Trip to Burlington and Mayville

Burlington

We may not have been all the way in Cape Town with the others, but we still had a jam packed weekend. On Friday we went to Burlington to visit Lucky. His beautiful blue house is situated beneath a stunning cliff face, and immediately we were welcomed by groups of smiling young faces. His house is just two rooms which he shares with his sister Cindy and her children, his brother Andile and Lucky’s little girl, Asami.

Firstly, we visited Burlington nursery, just by Lucky’s house. We gave out clothes and shoes, which we will do every year in Lucky’s name. The children were very excited and everybody seemed very grateful. After this he took us passed his house to the river where he learned to swim when he was little, Lucky told us that when he was a boy he thought it was like the ocean because he had never seen anything bigger than that. We enjoyed sitting on the rocks and admiring the interesting view. Although such beautiful landscape the extent of poverty was clear; people have made their homes out of anything they can so there is much debris and rubble.

We then walked through the Township to the local shabeen which is like an informal pub. On the way we gathered a following of local kids who enjoyed a dance with us to the music from the jukebox. We had a drink and some food that they cook there; chicken and bread, the local favourite! It was nice to see Lucky on his home turf looking so loved and appreciated by the whole community. Lucky came to stay for the whole weekend, even through tough times he is always so upbeat and slots into the group so well.

Mayville

On Sunday evening we drove to Mayville where Ntuthuko and some of the other Shoshloza taxi drivers have rooms. We were greeted by our welcoming host Ntuthuko and before long loads of the neighbours had arrived. There was a lovely sunset and before long the music was booming out the taxi and people were up on their feet dancing. It was great to meet Ntuthuko’s father who was so happy to see us, he kept asking when we will be back in South Africa so we can visit his home. We had a braai and got a full plate of food. One man we met got quite emotional because he said he had never seen white people come into a township and party with them which was very touching for us. We had such an amazing experience and feel very privileged to have such great contacts through Jabulani.