Monday 5th - The best Monday morning most of us have had in a long time!
We were up at 6am as per usual and rearing to go.
The 1,380 of us were accommodated in 5 hotels altogether. Each morning all the Cape Sun inhabitants for the week made our way to the breakfast room designated specifically for us. A wonderful buffet of local fruits, cereals and hot foods welcomed us and we all dug in to get our energy for the busy day ahead.
Painting was on the agenda again today and as soon as I got to site I made straight for our security guard's house only to find Tara and Basil painting it Pipi...A mix up in plot numbers meant that for a brief time the house was almost not blue! Luckily enough we got it all sorted out and under the watchful eye of our security guard it went from plain grey to bright blue in just a couple of hours-here it is.
In the afternoon we went on a 'shack tour'. At first I was a little apprehensive - I mean, we are here to help these people and work for them, not treat them like tourist sights. But at the same time, I didn't want to miss out on meeting these people and hopefully hear their stories. Little did I know. The photo in this blog is of a lady in her shack. In February this year her entire shack burned down, everything gone. But through the generosity of neighbours, friends and family, she rebuilt her home. Even including two windows - sadly enough, a real luxury in these homes. And now here she stands in her kitchen with all the accouterments of modern day living - including a coffee maker! She has lived in shacks for the last 10 years. Each day, after huddling together for the night for warmth, as with most other families here, all the bedding is taken up off the floor and all clothing placed in its black sack and hung from the ceiling, damp is another daily - and nightly - drudgery in the townships.
Another thing to note at this point is that all of the families in this part of the township have lived without electricity since June to ensure the safety of the construction workers on the NMTT site. The supplies here are not earthed and live wires are buried just below the surface of the sand. It is yet another daily hardship that they are happy to put up with if it means they will have real houses at the end. So even though this lady had electricity in her shack and a coffee maker she couldn't use any of it.
We met some other families also and the apprehension I initially felt was very definitely wiped away. It was sad to see the hardships that are such a part of everyday life for these people but also so wonderful to hear their thank yous and their excitement at the thought of moving into their new homes in the next week. And even through all the hardships they have endured, they have not lost their spirit and sense of selves. It made all our efforts seem even more worthwhile and put the week in context completely.
So at 5 o' clock, after cleaning all our brushes and rollers and making sure all our tools were in the containers we set off for our hotels once more to get cleaned up and head to Moyo's - a restuarant in the Spier winery outside the city.
What a night! The music was amazing, the dancing was amazing, the rhythm was unbelievably stunning! We all had our faces painted and ate stunning food and enjoyed spectacular shows from the performers. Antelope is amazing, like steak only nicer!
It was a wonderful night and we all met some more lovely people.
And I think most of us were just seriously jealous of the performances we saw!!
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