Hello. Its been two days since I last wrote. Lets see if I remember all we have done since then. Okay so on Wednesday the 19th we began the day at the South African Council of Churches in this building called the Khosto House. It was in the middle of downtown Johannesburg. That was the first time we went downtown. We had one speaker who was from the SACC but I dont remember what his official title is. He discussed with us the role of churches in the New South Africa. The Church is not a homogeneous institution because there are many different denominations and streams that can be taken. The SACC is in the Ecumenical stream, which he described as too concerned about world things and contemporary society. He went through the history of South Africa and how the churches fit into what was happening during those times and what programs they have now. They deal with healthcare and HIV/AIDS, especially after Thabo Mbeki's reign as president. Mbeki denied that HIV leads to AIDS and that was detrimental to South Africa society. Also another program they have is Justice, Reconciliation, and Healing. This program is related to the Truth and Reconciliation (TRE) Mandela put in place. I also learned that South Africa is 77% christian, which surprised me. He also discussed that the SACC has made a conscience decision to separate church and state in their policies and programs. He was very interesting and engaging.
Right after that, in the same building, we had another group come talk to us. This was a non-partisan support group that allowed for reconciliation of victims and survivors of the apartheid. They deal with good victims and bad victims and try to turn victims into victors. They allow for their members to tell stories and to become empowered. There are 60,000 members across South Africa. It was very interesting as well but hard to sit through another 2 hours of people talking at you. We were in the same room for 5 hours.
After lunch, we went to the Apartheid Museum. This museum was designed by the same man who designed the Holocaust Museum in D.C. You could definitely feel that as you walk through it. Also, the museum was built right next to a casino and a theme park, which i found very weird. So you first walk through the museum as either white or non-white and there are signs that were used during apartheid above and around you. Then you finally get to the beginning of the museum, where you start at the beginning of when the Europeans first came to Africa in 1652. There are bushmen drawings that show the effects of the Europeans on them. Then you learn about the gold extraction that began in Johannesburg and the beginnings of the slums and shantytowns around Johannesburg as the mines needed more workers. The museum was very confusing because from that point it brings you to this giant temporary exhibit about Nelson Mandela, that I ended up spending like an hour in, not knowing that I would not have enough time to see the permanent exhibits. The exhibit about Mandela showed Mandela in all his different roles that he played for South Africa. Mandela is extremely put on a pedastool here in South Africa. No one will say a bad thing about him.
After that exhibit you go to the rest of the museum that goes through the implementation of Apartheid by the Afrikaneers, the liberation struggles, the creation of the ANC and other parties, a look into the slums, the end of apartheid in 1990 by De Klerk and so many more things. I could have easily been in that museum for 4 hours. We just didnt have enough time to go through it.
After going there and having dinner, we had our first night out on the town. We went back downtown to the Market Theatre to see Songs of Migration a musical by Hugh Masekela. I had my first drink in Africa too as well as my first South African beer. It was good. Little did I know who he was when I first saw him singing but apparently he is very famous. He married Miriam Makeba, a famous South Africa anti-apartheid activists and singer. It was amazing. There were about 50 different songs sung in different languages reflecting on the problems faced by Black South Africans related to labor and poverty. It was great to hear how all these songs have been passed down from generation to generation. Also, most of the time you didnt even need to know what they were saying in the words because their expression and power just said it all.
Okay and then onto today, Thursday the 20th. We began the day by talking to two ANC representatives. They didnt come with any agenda to talk about they just wanted us to ask them questions. They beat around the bush for every question that was asked. It was just a weird experience and was not a good reflection. Then we went downtown to talk to the main opposition of the ANC, which is the Democratic Alliance or the DA. Their presentation was much more formal and was given by one of the parties mayoral candidates in the next election. He is 23 years old too. Anyways, he criticized the ANC hardcore and went through the history of the DA party. He gave some answers of what the DA is trying to do but was very diplomatic about what he talked about.
Then we went to the Bruma Market for lunch. It was an open-air market with a bunch of little shops. I got a pair of earrings for 20 rand, which is about 2.50 dollars. There was a lot of cool stuff but there is no sense in buying things now so we just walked around for 2 hours. It was nice to be outside since it was about 75 degrees out and very sunny.
Then we had one more speaker about nuclear energy and the environment in South Africa. It was really interesting and this discussion has been the least hostile one we have had so far. A lot of us were falling asleep so that could have been a part of it. He talked about the coal industry and uranium industry in South Africa. Also about what the government has done for and against the coal industry. Also discussed the possibilities of renewable energies.
After that and dinner, we had our homestay orientation. We start our first homestay tomorrow night. My family is in Foslorus, a township in Soweto. My family is a mother, father, a daughter about 16 and a son about 6. I am really excited but really nervous at the same time. I am doing it with another girl on my program, which makes it better. However, I have barely interacted with the girl I am staying with so hopefully we will get to know each other too. This will be my first time jumping out my comfort zone so it will be a hard adjustment for me. I will definitely grow from this. This will be the first time that we are really interacting with South Africans besides our tour guides and speakers.
I will hopefully have time to upload photos after this weekend.
Bec
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Day 3
Sabonyo!!! (that is hello in zulu)
Today was another very interesting day. We began the day by going to St. Martin School, a semi-private school in Soweto. It is the highest achieving school in Johannesburg. We got to hang out with students from grade 9 to grade 12. It was a really great experience. We went into classrooms as groups of four and introduced ourselves. Then we sat down with a bunch of the kids to just talk to them. They would ask us questions about the U.S., what we were studying, where we came from, what languages do we speak, what celebrities we have met?. In one class which I believe was kids from grade 8 asked us about the U.S. economy and what the money looked like which was very interesting. Also all the kids in this school seemed really grounded and driven to do something like they all knew exactly what they wanted to do when they went to college. Even many girls said they wanted to do engineering and physics, which is the complete opposite of most girls in the U.S. I definitely did not know what I wanted to do during high school and as a matter of fact, I dont know what I want to do now even. It is sad that so many of them want to go to college but they cannot necessarily afford it and loans have to be paid off right after they finish college, unlike the States were there is a grace period before you have to pay.
Then after that we went to The Walter Sislulu Square, where there is a monument of the Freedom Charter. The Freedom Charter was like a constitution written in 1994, but unlike our constitution it was never put into law. It is really just an idea that most Black South Africans wish would be implemented. The government, ANC or the African National Congress promised the Black South Africans that they would provide housing in the area around the square, which is a township of Soweto called Kliptown, but the houses built were never given to the poor blacks because they could not pay for it. Kliptown has been so far the most impoverished area we have experience thus far. We got to walk a little around it but then ended up driving through most of it in our vans. It was sad to see all these people living the way they were. Small crowded shacks with buckets in the front yards that are toilets picked up by the government every week. We also learned the government passed a law the all South Africans get like 6000 liters of water each month for free. But that is nothing if the water has to be used for families. An Anti-privitazation forum activist took us on a tour around Kliptown but it was really hard to hear what she was saying so I didnt really understand somethings happening.
Right after going through Kliptown, we went to have lunch at this mall called Maponya Mall. This mall was such a contrast from being in Kliptown. The mall is very high-scale and has many posh stores. The mall is meant for the middle class in Soweto but that is only like 10% of the population. It is really ridiculous. We dont know if that was intentional to go from Kliptown to the mall because there are not many places to just go and eat around us.
After that, we had another speaker come talk to us about Africa's political economy. He is a White American born in Zimbabwe and studied in the U.S. for 10 years and now has been in South Africa for 24 years. It was part of the liberation struggle. He was an amazing speaker so knowledgeable about the politics and economics of South Africa and really all countries political economy's as well. He is very left and radical in his views.
Then we had a debriefing session where we just talked about our experiences thus far and if we had anymore questions.
I will post pictures soon. It takes a long time to load them.
Bec
Today was another very interesting day. We began the day by going to St. Martin School, a semi-private school in Soweto. It is the highest achieving school in Johannesburg. We got to hang out with students from grade 9 to grade 12. It was a really great experience. We went into classrooms as groups of four and introduced ourselves. Then we sat down with a bunch of the kids to just talk to them. They would ask us questions about the U.S., what we were studying, where we came from, what languages do we speak, what celebrities we have met?. In one class which I believe was kids from grade 8 asked us about the U.S. economy and what the money looked like which was very interesting. Also all the kids in this school seemed really grounded and driven to do something like they all knew exactly what they wanted to do when they went to college. Even many girls said they wanted to do engineering and physics, which is the complete opposite of most girls in the U.S. I definitely did not know what I wanted to do during high school and as a matter of fact, I dont know what I want to do now even. It is sad that so many of them want to go to college but they cannot necessarily afford it and loans have to be paid off right after they finish college, unlike the States were there is a grace period before you have to pay.
Then after that we went to The Walter Sislulu Square, where there is a monument of the Freedom Charter. The Freedom Charter was like a constitution written in 1994, but unlike our constitution it was never put into law. It is really just an idea that most Black South Africans wish would be implemented. The government, ANC or the African National Congress promised the Black South Africans that they would provide housing in the area around the square, which is a township of Soweto called Kliptown, but the houses built were never given to the poor blacks because they could not pay for it. Kliptown has been so far the most impoverished area we have experience thus far. We got to walk a little around it but then ended up driving through most of it in our vans. It was sad to see all these people living the way they were. Small crowded shacks with buckets in the front yards that are toilets picked up by the government every week. We also learned the government passed a law the all South Africans get like 6000 liters of water each month for free. But that is nothing if the water has to be used for families. An Anti-privitazation forum activist took us on a tour around Kliptown but it was really hard to hear what she was saying so I didnt really understand somethings happening.
Right after going through Kliptown, we went to have lunch at this mall called Maponya Mall. This mall was such a contrast from being in Kliptown. The mall is very high-scale and has many posh stores. The mall is meant for the middle class in Soweto but that is only like 10% of the population. It is really ridiculous. We dont know if that was intentional to go from Kliptown to the mall because there are not many places to just go and eat around us.
After that, we had another speaker come talk to us about Africa's political economy. He is a White American born in Zimbabwe and studied in the U.S. for 10 years and now has been in South Africa for 24 years. It was part of the liberation struggle. He was an amazing speaker so knowledgeable about the politics and economics of South Africa and really all countries political economy's as well. He is very left and radical in his views.
Then we had a debriefing session where we just talked about our experiences thus far and if we had anymore questions.
I will post pictures soon. It takes a long time to load them.
Bec
Monday, January 17, 2011
Day 1 and 2
Hey everyone. So I am finally in Jo-burg, South Africa. I will go through the details of my first 2 days. So starting Saturday afternoon, I arrived at the airport. My bag was overweight by like 3 pounds so I just had move some stuff into a new bag. Besides that, no other problems arose. Got through security and meet 2 other people going on my trip there. We found our gate and started to find other people going on the trip too emerging as their flights began to land. We all sat and made small talk for 2 hours, waiting to broad our 17 hour flight. Finally around 5 we boarded the plane and found that we all were sitting next to each other, which was awesome. I then learned that we were stopping in Dakar, Senegal, which was 6 hours and 45 minutes away. We landed in Senegal, though I wish we were allowed to exit the plane to see it but that didnt happen. I only got to be in Airport Senegal. So then we had to wait another hour before we could take off to Jo-burg, South Africa. Jo-burg is about 10 hours from Dakar, making the trip feel like it was never gonna end.
After falling asleep and waking up every hour and watching movies, we were finally near Jo-burg. There was a 20 minute stretch where there was no clouds so you could see how vast Africa really is and how compacted the houses are where there are houses. Finally we landed and we all shuffled to immigration. That was pretty much a breeze, same with all of us finding our luggage. After we all collected our stuff, we met up with 5 people leading our program. They introduced themselves and then let us go find ATMs and currency exchange places to go to get some rands, which is the South African currency. After that, we all loaded into 2 vans, about 11 in each with all of our stuff packed in trailers connected to our vans. We got to St. Peters Place, the guesthouse we are staying in while we are in South Africa. It is nice little place and we are all in rooms with 2 or 3 people as well. We had a quick dinner and then had a little meet and greet or icebreaker, if you will. Then we got our schedule for the week and a reader with articles related to places we are going to visit in Jo-burg. From there, we all went our separate ways and find wireless internet to check our emails and such. I tried to go to sleep at a reasonable time like 10:30 but I just could not sleep last night. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep all together. It was raining all night long and there were many lightning strikes as well. Apparently Jo-burg is the city with the most lightning, which is very interesting.
Day 2
We woke up around 730 and had breakfast at 8. We then went to our orientation into the program. We just went over health and safety information and our schedule for Jo-burg in more detail. Then we had our first speaker of our trip. Mr. Mataboge was his name but we was referred to as Molfolee (spelling is definitely wrong here). He came to talk to us about the Liberation Struggle in South Africa. He is from SOWETO, which actually stands for South West Townships. There are 34 townships within Soweto with about 5 million people but no one knows for sure how many people live there. He gave us a condensed version of the history of South Africa starting at 1652, which is when the first White person came to South Africa so that is the date that was put into history books as the beginning of South Africa's history. It was a very interesting talk to here. I had learned a little bit about the Soweto riots in 1976 at Clark but what he spoke about just blew my mind.
After hearing from our speaker, he took our group on a tour around Soweto. We stopped in many different locations. The first place we stopped was the Old Single Quarters. This is an area where very rich black South Africans live. The houses had huge security systems surrounding them and yards were very landscape. We stopped at a location where you could see both where the rich Black South Africans live and where the poor live. The poor houses we saw were ones of miners who came to Jo-burg for work and had left their wives and families behind. Each house housed about 5-10 men. They built two-story houses on the other side of this long road that are meant for the miners to move in with their families but the problem is the cost of the house so many cannot move into them anyways. It was really interesting to see the contrast between the two living areas.
The next stop was the Regina Mundi Church, which happens to be in the Rockville township, which is a cool fact. This is a church that was stormed during the Soweto riots. The police shot guns at the students inside the church from both inside and outside the church. We had this really interesting tour guide who explained every little detail about the church to us. They started to rehab the church but they left so places that show what happened at the church in 1976. There are still bullet holes in the ceiling and tables still cracked. Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton have also been the church many times so of course the tour guide told us that.
Our next stop was at the Morris Isaacson School, which is the main school where the students participating in the protest came together. The school is on a main road that the students walked down during the protest. Off this road is the Hector Peterson Museum. Hector Peterson was the first person killed during the 1976 riots. The Museum is now where Hector's house was during 1976. His sister, Antoinette came to talk to us in the museum. Her story was just sensational. It was amazing to hear her to tell the story of what happened that day her brother was killed. Many of you may have seen the famous picture of a guy holding Hector Peterson and a woman next to them, well that woman was the one who talk to us. After that we had time look around the museum. It was just crazy to see what happened during this period of time.
Our next stop, which was just down the street was Nelson Mandela's house that he lived in before he went to jail. The original house was actual set on fire but much of it still remains. It was a pretty small house but no less interesting. It had about 3 rooms. One room was Nelson's and his wife and another room which was the kitchen and bathroom and the last room was his kids room. All of his kids umbilical cords are buried in the backyard too. Haha.
Our last stop was Soccer City, which is one of the main stadiums used during the World Cup. Now it is used for when the two Soweto soccer teams play each other because it draws in a big crowd. This stadium was huge and of many colors.
This day was very very busy. We experienced a lot of Jo-burg and specifically Soweto. It was really mind blowing and I finally felt that I was truly in Africa.
After falling asleep and waking up every hour and watching movies, we were finally near Jo-burg. There was a 20 minute stretch where there was no clouds so you could see how vast Africa really is and how compacted the houses are where there are houses. Finally we landed and we all shuffled to immigration. That was pretty much a breeze, same with all of us finding our luggage. After we all collected our stuff, we met up with 5 people leading our program. They introduced themselves and then let us go find ATMs and currency exchange places to go to get some rands, which is the South African currency. After that, we all loaded into 2 vans, about 11 in each with all of our stuff packed in trailers connected to our vans. We got to St. Peters Place, the guesthouse we are staying in while we are in South Africa. It is nice little place and we are all in rooms with 2 or 3 people as well. We had a quick dinner and then had a little meet and greet or icebreaker, if you will. Then we got our schedule for the week and a reader with articles related to places we are going to visit in Jo-burg. From there, we all went our separate ways and find wireless internet to check our emails and such. I tried to go to sleep at a reasonable time like 10:30 but I just could not sleep last night. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep all together. It was raining all night long and there were many lightning strikes as well. Apparently Jo-burg is the city with the most lightning, which is very interesting.
Day 2
We woke up around 730 and had breakfast at 8. We then went to our orientation into the program. We just went over health and safety information and our schedule for Jo-burg in more detail. Then we had our first speaker of our trip. Mr. Mataboge was his name but we was referred to as Molfolee (spelling is definitely wrong here). He came to talk to us about the Liberation Struggle in South Africa. He is from SOWETO, which actually stands for South West Townships. There are 34 townships within Soweto with about 5 million people but no one knows for sure how many people live there. He gave us a condensed version of the history of South Africa starting at 1652, which is when the first White person came to South Africa so that is the date that was put into history books as the beginning of South Africa's history. It was a very interesting talk to here. I had learned a little bit about the Soweto riots in 1976 at Clark but what he spoke about just blew my mind.
After hearing from our speaker, he took our group on a tour around Soweto. We stopped in many different locations. The first place we stopped was the Old Single Quarters. This is an area where very rich black South Africans live. The houses had huge security systems surrounding them and yards were very landscape. We stopped at a location where you could see both where the rich Black South Africans live and where the poor live. The poor houses we saw were ones of miners who came to Jo-burg for work and had left their wives and families behind. Each house housed about 5-10 men. They built two-story houses on the other side of this long road that are meant for the miners to move in with their families but the problem is the cost of the house so many cannot move into them anyways. It was really interesting to see the contrast between the two living areas.
The next stop was the Regina Mundi Church, which happens to be in the Rockville township, which is a cool fact. This is a church that was stormed during the Soweto riots. The police shot guns at the students inside the church from both inside and outside the church. We had this really interesting tour guide who explained every little detail about the church to us. They started to rehab the church but they left so places that show what happened at the church in 1976. There are still bullet holes in the ceiling and tables still cracked. Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton have also been the church many times so of course the tour guide told us that.
Our next stop was at the Morris Isaacson School, which is the main school where the students participating in the protest came together. The school is on a main road that the students walked down during the protest. Off this road is the Hector Peterson Museum. Hector Peterson was the first person killed during the 1976 riots. The Museum is now where Hector's house was during 1976. His sister, Antoinette came to talk to us in the museum. Her story was just sensational. It was amazing to hear her to tell the story of what happened that day her brother was killed. Many of you may have seen the famous picture of a guy holding Hector Peterson and a woman next to them, well that woman was the one who talk to us. After that we had time look around the museum. It was just crazy to see what happened during this period of time.
Our next stop, which was just down the street was Nelson Mandela's house that he lived in before he went to jail. The original house was actual set on fire but much of it still remains. It was a pretty small house but no less interesting. It had about 3 rooms. One room was Nelson's and his wife and another room which was the kitchen and bathroom and the last room was his kids room. All of his kids umbilical cords are buried in the backyard too. Haha.
Our last stop was Soccer City, which is one of the main stadiums used during the World Cup. Now it is used for when the two Soweto soccer teams play each other because it draws in a big crowd. This stadium was huge and of many colors.
This day was very very busy. We experienced a lot of Jo-burg and specifically Soweto. It was really mind blowing and I finally felt that I was truly in Africa.
Friday, January 14, 2011
T-17 hours
I am leaving the U.S. tomorrow evening for Johannesburg, South Africa and it couldn't come any sooner. I have been at home for a month just wondering and dreaming of what is to come. Sitting at home, watching t.v., playing with my cat. I am a complete worry wart so I have been packing pretty much since I came home from college this semester. I have been running errands almost everyday so I have to be ready now, right? Well, I think I am I think I am. I have no idea what to expect for this adventure. I have read all about Namibia and the what this program has to offer but that can only prepare me for so much. This is a completely new experience for me and one I have been looking forward to since I came to Clark in 2008. I know that no matter what happens, it will all be okay and it make me a better person and that is all I can hope for. Stay tuned in for day 1 of my travels and hope that it isn't toooo stressful.
Bec
Bec
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