• Lots of beautiful purple hillsides, saw a couple zebras, some springboks, and a few gemsboks
• Voortrekker Monument: Built to commemorate the movement of the Voortrekkers (aka Boers, aka Afrikaaners) from the Cape of Good Hope into the South African interior. We had a speaker who gave a very thorough historical overview of this exodus (I think the only people who actually enjoyed this speaker were me and Helen, the other history major here). The monument it HUGE (I think it’s something like 40m by 40 m, and really tall) and is designed so that at noon on December 16 every year, the sun enters the monument and hits the ceremonial grave inside. There’s a big mural carved out of marble inside which depicts the struggles and triumphs of the Voortrekkers. There’s also a museum in the basement, and you can climb a lot of stairs to the top, where there is a spectacular view of the countryside.
• Freedom Park: This is a park built on one of the hills in Pretoria, and the park was made so that all South Africans can celebrate peace and harmony. It’s very inclusive – there are elements of the park representing all 11 official languages of South Africa and the 9 provincial districts. The Wall of Names lists all the people who have died from South Africa in the different conflicts (civil wars, movements of resistance, under colonialism, during slavery, during the world wars, etc.). There are lots of other interesting aspects of the park and, once again, you are able to see much of Pretoria.
• U.S. embassy: We visited the U.S. embassy in Pretoria and met with two officials, one in the political cone of the State Department and one in the public relations cone. It was interesting to hear about the mission of the U.S. embassy in South Africa and about what their jobs consist of.
That’s a quick summary of our day and a half in Pretoria. We stayed in a fancy guesthouse with a pool and a resident kitten, and it was near a lot of embassies which were fun to look at. The drive there was gorgeous, but we had to leave early in the morning for the Joburg airport while it was raining so we weren’t able to see anything on the way back.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Here Comes the Bride...South African style!
January 21, 2011
In the late afternoon we headed off to our weekend homestays. I was with another girl from our group, Becca, for the weekend. We were one of the first pairs dropped off, and we went to our host mom’s parents’ house in Orlando East, where she was waiting for her husband to get off work and come pick us up. We ended up waiting there for a few hours because our host dad somehow lost the keys to his car and had to get new keys or borrow someone’s car (I’m not exactly sure what was going on here). We watched some cricket and tried some new foods, among them pap (some sort of mealie-type food) and biscuit/cookie things. Can you tell that I didn’t really know what was going on all weekend? I’m pretty sure at half our meals I had no idea what I was eating. Our host mom was our program driver Moketsi’s sister, and he came back to the house after dropping everyone off. He explained that we had a regular eating schedule at St. Peter’s, and because it was a couple hours past that he thought we should get food soon. We got driven with our host mom (sorry, but I was never able to pronounce her name so I have no idea how to spell it) to Southgate Mall where we got pizza at the food court, which we took to the house because her husband finally arrived at the mall.
Our host family lived in Vosloorus, which is a community about 30 minutes to the east of Joburg. When we finally arrived at the house Friday night we met the rest of the family, our two siblings for the week. Ayanda is a six year old boy, who always has so much energy. He was bouncing off the walls, playing in the street, wandering around the mall. I don’t think he ever sat still for more than 10 minutes all weekend. Ngole (it’s a nickname) is a 16 year old girl, and she told us the first night that she liked to talk. That’s kind of an understatement! She’s soft-spoken, but has firm opinions and likes to talk a lot (as in, conversations with her were mostly one-sided). We talked with Ngole a little bit that night, and then I went to bed because I was exhausted from our long week.
Vosloorus is a fairly nice and safe neighborhood. All the homes have walls and gates surrounding their yards, and it was extremely quiet most of the weekend. Our house was very neat and well organized, but really small. The kitchen had a fridge, a mini oven, a microwave, not very much counter space, and a broken sink. There wasn’t a dining room, instead we ate on the perfectly matched couches in the tiny but immaculate living room. Becca and I shared the guest bedroom, which was sparse but nice. The house was full of contrasts.
January 22, 2011
After sleeping in, I got up and watched soapies (aka soap operas) with my host mom. She made breakfast of eggs, sausage (but not any kind of sausage I’ve ever had before), tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese. It was an interesting combination of food for breakfast. We watched Rhythm City most of the morning, and it was hilarious because it was so ridiculous and cheesy and dramatic. Plot lines included: an abortion that wasn’t told to the grandparents, a rapper accused of murder, a couple putting out a professional hit on a manager, and a woman who wasn’t nominated to be the church choir conductor (scandalous!). It was entertaining, to say the least.
The original plan for the day was to hang out until our host dad got home from work, probably around noon, and then we would go to a market and the mall and see some other fun things. So we hung out in the yard with Ngole and some of her friends, just talking about all sorts of things, including politics and how they think some of the languages of South Africa are starting to die because, for example, they can’t speak Zulu without throwing in some English words. We also walked around the neighborhood, shared some chips (aka French fries), played random games with the neighborhood kids. It was fun, but I got really sunburned because we ended up being outside until about 4 because that was when our dad got back. I’m beginning to get the sense that African time is pretty similar to Trini time…
Anyways, we got to the market and China City and discovered that they were both closed for the night (we got there a little after 5), and the grocery store closed as we were leaving it around 6. I’m thinking it might be difficult to do much at night here. We ate dinner at Spurs, a Tex-Mex restaurant chain that’s big in South Africa. It was interesting to walk into the restaurant with all the cliché Native American decorations and stained glass windows everywhere. It’s definitely the kind of restaurant that would not be politically correct in the U.S.
January 23, 2011
Sunday morning we got up early to go to church with our family. We were told that the service started at 7, so we would leave at 6:45. Well, I was ready by 6:45, and then sat in the living room and waited. And waited. We finally left at 7:10, and arrived at the Vosloorus Methodist Church while they were still singing. The singing continued for a long time. Becca and I were welcomed with more singing, which apparently made the service 45 minutes longer than usual. They also translated the sermon into English for us, which was nice because otherwise the entire service was in Zulu or Tsutu (I can’t tell them apart). Afterwards we went to the Bruma Market, which is a cool outdoor market with lots of handmade crafts. We also visited China City, which is like a small Asian mall. We then headed home to get ready for the wedding!
The weekend of our homestay one of our neighbor’s sons was getting married, so we got to see all the wedding festivities. On Saturday we woke up to the sounds of the groom leaving, because on Saturdays there is a traditional Western wedding at the bride’s home, while on the Sunday is the traditional African wedding at the groom’s home. On Saturday workers came to set up a big tent in the street for the festivities. It blocked the entire street, so cars just parked in front of the tent and then people walked the rest of the way to their homes. I couldn’t imagine how people would have reacted if a party blocked their street. I feel like it wouldn’t be accepted. But here, everyone just joined in the celebration on Sunday. Most of the adults were wearing their traditional African outfits representing their tribal heritage. There were lots of people at the wedding, and we all just hung out in the street, waiting for the wedding party to arrive. They finally got there in the late afternoon, and the wedding party (the bride in her white dress) danced their way up the street into the tent. It was some sort of dance that everyone knew, and some old ladies tried to teach it to me, but I kind of failed. We watched some of the wedding, but then left to start our braai, which is meat that has been barbecued outside. I floated between the braai, the wedding, and reading the newspaper inside. Everyone in my family thought there was something wrong with me because I was sitting inside by myself. They all came by multiple times to see if I was ok, because they didn’t believe that I could be perfectly content to sit by myself while there was a party outside. Different cultural values, I guess.
January 24, 2011
Monday morning we woke up really early so we could commute to work with our host mom. Her bus left at 5:30 am, and we didn’t get to her work until after 7. She works as a teacher’s aide in a public school for those with special needs (like children with Down’s Syndrome). The bus ride was long, and people started singing hymns on the ride.
Visiting the school was definitely an experience, especially after our long week in Joburg. We went to the staff meeting so the principal and the staff could see our faces and know that we would be walking around the classrooms during the day. Walking into that staff room was kind of shocking. Every single teacher was white, so at first it was familiar to be sitting with people I looked like and thought I could communicate well with and understand. Well, the entire staff meeting was held in Afrikaans, so once again I was left feeling inadequate because I only speak one language fluently. It was also uncomfortable when I realized that while all the teachers were white, all the teacher’s aides were black. It made me wonder to what extent apartheid is truly gone from South Africa.
Although these issues were present in the back of my mind, it really seemed like there was good work being done in the school. There aren’t very many schools for students like this in Joburg, so students come from long distances to school every morning. One teacher pointed out that this makes it difficult for their parents to come to any meetings at the school, so when meetings are necessary they send around the school buses to pick up the parents. During our visit we saw a couple classrooms in each level, talked to the teachers, and saw what each class was focusing on. The main emphasis in each level was on teaching the students life skills, so they could learn how to function outside of school. According to the teachers, this is because many of the students will never progress past a certain point in their educational abilities, so it was better to teach them skills which they could potentially earn money at. Although it was a little sad to see so many students with disabilities, it was good to see what was being done for them.
Overall, my homestay was great. I loved my family; they really welcomed me into their home and provided me with good cultural experiences. I’m still nervous about our next homestay, because I’m going to be by myself with a family in Windhoek for 10 days. Hopefully it goes as well as this first homestay went!
In the late afternoon we headed off to our weekend homestays. I was with another girl from our group, Becca, for the weekend. We were one of the first pairs dropped off, and we went to our host mom’s parents’ house in Orlando East, where she was waiting for her husband to get off work and come pick us up. We ended up waiting there for a few hours because our host dad somehow lost the keys to his car and had to get new keys or borrow someone’s car (I’m not exactly sure what was going on here). We watched some cricket and tried some new foods, among them pap (some sort of mealie-type food) and biscuit/cookie things. Can you tell that I didn’t really know what was going on all weekend? I’m pretty sure at half our meals I had no idea what I was eating. Our host mom was our program driver Moketsi’s sister, and he came back to the house after dropping everyone off. He explained that we had a regular eating schedule at St. Peter’s, and because it was a couple hours past that he thought we should get food soon. We got driven with our host mom (sorry, but I was never able to pronounce her name so I have no idea how to spell it) to Southgate Mall where we got pizza at the food court, which we took to the house because her husband finally arrived at the mall.
Our host family lived in Vosloorus, which is a community about 30 minutes to the east of Joburg. When we finally arrived at the house Friday night we met the rest of the family, our two siblings for the week. Ayanda is a six year old boy, who always has so much energy. He was bouncing off the walls, playing in the street, wandering around the mall. I don’t think he ever sat still for more than 10 minutes all weekend. Ngole (it’s a nickname) is a 16 year old girl, and she told us the first night that she liked to talk. That’s kind of an understatement! She’s soft-spoken, but has firm opinions and likes to talk a lot (as in, conversations with her were mostly one-sided). We talked with Ngole a little bit that night, and then I went to bed because I was exhausted from our long week.
Vosloorus is a fairly nice and safe neighborhood. All the homes have walls and gates surrounding their yards, and it was extremely quiet most of the weekend. Our house was very neat and well organized, but really small. The kitchen had a fridge, a mini oven, a microwave, not very much counter space, and a broken sink. There wasn’t a dining room, instead we ate on the perfectly matched couches in the tiny but immaculate living room. Becca and I shared the guest bedroom, which was sparse but nice. The house was full of contrasts.
January 22, 2011
After sleeping in, I got up and watched soapies (aka soap operas) with my host mom. She made breakfast of eggs, sausage (but not any kind of sausage I’ve ever had before), tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese. It was an interesting combination of food for breakfast. We watched Rhythm City most of the morning, and it was hilarious because it was so ridiculous and cheesy and dramatic. Plot lines included: an abortion that wasn’t told to the grandparents, a rapper accused of murder, a couple putting out a professional hit on a manager, and a woman who wasn’t nominated to be the church choir conductor (scandalous!). It was entertaining, to say the least.
The original plan for the day was to hang out until our host dad got home from work, probably around noon, and then we would go to a market and the mall and see some other fun things. So we hung out in the yard with Ngole and some of her friends, just talking about all sorts of things, including politics and how they think some of the languages of South Africa are starting to die because, for example, they can’t speak Zulu without throwing in some English words. We also walked around the neighborhood, shared some chips (aka French fries), played random games with the neighborhood kids. It was fun, but I got really sunburned because we ended up being outside until about 4 because that was when our dad got back. I’m beginning to get the sense that African time is pretty similar to Trini time…
Anyways, we got to the market and China City and discovered that they were both closed for the night (we got there a little after 5), and the grocery store closed as we were leaving it around 6. I’m thinking it might be difficult to do much at night here. We ate dinner at Spurs, a Tex-Mex restaurant chain that’s big in South Africa. It was interesting to walk into the restaurant with all the cliché Native American decorations and stained glass windows everywhere. It’s definitely the kind of restaurant that would not be politically correct in the U.S.
January 23, 2011
Sunday morning we got up early to go to church with our family. We were told that the service started at 7, so we would leave at 6:45. Well, I was ready by 6:45, and then sat in the living room and waited. And waited. We finally left at 7:10, and arrived at the Vosloorus Methodist Church while they were still singing. The singing continued for a long time. Becca and I were welcomed with more singing, which apparently made the service 45 minutes longer than usual. They also translated the sermon into English for us, which was nice because otherwise the entire service was in Zulu or Tsutu (I can’t tell them apart). Afterwards we went to the Bruma Market, which is a cool outdoor market with lots of handmade crafts. We also visited China City, which is like a small Asian mall. We then headed home to get ready for the wedding!
The weekend of our homestay one of our neighbor’s sons was getting married, so we got to see all the wedding festivities. On Saturday we woke up to the sounds of the groom leaving, because on Saturdays there is a traditional Western wedding at the bride’s home, while on the Sunday is the traditional African wedding at the groom’s home. On Saturday workers came to set up a big tent in the street for the festivities. It blocked the entire street, so cars just parked in front of the tent and then people walked the rest of the way to their homes. I couldn’t imagine how people would have reacted if a party blocked their street. I feel like it wouldn’t be accepted. But here, everyone just joined in the celebration on Sunday. Most of the adults were wearing their traditional African outfits representing their tribal heritage. There were lots of people at the wedding, and we all just hung out in the street, waiting for the wedding party to arrive. They finally got there in the late afternoon, and the wedding party (the bride in her white dress) danced their way up the street into the tent. It was some sort of dance that everyone knew, and some old ladies tried to teach it to me, but I kind of failed. We watched some of the wedding, but then left to start our braai, which is meat that has been barbecued outside. I floated between the braai, the wedding, and reading the newspaper inside. Everyone in my family thought there was something wrong with me because I was sitting inside by myself. They all came by multiple times to see if I was ok, because they didn’t believe that I could be perfectly content to sit by myself while there was a party outside. Different cultural values, I guess.
January 24, 2011
Monday morning we woke up really early so we could commute to work with our host mom. Her bus left at 5:30 am, and we didn’t get to her work until after 7. She works as a teacher’s aide in a public school for those with special needs (like children with Down’s Syndrome). The bus ride was long, and people started singing hymns on the ride.
Visiting the school was definitely an experience, especially after our long week in Joburg. We went to the staff meeting so the principal and the staff could see our faces and know that we would be walking around the classrooms during the day. Walking into that staff room was kind of shocking. Every single teacher was white, so at first it was familiar to be sitting with people I looked like and thought I could communicate well with and understand. Well, the entire staff meeting was held in Afrikaans, so once again I was left feeling inadequate because I only speak one language fluently. It was also uncomfortable when I realized that while all the teachers were white, all the teacher’s aides were black. It made me wonder to what extent apartheid is truly gone from South Africa.
Although these issues were present in the back of my mind, it really seemed like there was good work being done in the school. There aren’t very many schools for students like this in Joburg, so students come from long distances to school every morning. One teacher pointed out that this makes it difficult for their parents to come to any meetings at the school, so when meetings are necessary they send around the school buses to pick up the parents. During our visit we saw a couple classrooms in each level, talked to the teachers, and saw what each class was focusing on. The main emphasis in each level was on teaching the students life skills, so they could learn how to function outside of school. According to the teachers, this is because many of the students will never progress past a certain point in their educational abilities, so it was better to teach them skills which they could potentially earn money at. Although it was a little sad to see so many students with disabilities, it was good to see what was being done for them.
Overall, my homestay was great. I loved my family; they really welcomed me into their home and provided me with good cultural experiences. I’m still nervous about our next homestay, because I’m going to be by myself with a family in Windhoek for 10 days. Hopefully it goes as well as this first homestay went!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Part of a week in Joburg
January 19, 2011
In the morning we met with Eddie Mikue, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and he spoke to us about programs the SACC is working on in South Africa. He was really interesting, and I liked how he emphasized that the SACC is concerned with earthly issues (including the HIV/AIDS crisis, the current environmental problems facing South Africa, and the high poverty rates in South Africa), unlike some other churches in South Africa who focus solely on eschatology. It got me really excited for my internship in Namibia. I’m going to be interning with the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), and just hearing about all the programs that the SACC is working on in South Africa, made me excited for learning about the role of the CCN and how the church is working to change lives in Namibia.
After meeting with the SACC we met with some people from the Khulumani Support Group. Khulumani works with victims of apartheid and attempts to turn them into victors, rather than have them remain as victims. A lot of the work they are doing is influential and important, but their presentation wasn’t very compelling, and I was tired after our first meeting (they were back to back meetings in the same conference room) so I was not very engaged.
In the afternoon we visited the Apartheid Museum. The first thing that struck me about the museum was its location. It’s located in the same complex as a fancy casino and an amusement park, which I thought was weird. I learned that it is there because the casino proposed it as a way to draw more tourism, so they won the bid to build it. But we had to drive through a big security gate to get to the parking lot and it did not feel very accessible to the public, which seemed contrary to what the museum stood for (the end of apartheid, showing what happened and trying to ensure it doesn’t happen again). The museum itself was really powerful. Our tickets randomly assigned us to groups of either “white” or “non-white”, which was the entrance we had to use. It was very sobering to be classified by something so superficial (for us it was our tickets, but skin color is kind of the definition of superficial) and it made me think a lot about my own privilege, but also the times where I feel like I am judged or stereotyped based on other qualities.
The museum had a temporary exhibit on the life of Nelson Mandela, which I found interesting and spent a lot of time in (although it was the most random set-up for the exhibit, it wasn’t logical and didn’t make much sense). However, this meant that by the time I got to the section of the museum which detailed the history of apartheid, including life before and during apartheid for whites and blacks, and details of the resistance movements which eventually helped end apartheid, I only had about a half hour for the extensive exhibit which can take as long as three hours. So I felt like I had to rush through everything and didn’t actually get to read the signs or look at anything very much. I wish we had more time there, but as it was everyone was pretty tired after our long morning.
After dinner we went to a musical, “Songs of Migration,” at the Market Theater in Joburg. It was a performance consisting entirely of songs about immigration in Africa. All of the performers were really good, but if there’s one thing I learned about myself while I was in Trinidad, it was that I don’t really care about the arts, especially if I’m tired. So I wasn’t very engaged with the performance, and started falling asleep at the end.
January 20, 2011
In the morning we met with representatives from both the African National Congress (ANC) and the major opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA). The ANC representatives were disappointing because they weren’t very well prepared and were skilled at dodging questions the group asked. In contrast, the DA representative was well informed and answered all our questions very thoroughly, and is running for a mayorship in the 2011 elections. Basically, the ANC was the party that worked to end apartheid, so they have an emotional connection to the majority of the population and as a result won 65% of the vote in the 2009 elections. The DA is the liberal opposition to the ANC, but only won 17% of the vote and has a hard time even opening dialogue with the ANC. There are lots of political problems in South Africa that neither party seems to know how to deal with. After lunch we had a lecture about nuclear energy and some of the other environmental issues facing South Africa.
January 21, 2011
Such a busy day! First we met with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which works to help those living with HIV/AIDS and educate the general South African population about ways to prevent its spread. The South African government has been really slow at addressing the issue including: denying the problem existed (Mbeki claimed that HIV could not cause AIDS, which explains his inadequate response), claiming that antiretrovirals are toxic and don’t work very well (disproven by science) and that the uneducated public is not able to stick with their ARV program (Doctors Without Borders also disproved this when they started a program outside Cape Town). This presentation was informative, but also powerful because our speaker shared his personal story of how he found out he was HIV positive, and what it is like to live with HIV in South Africa today.
After our meeting with TAC we headed to Constitution Hill, the location of the Constitutional Court and an old prison where many black men were imprisoned during apartheid. We took a tour of the prison where, among many others, Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi were imprisoned. We also visited the Constitutional Court, which has architecture that symbolically unites the past with the present.
We then headed to lunch in Sandton, one of the wealthiest communities in South Africa. We ate lunch in the fanciest mall I have ever been to. The floors were marble (or fake marble), and there were Michelangelo-esque paintings in rotundas scattered around the mall. There was a Ferrari store, a Bellagio store, an Apple store, and lots of other upscale places. This was one time I felt out of place not because of my race or my privilege, but because I couldn’t really afford anything at the mall (except for the one measly postcard I bought). When we sat in Nelson Mandela Square, eating gelato, it felt like what I imagine a European square to feel like. A big fancy fountain in the center of the square, pigeons flying around, an abundance of white South Africans, hot sun beating down. Except for the giant Mandela statue, it really felt like it wasn’t in South Africa. Coincidentally, Sandton is located right next to the township of Alexandra, which is one of the poorest communities in South Africa. Such lavish wealth, adjacent to such extreme poverty, South Africa is definitely a land of contrasts.
In the morning we met with Eddie Mikue, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and he spoke to us about programs the SACC is working on in South Africa. He was really interesting, and I liked how he emphasized that the SACC is concerned with earthly issues (including the HIV/AIDS crisis, the current environmental problems facing South Africa, and the high poverty rates in South Africa), unlike some other churches in South Africa who focus solely on eschatology. It got me really excited for my internship in Namibia. I’m going to be interning with the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), and just hearing about all the programs that the SACC is working on in South Africa, made me excited for learning about the role of the CCN and how the church is working to change lives in Namibia.
After meeting with the SACC we met with some people from the Khulumani Support Group. Khulumani works with victims of apartheid and attempts to turn them into victors, rather than have them remain as victims. A lot of the work they are doing is influential and important, but their presentation wasn’t very compelling, and I was tired after our first meeting (they were back to back meetings in the same conference room) so I was not very engaged.
In the afternoon we visited the Apartheid Museum. The first thing that struck me about the museum was its location. It’s located in the same complex as a fancy casino and an amusement park, which I thought was weird. I learned that it is there because the casino proposed it as a way to draw more tourism, so they won the bid to build it. But we had to drive through a big security gate to get to the parking lot and it did not feel very accessible to the public, which seemed contrary to what the museum stood for (the end of apartheid, showing what happened and trying to ensure it doesn’t happen again). The museum itself was really powerful. Our tickets randomly assigned us to groups of either “white” or “non-white”, which was the entrance we had to use. It was very sobering to be classified by something so superficial (for us it was our tickets, but skin color is kind of the definition of superficial) and it made me think a lot about my own privilege, but also the times where I feel like I am judged or stereotyped based on other qualities.
The museum had a temporary exhibit on the life of Nelson Mandela, which I found interesting and spent a lot of time in (although it was the most random set-up for the exhibit, it wasn’t logical and didn’t make much sense). However, this meant that by the time I got to the section of the museum which detailed the history of apartheid, including life before and during apartheid for whites and blacks, and details of the resistance movements which eventually helped end apartheid, I only had about a half hour for the extensive exhibit which can take as long as three hours. So I felt like I had to rush through everything and didn’t actually get to read the signs or look at anything very much. I wish we had more time there, but as it was everyone was pretty tired after our long morning.
After dinner we went to a musical, “Songs of Migration,” at the Market Theater in Joburg. It was a performance consisting entirely of songs about immigration in Africa. All of the performers were really good, but if there’s one thing I learned about myself while I was in Trinidad, it was that I don’t really care about the arts, especially if I’m tired. So I wasn’t very engaged with the performance, and started falling asleep at the end.
January 20, 2011
In the morning we met with representatives from both the African National Congress (ANC) and the major opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA). The ANC representatives were disappointing because they weren’t very well prepared and were skilled at dodging questions the group asked. In contrast, the DA representative was well informed and answered all our questions very thoroughly, and is running for a mayorship in the 2011 elections. Basically, the ANC was the party that worked to end apartheid, so they have an emotional connection to the majority of the population and as a result won 65% of the vote in the 2009 elections. The DA is the liberal opposition to the ANC, but only won 17% of the vote and has a hard time even opening dialogue with the ANC. There are lots of political problems in South Africa that neither party seems to know how to deal with. After lunch we had a lecture about nuclear energy and some of the other environmental issues facing South Africa.
January 21, 2011
Such a busy day! First we met with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which works to help those living with HIV/AIDS and educate the general South African population about ways to prevent its spread. The South African government has been really slow at addressing the issue including: denying the problem existed (Mbeki claimed that HIV could not cause AIDS, which explains his inadequate response), claiming that antiretrovirals are toxic and don’t work very well (disproven by science) and that the uneducated public is not able to stick with their ARV program (Doctors Without Borders also disproved this when they started a program outside Cape Town). This presentation was informative, but also powerful because our speaker shared his personal story of how he found out he was HIV positive, and what it is like to live with HIV in South Africa today.
After our meeting with TAC we headed to Constitution Hill, the location of the Constitutional Court and an old prison where many black men were imprisoned during apartheid. We took a tour of the prison where, among many others, Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi were imprisoned. We also visited the Constitutional Court, which has architecture that symbolically unites the past with the present.
We then headed to lunch in Sandton, one of the wealthiest communities in South Africa. We ate lunch in the fanciest mall I have ever been to. The floors were marble (or fake marble), and there were Michelangelo-esque paintings in rotundas scattered around the mall. There was a Ferrari store, a Bellagio store, an Apple store, and lots of other upscale places. This was one time I felt out of place not because of my race or my privilege, but because I couldn’t really afford anything at the mall (except for the one measly postcard I bought). When we sat in Nelson Mandela Square, eating gelato, it felt like what I imagine a European square to feel like. A big fancy fountain in the center of the square, pigeons flying around, an abundance of white South Africans, hot sun beating down. Except for the giant Mandela statue, it really felt like it wasn’t in South Africa. Coincidentally, Sandton is located right next to the township of Alexandra, which is one of the poorest communities in South Africa. Such lavish wealth, adjacent to such extreme poverty, South Africa is definitely a land of contrasts.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Soweto
The last two days have been so full, it’s hard to believe that I’ve only been here for 48 hours. Most of our time has been spent in Soweto (South Western Townships). We drove through many of the townships, and I was struck by the differences within. There are some homes that are really nice, with big houses, fancy brick driveways, well maintained yards which were built to show the outside world that conditions in the townships were not terrible. In other places though, there are old, rundown buildings, and homes without running water or plumbing. The contrasts are evident in Soweto.
January 17, 2011
We visited Regina Mundi Catholic Church, which is the largest Catholic church in Soweto. During some of the uprisings in Soweto, Africans sought refuge in the church and were followed and attacked by police with tear gas and bullets. There are portions of the church where you can still see bullet holes, and other places that are destroyed from these actions.
During the afternoon we visited the Hector Peterson Museum and Nelson Mandela’s house in Soweto. The Hector Peterson Museum commemorates the 1976 student uprisings, when thousands of students in Soweto marched in protest of being forced to learn in Afrikaans. The protest turned violent though, and several students were killed and injured. Hector Peterson was the first casualty, and there is an iconic picture of him being carried away. His sister, who was also on the march and was next to Hector when he was killed spoke to us about her experiences during the uprisings. After looking around at the museum for about 1 ½ hours, we walked to Nelson Mandela’s house in Soweto, which has been turned into a national memorial. The house was really small, and had been turned back into the condition it was when he lived there. Both Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela had been under house arrest at different times while living there, and it was hard to imagine being confined to such small quarters for such a long amount of time. On our walk to the Mandela house a couple of young kids came over to our very conspicuous group (23 American students walking down the street tend to attract a lot of attention) and gave some people hugs, and sang a song, and it was kind of cool to get to interact with some people. But as we were turning the corner one of them started asking us for money. I’ve never really had that kind of experience before, with being directly asked for money, and it brought up lots of different thoughts and emotions.
The last stop of the day was to take pictures of the soccer stadium at Nasrec (part of Soweto). It’s the biggest soccer stadium in South Africa, and the 2010 World Cup finals were held there. It’s so big! The design is really cool, and I would post a picture if the internet was faster. Also, it poured all night, and there was thunder, and it’s been cooler than I thought it would be. Not cold by any means, but cool and windy.
January 18, 2011
Our day started with a visit to St. Martin’s semi-private school in Soweto. It has one of the highest matriculation rates in Soweto, and is semi-private because it is partially subsidized by the state, but run and partially funded by the Catholic church. We split into groups and were shown around by a few grade 12 students, who referred to themselves as “the geniuses.” It was kind of awkward to walk into these classrooms, interrupting their lessons, and then be told to introduce ourselves and answer any questions that the students had for us. It was a lot less awkward when we sat down with smaller groups of students to talk to them, but it was still just an unsettling experience to sit in each of these classrooms for 5 to 10 minutes, talking with about ten students at a time about life in America. I feel like I can now understand more being in this position, because in high school I was always on the flip side, being the one in class asking the questions. But it was still just unsettling to be in a class for a few minutes and then move on to the next class. The questions the students asked ranged from serious to entertaining. What celebrities do you know? How is America? (Because that question has such a simple answer) What is your career going to be? What should I study if I want to go to law school? What do you like about South Africa so far? What languages do you speak? Many of the students were especially interested in what languages I knew, probably because most of them are fluent in at least three languages (English, Zulu, Tutsi), and I was just struck again by how in the U.S. it is still pretty rare to find people who are fluent in even two languages, much less the five or six that one of my guides knew. The grade 9 students were very entertained by my attempts to teach them some basic Spanish. I was also struck by how much many of the students already knew what they wanted to study or do with their lives. It wasn’t just the superficial dreams of a little kid who wants to be a star athlete, they knew what they were going to study and what they are going to do with their lives, and again it almost made me feel inadequate, because I am a junior in college and I still don’t really know what I’m going to do in terms of a career, but these high school students had it all planned out. My group also sat in on a short geography class. Afterwards we talked to the teacher for a couple minutes, and found out that she teaches grade 10 geography, grade 12 geography, English, and religious education. This was a definite contrast to high schools in the U.S. where teachers, at most, teach two different subjects.
After visiting St. Martin’s we visited Kliptown and Freedom Square, where the Freedom Charter was adopted. During our short tour of Kliptown we learned more about anti-privatization groups and how they are fighting to end the commodification of basic services. Many of the homes we drove past only had pit toilets, and don’t have access to much water.
Other thoughts for the day:
• There is a 7 to 11 supermarket near the guesthouse where we are staying. It’s literally open from 7 am to 11 pm.
• There are abortion flyers on the telephone poles everywhere. They’re the flyers that have the tear-off phone number at the bottom, but are for abortions.
• I’ve discovered that I am continually comparing my experiences in South Africa so far with my experiences in Trinidad. It’s been a much easier transition to driving on the left side of the road. Coombies, our transportation here, are almost exactly like maxis. I’m always comparing the houses and the landscape and the way people talk, and noticing the places where there are differences but also the places where there are strong similarities. I’m also finding that traveling is a lot less stressful when you’ve done it before.
• We went for an after dinner walk tonight, and the sunset was so beautiful! My first African sunset.
• In the courtyard of the guesthouse we are staying at there are all these little snails that crawl around on the bricks. They are interesting little creatures!
It's been an eventful couple of days, and the rest of the week should be just as busy!
January 17, 2011
We visited Regina Mundi Catholic Church, which is the largest Catholic church in Soweto. During some of the uprisings in Soweto, Africans sought refuge in the church and were followed and attacked by police with tear gas and bullets. There are portions of the church where you can still see bullet holes, and other places that are destroyed from these actions.
During the afternoon we visited the Hector Peterson Museum and Nelson Mandela’s house in Soweto. The Hector Peterson Museum commemorates the 1976 student uprisings, when thousands of students in Soweto marched in protest of being forced to learn in Afrikaans. The protest turned violent though, and several students were killed and injured. Hector Peterson was the first casualty, and there is an iconic picture of him being carried away. His sister, who was also on the march and was next to Hector when he was killed spoke to us about her experiences during the uprisings. After looking around at the museum for about 1 ½ hours, we walked to Nelson Mandela’s house in Soweto, which has been turned into a national memorial. The house was really small, and had been turned back into the condition it was when he lived there. Both Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela had been under house arrest at different times while living there, and it was hard to imagine being confined to such small quarters for such a long amount of time. On our walk to the Mandela house a couple of young kids came over to our very conspicuous group (23 American students walking down the street tend to attract a lot of attention) and gave some people hugs, and sang a song, and it was kind of cool to get to interact with some people. But as we were turning the corner one of them started asking us for money. I’ve never really had that kind of experience before, with being directly asked for money, and it brought up lots of different thoughts and emotions.
The last stop of the day was to take pictures of the soccer stadium at Nasrec (part of Soweto). It’s the biggest soccer stadium in South Africa, and the 2010 World Cup finals were held there. It’s so big! The design is really cool, and I would post a picture if the internet was faster. Also, it poured all night, and there was thunder, and it’s been cooler than I thought it would be. Not cold by any means, but cool and windy.
January 18, 2011
Our day started with a visit to St. Martin’s semi-private school in Soweto. It has one of the highest matriculation rates in Soweto, and is semi-private because it is partially subsidized by the state, but run and partially funded by the Catholic church. We split into groups and were shown around by a few grade 12 students, who referred to themselves as “the geniuses.” It was kind of awkward to walk into these classrooms, interrupting their lessons, and then be told to introduce ourselves and answer any questions that the students had for us. It was a lot less awkward when we sat down with smaller groups of students to talk to them, but it was still just an unsettling experience to sit in each of these classrooms for 5 to 10 minutes, talking with about ten students at a time about life in America. I feel like I can now understand more being in this position, because in high school I was always on the flip side, being the one in class asking the questions. But it was still just unsettling to be in a class for a few minutes and then move on to the next class. The questions the students asked ranged from serious to entertaining. What celebrities do you know? How is America? (Because that question has such a simple answer) What is your career going to be? What should I study if I want to go to law school? What do you like about South Africa so far? What languages do you speak? Many of the students were especially interested in what languages I knew, probably because most of them are fluent in at least three languages (English, Zulu, Tutsi), and I was just struck again by how in the U.S. it is still pretty rare to find people who are fluent in even two languages, much less the five or six that one of my guides knew. The grade 9 students were very entertained by my attempts to teach them some basic Spanish. I was also struck by how much many of the students already knew what they wanted to study or do with their lives. It wasn’t just the superficial dreams of a little kid who wants to be a star athlete, they knew what they were going to study and what they are going to do with their lives, and again it almost made me feel inadequate, because I am a junior in college and I still don’t really know what I’m going to do in terms of a career, but these high school students had it all planned out. My group also sat in on a short geography class. Afterwards we talked to the teacher for a couple minutes, and found out that she teaches grade 10 geography, grade 12 geography, English, and religious education. This was a definite contrast to high schools in the U.S. where teachers, at most, teach two different subjects.
After visiting St. Martin’s we visited Kliptown and Freedom Square, where the Freedom Charter was adopted. During our short tour of Kliptown we learned more about anti-privatization groups and how they are fighting to end the commodification of basic services. Many of the homes we drove past only had pit toilets, and don’t have access to much water.
Other thoughts for the day:
• There is a 7 to 11 supermarket near the guesthouse where we are staying. It’s literally open from 7 am to 11 pm.
• There are abortion flyers on the telephone poles everywhere. They’re the flyers that have the tear-off phone number at the bottom, but are for abortions.
• I’ve discovered that I am continually comparing my experiences in South Africa so far with my experiences in Trinidad. It’s been a much easier transition to driving on the left side of the road. Coombies, our transportation here, are almost exactly like maxis. I’m always comparing the houses and the landscape and the way people talk, and noticing the places where there are differences but also the places where there are strong similarities. I’m also finding that traveling is a lot less stressful when you’ve done it before.
• We went for an after dinner walk tonight, and the sunset was so beautiful! My first African sunset.
• In the courtyard of the guesthouse we are staying at there are all these little snails that crawl around on the bricks. They are interesting little creatures!
It's been an eventful couple of days, and the rest of the week should be just as busy!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Arrival in South Africa!!
I’m here!! We got to Johannesburg last night, after the longest flight I have ever been on, and it was so surreal. Sitting on the plane, looking out the window as we approached the airport, I was struck by how flat, beautiful, and how so incredibly green South Africa is.
I flew out of Sea-Tac early Saturday morning with Tamara, and we had an uneventful flight to Washington D.C., where we met up with the rest of our group before our flight. The flight to South Africa was so crazy long!!! We stopped in Dakar, but weren’t allowed off the plane, before continuing to Johannesburg. I watched lots of movies, tried to sleep, ate the airplane food, and time actually passed more quickly than I thought it would. Thankfully, everyone’s luggage arrived in South Africa, and we all got through immigration and customs pretty easily. The CGE staff met us in the airport, before we left for the guesthouse where we will be staying during our 10 days in Johannesburg. We ate dinner, got to know each other a little bit, and then went to sleep, where I crashed. I think it’s going to take me a couple of days to get back on a normal sleep schedule.
I only have a couple of minutes before breakfast (and our busy day, which includes a tour of Soweto), but so far, it’s just weird to realize I’m actually here. The vegetation, the smells, the different bird calls, all remind me that I’m no longer in Washington. I don’t know what this semester is going to bring me, but I’m excited to get it started!!
I flew out of Sea-Tac early Saturday morning with Tamara, and we had an uneventful flight to Washington D.C., where we met up with the rest of our group before our flight. The flight to South Africa was so crazy long!!! We stopped in Dakar, but weren’t allowed off the plane, before continuing to Johannesburg. I watched lots of movies, tried to sleep, ate the airplane food, and time actually passed more quickly than I thought it would. Thankfully, everyone’s luggage arrived in South Africa, and we all got through immigration and customs pretty easily. The CGE staff met us in the airport, before we left for the guesthouse where we will be staying during our 10 days in Johannesburg. We ate dinner, got to know each other a little bit, and then went to sleep, where I crashed. I think it’s going to take me a couple of days to get back on a normal sleep schedule.
I only have a couple of minutes before breakfast (and our busy day, which includes a tour of Soweto), but so far, it’s just weird to realize I’m actually here. The vegetation, the smells, the different bird calls, all remind me that I’m no longer in Washington. I don’t know what this semester is going to bring me, but I’m excited to get it started!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
