Daisy...

I want to tell you about our special friend Miss Daisy. We love her…she is a part of the family… but she is a bit selfish and with a mind of her own, deciding when and where she wants to operate. Not a fan of the chilly Cape Town mornings, it takes her about 15 minutes to get going. She refuses to open her trunk or her left door, and she can’t handle any speed faster than 100 km/hour. Mix all that in with some crazy South African drivers and you can only imagine the volatile relationship we all have with her. 

 

As temperamental as she is, Daisy has given us the independence to get ourselves from each of our lodges/backpackers/homestays in the Cape Town suburbs to our office in Guguletu and the other townships where we work.  For the next three weeks, the schools are closed for winter recess, which means that there are kids everywhere—on the side of the road…in the road…all over the place. To keep kids active and engaged, H4H runs a holiday program, which was attended by 80+ kids yesterday at a community center in the Crossroads township. I’m coaching and getting to know some of the nicest kids—many who have goals very similar to those that I had when I was 14/15/16 years old. This morning I took a tea break outside (oh ya I’m now a compulsive tea drinker as it is the thing to do here) and began talking to a girl named Monalisa who had come to the community center to shoot baskets with her younger brother. Just 11 years old, Monalisa began telling me about her dream of attending school in the US and traveling around Europe. She told me about her love of sports--mostly soccer and basketball-- her family, and how much she loves school. It is these simple interactions each day that are really starting to define my time here.

Last week I moved from the backpackers “lofts,” where I had a cozy single room, to a 4-person room at the main lodge down the street where I was originally suppose to stay. I was a little unsure of moving into a bunk with two male roommates, but so far being here has been a blast. Some of the people are staying for months (like Mr. Mike from France who has escaped to Cape Town to hone his squash game before rejoining the Master’s tour), while others are just passing through town. Both ways, I’ve already heard some crazy travel stories. Last Saturday I sat at dinner with friends originally from Kenya, Uganda, Canada, and Zimbabwe hearing about another friend’s weekend trip to Zanzibar. Listening to adventures from Thailand and Istanbul are not enough... I want to see them for myself…as a backpacker!

Miss Daisy has also allowed us to explore greater Cape Town, which is every bit as beautiful as I imagined. In many parts of the city, I forget that I’m in Africa. I still find in unbelievable that that in 5 minutes you can drive from the posh suburb of Rodenbosch to the township of Langa, both just exits off of the main freeway. Last Sunday, a bunch of us piled into Daisy and drove to the famous Mzoli’s Meat in Guguletu. It is one of those must-dos in Cape Town as locals and visitors alike come on Sunday afternoon to eat a disgusting amount of meat, listen to live music, and mingle with a very interesting mix of people. We met up with Thabo and few of our other H4Hers who live in the area and had a really fun afternoon. 

That’s all for now! Leah and I leave on Friday with the CPUT  men and women’s basketball teams for the national college championships. Excited to see Joburg and Pretoria.

Lindsay