Report 3
October 21, 2000
Cape Town, South Africa, Saturday, October 21, 2000
Saturday's Cape Town paper announces that strawberries are now in season, Minnesota's Ann Bancroft is in town on her way to the South Pole, and there is an article stating that they are going to need up to 400 trained phone counselors to respond to the crises calls coming in about HIV/AIDS in the Western Cape. Fr. Cassidy said it best..."To move about in this country is to feel schizophrenic."
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| Green Market Square has been the center of Cape Town city life for almost three hundred years.Originally Green Market Square served as a commercial trading area, re-provisioning early sailing ships rounding the tip of Africa. Today it is a vibrant informal trading zone, surrounded by restaurants, bistros, gold and diamond dealers, and fashion emporiums. This is a contrast to what was seen this day in the townships. |
It is Saturday also in the townships and that means it is funeral day. We drove to the public burial fields devoid of gates, shrubs, vegetation, or shade. Spiwo suggested we get out and just walk around. What the eye sees is large and small groups of mourners dressed mostly in Sunday suit black. What one also sees is that there are 3 processions leaving the cemetery, 3 on their way in, and 6 funeral burials in process. In 45 minutes of walking into and out of the groups of mourners, we counted 12 separate groups. Spiwo said that Saturday is funeral day but lately they had to hold funerals on weekdays also.
The very next thing that happens is that the pace changes, the schizophrenic feelings come back. Spiwo announces that we have enough of sadness for one day and we should go and see some of the beauty of his wonderful country. Quickly the two cars drive north and in 20 minutes we are in the heart of the wine country with it's mountains, valleys, and arrays of lush green and flower filled fields. At one point the cars drove high in the hills and stopped so that you could see this biblical panoramic portrait some of South Africa's history. To the very far right was Stellenbosch University, next the Rodeo-Drive-like city of Stellenbosch. As you eye moved further left you were told ‘those were the Colored townships’ and finally clinging to the foothills for dear life, were the shacks of the Blacks. One could close your eyes and envision Julie Andrews dancing up the hillside singing in Xhosa. If beauty has a home - it is in the valley on hills of Stellenbosch. However, the history books do remind us that out of this visual Garden of Eden came the blueprint for Apartheid.
We were told that yes, Saturday in South Africa does mean going to the market, or a drive to the vineyards or mountains. We were also told, however, that Saturday increasingly is also becoming that day you attend at least one funeral for a friend or relative or somebody you knew. Saturday has also become a day to pray that we will all find a way to defy the pessimists.
-Chuck MacDonald
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