I chose this particular title for this blog because it describes in full the experience I have had this home-stay weekend in Ocean View.  I don’t know if I can describe the kind of community Ocean view is in a few words but here goes. Ocean View is a community that was forcibly put together during the times of Apartheid. If anyone remembers the movie “district 9” then they know loosely about the history of ocean view. The ocean view people are who South Africans call “colored” and who we may say are mixed in the states. I hope I am not offending anyone in the states but here in South Africa it is very common to talk about race and color.  So after being removed from their homes to this new place they gathered together and built a community from the ground up.  The word Ubuntu means togetherness, unity, and learning from each other. Ubuntu is what the Ocean view community was built upon. This weekend CIEE arranged for us to live with a family from Ocean View. My amazing family was warm and welcoming and ocean view taught me about what a community truly is. That we are all interconnected and we all at some point will need and learn from each other. I also opened up during my stay and interacted with people I have never known and I learn that every stranger I meet and talk to is a possibility to learn something new.  The Videos and pictures are of the community entertaining us and my home-stay family.

Location: Ocean View, South Africa