two separate worlds but the ones in the seemingly good places are the most unhappy

Straight to the point, the people who stay in town and in the suburbs are the most unhappy people i tell you. They are actually not free. Everything about them is about security and permanence.

You see, like that bird that walks on top of leaves that have fallen on top of the water, i don’t know the name of the bird, we should all try to be like that. Realise that you can only stay on a leaf long enough before it sinks into the water and then move on to the next one. We just need to understand that nothing is forever, we should be masters of this, after all we all know we are going to die, and the most interesting thing about it is that, it can happen anytime. Today even. Blablablabla. Actually i read a book, a small one which i am still searching for about this bird.

i carry an iPhone 6, yes i do. i kept on thinking of how i was going to make sure that it is not seen because they might steal it from me. First i wondered if i should take my wallet with me or maybe just draw cash so that i do not have to be seen to be carrying the wallet, i even thought if i was taken by some robbers to the ATM to draw money, they would take all my money since my limit is a bit high (not that i have a lot of money).I need to change my limit, i thought to myself. All this preparation because i was going to the township in khayelitsha. I was preparing myself in such a way that, i thought the probability of being robbed was very high. Me, Given Shingange, who grew up in the township, was now afraid of the township.

Anyway, i made my way to Site B in a taxi of course, i don’t have a car and met Thembelani, we went to his place. This is where i should say his shack, but is it really important? I probably also have to mention all the other things that i noticed about the township to make this juicy, but is it really important, really? So, when we got to his place, i asked if we can go somewhere where there would be other people. We went to Terrors place. A place where they sell drinks and the people go there to meet and socialize. I am trying to avoid saying tavern because it is obviously associated with lower levels of entertainment spaces. Look, as much as i was a bit tired of the overly pretentious environment in town, i was on another mission.

On our way to Terrors place we walked past one of the houses, and this known person around had been locked inside. It seemed like it was a norm for him to be locked inside the house. He seemed very drunk also. Thembelani pretended to be trying to open for him and even asking some of the people around if they can open for him. We walked past an area that had a deep smell before getting to the place, but it does not matter what that smell came from and whether it was a good or bad smell. We do not write about the smell when we write about our encounters in town and other “nice” places.

let me talk about my mission for a little bit. simply put i realised that this project that i am working on will not work if i do not understand the people that i am trying to do it for. I had defined the problem in my head, probably from the medias point of view, and also wasted time on determining what the problem was in my head and i was now at a very advanced stage of putting this on paper. All this work and i had not spoken to the people that i was dead sure that this was for them. it was all in my head.

The project is about job readiness, i have interviewed many people that were looking for housekeeping jobs and i found that a lot could still be done if they are to stand a chance of getting jobs, etc etc etc. this was done while i was working for other companies.

i really am trying to avoid describing everything else because that is where the prejudices and the stereotyping starts. It is in our description that we already say we are better than them, there is the Us and Them. When the everyday lived experiences of others are there for some amusement, and yet we want to claim to be working on changing how things are for the better, such hypocrisy.

The DJ was good, and he used a laptop that did not have a screen. Way better than the many DJs who play at some of the most over prized places in other places. The Alcohol was cheap also, tasted the same as the one in all these overpriced places in other places and it was also colder. Well i guess you are thinking, but we pay for the convenience, whatever. I stood there next to the DJ.

i can’t say more, you will have to go there yourself. It was my experience and as an activist, the least i think we can do is to stop thinking that we are the only ones with the superiority to solve the problems  (assumed or real) of this continent without the masses.

But i can say this for a fact. the people are surviving, yes they have problems, we all do, but they are surviving, and they have the capability to do anything for themselves.

Ok

Author: Given Shingange

Xingange Group I Connecting The Dots I Institute For Defence Security and Intelligence I Career and Organisational Development Institute I SA Black Business View all posts by Given Shingange