>>>township pt.1 of 2

when i first arrived in cape town, one of the first things i was greeted by were the townships bordering the highway. i learned that there are many in this city and you can't help but be fixated by the landscape of these run-down shacks made with a mesh of corrugated iron and wood all kind of haphazardly thrown together..

during apartheid these areas were reserved for blacks and the coloureds (this term is still commonly used here referring to mixed peoples- and it's so weird to hear because it sounds so politically incorrect). sadly post-apartheid, these impoverished townships are still very much inhabited by the same people. it's still very segregated too, where the blacks live in one area and the coloureds in another. currently, there's still racial tensions that exist and it's all crazy to me.

there's also a lot of racial descrimination against other africans in these townships too, where in 2008, many africans from: zimbabwe, somalia, ethiopia etc..were driven out through violent force. the main reason being is that they're seen as a threat in taking away jobs from the locals. when this happened the gov't did not intervene and a lot of people found that effed up. rumour has it, it's expected to happen again later this year after the world cup, where a mass xenophobic attack may take place..i hope and pray that is doesn't...

i had the chance to visit a few townships called: khayelitsha, guguletu, and langa with my two friends juma and willard. they are from zimbabwe who work and live in the township of khayelitsha (the biggest one in cape town). they were also victims of these xenophobic attacks that took place. they've been through a lot of hard times and they decided to come back when things got better. i respect them for that. these guys are skilled artisans and community leaders who set up workshops for kids. they teach and share their leadership skills with them as a way of keeping them off the streets. all they want to do is make a positive impact...and they have!

i was inspired by them and juma asked me if i wanted to set up a workshop for kids from 13-18 yrs old in khayelitsha, since i told him my background was art. he said that it would be a great idea to do something creative since the kids haven't done that in a while. i was very apprehensive because i've never done anything like that before, let alone dealing with a group of teens..in fact, teenagers scare me! i thought about it for a while then said..."sure, i'll do it!" juma was pumped about it and said, "come in tuesday..the kids are yours and you got 2 hrs with them!" at this point, im freaking because i just learned it was sunday and 2 hrs with teens not knowing what to do is a fricken long time!! i wasn't sure if i was going to regret this because it seemed daunting..but it felt like it was too late. i already committed.

..so im brainstorming like a mad woman as to what to do as an activity with these teens. i had a limited amount of time but i was lucky that juma was so helpful and encouraging in getting me started. i was really keen on doing a collage activity since i was trying to remember what i liked doing in school when i was that age. juma was cool about it and offered to bring some art supplies he already had to the community centre so we could make this happen!

he supplied the paper, sponges, paints, pencils, and even had wooden clothes pins. i had gone shopping to get some multi-coloured construction paper, scissors and gluesticks. i was getting pretty pumped about it myself because i knew it was going to be pretty fun...

i didn't really know what kind of collage we were going to do but i basically wanted to learn more about these kids..like where they grew up, where they see themselves now and where they want to go in the future. it sounded kind of like a bland and vague idea..but i thought it would be cool anyway for these kids just to have an outlet to be as creatively free as they wanted. their lives are just so completely different that i wanted to learn from them and find out what they're all about through art.

juma gave me the go-ahead with this idea and told me there would be about 20 kids and that it would be a good idea to put them in 5 groups with one huge sheet of paper so that they could all collaborate together and work as a team. that sounded like a good idea.

so the master plan was: 5 groups of teenagers each with one big sheet of paper, working as a team by creating a visual representation of themselves of where they grew up and where they see themselves in the future. the materials were limited but enough to work with. i was really looking forward in seeing what kind of work they would produce..i had a feeling it was going to be an awesome day.......