Cape Town is full of modern style and traditional charm but South Africa has two faces. Today AINORI will see that other face. They come to a village not far at all from Cape Town where the dirt roads are lined with with garbage and the houses are mere shanties, put together using any materials available. Their guide MR. SAPIWEI, a native South African shows them around his village.
HAORO is a surprisingly good English speaker and is able to communicate with MR. SAPIWEI with little effort. The name of the village is Township and it stretches for several miles. The residents of Township can easily see Cape Town glimmering in the distance.
Township is the result of years of apartheid between the black and white people. This conflict has been going on since 1941 when the British came into South Africa with the aim to stop the slave trade and ended over a hundred years later.
During this period 70% of the population was native South African. The British moved them into small areas where they could be controlled. Then most of the black people or about 70% of the pop. were forced to live on 10% of the land. In 1994, Nelson Mandela, once a political prisoner, was elected as president of South Africa symbolizing to many the end of the apartheid. Although apartheid is technically over Township was one of these designated areas and still suffers from many of the same pre-apartheid conditions.
Most houses have no running water and the unemployment rate is very high. Most children run around this village without any shoes. The AINORI group get a taste of what it is like to live in Township by sitting down to a typical meal in the village.
The portions are small and dish seems to consist of beans and some sort of bean paste. The group feels pretty bad eating the meal, remember the curried meatloaf not many days before. MR. SAPIWEI tells the group that most South Africans eat this food. The guide tells the group about his brother who was taken to prison 12 years ago.
MORIOKA asks through HAORO why MR. SAPIWEI's brother is kept by the police. He answers 'Just the color'. The group can't do anything but stare at the ground. MR. SAPIWEI takes the group to see the local preschool which is surrounded by hills of garbage and broken glass.
The preschool is pretty well maintained and has a meager library of books and is full of happy, playful children. The group play with the children until it's time to go home. That evening they all get together to talk about what they had seen.
MR. DOMINIC joins the group. He says he was thirteen when the violence between the two groups was at it's worst. He said all he wants is love and peace. The next morning the group decides to go back to the preschool and help clean up the area. The locals all join in.
JURI checks the ground for broken glass in an area she has just cleaned up by stepping around in her bare feet. The clean up effort is watched by many of the local children and after several hours the task is complete. The children run out to play in what before was a pile of garbage.
A tired but happy HAORO shares a laugh with his new friend HAKASE. And they head back for the hotel. The hosts are left in tears at the sad story but their attention is quickly diverted by an update!
YUUMIN and HAYATO are enjoying their lives back in Japan. YUUMIN is learning how to snowboard and they say that they are falling in love together. Will ASA be ok on his own? Will HAORO be able to win the affections of JURI? Will KAJI be able to hook up with the million-dollar driver? Will AYA get a chance to promote a new CD?
YES!! AYA is a host of Asahi TV's GIRLS A-GOGO which features a twenty-one member girl group Bishoujo Club 21 (Beauty Girl Club 21). She is promoting their new CD DaDiDa☆Go!Go! so buy it, wherever J-POP albums are sold! Also, please don't forget to click here for a RealPlayer preview of next weeks show!
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