"Langa,1 more", "Mobray, Mobray...Sisi, where u going?"
I usually wake up around 7AM for a morning jog, but this has been less frequent in the last two weeks since I have been waking up at 2AM or 3AM in the morning only to lay awake fighting the ever irritating mosquito bites. I don't have too much to complain about mosquitoes here since they are only irritating when they eat me while I am awake. Since their bites don't really leave any permanent marks on my skin, unlike many people, I see no need to use any form of bug repellent in my room or on my skin. I am just thankful that they are not infected and therefore will not disease me with Malaria. Good thing I am not in West Africa or in the Northern part of the country.
I digress. After eating breakfast, I walk for about 15 minutes to the nearest Taxi Rank (taxi station) to take a Taxi to Langa, the township where my school is located. The taxi ride coasts only R4 (about $0.50) and takes about 10 to 15 minutes. However, it sometimes takes 20-30 minutes to fill up since people are coming out of the townships to work in the city/suburbs in the morning instead of the going to the townships.
This has some historical significance. The black inhabitants of the townships are the products of the apartheid policy that forced them to live in the slums in hostels, only to be allowed in the city to work for the rich white folks. The Pass Laws Act of 1952 made this possible:
"The Pass Laws Act of 1952 required black South Africans over the age of 16 to carry a pass book, known as a dompas, everywhere and at all times. The dompas was similar to a passport, but it contained more pages filled with more extensive information than a normal passport. Within the pages of an individual's dompas was their fingerprints, photograph, personal details of employment, permission from the government to be in a particular part of the country, qualifications to work or seek work in the area, and an employer's reports on worker performance and behavior. If a worker displeased their employer and they in turn declined to endorse the book for the pertinent time period, the worker's right to stay in the area was jeopardized." (1)
How is this significant today? Like I pointed our earlier, finding a taxi that goes into the townships early in the morning (before 9PM) is not an easy task. Before 9 in the morning, it is hard to find a taxi that is actually transporting people in that direction. I have been lucky so far because I manage to flag a taxi that is returning after unloading passengers coming out of Langa. This often requires standing at a strategic location each morning. Since business is really busy in the morning, the taxi drivers rush straight to the Taxi Rank in Langa; this is rare in a city where Taxis stop in every imaginable corner to pick-up passengers. This means I get there faster that usually possible.
In the same way, it is just as difficult to find a taxi that goes out of the townships after 6PM even though the locals say that Taxis are officially on business until 8PM. After 8PM, the smaller Taxicabs that we are familiar with in the West take over business. Although convenient (they will take you straight to your destination), they are as expensive as calling a Taxi in Seattle. The train is also an option to go and out of the townships, but it costs just the same as the local taxis without the convenience of coming frequently and with the inconvenience of transferring at the downtown station. I often take the local buses to go up and down major roads…although you can flag one down from any corner, they are not as frequent as the taxis.
I enjoy using the taxis for transportation. There no such better experience than mingling with the locals often without being noticed as a foreigner…this only lasts until I open mouse. Even that I can get away with it by saying "Taxi Rank" and "Mobray" (my destinations), "Thank you Driver" (you say this when you want to get out) with the local accent. Along with my local looking clothing, it works if only they don't start speaking with in Xhosa, in which case I have no idea what they said and respond "I am sorry, I don't speak Xhosa". At least, I have already mastered the click.
A lot of times, Western's are frustrated because they cannot go into the townships without suspected as a foreigner and therefore target for robbery or stabbing as I read someone recent experience of living in Cape Town for no less than three weeks. I have heard of students, I have meet a lot of them from the US here, including those our own UW students here with the CHID study abroad program, talk about this experience as if they are going to get stripped down as soon as they set foot in the townships. In my view, this does a lot of damage. For one, a lot of these individuals make little effort to minimize being on the stoplight when they go into the townships, if they ever do actually to go outside of their group of fellow Americans—sadly, which makes is impossible to not be targeted as a tourist.
My view is regardless of your skin colour, you can go into the townships without being perceived as a rich tourist with money. First step, put down your Western clothes, leave all your credit cards, stack of cash and jewelry. Putting down your Western clothes often means getting used to wearing long pants. Take enough money for transportation, food or whatever else you need to buy. Remember, your expensive personal belongings are not even safe at home than with you – not matter what part of the city you are staying. If your leave your personal belongings that you fear you might lose, then you have no fear that you will get robbed. Chances are that nobody is going to threaten to stab you unless you have something that is worth doing so. As you would walk around anywhere new for the first time, be aware of your belongings. I usually avoid carrying my wallet and if I did, will not put it in my pack-pocket.
And remember, I am not suggesting you get on Taxi and head to the slums of the township, where you will be met with viscous local gangs. If that is your thought I am suggesting, I think you are been brainwashed. You see the townships, no matter what you have heard or read about, today are vibrant and safe communities with gas stations, shopping malls, police and more KFCs that you would guess exist. Although I must acknowledge, one needs a local guide to be able to go to these places, it does not make it unsafe to set food in public shopping malls or other public places located in the townships.
The fact that we imagine these places totally inaccessible paints a different reality; this makes places ungoverned, the locals as thieves that will strip down any outsider at the first opportunity. The people in the townships are, in fact, as the rest of the people you meet in Cape Town: they are friendly, respectful and approachable to strangers. As with any community, there are those youngsters, jobless youth and gang members, who thrive on these opportunities to make money. But even those will not touch you if you are in a public places. The locals themselves are under constant threats from these kinds of people, sadly. The only difference that I see going to into the ghettos in NY or Seattle at night is that poverty is more prevalent here and creates a lot more disparity….
But remember, this does not make the whole townships unsafe and therefore an excuse to make general statements about the community as unsafe for foreigners. Talk to any students from the US that have spent time in Cape Town, sadly, the majority of them, black or white, will not hesitate to continue perpetuating the general perceptions when they have mode no efforts to go there themselves. This is sad.
Part of it is that, I think, most of them are perfectly content in spending time partying, eating in Western style restraints, buying food in western style grocery stories, hanging with those people the meet in Observatory and call this a "Cultural Experience." By the way, these are activates unavoidable in almost any major city in Africa and there is nothing wrong with them. I have respect for people's definition of the term "Cultural" experience, which is often relative to their own social status and personal background at home, but it is no reason to dismiss the townships as unwelcoming place without no personal attempt is to immerse oneself and face a challenge of having a different "cultural experience" and realistically difference place. Part of it is that it is a lot easier to make those dismissive statements out of frustration than go on a difficult personal quest to face what often defines the majority of the South Africa population: black disparity.
I got carried away, but I shall write the taxi ride experience more…especially when going in an out of the townships. For now, lets just say that you might end up giving change, counting the money for the driver or opening and closing the door at every stop.
In the mean time, leave your feedback, questions and comments.
-----------
(1) http://home.snu.edu/~dwilliam/f97projects/apartheid/Laws.htm
Labels: taxi
