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Living it up in Capetown

5 min read
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This blog entry is Part One of a trip to Capetown.

We arrived in Cape Town to pouring down rain. Everyone said it was going to rain all week, and if you know anything about me, you know that I was not going to receive this news.

When we got up the next day, wouldn’t you know, it was still raining. I knew we had too many things planned, sooooo I had a little talk with Jesus, and he heard my prayer. We had some of the best weather for the remainder of the week.

I did not pass out any gifts in Cape Town. The crime is so high here, that they don’t even bother when you call the police. You immediately notice a difference between the haves and the have not. There is a different feel to the air in Cape Town. Not because it’s close to the water, but you could feel a different type of energy.

Here are some of the things we experienced while in Cape town. We stayed at a quaint Bed & Breakfast the owners name was Mark. His home is beautiful and the area reminds me of L.A. or San Francisco. Table Mountain is the first thing you will notice.

Mark gave us a survival crash course in how to avoid the crime and then wished us well. We had to drive out of Cape Town the next morning, and then I saw why there was soooo much crime.

About 5 miles out of town are miles and miles of some of the worst shanties I have ever seen. They called these places Townships. This is what the government provides to anyone who wishes to live there. You see rocks on top of every one of them to keep the makeshift roofs in place. They have no electricity or running water.They are the size of our living room. Can you imaging a family of four calling this home? I was moved beyond words driving by these people. Their lives were reduced to living in conditions that our pets would not be subjected to. The poor souls who live here either work the menial jobs in Cape Town or they just work the streets in Cape Town. All along the highways you see seas of people walking, or hitching a ride along the way over crowded vans.

Grace, my niece’s roommate, had her wallet and camera taken out of her purse. This was while she was holding it and was not aware until later they were missing. Another one of my niece’s friends got in the car and before she could get her seat belt on someone opened the door and took her phone out of her hand. She said it happened so fast that she thought it was a joke. Well the joke was on her, she thought she was ready for any type of crime since she lives in Washington, D.C. She said this was the wildest thing that ever happened to her.

While in Cape Town, I decided to the tourist thing. I went to the Slave Lodge, which was about the slave movement in Cape Town. The museum was the actual place they sold the slaves right off the boat. Depressing is the only way to put it. It told the story about how the Whites of South Africa couldn’t understand why a slave mother cried for days upon end when they sold her babies from her. They made a comment saying “Why is she crying? It’s just a baby; she will have more.”

I did make a trade with one of the venders (call me Bargain Betty). I traded my Pittsburgh Terrible Towel for one of his goods.

While in the Market area, we encountered loud singing and music. There was a group of kids singing and dancing in their native tongue. I was all in it!!! They had on handmade outfits, and several tops of pop cans strung around a string that they wore on their angles to create sounds. All I can say was they had it going on. Placed in front of them was bowl to collect the coins, and they worked the crowd. They were ages 4 to 22 years old. People gave because they were kids, and that they were very good.

Everywhere we went there was such an interest in the fact that we were Americans. I think more so being black Americans. Here is what they asked. Can you really get food all day? This was strange for them because everything closes at 6 p.m. They wanted to know how Krispy Kreme and cookie dough tasted. Can the kids really go to school free up to 12th grade? Can you get pizza delivered and Internet at your home?

Every one I met, their dream was to come to America. Now if we Americans can really start to appreciate what we have been blessed with and stop complaining about some of the things we take for granted, our lives would greatly improve in all areas. This message is meant for me to embrace also…

More next time… stay blessed.

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