Children and Families

The first thing you notice about the Xhosa people is that they have a very solid family structure. Everything is connected to your family and the family is connected to the community. Within Coffee Bay, there are several pockets of smaller villages, usually separated by a valley, a stream or a large hill. If you live in one part of this community you are welcomed by everyone else. You call every woman Mother and a each boy and girl is your Brother and Sister. The families live together in bundles of Rondewels, several generations together. If one person has a job, and sometimes only one person in the family does have a job, they use that to feed all their relatives. It is safe to say that without the strong bond of families, things would be much worse here.

That said, in some areas things are very bad. Even with one breathtaking landscape after the next, you can't get away from the poverty. There are children running around everywhere, no shoes, torn clothes, and the look of someone who hasn't had a full meal in a while. On the way to each school we saw this week, we passed hundreds of children idly sitting in the fields or helping their mothers carry buckets of water from the nearest river. They weren't in school, even though it is required by law that they attend. Some children don't go to school because the 4 or 5 kilometer walk is too far, some don't go because they can't afford appropriate clothing, and some children don't go to school because they serve a more immediate and valuable role for the family...they stand in the streets and beg for change from the passing cars. Tourists are coming through here more often to see the beautiful coastline and some are wiling to throw a penny or 2 to the hungry child reaching out her hand. It is highly discouraged to give in to the strong desire to help those children, as it is seen here by many to be teaching the children a bad lesson for a small amount of money rather than the lessons they would get by going to school instead.

There is a new Youth Project in town that supports youth sports leagues and offers local children a place to gather and keep them out of trouble. We were also invited to the home of a local family that houses an all-boys dance team (a very impressive group that dances in a style similar to step or stomp teams in the U.S.). The team members were aged 12-16 and most of them lost either one or both of their parents.

Children as always are the foundation of any future that a community wants to build. From what we have seen, most children here are vibrant and hopeful but with little, or really almost no chance to improve their situations. We are starting to realize that the schools here may be where we spend most of our time.