Farewell Cape Town
Saying goodbye is never easy. It’s even harder when you’re leaving something you love deeply, something that has come to define you both personally and professionally.
I’ve been in an almost unhealthy relationship with the idea of Open Streets since March 2012. What started as a random thought became an obsession, then a job and an organisation — Open Streets Cape Town (OSCT) — that’s now much bigger than me.
It might sound cliché, especially for a woman who doesn’t have children, but I feel like I’ve experienced the joy and difficulties of nourishing something from before it was even born to seeing it grow into its own.
Unlike a human child, though, Open Streets has had many parents, and this is perhaps where the hardest part of saying goodbye comes in.
When I get on a plane for Colombia on 4 February, I’ll be leaving a family and a whole lot of memories in a country that’s become home during the past 12 years.
It’s not goodbye forever, though. After all, I became a permanent resident of South Africa and I leave with a South African as a life partner. But my role in OSCT does come to an end and, as I’ve prepared for this difficult moment, I’ve been reflecting on what it’s all meant.
In 2012 I started writing a blog to record my Open Streets journey. It’s kind of cringeworthy in retrospect but it’s helped me remember some amazing moments — as I guess I intended at the time.
From the day I had a conversation about the idea of Open Streets with Diana Sanchez — another Colombian living in Cape Town, who became a co-founder and board member of OSCT — to the moment I saw the World Economic Forum had showcased our platform as a tool for residents to take back the streets, I’ve undergone a real transformation.
That idea has not only caught on in Cape Town, there’s a real sense that it could take off in other SA cities — and even across Africa. My dream of “doing something for the city where I live”, as my friend Mike Freedman put it, has turned into a reality bigger than I could have imagined, and I’ve grown with it.
It’s not been my own doing; many others have joined the movement. From the co-founders and board members to the employees, volunteers, consultants, advisors, associates and thousands of Capetonians who’ve taken part in Open Streets Days — the family I’ve become part of is a real cross section of this city.
In the early days, I got Open Streets going over hundreds of cups of coffee — and probably even more annoying emails! Today it truly belongs to the people of Cape Town.
In the next two months, OSCT will undergo a process of transition and handover. An amazing human being, Rebecca Campbell, who has helped the organisation just as much as I have, will take it forward. I’ll certainly try my hardest to make the process as smooth as possible. Then I’ll be gone.
I know that with Rebecca’s guidance Open Streets will continue to inspire people to radically increase the use of streets as public space. That’s where I think the future of our communities lies — in those spaces where we connect with each other in a simple and honest way. On the street.
Photo by Kaylynn Palm
