The hardest part about spending time in Stellenbosch is most definitely the drastic difference from life here compared to the lives people lead not a 5 minute drive away in Kayamandi. It often feels like the townships are just forgotten, run down places that locals try their hardest to avoid so as to not have to face the reality of the way people live just minutes away. Learning about the people within Kayamandi and making direct relationships with them would completely alter anyone’s view about life in Kayamandi, but many people are to scared to even drive through Kayamandi to get that far. You can just feel the atmosphere change as we make the walk from Kayamandi to Stellenbosch. If we decide to take the minibus, we get funny looks from the people on the bus when we get on and when people on the street notice us on the minibus they get a little confused too, like ‘why would these girls want to be in Kayamandi and riding the minibus’ kind of looks.
Seeing the huge divide has really opened my eyes to the way of life in Kayamandi and in Stellenbosch and has made me much more sensitive to similar issues in the US as well. Today, we had a meeting with Songo and the Stellenbosch Municipality about Songo’s plans for a pool in Kayamandi, which gave us super great insight into the workings of the government and the effects it has on Kayamandi. The man we spoke with addressed how important it was going to be for us to have the full support of the people of Kayamandi, because with so many people in need of such basic things like housing, a pool may not be first on people’s priority lists. This really hit me hard, because as important as it is for people to learn how to swim, in focusing on this project I often failed to take into account the very basic needs of so many of the people in Kayamandi.
Still, the pool is going to be a priority because it is such a reachable goal and is so important to prevent drownings in local dams because kids don’t know how to swim. On top of that, it can provide incredible opportunities for children to travel or even have an education paid for because of their athletic ability. Honestly, I think this meeting struck me so much because if this were to be at home, the building of a pool would not be an issue because if the funding was available, the pool would be made because there are not such important needs that aren’t being met, liek the issues of housing for the people of Kayamandi.
Not only does the divide between such close places hit me in my travels to and from Stellenbosch and meetings like the one today, but also when we arrive home and the girls we play with in the afternoons are asking where we’ve been. To tell them we just went on a shopping spree feels so unfair, because they aren’t able to do that. Adjusting to life in Kayamandi is not an easy task and it always strikes me in the smallest moments, like when the girls come running up and ask to see what we bought, which always leaves us feeling uncomfortable.
I think these transitions will become easier as I am here longer, but they have definitely forced me to face racial and social issues in South Africa and have even shed new light on these issues in my own community. Being in Kayamandi has definitely forced me to grow up a lot in the short time we’ve been here and I have a feeling that growth will only continue for the rest of my time here.
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Follow Sammy on her journey at https://sammyinsouthafrica.wordpress.com/
Find out more about service learning projects available through the Honors College at http://honorscollege.uark.edu/current-students/service-learning.php
