Based on the description of townships that I have given in previous posts you might automatically assume that I now live in a shack with cows and goats wondering around and a shabeen next door filled with drunk men. This image in not entirely untrue. My new home is Motherwell, the second biggest township in South Africa after the famous Soweto. The Gcume family have so graciously opened their home to me and saved me from my homelessness and so here I am, in the township.
There are parts of Motherwell that look like my above description, there are areas with clusters of tin shack houses and random farm animals wondering around and there are shabeens and taverns and Motherwell has it's share of drunk men but as this township is so big it is also very diverse. For the most part the houses here are concrete, brick houses. Some of these houses are the size of a shack and others are the size of a regular house. Some areas have tar roads and some have dirt roads.
There isn't really much that differs between living here and living in the suburbs except that there are no white people, the people here are generally friendlier, there is a greater sense of community amongst the neighbours in one street or area, everyone visits each other or greets each other when they meet. Some of the girls who live around us come over just to check how I'm doing and see if I'm ok. The biggest and most annoying difference that I've experienced living here is the reaction I get from people when I tell them where I live.
Here is an example of a conversation I had with a guy I met...
Guy: So where do you stay?
Me: Motherwell
Guy: No really?
Me: Really I live in Motherwell
Guy: which part
Me: Nu2
Guy: What street?
Me: _____ street (leaving the name blank for privacy reasons)
Guy: You just named the only street you know there
Me: Why would I lie? I live in Motherwell
Guy: Why would you live in Motherwell, you should live in Summerstrand or Humewood or Southend (all more expensive beach side suburbs)
Even when I'm in a taxi going to Motherwell people don't believe that I live there, they say that I'm just going to visit someone or going for a sleep over or something. At first it was amusing but now it's just annoying. Why is it such a big deal that a 'white person' lives in the township?
The best part about living here is all the extra transport options, because Motherwell is so huge and has so few facilities here to cater for the people everyone has to go to town or Korsten so there are so many taxis from so many locations out of Motherwell and back again. There are 100 times more buses and there are even these other taxis called jiggales which are just normal cars that take people to locations in the township. The last taxi to Motherwell is at around 8pm which is later than the last taxi back to my old suburb.
So far I like living here, Bayan has a junior youth group that she is starting again every Friday afternoon and we just started a children's class for Saturday mornings so there's a lot to keep us busy. I do get a lot of attention living here "Hey white girl, white girl" type of attention and "Oh you are so beautiful" attention but I've grown so accustomed to it that I don't even notice it anymore. My Xhosa is also improving especially since Bayan's 4 year old nephew lives with us and does not speak any English. It's so cute, whenever he tried to tell me something in Xhosa and I don't understand he instead pulls me down and tells it to me in my ear, still in Xhosa though. I think he thinks I just can't hear him. I was also given a new name by one of the taxi guards. Bayan and I were walking towards the taxi from the shopping centre with a trolley load of groceries and I was having issues pushing the trolley so the guard came over and was like Sindiswa, come let me help you, Sindiswa come and sit here. He also renamed Bayan to Babalwa and he thought she was from Italy. Then he told everyone in the taxi that they should only speak English because Sindiswa was with them. The entire taxi ride we were laughing because he was so entertaining. When we were approaching our stop Bayan called out in Xhosa "jiggale bamba" which means stop at the corner. The guard repeated this to the driver in Xhosa and the driver told him he had to say it in English, the guard then yelled out "Ok turn around and break". We laughed so much because he didn't know how to say it in English.
I'm sure I will have many more wonderful stories from the township that I will be able to share later.
Now for some pics of my new home
my bedroom
living room and tv room behind it
Bayan in the kitchen
My new sister Bayan
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