FREE
April 2014
A PROJECT OF THE CAPE TOWN PARTNERSHIP Molo | Hello | Goeiedag
LISTEN UP!
Hear what these kids have to say to the world. PAGE 12
FAMILY TALES Grandkids interview their grandparents. PAGE 4 & 5
Play map
We find the best parks and pools.
Photo: Lisa Burnell
PAGE 6 & 7
Cape Town’s KIDS Is Cape Town a child-friendly city?
Toddler about town: We see the city through the eyes of a child.
PAGE 2
PAGE 10 & 11
MAKING CHANGE IN MANENBERG Meet the girls who are making their community safer. PAGE 8 & 9
www.capetownpartnership.co.za
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MOLO April 2014
EDITORIAL
Molo. Hello. Goeiedag. Molo is a free community paper, focused on the people of Cape Town, and published by the Cape Town Partnership. Created by: Ambre Nicolson, Anneke Rautenbach, Jaco Bester, Judith Browne, Maya Fowler, Lisa Burnell, Sam Bainbridge, Tanya Farber Designed by: Infestation T: 021 461 8601 www.infestation.co.za Published by: Cape Town Partnership 34 Bree Street T: 021 419 1881
How can I be a part of Molo? We are always on the look-out for compelling stories told by ordinary residents of Cape Town. If you or someone you know has an interesting story to tell, mail us at molo@capetownpartnership.co.za (no press releases, please). Every month, we’ll be continuing the conversations we start in the print edition of Molo online: Join us at www.capetownpartnership.co.za for more stories, more profiles and more citizen perspectives on this place we call home.
Where can I get the most recent edition of Molo? Molo is a bimonthly print publication, available in the January, March, May, July, September and November of every year. In the months it is not on street, it is supplemented by stories online. If you or your organisation would like to receive or distribute the print publication, please mail us at molo@capetownpartnership.co.za, including your postal address and the number of copies you’d like to receive.
Contact the creators of Molo:
@CTPartnership #Molo
Email: molo@capetownpartnership.co.za Tel: 021 419 1881 www.facebook.com/molocapetown Molo, Cape Town Partnership, 10th Floor, 34 Bree Street, The Terraces, 8001
Children and the city
W
hen thinking about whether a city is a good place for kids, it’s important to understand it’s not just about creating safe spaces, child-friendly public transport or a bigger variety of affordable housing in the inner city. It’s also about creating a generation of engaged citizens. Citizens take an active part in the life of a city when they care about that city, and to care about something you have to know it. This knowledge of the city is something that is gained over a lifetime and starts at an early age. Are the streets of our city easy to navigate with a pram?
Children must be at the heart of decision-making when thinking about a city. One of the aims of the Cape Town partnership is to support Cape Town’s move towards becoming a more child-friendly city, through better public transport and housing options, welcoming public spaces and safe street initiatives. Bulelwa MakalimaNgewana, CTP CEO
Is the street where a child grows up a safe place to play? Do these streets lead to safe and interesting public places? Too often in Cape Town, marked as it is with the divides of an apartheid city past, the answer to these questions is no. This lack of safe engagement with the city affects all children, regardless of their economic status. Children of low-income families are often forced to navigate public transport and busy city streets alone when travelling to school, thanks to families being separated by the city’s daily commuter labour system. For children of wealthier parents the problem is one of isolation. These children are almost entirely denied the opportunity to engage with city spaces – except by car. In both cases we risk raising a generation of children who do not have a sense of connection or shared ownership of our shared spaces. While the problems we face in making Cape Town more childfriendly are challenging, they are not insurmountable. Much is already being done, by public policy makers, private enterprise and individual citizens to ensure that our public spaces are being made more welcoming, our public transport improved and pedestrian rights prioritised. As adults it is our responsibility to lead by example. If we want our children to grow up as active and engaged citizens, we must show them how. Here then is our hope for the children of Cape Town: that each and every child feels safe to use
and enjoy the street where they live, that this network of safe streets leads to a diversity of public spaces and schools and that those places are populated with a diversity of people.
FIVE Cape Town Partnership projects with a focus on children and young people Trafalgar Park bandstand project: As part of the Cape Town Partnership’s engagement with communities in the area, project co-ordinator Zarina Nteta is working with local children and the Children’s Art Centre to give the bandstand in Trafalagar Park a creative update. 2 Green Clusters: The Cape Town Partnership recently facilitated a dialogue with the Slow Food Youth Network and a number of urban and peri-urban farms around Cape Town focusing on ways to increase youth involvement in urban agriculture as a way of encouraging a collaborative approach to urban farming. 3 THE Neighbourhood Communication Project is currently involved is the DOO.co-lab Pilot, a project which involves students and lecturers from the Cape Peninsula University 1
for Technology’s Department of Design and Informatics, Interaction Design Department at Malmö University in Sweden and DOO.co, a design company interested in design for positive social change.” 4 Low-Carbon
strategy: The Cape Town Partnership, in collaboration with Sustainable Energy Africa (SEA) and the City of Cape Town, and with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, has mapped the carbon output and energy consumption of the central city. This blueprint of where our energy and emission challenges lie enables us to better plan how to conserve our energy resources for future generations. Public spaces: We are working to make all of Cape Town’s public spaces more welcoming and familyfriendly destinations. In Church Square we are engaging with residents to better understand who uses the square and in what ways. In Harrington Square plans are afoot to add to the play facilities used by kids in the area and we are supporting the Company’s Garden’s efforts to host more events and child-friendly activities. 5
Cape Town Partnership vision Some say cities are the future We say people are the future This is our home This is our hope This is our chance
PORTRAITS OF CAPE TOWN
Working
We asked some of the talented children who attend classes at the Children’s Art Centre in Zonnebloem to draw a picture of their favourite place in Cape Town or a map of the route they take from home to school.
Building
Children’s Art Centre
Believing
there is more that connects us than divides us
Speaking
the language of hope
together for the common good
from the ground up
Sharing
the spaces in between We can plant our tomorrows shape our future, heal ourselves We can make our city warm, open, welcoming, rich in opportunities for all
Cape Town A city with a past. A people with a future
The Children’s Art Centre was started in 1945 to give some of Cape Town’s less privileged kids a safe place to be after school and the opportunity to express themselves creatively. Today the Children’s Art Centre presents weekly extra-mural programmes for all learners with a special interest in the visual arts. These classes are on Saturday mornings (10h00 to 12h00) and Wednesday afternoons (15h00 to 17h00). Cost per Saturday class is R25 and all Wednesday after-school programmes are offered free of charge.
Sivalele Sinqana, grade 11
IN SHoRT
TWO CAPETONIAN CHILDHOODS, BY NUMBERS
PORTRAITS OF CAPE TOWN
Text: Anneke Rautenbach
“Every child has the right to basic nutrition, shelter, basic healthcare services and social services…” – Section 28 (1) (c) of the Bill of Rights
mEET anDIle
mEET sopHIe
Andile is eight years old and lives with his mother, auntie, cousins and three younger siblings in Khayelitsha. He is one of the few children born in Khayelitsha to have grown up here. Most born in his area have been sent to live with family in the rural Eastern Cape, forming part of the 55% of children who live in rural areas by the age of three. Andile and his siblings make up some of the 2-million children living in shacks or in the backyards of other houses. They also form part of the 43% of children who do not have access to piped water. They are four of 3,3-million children who are often hungry. Andile’s mother does her best to buy enough food for the children, but sometimes meals have to be skipped, or Andile is left hungry after a mealtime. This is getting worse as he is growing up. He is small for his age, making him one of the
Sophie is eleven years old and lives in Constantia with her parents, brother and two dogs. like Andile, she forms part of the 46% of children who live in urban areas. Unlike Andile, she and her brother form part of the 66% of children who live in formal housing. They also form part of the less than 3% of children who have access to a flush toilet on their property. Her house is spacious, and she is lucky not to be one of the 25% of children who live in overcrowded houses, with more than two people per room. Her house even has a spare bedroom, where her friends sometimes sleep at the weekends. Sophie is also lucky enough to go to school, and is not one of the 67 000 children between the ages of 7 and 18 who do not attend school. in total 31% of this group reports a lack of money for school fees, but Sophie’s parents
67 000
children between the ages of 7 and 18 do not attend school. 17% of children between three and nine whose growth is affected by inadequate nutrition. Andile is lucky enough to be one of 12,2-million children of school-going age enrolled at one of the country’s 26 000 schools. There is an equal number of boys and girls at his school but Andile is happy not to be a girl, because the school toilets have been broken for years, forming part of the 39% of schools with inadequate sanitation facilities. The children have to use the nearby field, and while boys can be quick, girls have to squat and are shy to do so. Sometimes they just go home when they need to use the toilet.
43%
M.Nur Ras, 7
of children do not have access to piped water. have disposable income not only for school, but for extramurals too. She forms part of the 86% of grade 6 learners at former white primary schools who read at the correct level, as opposed to the 24% at former black primary schools and the 46% at former coloured primary schools. Because of her supportive social structure and high level of education, Sophie is not likely to be one of the 2 500 primary school learners to fall pregnant annually.
Siseko, 7
deen, 8 Note: These figures are national, and from the university of Cape Town’s Children’s institute.
colUMN
THE TWO-FACEd CITy TANYA FARBER
I knew The Conversation would eventually have to happen, but I didn’t realise it would thrust its thorny itself upon me quite so soon.
W
e had just moved from the concrete jungle of Jozi to spoilt-for-choice Cape Town with our two-yearold daughter. We had a sense that shopping malls and the Zoo Lake (on repeat) were not really going to cut the mustard as “things to do on the weekend with a toddler”. For the first months, I checked my social conscience in at the door and explored the childfriendly delights this gorgeous
city has to offer. The weekends soon become a swirl of beaches, mountain, forests, Kirstenbosch Gardens … But then it happened. We were sitting at the restaurant at the Aquarium resting our tired feet. “Mom,” Sophia said, tugging on my sleeve, “Why do all the people bringing the food have dark skin and all the people eating the food have light skin?” And bam! Just like that, it was there. The Apartheid Conversation. And so it unfurled like a flag of shame from our past. And that, of course, got me thinking. Should I expose my child to the realities of inequality in Cape Town, or should I actively seek something more ideal, just to show her how it should be? A few years later, now as a mother of two daughters (age 8 and 5) and as a journalist covering social justice issues for a daily newspaper, each week brings me to a scene that makes my heart rattle inside my chest: toddlers roaming the dusty streets of
informal settlements unattended in the Winelands, sixty children squashed into a single room at an unregistered early childhood development centre in Gugulethu, endless stats and face-to-face interviews that speak of poor sanitation, limited access to clean running water … And each time I think, should I bring my children to see this, because this is, after all the real Cape Town? But always, something stops me. I need more time, I say to myself, they need more time. So for now, I deliberately seek out those moments and places that speak of a “togetherness” – however transient and however rare. The train, I think, is always a good place to start. As it breathes and rattles along its iron tracks, it is a mobile piece of public space which, without fail, offers the most random and diverse collection of people a child could hope to encounter. I love how my daughters are mesmerised by the orchestra of English, Xhosa, Afrikaans, and
that lyrical form of French that pours out of the mouths of African nationals from francophone countries. My daughters often strike up a fleeting friendship with other children in the compartment: children they’d be far less likely to encounter in the suburbs in the normal course of events. Then there are the public events that make me want to bottle their essence and store them on the windowsill for those moments when I feel despair about the city’s future. I have a very clear image of my daughters shuffling along the Fan Walk in the city bowl during the 2010 Fifa World Cup. There was no sense of “us and them” at all on this particular day – not along racial lines, socio-economic lines, or any other invisible boundaries that separate people. They got swept up in the festive mood that flowed down the street that day and I remember wondering how it was all being etched into their minds. Yes, that was almost four years ago, but I had the same feeling
Should i expose my child to the realities of inequality in Cape Town, or should i actively seek something more ideal, just to show her how it should be? when we took the girls along to the Mandela memorial concert at Cape Town stadium. Of course it was a more introspective and less festive occasion but again, I tried to imagine it through their eyes. And what I saw was a city where the colour of your skin was of no consequence at all. Imagine that!
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MOLO APril 2014
FaMilY MEMoRiEs
wHen we were younG …
Family stories are precious commodities, but how do they get handed down from one generation to another? We asked six grandkids to interview their grandparents. Here’s what they discovered.
Photos: lisa Burnell, Skye grove
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lIly ANd vAugHN BOluS (TWINS, 6) INTERvIEW THEIR gRANdPARENTS, dONNA ANd CHRIS BOluS, WHO HAvE BEEN mARRIEd FOR 32 yEARS.
Lily: How did you and Granny meet, Grandpa? Chris: I met your grandmother when we had a date to go to the opera, an Afrikaans opera no less, and six weeks after that we were married. We got married in Rondebosch and we have been married for 32 years.
Vaughn: 32 years? That’s like me and Lily times a lot. Lily: Grandpa, did you have a pet when you were little?
01
Emmy mACFARlANE (6) INTERvIEWEd HER OumA, mINNIE mACFARlANE (70).
Emmy: How did you meet Grandpa? minnie: I met your Grandpa at a braai. We were young and carefree and I never expected to meet the man of my dreams at that moment. When I first saw him I immediately knew he was the man for me. But it took a little bit of patience from my side until we got together. I am a living proof of love at first sight. And today, after 47 years, three children and five grandchildren later, I feel exactly the same about your grandpa as the first day that I saw him.
Emmy: what was Cape Town like when you were little? minnie: Hout Bay, where we live, was very different. It was like a fishing village, and it took hours to travel to Cape Town along a narrow road along the coast. It felt like a different town altogether. But Cape Town had the same vibe it has today – it was always a very diverse city with people from all different kinds of races and cultures meeting up. An outing to the Golden Acre was a big thing. We all dressed up to visit the shops, sometimes in my dad’s car and sometimes on the trams that ran in Adderley Street. The Adderley Street flower sellers are one of the traditions in Cape Town that haven’t changed one
bit. They are still as colourful and entertaining today.
Emmy: when was the first time you flew on a plane or drove a car? minnie: I first flew on a plane when I was 18 and went to America as an exchange student. It was almost unheard of for young women to leave their family and travel on their own. I learnt that it’s very important for young people to travel when they have the opportunity. Travelling opens so many new horizons and teaches you the way other people live. What I love most about it, though, is coming home to Cape Town. The combination of wonderful people, the sights, sounds, tastes and flavours of this place are something I have never experienced in any other city in the world.
An outing to the golden Acre was a big thing. We all dressed up to visit the shops, sometimes in my dad’s car and sometimes on the trams that ran in Adderley Street. MiNNie MACFARlANe
Chris: I had lots of pets, including two vervet monkeys. They lived in our flat and ran around, on top of the curtain rails and all over the place. They made a huge mess. DOnna: We also had a monkey, actually. We lived in a house in Pretoria and the monkey lived in a little house at the top of a pole in the garden. We also had dogs and bantam chickens. That’s a kind of little mini-chicken. Chris: I once scared the milkman with my snakes … DOnna: Do you two know that we used to get milk in a glass bottle every day? The milkman delivered it to our house.
Vaughn: did he walk to the house? I think milk costs R15 now, how much was it when you were young?
Lily: what’s an ox wagon?
DOnna: We didn’t have rands and cents. We had English money, so it was pounds and shillings and pennies. Milk would have cost a couple of pennies.
We lived in Rondebosch, and do you know what was next door? A dairy farm. That was in 1956.
Lily: what did you do that was really naughty, Grandpa? Chris: When I was young my parents would feed me very well: porridge, eggs, bacon and sausages. I could never get through it all so when my mom wasn’t watching I would throw those sausages out the window and over the fence. In the morning our neighbour used to be outside hanging up washing and she would keep seeing these sausages sailing by.
Lily: Flying sausages! Vaughn: where did you go on holiday, Grandpa? Chris: We would go to the family farm outside of East London. Once the whole family spent a day travelling across the farm on an ox wagon.
DOnna: It’s a big cart but instead of a horse in front they had oxen, which are male cows.
CHRiS BOluS
Lily: what was Cape Town like when you were little? Chris: We lived in Rondebosch, and do you know what was next door? A dairy farm. That was in 1956. Where we lived at that time there was a lot of forest and undeveloped land very near our house where we could run around and have fun. My father – that’s your great-grandfather, Vaughn and Lily – was a crazy car man, he loved his old Citroën and he also loved fishing. We would go with him when he fished and so I spent a lot of time outdoors. I even walked to school. How do you two get to school now?
Vaughn and Lily: Car!
FEATURE
5
PORTRAITS OF CAPE TOWN
Going out to Century City and Sea Point is my favourite thing to do in cape Town. I hate the cold in Ganzekraal. Sean Mutakiwa, 10
03
Zuleigha Hendricks Sr and Jasmina Cupido, interviewed by their grandchildren, Zuleigha Hendricks Jr (16), Yunus Hendricks (13) and Nuhaa Hendricks (7).
Nuhaa: Did you have TV? yasmina: Nope, we didn’t have any television at that time. We just had a Welcome Dover stove, the one you had to put the coal in. It was so much work to clean that thing! Stuff was cheap at that time. For 5c you could buy some sweets, like stars and Wilson’s blocks.
Zuleigha Jr: When you were young, did you go dancing? What did you do for fun? zuleigha sr: The only thing we did was to go to movies, to the bioscope. We did have little flings in the house, but just for family. yasmina: We used to have parties, but only ones in the afternoon, at home. You know at that time there were no discos, just some dance halls. And we used to play lots of games at home. Things like dodgeball out in the garden. There were so many games – it was the highlight of the week. And I loved to read. I could read forever.
I was one of 19 children, although not all survived, so I had to leave school when I was 12 to look after my younger sister and brothers. yasmina
Nuhaa: Me too, I love to read. Granny, did you have a boyfriend when you were young? zuleigha sr: No, not really… I married your grandfather when
I was very young. And you know we lived far out of town so there weren’t many other people there.
my father said it was time for us to marry.
yasmina: You must have a lot, then you can choose between them.
Zuleigha Jr: Today women have lots of opportunities, like at school and for education. What was it like when you were young, were there opportunities or as ladies were you expected to stay at home and get married?
zuleigha sr: At that time we used to walk everywhere, even late at night. It was safe. Not like today. When I moved to Cape Town we would walk all the way down Hanover Street in the evenings and it was always safe.
yasmina: I finished Grade 5. At that time there was no TV, and early bed times, so there were lots of babies. I was one of 19 children, although not all survived, so I had to leave school when I was 12 to look after my younger sisters and brothers.
yasmina: Yes, I had lots of boyfriends (laughs).
Nuhaa: Lots and lots Granny?
Yunus: Were the clothes that you wore different from the clothes now? yasmina: We had minis, you know the kind that stood out like this (motioning with hands) and with the bobby socks and the tackies.
When I moved to Cape Town we would walk all the way down Hanover Street in the evenings and it was always safe.
Yunus: And how did you meet your husbands?
zuleigha sr
zuleigha sr: My sister moved to Cape Town when she was married and we would come to visit her for holidays. That was when I learned to love Cape Town. I came here on holiday and we met and well, we just kind of clicked. I was 18 at that time.
zuleigha sr: Where I came from there were no high schools. Grade 8 was still part of primary school but from there I had to travel about 30km by bus to town and my father would never have allowed this. So I was just 13 years old when I left school. He didn’t want me to come here to Cape Town on holiday. He was Indian and very strict. When I was born he was 64 years old already. By the time I was a teenager I was cooking for nine people every night. That’s why I am still busy in the kitchen even today.
yasmina: I was visiting some family friends. I saw this gentleman there and I saw he was watching me and I was so shy when they wanted to introduce me I said, “No, I know that one already…” and then I used to like to visit that house very often just to see him. He used to walk me to the bus stop. After a year
Yunus: That’s why you’re such a good cook, Granny!
This is my house and this is where I drive along these roads to get to my school. Niyaal Ras, 7
This is a double bed and an apple tree and my dog George and also a soccer field and a lollipop. I like my house the best because it’s ours and it has a garden that I like to draw. Jaqueline Adams, 7
Caleb Liam Thomas, 9
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MOLO APril 2014
ATLANTIS 31
playful CITy
DURBANV
We focused on pools and parks – but beyond these the city has some extraordinary beaches (eight of which are blue flag), nature reserves, sports ground facilities and community centres where kids of all ages can play. Go to www.capetown.gov.za to find the one nearest you. Photos by: Jaco Bester, Compiled by: Judith Browne
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ARdERNE GARdENS
■ Queen Victoria st cape Town cbd T: 021 400 2521
PAROW GOODWOOD NORTH BELLVILLE 23 26 KENSINGTON BELLVILLE SO SEA POINT 2 CITY PAROW 3 21 CENTRE RUYTERWACHT VALLEY RAVENSMEAD 27 8 GARDENS 24 4 OBSERVATORY 13 ELSIESRIVIER 8 WOODSTOCK LANGA 1 BONTEHEUWEL 7
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dE wAAL PARK
De Waal park is probably best known as the dog park (although these days, it also has resident owls and hawks). There’s a playground for children, a Victorian fountain for hot days, and a series of free Sunday concerts in the summer. ■ upper orange rd gardens T: 021 400 2521
What started out as a family garden has become one of the best collections of exotic trees in the country. Meander along the dappled walkways, through Japanese gardens and past hidden nooks (and any number of wedding parties). local life includes waddling ducks and fish flicking about in the ponds. ■ 22 main rd claremont T: 021 689 8930
This “people’s park” includes natural playscapes for kids of all ages, a stage for functions, a number of shaded eating areas, a biodiversity garden, a labyrinth as well as an outdoor gym. ■ opposite cape Town stadium accessible via beach or bay rd mouille Point
THE CoMPANY’S GARdEN
KHAYELITSHA wETLANdS PARK
02
The Company’s Garden has it all, from grassy lawns to lush foliage, aviaries to fish ponds – and is at the heart of a cultural precinct that includes the National Gallery, parliament, St George’s Cathedral and the Centre of the Book. Not only does it have free WiFi in and around its tearoom, but a playground is also in the works.
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GREEN PoINT URBAN PARK
ATHLONE
You probably know Maynardville best for its open-air theatre, which hosts renditions of Shakespeare every year. But the park also promises a playground and some good climbing trees, as well as varied bird life, including cormorants and coots, Egyptian geese and the sacred ibis, egrets and moorhens. ■ corner church and wolfe st wynberg T: 021 710 9403 07
RoNdEBoSCH PARK
Amble down this park’s tree-lined avenues and picnic on the lawns. Cycling, jogging, dogwalking and shopping (at the many craft markets held in the space) allowed. ■ corner campground and sandown rds rondebosch T: 021 689 4185
searle st woodstock T: 021 400 3031 09
10
wYNBERG PARK
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TRAFALGAR PARK
Trafalgar park, other than being next to Trafalgar park Swimming pool, also includes a playground and a whole lot of history (such as an old kiln and French fort). The space is great for a leisurely lunch or after-school romp. ■ corner Victoria rd and
5 25
11
9
MITCHELLS 32 PLAIN
KHA
19
MUIZENBERG
POOLS
Each of these pools are kid-and-parent friendly: they have kid’s pools and toilets with shower facilities (although on busy days, toilet paper can become a rare commodity, so take your own). FIRST AID ROOM
DIVING BOARD
SUNDECK
TENNIS OR VOLLEYBALL
KIOSK
WATERSLIDE
GRASSY AREA
KID’S PLAY AREA
ZANdVLEI RECREATIoNAL PARK
■ Hickory st athlone kewtown T: 021 637 6334
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ATHLoNE SwIMMING PooL
BELLVILLE SoUTH SwIMMING PooL
■ jakkalsvlei ave bonteheuwel T: 021 694 1007
BRowN’S FARM SwIMMING PooL 05
02
Adults r3.20, children r1, pensioners free
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
■ bristol rd browns farm Phillipi T: 021 371 6524/3
■ industrie rd bellville south T: 021 951 4879
BELLVILLE SwIMMING PooL 03
Adults r20, children r10, pensioners free
Play is not just a mindless activity for children. it’s the sandbox in which we build relationships and discover new ideas, find ourselves and learn about the world. No matter our age. Anonymous
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RETREAT
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
Zandvlei park is an openwater wetland, river system and estuary where you can go canoeing, sailing, windsurfing, fishing or simply unwind over a braai or a light picnic. ■ Promenade road muizenberg T: 021 701 1233
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PHILIPPI
Wynberg park marks the beginning of the Krakeelwater river, and includes a conifer garden, playground and duck pond. ■ corner klaassens and Trovato link rds wynberg T: 021 710 9403 11
GUGULETHU DELFT
7
CONSTANTIA
wESTRIdGE PARK
Westridge grows everything from Cape fynbos to roses, and has play equipment for all kinds of kids, as well as a skate ramp and park. ■ corner morgenster and de duin aves westridge mitchells Plain T: 021 371 3191
6,10
33
6
HANOVER 10 PARK
WYNBERG
MAYNARdVILLE PARK
30
16
MANENBURG
CLAREMONT
05
This urban wetland is home (or host) to many birds, both local and migratory. it also boasts a playground, a skate park and mosaic murals. ■ makhaza (between govan mbeki rd [formerley lansdowne] and Hlanga crsnt) khayelitsha T: 021 364 0960 or 021 417 0111
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RONDEBOSCH 1 20 NEWLANDS
06
3
9
4 GREEN POINT
PARKS There are so many community parks (many of them with playgrounds and jungle gyms), green spaces and nature reserves around Cape Town that we can’t possibly list them all here. For now, here are the city’s larger parks and play areas.
22
15,29
■ 12ab Voortrekker rd bellville T: 021 945 2705 04
BoNTEHEUwEL PooL
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
dELFT SwIMMING PooL 06
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free ■ Voorbrug st delft T: 021 954 2708
EASTRIdGE SwIMMING PooL 07
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
FEATURE
7
PAARL
18
VILLE
2
OUTH
LENTEGEUR SwIMMING PooL
STRANd SwIMMING PooL
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
Adults r14, children r8, pensioners free no additional facilities ■ beach rd strand T: 021 850 4170
14
12
28
■ merridale rd lentegeur mitchells Plain T: 021 371 8148
5
AYELITSHA
TRAFALGAR PARK SwIMMING PooL 29
15 LoNG STREET SwIMMING PooL
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
Adults r14, children r8
28
STRAND
hot baths Attached to long Street Swimming pool is also the long street Turkish baths (T: 021 423 9849) Access the sauna, steam rooms, hot room, showers, plunge pool and massage area ■ long st cape Town cbd T: 021 400 3302
t
■ searle st cape Town T: 021 400 3802
VULINdLELA SwIMMING PooL 30
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
NEwLANdS SwIMMING PooL
RAVENSMEAd SwIMMING PooL
Adults r20, children r10, pensioners free
gym ■ florida rd ravensmead T: 021 936 8833
20
MANENBERG SwIMMING PooL 16
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
■ alpine rd eastridge mitchells Plain T: 021 397 8194
ELSIES RIVER SwIMMING PooL 08
KENSINGToN SwIMMING PooL 11
Adults r4.20, children r2.10, pensioners free
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
■ dapper street kensington T: 021 593 8312
■ corner Halt rd and landdros st elsies river T: 021 936 8823
KHAYELITSHA SwIMMING PooL 12
09
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
Adults r20, children r10, pensioners free
■ walter sisulu dr khayelitsha T: 021 367 0909
■ corner milton and riebeeck rds goodwood T: 021 592 5141
LANGA SwIMMING PooL
Goodwood SwIMMING PooL
HANoVER PARK SwIMMING PooL 10
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free ■ surran rd Hanover Park T: 021 692 1430
13
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free ■ washington st langa T: 021 695 1044
■ olifant st manenberg T: 021 637 4374 17
MNANdI RESoRT SwIMMING PooL
Adults r20, children r10, pensioners free
■ corner main and sans souci rds newlands T: 021 674 4197
oBSERVAToRY SwIMMING PooL 21
Adults r4.20, children r2.20, pensioners free
tidal pool ■ weltevreden rd mnandi mitchells Plain T: 021 392 5520
■ willow rd observatory T: 021 689 4578
MoRNING-STAR SwIMMING PooL
PARow NoRTH SwIMMING PooL
18
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
22
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free
■ Pikkewyn st morningstar ■ de grendel st Parow durbanville north T: 021 938 8166 / T: 021 970 3607 021 918 2276 19 MUIZENBERG SwIMMING PooL
Adults r20, children r10, pensioners free (no kid’s pool), ■ beach rd muizenberg T: 021 788 1929
PARow VALLEY SwIMMING PooL 23
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free ■ duncan st Parow Valley T: 021 936 8792
24
RETREAT SwIMMING PooL 25
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free ■ concert blvd retreat T: 021 701 1513
■ corner ny145 and ny117 gugulethu T: 021 637 5097
wESFLEUR SwIMMING PooL 31
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free ■ corner grosvenor and reygersdal aves saxonsea atlantis T: 021 572 0835
32 wESTRIdGE SwIMMING RUYTERwACHT 26 PooL SwIMMING Adults r5, children r1, PooL
Adults r5, children r1, pensioners free ■ jan van riebeeck st ruyterwacht T: 021 534 4875 / 021 534 1262
SEA PoINT PAVILLIoN SwIMMING PooL 27
Adults r20, children r10, pensioners free ■ lower beach rd sea Point T: 021 434 3341
pensioners free
■ silversands rd westridge mitchells Plain T: 021 371 8332
wYNBERG SwIMMING PooL 33
Adults r6, children r4.50, pensioners free ■ rosmead ave wynberg T: 021 797 0747
Splash about in these public swimming pools, or in any of the many tidal pools (at Camps Bay, Dalebrook, Glencairn, Kalk Bay, Maiden’s Cove, Monwabisi, Silwerstroom, Soetwater, St James, Strand and Strandfontein).
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MOLO April 2014
These girls, the core group of learners who participate in the Rock Girl project, are the embodiment of Arthur Ashe’s famous quote: ‘Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.’
ORDINARY PEOPLE
Making change in Manenberg In the second of our series on individuals who have created positive change in Cape Town, we meet a group of girls who are working to make their school and their community safer. text by Ambre Nicolson photos by Lisa Burnell
T
he newest bench, named the Afrikaburn Mighty bench and designed by Mark Thomas, is made of wood and sits on the grass near the Prestwich memorial in the central city. Two others of curvy concrete and mosaic tiles live permanently at the CTICC and in Khayelitsha. Another two shiny red metal ones straddle St George’s Mall and
another, known as the Sisters bench, lives at the Amy Biehl Memorial in Gugulethu. These are the safe-space benches, symbolic reminders of the urgent need in South Africa to keep our women and girls safe from violence and sexual assault. To date there are more than 35 benches dotted cross the city. They are all inspired by a group of primary school girls
who created the first safe space, a bench that they designed and built themselves, at their school in Mannenberg in 2010. These girls, the core group of learners who participate in the Rock Girl project, are the embodiment of Arthur Ashe’s famous quote: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Starting where they were The partnership between the girls of Red River School in
Manenberg, an area well known for its gang violence, and India Baird, a human rights lawyer from Tennessee in the US and cofounder of Rock Girl, is not an obvious one. But when India first visited the school in 2010 they discovered they shared common goals: India wanted to support projects that addressed the problem of violence against women and girls and the girls wanted to do something to make their school better and their surroundings safer for themselves and their classmates. For India it was important that the project was initiated by the girls themselves. “We asked the girls what they wanted to do and then we listened. The best part for me is that they naturally understood it’s not about grand goals, it’s about making small everyday changes with immediate concrete benefits.” The girls set about researching what form their project should take. They took photos of the school, interviewed their classmates and came up with the idea of a creating a safe space on the school grounds where girls could congregate without feeling threatened, especially by the men and boys in who catcalled and occasionally threw stones from the blocks of flats overlooking the school. With India’s help they built the bench near the tuck shop, planted a garden and painted murals. Word of the project spread fast and soon sister benches were being built around Cape Town, inspired by the girls’ example.
FEATURE
9
What is Rock Girl? Rock Girl is a grassroots movement to inspire, encourage, and invest in girlinitiated and girl-focused projects in the private and public sectors. It connects girls and women to champions in government, business, the media, sports, fashion, and the arts; seeks to reduce violence against women and girls through the creation of safe spaces and encourage girls to stay in school and women to become economically independent. Current projects include the ongoing installation of safe-space benches around the city (head to Prestwich
memorial to see the newest installation, made possible by Marc Truss of the Green Point CID), documentary projects in collaboration with the Children’s Radio Foundation and the Cécile and Boyd Foundation, the Wall of Women project created with the help of architect Mokena Mokeka and the Trantraal brothers and the “Boek Hoek” project created with the Shine Centre to create safe reading spaces for girls around the city.
Want to get involved? Visit www.rockgirlsa.org.za to find out more.
Using what they have The girls and India meet twice a week to discuss and execute projects and go on outings where the girls meet prospective role models and get to visit new places around the city. Together, using minimal resources, they have created an art room at their former school, attended workshops with creative practitioners like Heath Nash and Paul du Toit and collaborated with other community organisations and NGOs to create events that address the issue of violence against women and girls. Rock Girl has also run a leadership camp for the girls, giving them the chance to learn new skills and ways to work together. Kelly Petersen, 14, has been participating in the Rock Girl project for five years. “We made the first bench because there were no safe spaces in our school. Now we are working on other projects, but they are all about trying to make our community better because right now there is a lot of violence here. I think that if people stick together then they can make change.” Fadwa Fredericks, also 14, is a newer recruit. “I joined Rock Girl because my friends told me that it was interesting. I’ve been doing this for a couple of months now and I like that we get to help our community while also having fun.” Asked who her role models are she replies, “Any adult who respects children.”
When she is older Rashieda says she hopes to help old people in her community. Tyrene Gilbert, 13, wants to be a singer, Fadwa wants to become a chef, Kelly wants to become a nurse and Regina Buys, 15, wants to be a teacher. When Mishka Abrahams, 15, who has been part of Rock Girl for six years, says that she is hoping to stay in Cape Town and preferably Manenberg, all the girls agree. They also say that they will continue to be a part of Rock Girl until they older, in Rashieda’s words, “because our wish is that there will
Learners from the Red River school in Manenberg have been working with Rock Girl for the last five years on a range of projects which address the issues of violence against women and children in Cape Town.
We asked the girls what they wanted to do and then we listened. The best part for me is that they naturally understood that it’s not about grand goals, it’s about making small everyday changes that have immediate concrete benefits.
PORTRAITS OF CAPE TOWN
be no more gangsters here anymore, and no more violence, and there is a lot of that still going on. But if we stick together we can make it better for ourselves and our friends.”
Khwezi Mboni, 10
Doing what they can At present the girls are working on a project documenting what the lives of girls are like in Manenberg. Their work, expressed through photographs and writing, will be exhibited later this year. The girls have also recently completed a project that was co-sponsored by the Cécile and Boyd Foundation, to revamp an art room at Red River primary school and last year Rock Girl partnered with comedian Amy Poehler’s Girls of the World TV project. One of the original girls from Red River primary school, Rashieda took viewers on a tour of a day in her life.
I like Sea Point and the big wheel there. I like to go there and then go to the park to play and then go to Shoprite or Macdonalds. My favourite though is the ice cream at Grand West. Gurshwin Lewis, 9
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MOLO April 2014
What does the city look like to a small child? How child-friendly are the streets of Cape Town? We decided to find out by accompanying a two-year-old as he toddled from Adderley Street to the Company’s Garden on a weekday afternoon. Text: Ambre Nicolson, Photos: Lisa Burnell
Through the eyes of a child A city is the place of availabilities. It is the place where a small boy, as he walks through it, may see something that will tell him what he wants to do his whole life. Louis Kahn, architect
FEATURE
“L
et’s be clear about this up front: this article owes its inspiration to Alexandra Horowitz’s book On Looking: Eleven walks with expert eyes, in which she examines how much we miss of everyday reality through our selective attention. In one of the essays she accompanies her nineteenmonth-old son on a walk around their block in New York City, discovering some interesting things she hadn’t noticed about her surroundings along the way (as well as how long it takes a toddler to walk around a city block). In this article a photographer and I accompany my son, who is almost two and half, as he takes us on a walk (adventure) around the city. It turns out I also have much to discover about the familiar spaces of Cape Town (and yes, it really does take that long for a toddler to walk a couple of blocks).
Adderley Street 14h00: “Beep beep!” We start on Adderley Street, which is crammed with cars, taxis, buses, people, informal traders and people wearing sandwich boards advertising places to sell gold jewellery. My son has some experience of being a pedestrian but it’s generally on quieter streets, and he is mostly either in a stroller or on his father’s shoulders. How will he react to not only walking the entire distance himself but also being given the choice about which way to go and how long to take about it? He sets off down the crowded pavement at a toddler’s meandering pace, unbothered by the crowds of people or the traffic sounds coming from the street. When a taxi hoots close by I jump, but he turns around joyfully: “Look Mommy, the cars say beep beep!” My son, like Alexandra’s, is head over heels for any form of wheeled transport. Within the first 30m of our journey he has pointed out a red bus, several taxis, a bicycle and a shiny black motorbike. Later in our journey he will be stopped, spellbound for almost 10 minutes, by the sight of a reversing garbage truck. While my son loves cars, it has been shown that spending too much time in one means leaves kids without a healthy sense of connection to place. American urban researcher Bruce Appleyard
has shown that kids who have a “windshield perspective” are less able to accurately draw a map of where they live, whereas kids who walked or biked could produce accurate and detailed maps of their communities. 14h10: The rubbish bin Having finished a snack my toddler tries to give me the empty wrapper. I tell him to find a rubbish bin. At the end of the next block we find a green litter bin and by standing on his tippiest toes he manages to throw the packet away. He looks triumphant at this small act of independence.
to ask what each of the other items on display are, variously: nail polish, chips, fruit, sunglasses and cellphone accessories. He chats amiably with the stall keeper for a couple of minutes before abruptly moving on to the next stall. Seeing a long line of informal traders’ stalls ahead of us I decide it’s time to change direction and we turn left up Longmarket Street to get to St George’s Mall.
St George’s Mall 14h35: “Pigeons!” Being in the shade and quiet of the pedestrian mall is an immediate relief because it means I no longer have to spend every second making sure my son doesn’t dart into traffic. He seems to like it too, but for a different reason. His love of anything with wheels pales in comparison to how much he adores chasing pigeons. He runs helter skelter down the pedestrian walkway getting in the way of lots of people. Nonetheless everyone smiles when they see him. This is something I have experienced before and confirms urban studies that have been conducted around the world: it’s not just kids who benefit from discovering a city, it’s also good for city streets and their inhabitants to experience kids.
14h15: “Where’s the green man?” I take his hand to cross a side street. I have taught him about traffic signals and the rule is we have to wait for the green man. Sadly, on this street there is no button to push on the traffic light and we wait for the green man in vain. All the while my son watches worriedly as pedestrians cross the road despite the red man shining. Eventually I give up and we cross too. As a toddler my son is too young to navigate the streets alone but I wonder if I will let him walk to school or bike to the park when he is older. A 2012 Danish study of over 20 000 children found that children who walked or biked to school showed better concentration and ability to solve puzzles. The effects lasted for up to four hours and mattered more than whether the child had eaten breakfast. Of course, Copenhagen is not Cape Town. In a city like ours many children don’t have the choice, they’re forced to commute to school by foot or public transport, often by themselves and often with disastrous results. Mitchells Plain for example, a community hemmed in by large highways, has the highest child mortality rate in the country due to pedestrian traffic accidents.
14h40: Elephants, giraffes and hippos, oh my! Other than the pigeons my son is most interested in all the other animals he can see, in the form of paintings, sculptures and printed fabrics. As a toddler he has a obsessive desire to name things, and the stalls of St George’s Mall offer rich pickings. We count whole herds of wooden giraffes, a dozen elephants, lions, ostriches, wildebeest, some tortoises and an owl. Who knew that you could go on safari in the central city?
14h20: Windmills Although I have told him he can go into any of the shops we pass, he is uninterested in anything retail-related until he spots a tin can of colourful foil windmills on the ground next to an informal trader’s stall. The windmills are tantalisingly close. He contemplates them seriously for a bit and I steel myself for a sentence starting with “Mommy, can I …” but then he moves on
14h55: CCID security officer When a green-bibbed CCID officer holds out his hand my son immediately takes it and wanders off. The CCID officer laughs and jokingly waves goodbye. My son follows suit. I am unsure whether to be glad that my son is so trusting or horrified that he is willing to wander off with a stranger. Either way I’m impressed by the friendliness of one of our city’s public safety officials.
The Company’s Gardens 14h50: “Squirrels!” Next we pass one of the city’s rough sleepers having a nap on a bench. I am bracing myself to try and explain homelessness to a two-year-old but my son just puts his fingers to his lips and whispers, “Shhh, he’s sleeping.” After crossing Wale Street, we make our down Government Avenue and my son spots more wildlife, in the form of the Company’s Garden squirrels. He’s off again, chasing the creatures and squealing with glee. 15h00: A bench, a well and a pond He stops only long enough to take off his shoes before continuing into the gardens to try and climb a tree, throw sticks into the pond, scale a bench and scurry under it in search of another squirrel. When I see he’s trying to climb onto the edge of the old well, the bottom of which is a long way down and strewn with evil smelling rubbish I am quick to intervene. At the same time I remember a recent Atlantic article written by Hanna Rosin, “The Overprotected Kid”, in which she shows how harmful it is for children never to exercise their risktaking skills. I decide the least I can do is show him the hazard. He stares into the darkness of the well for a couple of seconds before solemnly throwing his stick into the depths. Not long after that his pace starts to slow, followed by him halting, mid-stride, and reaching both arms up to me. Universal toddler code for “This walk is now finished.” 15h30: It’s a wrap Over the course of our hour and a half adventure we have covered less than two kilometres but my son has enjoyed himself immensely and has had positive interactions with dozens of people (and animals). I have discovered it’s not as scary as I thought for a toddler to be let loose in the city, that when it comes to universal access and pedestrian rights Cape Town is moving in the right direction but still has a long way to go and that the informal traders of Adderley Street sell an amazing array of coloured nail polish.
Is Cape Town a childfriendly city? At Open Streets we think Cape Town is not child friendly. On a regular day, streets are not inviting to children. However given a safe platform, streets become places where children engage with each other and take ownership. During Open Streets days last year parents displayed a genuine desire to encourage their children to explore: There were no cars on the street, other children and parents were engaging in the same activities and the environment invited everyone to try something new. Marcela Guerrero Cassas, Open Street Cape Town
Having lived in London, Frankfurt and Zürich I can honestly say we are tremendously excited to settle here. I could mention the lack of good child-friendly restaurants, mobility (struggling to walk anywhere with my buggy ... grrr), and a lack of good baby and toddler play groups. And suddenly we are finding ourselves explaining to our daughter why she can’t wander off on her own in a shop. Yet libraries have become a lot more child-friendly than I can remember, playgrounds appear to be much safer and cleaner and we chose Cape Town for its array of wonderful natural outdoor activities and great schools. Nadia bevan, Teacher and mom
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MOLO April 2014
YOU SAY
The Children’s Radio Foundation trains young reporters across Africa, giving them the skills to make their voices heard. These young reporters not only gain experience to last a lifetime, but ignite important conversations too. Tune into what the youth of Cape Town and South Africa are thinking and talking about at Young Reporters Network: South Africa on www.soundcloud.com.
STREET TALK
Listen up
Amanda Maxongo (16)
Students from the Centre of Science and Technology in Khayelitsha – who are exercising their ability as young reporters with help from the Children’s Radio Foundation – speak out on what matters most to them. What one thing would they say to the world, the president, the mayor or their parents?
“Peace and love are important to have in life. Because if you don’t have peace, how would you rule people in a country? And if you don’t have peace as a parent, how would people live in your home peacefully? And if you don’t have love, how would you love you children? If you don’t have love as a president, how would you love your country?”
Photos: Lisa Burnell
Luyolo Booi (16)
We are one and we should treat each other equally. There’s no reason for corruption, no reason for unfair treatment of other people. We are one. United as one.
Siphesihle Xheketwana “I would say the world must live in peace, and I would ask the president why he must have several wives.”
Kobus Yekelo (13)
Kuhle Speelman (14)
To make amends is the best thing to do when you have a guilty conscience.
“There is only one race, which is the human race. Don’t use your past as an excuse. No excuses, only success.”
Elethu Rotsho (13) “(Laughs.) I would say to my parents that I love them. Yah, I love them.”
Thokozani Nqwili (14)
Love each other and care for each other, because you don’t know what the future holds for you.
The Children’s Radio Foundation 6 Spin Street | T: 021 465 6965 | www.childrensradiofoundation.org
Jabulile Thwala (14) “I would say to the people of our country and the whole world that everybody should look at themselves in the mirror. See if you are living according to God’s purpose for you. To my parents I would say: why did they give birth to me if I can’t make my own choices?”
Olwethu Sipakisi (15) “What you do today may affect you tomorrow. But don’t let it put you down. If yesterday was bad, tomorrow might be the greatest day of your life.”