Vuk'uzenzele

Literally means “wake up and do it yourself” in xhosa.

The weekend after spring break everyone on our service learning program participated in a township homestay, either in Philippi or Langa. Before we were placed in a home, all of us attended a program together with the families. This was started with a prayer, then a xhosa hymn and the South African National Anthem. Instruments aren’t really needed here, just a drum to keep the beat and the powerful harmonic voices of the xhosa families singing together. I absolutely adore the SA national anthem. Did you know that it includes the five most widely spoken of the eleven national languages of South Africa? Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans, and English. Here are the lyrics and translations, but you should also youtube it so you can listen for yourself:

Language	Lyrics	English translation
Xhosa	Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,	God bless Africa Raise high its glory
Zulu	Yizwa imithandazo yethu, Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.	Hear our prayers God bless us, her children
Sotho	Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho, O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, Setjhaba sa, South Afrika — South Afrika.	God, we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation, South Africa — South Africa.
Afrikaans	Uit die blou van onse hemel, Uit die diepte van ons see, Oor ons ewige gebergtes, Waar die kranse antwoord gee,	From the blue of our heaven, From the depth of our sea, Over our everlasting mountains, Where the crags resound,
English	Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom In South Africa our land.	–

So very powerful every time i hear it sung. After the singing was finished, we had the pleasure of watching some traditional African dance performance! Luckily i was sitting in the front row and took a decent video of it. I tried to upload it here but the internet couldn't handle it-but it's better in person anyways, so just come to Africa :)

Then, after the dancing, we were given a short history of these two townships. Langa is Cape Towns oldest black township dating back pre-apartheid and the name means "sun". Philippi is a newer township that was started mainly by women (single mothers) who wanted homes of their own and not just the add on shacks they were living in in Gugulethu, so they saved very little at a time, R0.50 cents (which is like 7 cents US) and they did it! Philippi is where I was placed , in a family with a mama, tata (dad) and three younger siblings: two ubuti's (brothers) and one sisi. Their house was small but nice, they had running water and a tv. Emily and Honora were with me as well, and the three of us were given the "master bedroom" to share for the weekend. It made me feel a bit guilty, because the rest of the family slept in the one other bedroom one one bed and one couch-but the hospitality here is astounding. Very similar to the food. South Africans may be the friendliest, nicest people in the world.

My favorite part about this weekend was the sense of community we were welcomed in to. Walking over to the neighbors, playing with the kids in the streets, sharing food, laughs, dancing and singing. The feeling of LOVE was so very strong. Maybe these families didn't live in the kind of luxury we are all used to, but the love they have and the way in which they care for each other makes them rich. I want to live in community like that some day. This being said, the townships continue to have big problems, drug use and alchololism are very prevalent, and it is hard for children to receive adequate education unless the parents can afford transportation to a school further away and medical attention for the widespread issue of HIV/AIDS and TB is also difficult to get. The area in Philippi where we stayed was named Vuk'uzenzele-and the families created the community themselves 11 years ago-wake up in the morning and do it yourself.

We arrived Friday night and left Sunday afternoon. It was very hard being pulled away from our new family, who we had grown so close to over such a short amount of time. Sunday morning we attended a Xhosa Methodist church service, well, three hours of it at least-we had to leave early. It was all in Xhosa, and about 75% of the service was soulful, spirit lead singing. The xhosa hymns were so loud and powerful, only voices and a leather hand pillow to keep the rhythm. Then the traditional African Sunday dinner of chicken, rice, potatoes and squash, with custard and jello for dessert.

There is so much more i wish to tell you but only so little time and space. Shabeen hopping with our tata, a xhosa birthday celebration, going to a township mall, LOTS of meat in a cardboad box, African beer circles and more. This was one of my favorite weekends so far in Cape Town and I feel that as time progresses here, the things I am learning increase exponentially.