Changing the Perspective

When I was waiting for the driver to bring me to the Great Commision United, in short terms GCU, on the first day of my volunteer work, I thought about what could be waiting out there in the townships. I neither knew what kind of work I would have to do nor the name of the township I would be working. But I was really looking forward to see another aspect of South Africa than the Table Mountain or the Waterfront.

So we drove to a primary school in Heideveld, a township area on the Cape Flats, less than 20kms from Cape Town city centre. Swathes of families were resettled here in the 1960s after the apartheid government forcibly removed them from District Six, an area much nearer to the city and to public amenities. During the first days, Mario gave me an insight into various parts of his community development project. I assisted the coaches with the other volunteer, a nice French guy called Mohammed, to play soccer and other games with the kids. During the breaks we became a highlight of the kids, this thirty minutes were one of the more exhausting moments in Cape Town ;)

But GCU is not only busy with physical education during the mornings at diverse schools, there are also soccer teams training in the afternoons. For a wider education, they do not only train soccer during the whole week, they are also practicing boxing, rope skipping and chess on Mondays. With all these programs GCU wants to limit the dropouts from schools and gives the children a future with a new-gained hope.
I'm really looking forward to the three remaining weeks with GCU and I'll write soon about further experiences with these powerful kids! If you are interested in more detailed information about what exactly GCU is, please visit our homepage below the following link and like us on Facebook!

• Homepage of GCU
• GCU on Facebook

The Big Gap between Rich and Poor

Economists use the so-called gini coefficient to measure the gap between rich and poor. This tool allows us to compare the wealth distribution of all the countries of the world. South Africa has the worst value of all of them. This huge gap is also visible in Cape Town: Langa, a township of Cape Town, is not more than 10 km away from the Waterfront, the cosmopolitan centre with many shops and restaurants.

This experiences inspired my to write story about a beggar in Cape Town who's life changed dramatically after he had met a person with a great heart. The writing was triggered by my teacher, who gave us the task to write a story including some words we built before during a game of Scrabble. Although the story is free-invented, I hope it will become true one day, maybe here in Cape Town.

The Beggar Called John            

Once again I was sitting around, looking for some food. As the trash had got removed the day before, I could only get food by begging. My stomach rumbled, the last meal I had was long ago. Luckily, I was still alive and the rain had stopped, so the temperatures increased and made the begging more convenient. But this could change very quickly here in Cape Town. Cape Town, what a lovely city it used to be, before I got poorer and poorer. Let me briefly tell you, how I got stuck in this situation.

I had been married to the most beautiful woman in the world; me, John, and her Catherin, were so lucky. But after a car accident, she died in the hospital. I had big troubles afterwards, it was like a vicious circle. First I received the instant dismissal, consequently I wasn’t able anymore to pay the bills. Finally, I landed up on the street.

During the five last years nothing had changed, so I got up once more and walked to place where I perhaps could succeed. I passed a storehouse of a builder, some joist sticks out of the fences. The noise of a deep mumbling of a car reached my ears, the driver of the storehouse wasn’t used to changing gear. After I had passed the storehouse, I sat down, with my butt on the ground. I placed my can with the cold tea right next to me and started to look for people who had more money than me. I wished I could reheat my tea, but my lighter unfortunately was empty. Hence, my only hope was to get some money to buy a new one.

That moment, I realised that a girly man was approaching. I didn’t really like the gays, but I didn’t care about the money’s origin either. I bagged him to give me some money, but he ignored me and kept on starring at his cell-phone and texting his boyfriends. The same way it happened with an emo, a young guy thinking that he has the swag. Then passed a beautiful looking young girl, with a thinness, which suggested to have been on many diets. It was the usual behaviour from most of the pedestrians: Ignoring me and keep on walking.

But that day, one person completely changed my life. A man, who was the same age as me, walked towards me with a bright smile on his face. I hadn’t seen many people with that attitude so far. A lot of them are so stressed, but this guy wasn’t only a teeny bit stressed. He stopped towards me and started chatting with me. That was one of the biggest pleasures which I had during this challenging time. He just made my day!

But instead of stopping the conversation and leaving me alone, he asked me if I was hungry. I answered him: “Yeah, I am!” In that moment, my life started to change. He invited me for lunch! It was just unbelievable. We went to the next restaurant, he placed his keys on the table and asked me what meal I would prefer. Shy as I am, I mentioned that I hadn’t eaten meat for ages. So he ordered a beef-burger for me. When the waiter asked him which size he’d prefer, he answered “the biggest on you have”. I had never enjoyed a meal like that one ever before.

Afterwards, I went out of the restaurant, absolutely thankful, and was filled with a never-known joy. This was the beginning of my way out of poverty and life as a homeless beggar. I could break out from the vicious circle pulling me deeper and deeper. With the new-gained motivation I was able to double my daily income. I could afford new cloths and I applied for a job in the factory of the man who invited me for lunch that day. Finally, I am now able to live a normal life, being a shining example of what a kind action to a poor man can trigger.

Rugby - a Sport Uniting a Nation!

When I was walking through the Waterfront for the first time, I made an interesting discovery. At the center of this touristic area with many shops and restaurants, there was pillar with a countdown: "5 days left until the Rugby World Cup 2015 starts!" As I knew hardly anything about rugby when I arrived here,  I had to ask my host mum about this rude sport. The first lesson she taught me was the following definition:

"Soccer is a gentleman's game played by hooligans. On the other hand, rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen"

Furthermore, she told me much about the history and the impact of this gripping sport. Exactly 20 years ago, the Rugby World Cup had taken place here in South Africa. Four years after the abolition of apartheid, Nelson Mandela inspired the whole nation when he pulled over a shirt of the "Springboks", the national rugby team of South Africa. For the first time, a national feeling was created, black and white united by the Springboks. My host mum told me that everyone went crazy as the Springboks won the final against the "All Blacks" from New Zealand 15-12 in extra-time.
After I heard this story, it was clear to me that I'm going to watch a game of the Springboks in one of the several bars in the city center. The more local people, the better.
Finally, after I'd bought a Springbok-shirt, I went to a pub watching the game. The disappointment was huge after they lost against Japan, some locals we meet there disappeared right after it was finished. So we were looking forward to the next match against Samoa. The performance improved a lot and I celebrated the victory of "our" Springboks with some South Africans:

It was a great experience to explore how a sport can unite a so many different cultures. So let's keep our fingers crossed for the Springboks!
Ps: For everyone how wants to know more about the history of South Africa and the Springboks, I warmly recommend the film "Invictus"!