The Red Door

Friday 1/6/12

Through this overall experience so far, a few things strike me in particular especially the diversity of the people.  There are Whites, Blacks, Coloreds, Zulus, Afrikaners, Hindus, Muslims, Indians, Dutch, and many, many more living together in peace.  After reading about how recent and strong racial tensions were in South Africa it is remarkable how accepting everyone is of each other generally speaking.  Though people of different origins get along, the racial wound is still fresh and certain groups do not necessarily mix with each other.  It is still segregated in some ways, but it is evident that enormous strides have been made in the last two decades.  I also cannot believe how accommodating, polite, welcoming, and inclusive everyone has been.  Despite language barriers (they often speak in Afrikaans to each other because it is their native tongue), they constantly remind themselves to speak in English when I am around so that I can know what is going on.  They also attempt to translate everything and find it amusing to have me repeat things in Afrikaans.  It is fun to listen to Swazi speak.  She is fluent in many languages and knows at least a little of all twelve of the official languages of South Africa, which is helpful because she works at the front desk.  She has suggested that she take me to a township sometime before I leave.

I worked this morning, took a lunch break, then in the afternoon I helped Reinhardt and Fish brainstorm for a Valentine’s Day dinner that they are hosting here at the YMCA.  On our breaks we talked of the variety of languages in South Africa.  Apparently there is one language that is specific to a particular part of South Africa and it is only spoken in that small area.  It is not actually an official language, but a combination of all 12 official languages in South Africa.  During my lunch break I went over to the gym next door and got a 1 month membership.  When I got back, Fish and I went down to the sports center (where the Valentine’s event will be held) to continue brainstorming.  Leaning up against the sports center is a shack where two Zulu street kids live, one of them named Lindoni.  They each walked up to me, stuck out their hands, and politely introduced themselves.  Immediately upon our greeting, they asked if I would come and play soccer with them on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Lindoni’s eye was quite swollen and discolored and Fish explained that he had been beaten up for no reason by some other kids about a month ago.  They asked Fish if he had any food so on our way back up to the office we stopped in the kitchen and gave them some food that had been donated by the local grocery store.

After work Reinhardt, Fish, and I went down to the sports center and played soccer with some street kids.  We went over and hung out in Lindoni’s shelter for a bit.  There were flies everywhere, so Reinhardt mentioned that he would pick up something from the store that they can hang to keep the flies away.  Lindoni told us that all of their stuff had been stolen by some other street kids- even their shoes.  Rein asked them where the heck they found wood that isn’t wet (it rains all the time here) and they pointed to a forest nearby.  They had set up a fire and cooked the frozen chicken that we gave them.  He also declared that it was his 18^th birthday yesterday so we told him happy birthday and Fish announced that he would cook him some good meat for a present.

After we closed up the sports center Rein, Fish, and Fish’s older brother, Andre (about 23 years old), took me out.  After he and Fish were done running around and playing soccer in the sports center, we walked to a local karaoke bar and had a drink out on the deck.  We spoke of the extremely complicated political unrest in South Africa, which they had many opinions about.  On the way back, the guys were sizing each other up so they took turns carrying each other to prove how strong they were.  Conversions (km to miles, kg to lbs., degrees C to degrees F) have been a bit tricky.  Andre declared that he would judge how heavy I was.  He came from behind, picked me up on his shoulders, and carried me down a hill and across the street, shouting that I must be 57 lbs.  I was not on the ground long before Rein swept me up and carried me another block or so.  We wound up at a place called The Red Door, which was quite spacious.  It had tons of rooms including a pool room and a rave room complete with a strobe light.  All of the rooms were connected by large decks still covered in Christmas lights.  Rein and I hung out mostly on the decks while Fish and Andre played pool.