Breede River

Breede River

There are so many beautiful places in this country. This is a part of it that I had almost forgotten about. The Breede River valley has grandiose carved mountains, lush fields of grass and vines and meandering roads that almost lull you into a Zen state. I want to come back here more regularly.

The reason we were passing through this valley was that the Pink Loerie Festival weekend was over. It started (for us) on Thursday night and the vibe was great. There were people everywhere, getting into the spirit and contributing to the economy with their pink rands. Although some of the locals had issues with the colour of the notes, the majority realised that any income during this season and the current climate is welcome, no matter the colour. Certainly most were out on the street during the parade, enjoying the vibrancy that the Festival brings to this sleepy town.

The large group of friends that stayed at the Knysna Backpackers was fantastic – such amazing people and full of laughter and fun. Getting to know them better was a valuable experience and partying with them is of course almost too much fun.

What was interesting for me was realising that us Capetonians can sometimes be quite blasé about the privileges we are afforded in our cosmopolitan city. Hardly anyone in the city bats an eyelid for anything strange or different. In fact, we almost expect it. It adds to the charm of city. The gay society is strong in Cape Town and part of the fibre of the city. No-one would argue that. But we always need to remember that those luxuries aren’t available to everyone yet, regardless of the constitutional rights that are in place for each South African. Sometimes these rights are simply too dangerous to uphold. This is why these festivals are important. No matter how much we think we’ve progressed, we need to be still bring the gay issue to light, to help those that may need that extra bit of help to stand up and say, “This is me!”. For some of us lucky ones, we said these statements for the first time many, many years ago. Many others in less exposed areas of our beautiful coutntry have been to scared to say these words, too scared to admit to their feelings. This festival may have been a turning point for Johnny, or Bob, or Yvette or Xoliswa, where suddenly they didn’t feel alone and afraid anymore. They opened their eyes and saw that it’s ok to just be yourself and love yourself for it. Being a part of that, even if I may not have been aware of it, makes me feel grateful.

Tonight’s gem: “Seek out every possible way to expose your inner light. You never know who may be lost in the darkness.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 9:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.