33. Rubbing Shoulders

Who would have thought that someone working with the street kids would get the chance to “rub shoulders with the rich and famous”?
In my time working with the kids I have had many opportunities to do just that. Some of opportunities I turned down and some of them I accepted.
One thing I have seen is that the street kid “problem” gets quite a bit of attention and sparks interest and emotions in many people. Some people show interest because they really care, and others show interest because it will give them a good name, or make them look like a “do-gooder” in the eyes of the public.
That’s just the reality of the situation.
Either way, I have had the opportunity to be involved with both types and in those times, some funny experiences have come out of them.
There was one point when people from the BBC contacted Beautiful Gate and asked if we would be able to assist them in a documentary they wanted to do on street kids. Since I was “the guy on the streets”, it was handed to me.
I agreed to help them out.
The director came into town and told me about the project and I was actually really impressed. They were filming a series of videos that would be used in a university in England in a course about working with youth.
They picked three or four different countries and then they picked four or five different kids from different social standings, race and gender, and interviewed them, asking them the same types of questions.
Well, one of the kids they picked in Cape Town was supposed to be a street kid.
The director went with me to the streets to meet the kids and he actually decided to focus on two kids who have lived on and off the street for a few years, but were at that time staying home and coming into town during the day.
After he had chosen the kids, he needed to get footage of their lives and daily activities that would be shown before the interview on the tape. My sixteen year old brother Bill was visiting me from the States at that time and so he came along as I assisted the film crew, going around with the kids trying to get “their story”.
The director wanted to get some footage of them back in their neighborhood, which is known to be one of the more dangerous areas.
We went to one of the boys’ house and interviewed his family and got the attention of many of his family’s neighbors. The funny part came when the director wanted to get footage at the train station of the boys getting on the train to go to Cape Town. In general, that particular train station is not the safest, but I was wondering if we were going to make it away from the neighborhood with the camera and the rest of the equipment.
My brother knew the area was known to be hectic and he seemed a slight bit nervous and stayed right beside me.
The station was full of people and as the director was working with the kids and instructing them, I just kept an eye out. I have learned in those types of situations, it is best to find a “leader-type” guy in the crowd and make conversation with him. That way if a problem should happen, he will usually stick up for you and help you out.
I had watched some of the people and I saw a man that owned a shop across from the station. He had been talking loud and making jokes about these “whiteys” the whole time, and everyone seemed to be laughing at his jokes, so I decided to approach and befriend him.
I went up and introduced myself to him and his name was John.
I made small talk with him and after a few minutes it seemed that I had won over his friendship. I stood by him the whole time as the director got the different shots and things that he wanted, and my brother stood beside me.
As I was standing talking to John, a gangster came up to my brother and got right in his face and starting asking him for money. He was actually demanding it, but the problem was, he was speaking Afrikaans. More specifically, he was speaking the jail/gang style Afrikaans, and Bill had no clue what he was saying.
I could see that Bill was scared but I just watched for a second to try and see if the gangster was serious or if he was joking around. Before I could really do anything, John pulled a gun out from under his shirt and pointed it in my brother’s face.
I thought Bill was going to wet his pants!
Then John said, “Hier, skiet vir hom! Skiet hom!!” (“Here, shoot him! Shoot him!!”)
Now, I knew that John was just joking around with my brother but poor Bill was terrified, not understanding Afrikaans, or the joke. He nervously looked over at me and I smiled and then began to laugh.
He looked at me with a confused look on his face.
Then I took the gun from John and joked saying, “Here, if he won’t do it I will!”
The gangster and John burst out in laughter. I looked at Bill and he seemed immediately relieved by our laughter and sort of nervously laughed with us. I gave the gun back to John and the gangster shook my hand and went on his way.
We had a smooth day and the documentary shooting went very well.
I explained to Bill later what had actually happened and he was able to laugh. I still laugh when I think about the look on his face! Poor guy!!

As I said, some people, especially those in the eyes of the public, use the street kids to gain popularity. This is something that I struggle to deal with.
There was one instance, however, when the kids got the better of someone who had that kind of agenda. I was informed by another organization that the newly appointed Ms. South Africa had decided to work with their organization with the street kids, for the mandatory community service that goes with her title.
The thought excited me but I wondered how involved she was actually going to be with the kids.
Not long after that, the people from that organization contacted me and said that Ms. South Africa was going to “spend a morning on the streets” and meet the kids. She was going to go down early one Saturday morning, and it just so happened that the press would be following her around to take pictures and do a story for the next day’s paper.
The people from the other organization asked if I would be able to go into town early that morning and make sure that one particular group was awake, ready and looking nice at a specific time when Ms. South Africa would be coming by to “spend time” with them. I agreed to do it, mostly because I wanted to help the organization, but also out of curiosity to see how Ms. South Africa would be around the kids.
I woke up early that morning and drove to town and parked my car. I walked up to where those boys slept and they had just woken up.
I told them what was going on and they came down with me to the spot I had been told to wait.
Well, basically, Ms. South Africa’s time on the streets consisted of her being driven around to a couple of spots where the kids were waiting for her and she would get out and spend about five minutes with them, smile for the pictures and then get back in the car.
When she got to the spot where the kids and I were waiting, she got out.
She introduced herself to the kids and they were informed that she would be “working” with them in the future. Then she posed for some pictures, pretending to be playing a little game with the kids. Then she said goodbye and went on her way.
I thanked the kids and told them I would see them later and got in my car and was on my way. I hadn’t been driving for five minutes when I got a call from a man in the other organization. He said, “Um, Ryan, are you still with the kids?”
I said that I was already on my way out of Cape Town and he explained that Ms. South Africa’s wallet was nicked and that she had to get on a plane to Johannesburg right then and her ID, credit cards, driver’s license and everything were in it. He said that there was over four hundred Rand in it but she wasn’t worried about that. He asked me if I would be able to get it back and I said I could try but I doubted that it would still be around IF one of the kids did take it because they get rid of stolen stuff quickly.
He asked me to try and to call him back and let him know.
I turned around and drove back to where I had left the group of kids. When I got there, they weren’t there. I went to the place where they sleep and they weren’t there.
Well, I put two and two together and thought that if they did steal the wallet then they would probably go and buy drugs with the money so I drove to the place where they buy drugs.
Sure enough, just as I was approaching the place, I saw the group of kids walking down from the drug dealer’s house. They ran over to the car when they saw me.
I rolled down the window and said, “Hey guys! Ms. South Africa seemed to have lost her wallet and I was wondering if you guys saw it anywhere?”
Henry, one of the small, yet streetwise kids, spoke up as he reached into his pants.
“Oh Ryan! I am so glad we saw you!!!”
Knowing that Ms. South Africa’s first stop was at Green Market, he pulled the wallet out of his underwear and said, “We were just on Green Market and those boys had stolen her wallet so we beat them up and took it from them but they had already stolen the money out!”
I said, “Well, are the cards and things still in it?” and he handed it to me saying, “Yeah, we got it from them before they stole those!”
I smiled and thanked him for being such a Good Samaritan. There was no reason for me to challenge him or try and catch him in a lie and so I just left it. I thanked them again and then drove on my way.

I called the man from the other organization and told him that I had retrieved the wallet, minus the cash, and Ms. South Africa was incredibly relieved and happy just to get all of her credit cards and identity cards back. I met them and gave her the wallet back and she was able to catch her plane to Jo’burg.
The next day her picture with the kids was plastered on the front of every newspaper, with stories of how she was going to be involved with the kids and so on.
I could only laugh when I looked at the picture of her with the boys who had managed to steal Ms. South Africa’s wallet, even though I don’t condone that behavior.
I never saw her with the kids or involved with that organization again after that. Maybe she was involved with street kids in other cities, but not in Cape Town.
Yeah, I have been in all types of situations.
From commercial shoots that the kids starred in to big fund raising events where I had to “baby sit” the kids that were invited.
Funny situations always manage to come out of them too.
The street kids do get a lot of attention, and as long as there are street kids this probably will continue for the years to come. Some people truly are interested because they want to help the kids and contribute towards a solution, and some just want to use their “involvement” to boost their status or popularity in the eyes of the public. I have seen many of both, and I am sure I will continue to see them as long as I am in Cape Town.