Ocean View Township

On the first day of orientation through University of Cape Town, all 400+ international students from countries around the world went on a bus tour throughout Cape Town. At about 10:45am, we ended up in a township outside the city, where many residents were hanging out of the windows just looking at several tour buses that drove through their town. The bus driver announced that we would be stopping to have lunch as we pulled into a dirt parking lot. All the students proceeded into a building, very similar looking to a small warehouse on the outside. Everyone was extremely confused about where we were and what was happening.

Once everyone sat down, we were greeted by community members from the township we were in, Ocean View. Ocean View was a township established in 1968 for colored people who were forced to be removed from "white areas" during apartheid. Even today, the community still represents how it began. There are close to 30,000 people who live in Ocean View, facing several issues such as drug use, alcoholism, gangs, prostitution, and violence. About 8%-13% of residents live with HIV. More information of Ocean View can be found here.

The speaker, Alan, was a citizen of Ocean View. He explained that there are three schools in Ocean View, two primary schools and one high school. Each school has approximately 1,000 students, and a student to teacher ratio of 50 to 1. Many of the students have lost their parents to HIV, violence, or other poverty related incidents. For about 20 years, an organization has been running on Ocean View that uses dance and singing for a way to 'escape' the issues of their every day lives. Today, there are over 800 students involved in the organization.

Out of the 800 students, only 10 parents are involved in the organization with their children. We had the pleasure of watching one family, a son and mother who was 50 years old, ballroom dance together. Other performances we were able to see was children and teenagers dancing, and hearing the 'divas' sing Hero, Man in The Mirror, and Rolling in the Deep. Wow - South Africa has talent! The singers have even tried out for South Africa's X-Factor!

When we got back into the bus and drove away, we noticed the citizens of the township still hanging out of their windows, standing on the side of the road, and standing in front of their houses waving. There were several people making hearts with their hands. As we drove down the road a little more, more of Ocean View was visible. We saw a village of small trailers - not like the ones we have in the United States, more like metal boxes. In the village, clothes were hanging everywhere and trash was piled on the hills and visible everywhere. Looking farther into the village, everyone was outside of their homes. Children were playing and adults were talking. As Alan told us, there is a strong sense of community there. Everyone knows each other and watches out for each other.

I cannot even begin to explain how touching this experience was. Please always be thankful for what you have in life, to live in a house, to have friends and family, to have access to decent education, and to even have things we take for granted, like trash removal. Always be grateful for the people in your life and tell them you love them, they truly make life worth living. As seen in Ocean View, when things are rough, they are always there for you.

To my friends and family back home - I love you all dearly and you all mean so much to me. xoxo