Bo Kaap: the Final Homestay

For my last homestay of the semester I spent twelve days living in Bo Kaap with a colored family. In South Africa the term colored is used to describe people whose ancestors were either cape slaves or Khoisan, or people of mixed race. The families we stayed with were Muslim and drew their ancestry from the cape slaves, whom were brought to SA by the British from islands and countries that touch the Indian Ocean. Bo Kaap is by far one of the most beautiful places to live in Cape Town. The community is built at the base of the mountain and the homes are painted in every color imaginable. While my family didn't live in one of the bright houses, our apartment’s balcony offered a breathtaking view of all of Bo Kaap, the city, and harbor. After living here for almost two weeks it is unsurprising to me that more and more (non-Muslim, non-colored) people are trying to move into this community.

This homestay was very different from my other three homestays, in terms of size and gender ratio; my other three families were small and female-dominated, whereas my Bo Kaap family had nine members, six of whom were men. Not only was I living in a male-dominated household for the first time in my life, but I also had older siblings: a sister and four brothers! All five of them lived in their parents’ home, along with my sister’s husband and their one-year old daughter, Zara. While that might seem strange to my readers back home, it’s not unusual for children to remain at home until they get married or even live with their parents in the early years of their marriage to save money to buy a place of their own. We also had four large fluffy cats who really liked to hang out in my room and sleep on my bed and legs. Even though our apartment was full of people, my family still gave me my own small room with a bed, desk, and closet to stay in. As usual I felt guilty to have my own space because it meant other family members were cramped, but I was grateful to have a space of my own to unpack, study, and sleep. The one big challenge of the week was bathroom time. There was only one bathroom for the ten of us, so my mom had to make a schedule for the mornings so that each of us got at least fifteen minutes to use the toilet, brush our teeth, and bathe. The rest of the day we had to fight for time to use the loo. While it seemed like a real hassle the first couple of days, my (real) sister Erin pointed out to me that it wasn't really that different from living at home as we only have one shower. I definitely learned how to be patient this week living in such a big household and sharing the facilities!

One of my favorite parts of the week was, unsurprisingly, the food. My mom made stews or curries over rice almost every night which were very delicious. I haven’t had much experience with curries before, but I found myself really enjoying them, even if they were a little spicy. My favorite dish was seafood paella over white rice – yum!

Another thing I enjoyed about living in Bo Kaap was our proximity to the city. Unlike my other homestays where I had to take a taxi or car to go to town due to distance and safety reasons, here I could walk, skip, jump, or run down the hill to downtown Cape Town. The closeness to the city definitely made weekends more enjoyable!

Here are some pictures I took while walking around the community with Lara this past Saturday.

I spy with my little eye, Lara!

my apartment building (top right, second floor)

view of the mountain and city from Signal Hill

It was bittersweet saying goodbye to my last host-mom yesterday, knowing that I was moving in to my own apartment with a group of four other girls from my program instead of in with another South African family. On the one hand, I'm going to miss meeting new people, gaining new lens through which to view South Africa and the world, and having someone to cook dinner for me every night. On the other hand, I'm ready to live on my own in downtown Cape Town, have the freedom to come and go as I please, and make my own meal choices.
Let the final segment of my adventure, known as ISP (independent study period), begin!