city snapshots

You probably saw the title of this post and got excited to see pictures of EVERYTHING.  You expected snapshots of the most beautiful city in the world, from the Table Mountain and the ocean to my workplace, my family, and my home.  Unfortunately, this is not that post.  Honestly, up until today, my camera hasn't left the cupboard I placed it in when I first unpacked.  There are a couple of reasons for this: 1- I'm chronically terrible at remembering to take pictures.  2- I feel a little awkward beginning my work and home relationships as the girl who lives behind a camera.  (Also, taking pictures of and with people you don't really know yet is just a little strange.)  3- Taking pictures leaves me feeling very much like a touristy white American, a stereotypes I would love to escape as much as possible.  But in all honesty, even if I had diligently photographed every moment here from day one, I still don't know if I would be able to share those pictures.

The problem is that I'm afraid– I'm afraid that a picture will inaccurately portray the context in which I'm living.  Cape Town is a complex and diverse city, in more ways than one.  So before I begin posting photos of people and places here (or even begin taking pictures, for that matter...), I need to "show" you a few city snapshots.  So imagine with me for a minute...

From an aerial view, you see the city sitting on the edge of South Africa, the historical entry of colonists in 1652.  Table Mountain and the rest trail south along the western seacoast, and just north of mountains sits the "city bowl," the center of the city.  All roads fan out from the city center eastward, to the interior of the country.  Once you get past the city bowl, you move into the "suburbs" (kind of a cross between Chicago neighborhoods and greater Chicago-land, as far as I can tell).  Now, this is where history gets important.  (Let's be real, history is always important.)  During the days of apartheid, the city was forcefully segregated.  Black and coloured (not a racial slur, but a separate racial group in South Africa) South Africans were forced to move further out east from the city center into the Cape Flats, an area further from the mountains, less desirable, and, under apartheid, held in deep poverty.  A certain road called the M5, that runs north and south a certain distance from the mountains, marked the dividing line between white and black, wealthy and impoverished.

Apartheid ended over fifteen years ago, but the history of segregation continues to shape the city.  Though racial separation is no longer law, in some ways it is perpetuated via class.  Everyone knows that the closer you live to the mountains, the wealthier you are.  And the fact is, the closer you get to the mountains, the more white people you see.

I get to see Cape Town from a different point of view than most.  You see, my family lives about five minutes east of the M5, in the Cape Flats.  The Cape Flats itself is diverse, ranging from nice neighborhoods with modest homes (like where I live) to dangerous neighborhoods with low-rise apartments, to the townships of today, which expose poverty unlike anything I have ever seen.  These areas are all mixed together to form the Cape Flats. This is the part of Cape Town I have seen most.  The wealthy part of Cape Town is foreign to me.  I've only crossed the M5 a couple times since I've arrived.  I have not been to the city bowl, and I have not seen the ocean.  But I have been able to catch a glimpse of the city from the periphery.  I've begun to hear stories, of the past and of the present, of poverty and injustice intermingled with stories of joy and redemption.  From my perspective, I get to see both beauty and pain vibrantly. To me, that is worth more than a thousand views from atop Table Mountain.

Soon (hopefully!) I will take some pictures, so I can show actual snapshots of the context I've tried to describe.  The only photos I have to share are two pictures of the mountains I took from the window in my bedroom.  Though they're a long ways off, I love to look at them.  They remind me where I am, and they remind me why I am here.  Because as much as God lives on the mountain, God also lives in the Cape Flats.  My hope is that I can see Him as I live here too.

the view through my window bars

a closer view (zooming in)