Last Days in Cape Town

View of Table Mountain from Robben Island

A Cafe in Cape Town

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It’s hard to believe this part of our journey is almost complete.  In two days, Demetrius and I will join South Africa’s 2008 Homeless World Cup team on a flight to Melbourne, Australia, for the long awaited international competetion.  The air around us is full of energy, excitement and also some fears.  We are all dreaming of Melbourne, looking her up on the net, talking about what she could be like.  It’s almost time to find out.

Knowing we only have a few days left in Cape Town has kept Demetrius and I fairly busy.  Over the last few days we spent time with a local graffitti writer and artist, Faith47, learning more about her processes and voice in the community.  We visited The Oasis, another organization that uses street soccer to reach local youth–particulary at risk individuals–and builds relationships through the game in order to then mentor and assist the players throughout their life development.  We spent a morning with another community leader who also uses street soccer to reach homeless guys and interviewed several members of his team about their experiences, first hand, working with these guys.

The stories are the same:  street soccer is the cheapest and most effective way to reach street kids.  All you need is a ball and the kids will come.  Once the kids have gotten to know the leaders a bit, they will begin to open up.  Once they know they are loved, many of them no longer want to use drugs or live on the streets.  I know it sounds much simpler than it is but the bottom line story we are hearing from all sides is that these guys need to know they are loved and need to be heard in order to begin on a healthier path.  Street soccer is a way to begin to build relationships as well as to offer a physical outlet, goals the players can work towards and reasons why they are needed, as well.  The team needs each other.  The younger players need the older ones to act as big brothers/mentors.  Once they are hooked into a community, their leaders can help them find other opportunities for work, creative outlets, education, sometimes counseling.  But it all begins with the game.

Boys in Happy Valley

Fruit Stand in Happy Valley

During several interviews, we were also taken on a tour of some of the townships in Cape Town that are less “famous” than Khayalitcha.  They don’t end up on the news so much or in people’s debates and conversations but the stories there are just as real and challenging.  There are no schools whatsoever in Happy Valley and so the children have to ride sometimes two hours and/or walk long distances to get to school in neighboring townships.  We were there on a Monday afternoon and there were kids of all ages, everywhere, not in school.  We also visited a newer settlement that was a squatter’s town but has grown to be a full community.  Theyhave organized their own local leaders who are internally recognized.  There are 2 outside pumps for water access and several outhouses and that is this community’s main access to water and toilets.  There are no schools, but there is a recently opened creche for the babies.  Many people who live here were once homeless but have come together and made a community for themselves, have homes and some level of stability and protection here.

Water Pump

In the afternoon, we went to Robben Island for a tour of the prison Nelson Mandela lived in for 18 years (he spent a total of 27 years in prison, but 18 of them were on Robben Island).  It is a very stark place.  Now, a historical site and tourist attraction.  Many of the tour guides were once prisoners there, themselves.  I am blown away by the courage it would take to be back there, guiding tourists through your old cell every day.  Most of the prisoners on Robben Island were political prisoners who were against apartheid and arrested and tortured for fighting for their freedom.  Many of them were very young men who were torn away from their families and loved ones, tortured and discrimated against and shipped off to an island off the coast of Cape Town.  It was a prison for Colored and Black men only.  There were separate facilities around the country for women and white men.   There is something both haunting and hopeful about seeing a gift shop on a former such prison.  I do not really know how to process it.

Nelson Mandela's former cell

Outside of the Prison

Off the shores of Robben Island

We have one more interview today and spend tomorrow with the team and gathering last bits of footage before packing up and leaving for Australia.  There are many stories ahead of us still, I know. May the journeys continue!