Life is cheap

torsdag den 30. september 2010

This week I have been visiting several townships. I joined a research group of German and African Ph.D. students and professors of urban development who are on a field visit in the Capetonian townships.

“Life is cheap”, a principle of a township high school, told us. Not long ago one of the students had been stabbed to death on the school property. According to the director South Africa is characterized by a “culture of violence”. As a tangible sign of that he showed us a box of weapons that students had carried along to school. The box was full of knives of all shapes. The children, explain, when their weapons are confiscated, that they carry them along to school to protect themselves.

Next to the school was a big hill. The hill is called “the evil hill” by the locals. Many acts of crime have taken place on that hill. Robbery, rape, murder. According to the principle of the high school, the hill must be changed from a “negative space” to a “positive space”. He hopes that, within 2 years time, the hill can be transformed into a place of recreation (restaurant, sport facilities, etc.) for the locals. From the hill you have a nice view over the township. The research group and I went up the hill escorted by two armed police men.

I found the visit very inspiring. Mostly, I enjoyed meeting an idealist, who believes in that “spaces of evil” can be turned into “spaces of goodness”.

The township field trip was part of the introduction to my new internship. I officially start tomorrow. I will be working in a project called the Violence Prevention Urban Upgrading Project. The project is implemented in Khyaelitsha, a township of 600.000-800.000 inhabitants. The project aims at mobilizing the township community to work actively to combat the high crime rates in the area.

I will tell you more in detail about the project and the work I will be doing.