First Impressions

All I can say is that I have been blown away by what I have seen in the last week. I am slightly embarrassed by how shocked I am with how developed and modern Cape Town is than what I originally assumed. There are museums, high end car dealerships, nice restaurants, and much more. Yes, there are areas of poverty and the townships are rough but there are plenty of cities in the United States that have similar features. Washington DC is busy and lively and generally safe, however, there are areas that I would seriously avoid and are very dangerous. My classmates and I did have a moment of fear on the way back to our hostile after dinner one night. Two men approached our group of nine and was asking for any spare money and we weren’t responding. He proceeded to say, “don’t make me pull out a knife” but he didn’t follow through with this threat and walked away. Based off conversation with others that have lived here or visited in the past, there does seem to be a rise in robberies in the town where we are staying.

My other impression is that the locals are very proud of their country and culture. They’re excited to share with those visiting their food, history, and current traditions. I also get the sense that they have been through quite a bit of trauma and there is tension among the various townships and government. Government has not been kind to the citizens of Cape Town. It is understandable why there is a lot of frustrations and resentment. I have learned so much about the similarities between townships here and indigenous reservations in the United States. There are several commonalities between America and South Africa regarding issues of power, privilege, and oppression.

I can also see why many people could come and visit Cape Town and not really see all of Cape Town. It is an extremely beautiful place at first glance. The beaches, the views, all of it is quite stunning. However, there are a lot of injustices going on underneath all of that beauty. I have no doubt that thousands of tourists every year do not receive the full cultured experience when traveling here. It can be easy to overlook the pain and suffering a large majority of people are experiencing living in Cape Town.