Saturday Night Braai

Tonight we were very honored to be guests at a braai (cookout) at the home of Rachel's host family in Ocean View township. Quick South African history lesson: formal townships are areas where the apartheid government forcibly re-homed people of color who were previously living in neighborhoods desirable to the white political party in power. These families were generally forced to move against their will, and imprisoned if they were unwilling to concede their generational home. Most of the original buildings were demolished at the time of removal. Rachel's host family lives in the house originally provided to their paternal grandfather as part of the forced removals. Rachel's host dad, Henry, had to obtain legal help to ensure that the home stayed in the family upon his father's death instead of returning to the government. This is another example of the continued and massive disenfranchisement of non-whites in apartheid-era South Africa: the government created a loophole to re-remove families from the homes they had already been forced into, thus leaving them without any landed property when they had once owned their own homes. Lastly, there are also informal townships, sometimes known as "Shantytowns," that have sprung up within and around formal townships. These usually consist of shacks constructed from wood and tin originally found in waste disposal areas. As we learned in our township tour yesterday, some townships now have a source of running water, port-a-potties or a designated toilet area, electricity, and an increasing number of new government housing for citizens to live in.

With that explanation for context, here's a little about Rachel's host family from her time studying abroad. The parents are Natasha and Henry; Henry works at a school in town as a building manager of sorts, and Natasha keeps house and babysits a neighbor girl in the afternoon. They have three kids: Kyle (recently married), Chante, and Cheslyn. Unfortunately, we weren't able to catch up with Kyle as he moved to another town for work, but we were happy to hear he's married a very nice girl and was recently sponsored by his company to complete additional education courses for advancing his welder's license. Chante, who was 12 when Rachel first arrived in 2007, completed high school as well as three semesters of university in tourism before getting a job at the nearby national park. She works long hours and most weekends, but it sounds like this is a good job for a young woman from the townships to have. Cheslyn, the youngest son, is in the equivalent of his senior year in high school (called "matric year" in South Africa). While Cheslyn isn't yet sure what he wants to do with his life, it was clear from our time with him that he has a bright future; he's a very mature and kind young man.

Also in attendance at the braai were many of the family's friends from church as well as some neighbors, most of whom Rachel had met as a student. It was really great to see how well everyone was doing and how the kids have grown up. Life in the township is hard for many people, this family included. Money is tight and making ends meet for basic needs can be hard, especially when work is inconsistent and low-paying. However, we have found that the families from this community as well as all of Rachel's old friends in South Africa have been incredibly kind and generous to us as visitors. This was true when Rachel was here in 2007 as well, and is surely part of what makes Cape Town so wonderful in our minds.

There were about 20 people at the braai, and we shared chicken, sausage, (Nick's famous) mashed potatoes, and a homemade double-decker cake to honor our visit to Ocean View. The men mostly played dominoes (very popular among this group) and the women chatted in the living room. We stayed up late talking to Chante and Cheslyn about their lives and making up for lost time. Cheslyn graciously let us stay the night in his room, a room in the back of the house that Rachel remembers Henry building by hand in 2007. It was so nice to see/meet Rachel's host family and be able to feel at home for a couple days while on the road.Read more