Parent Township Extravaganza

Well, they survived my surprise weekend. It definitely wasn't what they were expecting, but they made it through...

This Friday I took my parents on a surprise weekend adventure which they had a bit of an idea about, but never knew the specifics. I took them to Khayeltisha (the township where I work) to a nice shack B&B for the night. There is this incredible woman in the community named Vikky who has renovated her shack for guests to come in and experience life in the township. Let's just say it was a weekend they will never forget. We arrived late afternoon to find 2 Christian American girls staying the night there--one of them works for Young Life! We all became fast friends and then walked around the neigborhood a bit, drank some traditional shack-brewed Africa beer(see my post on Langa for details) and then had dinner with Vikky and her family. There were tons of kids around so most of the rest of the evening was spent playing hand games, tickling, playing with hair, and talking to Vikky about Apartheid and her whole story of the B&B.

They next day I arranged for my friend Thabo to come and pick us up for a larger in depth tour of 2 townships. He did a fantastic job of showing my parents around (he grew up in Langa and now lives in Khayelitsha). The parents did pretty well until we went to a traditional healer--Thabo and I both agreed that that might have been a bit much. I guess all the animal skins and bones hanging on the walls with the dried herbs and one random string of condoms might have been too much culture shock for our little adventure so we finished the touring part there.

We then headed to yet another township called Guguletu (goo-goo-LAY-too) to an huge outdoor Braai (BBQ) place called Mzoli's. We were met by most of my housemates and friends for a huge braai to hang out talk and just be in the township community. There were close to 200 other Africans at this place and it wasn't even that busy! (We were there on a Saturday and Sundays are the crazy day) Anyways, they made it through my township extravaganza and I think they learned a lot (which was a huge part of why I had them come). They saw that the township wasn't just a place of extreme poverty, but a place of intense community where people live and just do life. They are the same as you and I only in worse conditions. Just people doing community with what they have.

All in all it was a successful weekend. To get the real first-hand emotions, I will tell you to ask them about their trip. They are the ones who were out of their comfort zone all weekend so they have way more stories about how they are feeling! Happy Monday!