Bo Kaap – Colors to my Gloomy Day

I was never one to believe in Color Psychology or most things relating to psychology as I am not too much of an abstract person, I am more on the concrete and theoretical side of the divide. However, my Bo kaap experience changed my perception and I realized psychology exists and  that colors indeed affect moods.

After seeing so much, I had begun to run out of cash, I had used my cards few times and all was fine but the last time I used it, it didn’t work. I tried again few days later but my cards were declined. Wondering what was going on, I called my bank and explained. I was told I hadn’t linked my Bank Verification Number with my accounts hence, my accounts were frozen and there was nothing I could do till I got back. I tried to persuade but seeing that this was falling on deaf ears, I hung up. I called home to explain what was going on, asked if funds could be wired to me through money transfer just to get the  information that the Central Bank had restricted the transfer of funds outside Nigeria, hence I was pretty much on my own.

At this point, I had begun to think of how I’d survive the next couple of days, with 157rand and an Itinerary filled with unconcluded activities. Being free spirited and having a positive disposition towards situations, I stepped out but had to go eco-friendly. I took the train to Capetown City Center and on my way decided it was time to see Bo kaap. I felt depressed and I couldn’t exactly mention what was going on to the new friends I had made as Nigerians do not exactly have a creditworthy reputation abroad. I had a meager Breakfast since I was now extremely low on cash and off I went.

Bo kaap is a suburb in Capetown located at the foot of Signal Hill just above the city center. The area is quite popular for its multi colored houses and cobbled stones that date back to the 18^th century. It is home to a predominantly Muslim population and also called Cape Malay because a large amount of the residents are descendants of slaves from Malaysia. Bo kaap is synonymous with colors, such that each house is differentiated from the other by the colors.

These colors had some sort of effect on me, which could only have been psychological and which helped in improving my mood. I felt way better, I felt cheerful and totally forgot about my predicament. My basic survival skills were heightened, I felt lighter and oddly extroverted unlike the usual me.

I was also at the Bo kaap museum, however, I did not find it as interesting as the buildings which were artistic and pretty.

On the train, on my way out of town, I heard a guy on phone speak “Yoruba”, I was exhilarated and felt like I had won the power ball. I immediately approached him without any sense of restraint whatsoever and  started pouring, surprisingly, he totally understood and explained that he had also been home to get enrolled and link a couple of weeks ago.

I was able to get funds transferred to his Nigerian Account which he got out via his debit card. He wasn’t able to get it all out as he had reached his daily limit. Nonetheless, he was pretty nice and got it across to me subsequently considering the fact that I knew next to nothing about him and he could have bailed. Trust me we have a lot of honest Nigerians and people are who they are, not because of their nationality and generalizations should not be made.

We’ve got friends all over the world, we’ve just haven’t met them yet.

Plus when we have issues during travel or in any situation in our lives, we don’t have to stay home wallow in self pity. All we have to do is get out there.