We woke to find the ship waiting in the outer harbour of Cape Town, with no permission to enter the inner harbour because of a 35 knot easterly wind that could blow the ship off course as it came through the narrow entrance to the inner harbour. The locals were celebrating 155 years since the first stones were laid to build the harbour. We were entertained by the sea birds and a pod of small whales not far from us. We finally tied up at 10:30am, so everyone was late for their tours. Everyone descended on the Royal Court Theatre at once to meet with their group supervisor, so it was mayhem.
Our group of 12 was going to Parkwood Primary School, which had all black children, many of whom had poor home backgrounds, and our task was to help prepare, serve and clean up their meal which was provided by volunteers. By the time our minibus got us there at 11:40 the meal was all over and because it was Friday the children all went home at 12:30. Many businesses seem to knock off early on Fridays here.
The senior teacher took us into her classroo and introduced us to the children, who were keen to learn about Australia, where most of us come from.
We did a tour of the school and the Principal talked to us in the meal room. Perhaps because this is a suburb where drug addiction is high, the government classes it as a middle income area and the school does not get sufficient subsidy. Yet many of the children are underfed at home and the school meal program may be the only food some receive. The children looked happy and seemed to be enjoying school and the principal said the number one goal was to get the children to want to come to school. We said hello to the infants as we passed them.
We did a tour of the school and the Principal talked to us in the meal room. Perhaps because this is a suburb where drug addiction is high, the government classes it as a middle income area and the school does not get sufficient subsidy. Yet many of the children are underfed at home and the school meal program may be the only food some receive. The children looked happy and seemed to be enjoying school and the principal said the number one goal was to get the children to want to come to school. We said hello to the infants as we passed them.
This trip is cut very short but still very worthwhile, giving us an inside view of the education system. The kids are mad on soccer. We got back to the ship at 1pm and Lyn was able to do three loads of washing while people were not back from town.
We have two days here and when we saw the food trucks lining up with tonnes of fruit, vegetables, etc., we could see that it was more than an 8am to 5pm job to restock. At the same time they were removing several truckloads of garbage.
After dinner we watched the nightlights of the town and went to a Xhosa concert by local groups. Singing, dancing and playing marimbas.
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