Yesterday recharged my batteries and forced the heavy history of apartheid on me. Pam, the wonderful woman behind Cape Fusion Tours, picked me up and started explaining the grim history of the people of Cape town. We headed for the District 6 Museum where she finished the history of what lead up to and happened during Apartheid. I was one of those people who was not educated around this issue and naively thought that this occurred many years ago. Perhaps even during America's history with Civil Rights. I was mistaken. This prejudice and discrimination was occurring from the 1960's clear through to 1990. The segregation and poverty this caused is something the country of South Africa is still fighting today. On the Winelands tour Chris and I took part in a couple days ago, we drove past the "townships" of Cape Town, as they call them. These townships are not towns at all, but simply shacks that people put up b/c their homes were taken away from them. Many of them further along the highway are migrants from neighboring S. African countries who have moved their families in the hopes of finding work in the big city of Cape Town. Their hopes are usually dashed almost immediately, as Cape Town is experiencing an unemployment rate of 50% for the Black and Colored population. The reason for this is that during apartheid, the government kept those populations uneducated so they would not rise up to overthrow, as they are the majority. Therefore, there is a huge number of uneducated who are then, in turn, unemployed. They simply wait on street corners for someone to drive by and give them work (ie: washing their car for 2o rand which equals roughly 2 euro, so they can buy bread to feed their family that day). With the World Cup fastly approaching the gov't is frantically trying to build gov't housing within these townships that replace the "eyesore" of the shacks and put the people in proper housing with electricity, flushing toilets and running water. There are simply too many townships for them to get this done before the tourists roll in.
Pam, being extremely knowledgeable in this history, wanted to make a difference through her tour company. She learned of a grassroots project in the oldest of the Cape Town Townships, called Langa. Victor and his student, Eugene, grew up and lived their whole lives in Langa. They found a love of food and cooking. Eugene went to school for it on a flook and went into Cape Town to learn how the culinary world worked. In the meantime, Victor started the Eziko Restaurant and Non-profit cooking school. Eziko, as Eugene explained to me, is an African word meaning place of gathering where friends and family eat together, almost like a feast. They built these places out of shipping containers (metal), to remain in the spirit of the shacks the gov't were tearing down, b/c it was a pat of their people's history. The cooking school, being non-profit, accepts up to 12 students from all over the world, but mostly African countries, who meet the criteria each term. I looked through the curriculum and was impressed at how similar the program was to mine at CSR. They are the only two teachers and once they have covered the theory and hands-on curriculum, they then do practical placements that ensure the students will have jobs at the end of it. This is making a difference at the heart of it. They are not only helping people find jobs, but also educating them to ensure they can keep those jobs, as well as move up in the ranks. Due to the recession and poor marketing schemes, Eziko School and Cape Fusion are struggling to stay afloat. They had to close their doors for the first time in November 2009. Luckily, they have been blessed with sponsors for the upcoming February term and are able to start up again, but they are still in desperate need for financial assistance and donations of materials and equipment.
Part of what Pam is doing is taking people (foodies) like me on these historical tours that end up in Langa, where Eugene then teaches you how to cook the traditional food of his people at Eziko Restaurant. Eugene is so passionate about cooking. Once he learned I had had formal training (half way through the lesson), he kept saying to me, "Keep spreading the gospel".
He walked me through Bredie (lamb stew), Pap (white corn porridge, similar to polenta but so much tastier), semp and beans (semp is white corn as a whole grain that is dried, then boiled with salt for many hours), stir fried cabbage & spinach, vegetables and blanched butternut squash. The final thing we made were cabbage wrapped dumplings, similar to their steam bread, but without yeast. It was a feast for 10 people, but the three of us sat down with some of the most delicious red wine I've ever tasted and feasted with our hands, sharing the food together. What an invigorating day. Though it started out heavy, it was wonderful to see that people are working hard, with no financial gain for themselves, to turn the circumstances of their people around. I want to become a part of this grassroots movement once I settle in America! If you are interested in learning more about it just e-mail me and I will pass along the links.
Once home, Chris and I realized it was our last night for experiencing traditional African cuisine in Cape Town, so we headed out to the Opulent African Gold Restaurant. Immediately we took part in the drumming session, then were escorted to our prime seats for experiencing the three rounds of Traditional African costumes, singing and dancing throughout our set meal. The people were friendly and in love with TX, it turned out. The food was decent (not quite the quality as the Africa Cafe), but the ambiance was superb. I loved the music and performances. It was a wonderful day, all around!
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