It was a somber day when we went to the District Six Museum. District Six is one of the neighborhoods where black and colored people lived in Cape Town.  Then, sadly, in the 1970’s, the apartheid regime decided that they should be separated from white people – sort of like segregation period in the United States.

The government forced over 60,000 people to relocate from their neighborhoods into an area called the flats.  This put everyone and their friends far from the city and it was very hard to do things like shop, get food, and to get to and from work, school and their church.  It was so sad!

This was one of the displays at the museum.

Here are many of the original street signs that were saved from the neighborhood. Everything was ordered to be destroyed, so it is very special that someone saved these.

To lighten the mood, I asked if I could play the grand piano – of course I asked permission from the curator!

After the museum we went to an area called Bo-Kaap or Cape Malay Quarter, which is the spiritual home of the Cape’s Muslim community.

This is a very colorful neighborhood, on the slopes of Signal Hill, as you can see, with cobblestone streets and brightly colored homes.  I wanted to know more about the history, so I looked it up and learned that many of the residents are descendants of slaves from Malaysia, Indonesia and other African countries who were brought to the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch during the 16th and 17th centuries.  The slaves were called Cape Malays, which is not exactly true, because they all didn’t come from Malaysia, but the name stuck.

After Bo-Kaap, we went to a very large playground.

I met some new friends who taught me a new game called 52 bunker – I will teach all of you kids how to play it when I get back to the States.

At the end of the day, we had an amazing American barbecue with our new friends and hosts, Anke and Tyl, plus 2 new additions… KITTENS! I had a lot of fun playing with those cute furballs!

Kitty cats, Max and Lasse

Anke and Tyl threw us a “welcome braai” and we hosted the farewell BBQ.  My parents made some of my favorite things. We had grilled lamb, chicken and lots of assorted vegetables, plus garlic bread and blue cheese bread. Most of all we had another wunderbar night with Anke Tyl!

Well I’m sorry to say, but that was the end of our day.

Look for more posts from your Junior WorldTrek Repoter

Keep Calm and Travel Around the World