Swop Shop!
These kids melt my heart...
This girl was chasing some bubbles! Some things are universal
The past few
days have consisted of more time on the boat with the sharks, beach cleans, and
time out in the community of Gansbaai. For this blog post, though, I’m going to
focus mainly on that third category. Yesterday morning we had one trip out to
sea, in which we saw several sharks, including one very inquisitive new male.
He had some black circular scars on both sides of his dorsal fin, which looked
like he had previously had a camera tag clamped to the fin which had fallen
off. The scars made him really easy to identify, and we saw that guy again
today.
Yesterday
afternoon, after we’d cleaned up and unpacked the boat and washed the wetsuits,
the volunteers jumped in the van and headed to “Swop Shop”, the program in the
local community that White Shark Projects runs. Swop Shop takes place in
Masakhane, the black neighborhood of Gansbaai, which is a really poor area.
Although apartheid has been gone for more than two decades here in South
Africa, the effects of it are still around. Mainly here in Gansbaai, I’m
reminded of it by the fact that the three main ethnic groups of South Africa-
black, white, and colored- are divided into three different parts of town. Not
divided in everything they do, of course, but specifically in the area where
they live. Blacks live in Masakhane, coloreds live in Blompark, whites live in
De Kelders. Masakhane is an especially poor neighborhood here, and that’s where
we do Swop Shop. Basically, the kids in the neighborhood collect recyclables
like plastic and glass bottles from in and around their homes and bring them to
the shop. There, they earn a certain amount of points for what they bring in,
that they can then “spend” in the Swop Shop for things like toys, school
supplies, and clothes. It happens most Tuesday afternoons, and the vols went
yesterday to help out. Working Swop Shop is something here in Gansbaai that
reminds me that I’m in Africa- believe it or not, it’s often easy to forget!
Not all of the kids have shoes, and they sometimes wear clothes meant for the
opposite gender just because they fit. One thing that amazes me about them,
though, is how they never complain or get upset if they can’t get something.
See, the shop is arranged by shelves- the higher the shelf, the more points the
item is worth. Sometimes a kid will point to an item that they’d like but don’t
have enough points for, and we have to tell them no. All Americans know that if
you tell a little kid they can’t have something while shopping, they’ll
probably throw a fit, but these kids just don’t! I don’t get it, and it’s
amazing to see. Aside from that, they’re just more respectful in other ways as
well. For example, yesterday I was walking a girl around the shop who was
looking at some clothes. Whenever she’d get down an item, look at it or try it
on, and decide it wasn’t the right size, she’d ALWAYS fold up the item again
before putting it back. Anyone that’s worked in a clothing store knows American
kids aren’t really known for doing that.
It was a
very successful afternoon working Swop Shop- the kids collected a LOT of
recyclables from around the neighborhood and all the vols seemed to have a good
time helping them out. When the kids were done, we locked up the shop and
headed back to the vol house to get ready to go spend the evening at Oppidek, our
favorite pub in Gansbaai. They were having a trivia night, and the WSP vols
decided to all go play as a team. We didn’t stay out late, though, because it
was another 6 am start this morning.
This evening
we’re going out into town again for karaoke night at another pub in town, since
tomorrow is a no sea day. I don’t know if we have any plans for tomorrow yet,
but we’ll see! This post’s food for thought: “The purpose of life is not
to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have
it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”- Ralph Waldo
Emerson
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