Anthony in The Seattle Times: Girls from a ghetto touch family’s heart

To the intricate beating of drums, the South African Ipintombi dancers clapped their hands, shook their bodies and sent their ponytails flying through the air.

Wearing green, orange and black and with their faces outlined with paint, the girls stomped, chanted and flung their arms and legs in every possible direction, like a tornado of energy ripping across the stage Friday at Mount Zion Baptist Church.

Behind the troupe’s soulful rhythmic dancing and its six-week visit here is a Seattle family that sold lemonade, baked pies and hosted parties to bring the girls from the Cape Town ghetto of Guguletu.

University of Washington football player Anthony Kelley spent three months in Cape Town last year as part of his studies in the comparative history of ideas.

His work brought him to the Intshinga Primary School, where books are scarce and teachers frequently fail to show up.

“It was much like where I grew up, but to a worse degree,” said Kelley, who was raised in a gang-infested neighborhood of Pasadena, Calif.In the township of Guguletu, people typically live in one-room shacks fashioned from sheets of corrugated metal and wood, with no running water or electricity. An outhouse can serve five or six families. Crime is rampant and gunshots ring out daily.

In 1998, Intshinga teacher Miki Twala began teaching girls — ages 11 to 13 — traditional African dances after school to keep them safe, if only for a few hours each day. Ipintombi means, “Where are the girls?” in the native language of Xhosa.

Kelley spent every weekday with the girls, learning dances and teaching them sports. “I didn’t look at them anymore as a dance group with some talent,” he recalled. “I looked at them like family.”

When Kelley returned to Seattle, he couldn’t explain to his own family the effect the girls had had on him. So he took his wife and three children for another three-month trip in January, to see for themselves.

“It was an emotional trip for me. I wanted to take care of all of them,” recalled Kelley’s wife, Tonya Kelley.

Each weekend, several of the girls would stay at the Cape Town student-housing complex — with a pool in the backyard — where the Kelleys were living. The Kelleys learned just how little the girls had.

“When they spent the weekends with us, I’d have all these panties hanging up in my bathroom,” said Tonya Kelley. “I thought what’s going on? And I was embarrassed I didn’t realize they only had one pair of panties.”

They decided to bring the girls to the United States for a visit.

“I wanted to make some good out of this,” said Anthony Kelley. “I just thought, if we got them to America, maybe we could raise money to build them their own dance school.”The Kelleys extended their stay in South Africa for two weeks to help the dancers apply for visas and passports. And when they returned to Seattle at the end of March, they began talking to anyone who would listen and figuring out how to fund the visit.

“The Kelley family just decided to get them here, so we did,” said 9-year-old Diamond Kelley, who immediately began making pitchers of lemonade, selling the drink for 50 cents a cup.

The family hosted a 1970s party, a spaghetti feast and an auction. And Anthony Kelley mentioned the possible visit at speaking engagements, including when Archbishop Desmond Tutu addressed UW faculty and students in May.

The Kelleys’ hopes were dashed when they came up with just under $4,000. But then Bill Gates Sr. stepped in with a $5,000 donation, as did UW football coach Rick Neuheisel. The plane tickets were purchased for the 11 girls and their three teachers, and they arrived in Seattle on Tuesday.

But while the $14,000 paid for flights and the UW provided the visitors bunk beds at a family housing unit, the Kelleys are still depending on a circle of friends to help support the visitors with potluck dinners and clothing donations.

“They came with absolutely nothing,” said Tonya Kelley. “I’m trying to gather just the bare necessities for them.”

For the visitors, their first trip out of South Africa is filled with sheer wonder.

“I feel like I’m on TV,” said teacher and drummer Hlubi Kwebulana, 24. “To get this opportunity is an opportunity of a lifetime.”

He said he is amazed at the huge cars and buildings in Seattle.

“Air conditioning,” he said. “I can’t believe there’s air conditioning.”

Audiences, unaccustomed to the style of dancing the girls’ perform, have been receptive.

“Everyone’s so nice,” said 13-year-old Siya Manyakanyaka. “They react more here.”