My Big Dream is to Live in a Tool Shed

In Ocean View there is a lot of talk about “Wendy Houses.”

For a long time I thought people were saying “Windy House” – since it looks like the wind could have its way with this house – although I thought “house” was a big stretch.

This week I learned it’s a WENDY House – named after Wendy in Peter Pan.

Apparently there is some part of the original story where Wendy is injured after arriving in Neverland and Peter Pan builds a small house around her where she had fallen.

Is it me – or does no one else remember this from the story? At least no one else that relies on Disney not to edit out crucial cultural axioms in their movie cartoons?

Essentially it’s a play house... a wooden shed. In the US – these are usually found in the back yard – accompanied by happy children (who most likely have also seen the cruelly deficient version of Peter Pan and have no idea they have their very own Wendy House) or garden tools (who remain mute on this point).

In the “haves” part of Cape Town – as in the US - these are pre-fabricated timber sheds which are delivered by a small truck and erected in the back yard as either a play area for children or tool shed.

For the “have nots” in Ocean View – these are luxury homes they could only hope to afford in another lifetime. In short, their big dream is to live in a tool shed.

I’ve come to learn a smaller Wendy House is aound $400 and a larger one is closer to $1,000. Sometimes they come with electricity and a few rooms.

Housing is the big deal in Ocean View.

A very big deal.

Years ago the government built “flats” (apartments that look like the “projects” in an urban US city) and these go for a mere $40 a month (or $6 if you prove you can’t afford that). Most people in Ocean View could afford one of these flats. The problem is not the rent – it’s the WAITING LIST. People have been waiting YEARS (some up to 10 years) for one of these flats. There are none available. This is why adult children, with their 3-4 children, never leave “home.” There is simply no place to go.

The women I know in Ocean View live in horrible situations with alcoholic, abusive parents who don’t want them there.

They would give anything for a Wendy House...a place to call their own. They want jobs – to pay for the Wendy House – but these are difficult to find.

They want a life – just like you and I - but forget about the vacations and new clothes and nice cars – they simply want with a job that pays the bills, food on the table every day (not every other day) and place they can call their own.

They want to fly.

From the 1953 Disney Movie….

Wendy: But, Peter, how do we get to Never Land?
Peter Pan: Fly, of course.
Wendy: Fly?
Peter Pan: It's easy! All you have to do is to... is to... is to... Ha! That's funny.
Wendy: What's the matter? Don't you know?
Peter Pan: Oh, sure. It's... It's just that I never thought about it before. Say, that's it! You think of a wonderful thought.
Wendy: I'll think of a mermaid lagoon, underneath a magic moon.
John: I'll think I'm in a pirate's cave.
Michael: I think I'll be an Indian brave.
Peter Pan: Now everybody try.
Wendy, John, Michael, Peter Pan: One, two, three!
Wendy, John, Michael: We can fly! We can fly! We can fly!
[the children all fall to the ground]
Peter Pan: This won't do. What's the matter with you? All it takes is faith and trust. Oh! And something I forgot.
Peter Pan: Dust!
Wendy, John: Dust?
Michael: Dust?
Peter Pan: Yep, just a little bit of pixie dust.
Peter Pan: Now, think of the happiest things. It's the same as having wings.