For our final group outing, our RA’s took us to the region of Bo-Kaap in the city.
Its right up the street from the business district and as you can see it’s pretty hard to miss.
This area holds much historical value to South Africa. Bo-kaap is a Muslim community consisting of generations of descendents of former slaves brought from eastern Africa to serve the Portuguese rest stop in southern Africa. With their many interactions with different people and languages in Southern Africa, the slaves formed the language which is now known as Afrikaans. I learned from the people of Bo-kaap that their ancestors were also imprisoned at Robben Island long before it was used as a prison during the time of Apartheid. I enjoyed their welcome and felt their sense of community and it shows through their day to day life. Food, music, and color are a big part of their community. Most of all I enjoyed all their spices and amazing SAMOSAS!!!!
I have literally eaten my body weight in samosas and potato balls!!! I plan on buying about 6 packets of masala spices and samosas spices to bring home. Every year the people continue a tradition started by the slave ancestors where they put colorful cloth over their clothes to not be recognized and sing songs about their owners. Now it has become a huge competition in Bo-Kaap where hundreds of band collectively consisting of thousands of people come together and compete.
Location: cape Town, South Africa
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I love how colorful the houses are! It is interesting to watch a tradition, and also learn about the historical roots of it.
Afrikaans is actually spoken and understood by a significant swathe of South Africa’s population (and I think in a couple neighboring countries, as well). The origin of Afrikaans is actually in the Dutch language, the Dutch being early colonizers if South Africa several centuries ago. But, as you said, there are many influences evident in the language, including Portuguese. South Africa is such an interesting place!