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Leni

What I have learned on this trip so far is that all people are the same. We all want safety, shelter, sustenance, and most of all, the best for our families. Being able to witness the disparities here first hand has made me realize that there are people in Ellensburg who suffer from the same things. Walking around Cape Town I see a woman who can’t feed her children. I, too, see a woman who can’t feed her children in Ellensburg. In Cape Town, I see a man who has no job. I, too, see a man who has no job in Ellensburg. In Cape Town, I see children who have dropped out of school and turned to drugs. I guarantee you can find that in the ‘Burg. The real issues begin with how we address these problems. There is always room for improvement whether it be in Ellensburg or Cape Town. All humans deserve to have an equal opportunity to succeed, but do our governments give us that chance? During this trip, I have begun to question a lot of things in our society. How can we change the world around us for good?

My favorite part about today was learning about the gap between the rich and the poor from Wayne. It’s so interesting to see that n upscale home costs $3000 a month to rent, and right across the street is a township where one family only makes $250 a month. From this experience, it makes me question the government and infrastructure not only in South Africa, but also in the US because I can also see the same issues back home.

 

Javier

Wayne (Eaves from The Warehouse) had given a deep understanding on what’s going down in Cape Town. He explained how we experienced the inside of the community. But not realizing by zooming out you had a greater understanding on how everything is placed. For example, how the buildings are placed and the purpose of that building, such as having an expensive golf course right next to a high jail facility. This blows my mind – it really shows how people in social status such as the rich really don’t care where the poverty is placed as long as the rich have high walls and guards.

For Ellensburg, I can tell that the buildings are placed pretty well. For example, a jail is not placed right next to the school. I feel that Ellensburg has a good understanding within a community. They’re trying to improve, if anything is wrong, it is dealt with as soon as possible. Compared to Seattle, I feel that it has a close similarity with Cape Town since Social Status still is a big deal.

 

Jackson

First off, it was interesting for me to hear from Wayne that there was only a white population of about 10% and the amount of people contributing to taxes was about 27% of the people. In the US, even the lower wealth people of the community contribute to tax dollars. Ellensburg has a very diverse socio-economic class. They are diverse in general with the race/ethnicity of the students.

The event that stood out to me the most today was our dinner. The dinner tonigtht showed many African traditions. The food was local foods and the style of bringing out the food allowed us to try everything on the menu. This is right down my alley. It was also cool to experience the interactive drumming, where we all had a drum at our seat and were able to play along. At the middle and end of our dinner, they also had dance performances.

 

Justin

The disparity in South African communities is huge. The difference between the township and the nice neighborhood is shown with the type of schools and the infrastructure within the community. I think employment and wages are huge. The poverty is not earning enough to improve their lives.

This issue is not foreign to me. Coming from the Philippines that discriminates against the poor, and also coming to America where there is discrimination and classicism. Both are good communication to create separation and disparate between two classes. I see this happening a lot in Seattle, especially how they are using property taxes as a way of pushing poor people out of their homes. I think when it comes to creating a more inclusive community, we need to be able to give them the tools and resources to make the situation better. The solution or answer is not as simple as two or few things. It is a lot more complicated and needs to be looked at in many different angles. It also takes more than one person or organization. It is the infiltration of everybody’s efforts to make a difference.

 

Nick

I do not really witness any disparities in my everyday life in the ‘Burg. I can understand how there are some potential disparities in Ellensburg though. Living location and certain housing developments might contain more of one socio-economic class than another. For the most part though, I think there is a diverse population throughout different jobs and trades in the city.

I think my favorite part of today was going to the penguin beach. Seeing penguins in nature was very neat and it was something I never thought I would see. The penguins have become part of South African culture so I am glad we got to go see them. Those little buggers are so cool to watch!

 

Bryan

The part of today that stood out most to me were the conversation with Wayne, the trip up to Table Mountain and the dinner at Golds. The food and experience were great. Table Mountain offered an impressive view of a unique geological landscape, and the ride up the steep cliffs in the cable car made me want to go back and scale them on foot and hand sometime. Very cool location. As for the conversation with Wayne, I appreciated his honest opinion and perspective of Cape Town. I liked the fact that he focused on the disparity of wealth in this community by exemplifying the fact that the super-rich of Cape Town live right next to the prison and very poor neighborhood. You could also tell that he was an empathetic person that shares the palm of those that he perceives as less fortunate. Which is one more reason I liked his talk. His passion for change and the want to help was apparent in everything we discussed.

It was also good to go on this drive around the city and view things from our third-party perspective because it helped me to realize how there are many aspects of Seattle that are shared with Cape Town. To fix many of the things wrong with Cape Town, would mean to be able to fix many of the issues apparent in Washington as well this was an epiphany for me because it made me realize how little I actually understood my own home.

 

Kristin

From today’s experiences, I really enjoyed spending time at Table Mountain. It was so cool to be able to overlook Cape Town and see its natural beauty. We were also able to see how the terrain was different from the PNW. I enjoy hiking and spending time outside, so I really liked being able to experience the outdoor world here. I also enjoyed dinner and learning how to play the drums. Although it was heavily commercialized, I liked learning how to play the drums and experiencing the culture, songs and dance as well. It was also cool to get to “taste” different parts of Africa.

In regards to the social disparity and justice workshop. Wayne highlighted the key point of change starts with the individual. You actually have to be proactive in changing your lifestyle in order to make a difference. I think that is something that I can take back with me to the ‘Burg. Just to understand that I am the catalyst for change and I think that is something that isn’t really seen in the free states. Everyone wants change, but they don’t lead by example. Recognizing that one individual can be the catalyst is crucial.