Cape Town (afrikaans: Kaapstad / english: Cape Town / Xhosa: iKapa) is South Africas 2nd largest city after Johannesburg. In 2004 it has become the exclusive headquarter for the South African parliament. Cape Town is named after the Cape of Good Hope which is approximately 45 km further south and is the capital of the Western Province.

In general, the South African meaning of township refers to a (often underdeveloped) urban residential area in which the non-white inhabitants used to live during times of the Apartheid (mostly blacks and coloureds, but also people from the Indian working class). Usually the townships have been built at cities' outskirts.

Philippi is located in close distance to the airport and ranks among the bigger townships Cape Towns. Developed in the early 1980ies, it is still a relatively new township. Nowadays, apparently between 250.000 and 500.000 (depending on the census) people live in Philippi, a large number of them suffering form poverty and starvation.