A closer look at Hout Bay

Hello everybody Peeps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a busy week since our last post. We have had a lot of good lessons with the children from computers, cooking, reading and writing to Rugby. The kids are great fun to be around but can become a bit of a handful when dealing with them on mass.

Township entrance sign

Township sewage system

 On Tuesday we took a tour of the township with a guy called Afrika (Yes that's his real name). Afrika took us on an extended tour that included the clinic where they treat HIV/AIDS and TB among many things. Afrika explained that the township was originally set up for 2500 people but to date the population was more like 40,000. It's amazing how some of these structures stay up as many of them are nothing more then a wooden frame with flimsy bits of metal used as a skin. There are some concrete built properties which were built by an Irish charity though I'd say there was at most about 200 of these.

Township view

A lot of the properties (98%) don't have running water and have the use of a shared toilet with anything up to 50 other families. As part of the tour we looked inside several of the homes. The occupants were very welcoming and had a lot of pride in their homes. We managed to get to talk to a lot of the township people and it is a testament to them that they are both creative and resourceful when it comes to making a living. The vast majority will happily work all the hours to provide for their family.

Feeding a seal at the harbour

The rest of the week past pretty quickly after the tour although a stomach bug has started to now make its way round the staff at Ikhaya. I've managed so far to avoid it, nay was off ill for a day. Fortunately she recovered in time for the weekend which due to some dodgy weather saw us explore a bit more of the harbour area where we found a small market (bay market) which was a pleasant mix of stalls selling jewellery  art, food and drink which had a very similar vibe and atmosphere that you might find in Camden. After a tasty lunch (and the purchase of some spicy olives) we walked along to the area of the harbour where the boat trips go from, unfortunately as the wind was picking up and the weather getting worse we were unable to take a trip to seal island.

Sunday we went to a church service at Ikhaya which was attended by a lot of the families from the township that have children at Ikhaya and many people from the kenilworth vineyard group. It was an amazing service that even the rain couldn't dampen. After the service we again went exploring this time on the other side of the harbour at the start of the Chapman's peak trail were we visited the smallest pub in Africa and had a tasty roast lunch.

We have another busy week ahead as we are taking the kids to Kirstenboch botanical gardens on Friday.

Bye for now
Mark and Nay xx