A contradiction...(Day 3)

Today we took tours of various townships around Cape Town. I sat in the van shot gun!- and just so you know South Africans drive on the left side of the road and on the right side of the car. So i sat shot gun and Faried (our nice driver) looked at me and said "Don't press the brakes!" Because he knew from past experience that when he's making left or right turns people think he's going the wrong way and try to step on the imaginary break. It was funny. We visited the infamous District 6. Or at least what's left of it. Before Apartheid, District 6 was a vibrant and multicultural place to live and once Apartheid was established they decided that its inhabitants should only be whites. So they forced all the people who were not white to move out and separated them into blacks, coloreds, and indian. It's devastating to look at what was once known to be such a lovely place. It was bulldozed and all the homes that were once there are no longer there and its remnants are mere crumbles. We also visited various centers in townships such as a daycare, school,  a hostel (where 15 people live in one room- we went inside at the man showed us his home: all the kids sleep on the floor and the parents and elders on the bed). I purchased some souvenirs from them because it's always nice to give back to the community. I bought a Giraffe mask and a little elephant for a total of 100 rand which converted into dollars is a little over 13 dollars. Faried our driver told us that Americans don't know how to bargain because we feel so bad. Yeah i felt bad. I guess I could have pushed it down to 50 rand (he says to cut it in half and start there) but after seeing their homes I just wasn't able to do it. We visited centers where H.I.V positive women work in a center making beaded jewelery and clothes. It is called the etafeni day care center and was funded my Elton John. He funded the building of the center only and the rest of the funds come from private donations and the government. This center began in a township that had the most crime and they hope that with giving people things to do, empowering them and educating them-that they can contribute in finding peace and decreasing crime.  We also visited a daycare school. I have to tell you that going there just brought tears to my eyes. It was funny, however,  we all stepped out of the van and the children were by the door chanting at us, "abelgungo"-which is the Xhosa word for "White people."-obviously i'm a mexi but i was muddled in the group. :)As soon as I walked in these kids just jumped at me and hugged me from my legs. The teacher led them into a song and they performed several songs for us. Some of the kids were really into it while the shy ones just looked on. It was just amazing. I don't know how to explain to you how i felt at that moment. Going on this tour of the townships was really a contradiction to the other part of Cape Town we had seen. It sparks so many emotions inside me and so many thoughts about the injustices in this world.

*Things you may not know just by looking at these photographs:
Sometimes centers have a limited set of diapers so all the children get changed at the same time. If someone poops or pee's themselves at 8 but diaper changing isn't until 10 they have to sit with that dirty diaper until 10. -Sad, i know. It's little things like this that people never really think about. About how 10 dollars for us means so much for them. The people that were living at the hostel pay 20 rand per month for their home and most can barely afford it. 20 rand is only 9 dollars. Their homes are made of cardboard and alluminum and the government is currently building new homes for these people but its an extremely slow process.