11.03.11 The Month of Research & Independence Begins!

Classes officially ended on October 31^st and on November 1^st our month of independent research began! As we decide where to live this month, I am back in Langa with my amazing hostmother Gogo (and the adorable kids of her crèche)!! I moved back in on Tuesday for the month. My research project is about human trafficking broadly, and specifically: the realities of child trafficking in South Africa – its root causes and the innovative prevention initiatives of anti-trafficking organizations in Cape Town and Stellenbosch. As such, I am traveling around Cape Town interviewing NGO staff workers and observing prevention programs for the month! I am only two days in but I am loving the independence and research-aspect!! Each day I commute to different interview locations with the public transportation (mainly bus-taxi’s and the train), and then I come back in the evening to hang out with Gogo and see the lingering kids at the crèche! As I rode the bus-taxi (called a ‘combi’) today I thought about all the people in the combi with me who make this commute daily year-round to get to work from the township (about 45 minutes at minimum) – and Langa is one of the closest townships to downtown Cape Town. I felt like I was experiencing the legacy of Apartheid in a small way. (Under the 1966 Group Areas Act, all non-whites were forcibly removed from living in central Cape Town – hence most people who were removed still live in townships to this day).