Rotary Club of Hout Bay: more about rotary hout bay

Only twenty minutes from bustling Cape Town at the tip of Africa, Hout Bay was until twenty-five years ago a small fishing village nestling amongst the hills and valleys that lie at the foot of the famous Table Mountain. Originally just a fishing village, it has grown into a dormitory for a busy city with all the consequential issues arising from modern life and the strains of social inter-dependence.

Hout Bay harbour still supports a fishing fleet, these quaint boats - which still earn a livelihood for Hout Bay's fishing community - being a major tourist attraction. (click to enlarge)

Hout Bay still remains, however, small town amongst the mountains and is a gateway to the beautiful scenery and mountains on the route to Cape Point, via the breathtaking pass of Chapman's Peak - a mountain pass cut from the cliffs overlooking Hout Bay harbour. Hout Bay is now home to many cultures and communities centered around the original harbour master’s area, now a post office and shopping centre, and the harbour area itself.

Cyclists race through the centre of Hout Bay during the annual Pick 'n Pay Argus Cycle Race for which Rotary stewards play an important role, seen here with red flags in the 2008 race. Over 30,000 cyclists participate and funds are raised for Rotary causes. (click to enlarge)

The town nestles between two mountains, Constantiaberg and Karbonkelberg and lies between between Camps Bay and Chapman's Peak heights. It is an area of extreme beauty.

Here is Rotary's clubhouse at the Atlantic Boat Club in Hout Bay Harbour, where Rotary meets every Tuesday at 7.00pm. The clubroom has stunning views across the boats to Chapman's Peak Drive cut into the mountainside across the bay. You are always welcome to join us.

Hout Bay is also home to the centuries old fishing community who live in the Hangberg area of Hout Bay close to the harbour and to a sprawling shack settlement growing up the side of one of the valley's mountains called Imizamo Yethu, or Mandela Park, where some twenty thousand poorer black folk have their homes. Most of this community are formed from the large continuing exodus of black South Africans who have left their traditional homes in other parts of Africa in search of work in the wake of apartheid. This brings enormous strains to bear on the already limited health, education and social services structures supplied to Hout Bay by the City of Cape Town.

Imizamo Yethu, the informal settlement which ishome to some 20,000 people represents much of the problem facing many towns and cities in South Africa. Hout Bay Rotary Club has projects in this area. (click to enlarge)

Hout Bay is therefore a cosmopolitan mixture of beautiful scenery, modern shopping centres, quiet suburban streets and incredible poverty. In fact, it is a cross-section of many communities of South Africa, rich and poor, living side by side, but in this case amongst a splendid mix of sand, sea and mountain scenery.

The town's main income comes from the tourist industry and fishing but there is little in the way of employment opportunity for the lower income groups. Consequently, with limited state welfare schemes and under-developed government support systems, community self-help systems remain the order of the day in most South African towns that have similar cross-culture problems. Hout Bay is therefore fertile ground for the many programmes and projects that Rotarians support.

To find out more about Rotary, go to the page Rotary International which will give you some of the principles of the Rotary movement, the extent of its fellowship across the world and links to the Rotary International website itself.