grader who I ran into on a number of occasions while we were staying in Cape Town. One of the days he had one shoe on his feet. The other days he didn’t have anything on his feet. Every night we were there he was zipping around Long St. asking people for money or food. It’s never easy to know how to respond to this. So Edward came up to me while I was walking and we began to chat. What a kid! He was so charming and smart and fun to talk to. I asked him about his school and where he sleeps and if his parents were around. He said he was in 4th grade at a school for street kids nearby and that his parents are no longer around. It’s difficult to verify these stories, but whatever, he was interesting to talk to regardless. We went into a convenience store and got something to drink and a sandwich. He said he was going to save half of it to share with his friend who was at another part of the street ‘working the crowds.’ Talk about friendship, eh? I think we all need friendship to survive, but needing friendship to survive by just getting food into your stomach is another level. We ran into each other a few more times over the next couple days and we chatted and I gave him some peanut butter sandwiches. I still know so little about where he comes from or what his life is like every day, but I don’t imagine he’ll have the most illustrious educational or economic opportunities (or even nutritional opportunities for that matter). I don’t know what to do. But I don’t think I’ll forget that kid for a long time.
Leonard
Somewhat of a different experience from Edward, Leonard is a 40-something man who runs a sustainable income development company. He travels around to different parts of South Africa and tries to identify marketable skills in people in more economically poor areas. For example, if a group of women have a skill in making bead necklaces, Leonard might work with them to have them make more business practical products with their bead work. Then he works to get orders for their goods and the income goes back to the people. Sounds really interesting. We talked for a while about poverty and development and apartheid and the pros and cons of volunteerism. He said he was part of the more open-minded crowd back in the day and his mixed race parties would get busted by the police, as mixed parties weren’t allowed. Cool guy.
Fahim
Fahim is a 50-something flower vendor in Cape Town. I was just sitting on the curb in a market area and he was walking past selling flowers. We greeted each other casually and then he stopped and thanked me for greeting him in return with a smile. And then somehow that turned into a 30 minute exchange about human interaction and faith and God and being friendly. We were both talking about the notion that belief in God must be manifested in how we treat people, strangers and family alike. It was very interesting because about 20 minutes into the conversation we still hadn’t made any reference to any specific denomination or religious classification. Then I said that much of my understanding comes from a Christian background and he said that he is a pretty devout Muslim. We both agreed that it would be nice if people could remember some of the basics on a larger scale and decide to work together in peace no matter what their religious background. Though we did have a few minor discrepancies in understanding self-centered small actions in relation to larger social problems coming out of religious faith, we both seemed to think we were headed up to the same mountain top.
