Week 2: Endings and Beginnings

Leann Vice-Reshel, Maggie Broad, Nathan Cahn

Monday marked the end of our Soweto home-stay. We left our home-stays and traveled with the group to 17 Shaft. 17 Shaft is an organization that works to train youth in vocational skills. Their mission statement asserts that “17 Shaft Training aims to alleviate poverty through skills training and job creation by implementing projects aimed at empowering marginalized groups such as youth, women ex-combatants and disadvantaged sectors of South African communities.1” In addition to all the goals laid out in their mission statement, 17 Shaft is playing a pivotal role in job creation in South Africa. This is something that the country is in desperate need of, given the high rate of unemployment among its citizens. We were also able to see other forms of job creation during our stay in Johannesburg, such as workers who are hired to sort plastic bottles out of the trash rather than having separate recycling bins. While at 17 Shaft, we were given a tour of the facilities and the current projects to give us a feel of how they function. The sight of the organization is on a former gold mine, as well as a former meeting place of political leaders. One project we were able to see was a building the staff was in the process of constructing. Additionally, because of 17 Shaft’s proximity to one of the World Cup stadiums, the organization will be hosting some spectators of the Cup.

We then departed to one of the three capital cities of South Africa, Pretoria. We visited the US Embassy where we met with a public relations staff member. She informed us of the embassy’s role in terms of international relations, such as establishing exchange programs. Some of the embassy’s recent work has been on combating ignorance of HIV/AIDS issues. For instance, they have begun testing young children, in order to instill a sense of normalcy to the tests, thereby reducing stigma associated with the disease.

The Voortrekker Monument tomb at which Afrikaaners gather around on December 16th of every year.
The next stop on our Pretoria visit was the Voortrekker Monument. The Monument is in commemoration of British colonizers, now known as Afrikaners, who made the trek from Cape Town to Pretoria in the mid 1800’s. While the monument is a source of pride for many Afrikaaners, it has been the cause of much controversy amongst the non- Afrikaaner South Africans. The monument has been called a “fascist” symbol and the controversy has been heightened by the fact that the monument sits atop a hill overlooking Pretoria, reminding South Africans of that moment in history. A large tomb rests just inside the monument to honor those who died on the journey to Pretoria. Each year on December 16th, Afrikaners gather at the monument to celebrate their forefathers’ exploits and watch as sunlight strategically shines at an angle that lights up the tomb. The Voortrekker Monument can easily be related to many monuments and holidays found around the United States, such as Mount Rushmore,
Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. Similar to the Voortrekker, these are all symbols of one culture’s colonization and domination over another culture.

We then ate lunch and met with a linguist professor from the University of South Africa who spoke with us about white identity in South Africa. Born in S.A. of German ancestry, he tried to explain some of his predecessors’ actions and thought processes. He spoke of three prejudices (gender, race, and nations), which played a large role in the formation of white identity. He claimed that apartheid was not exclusively a South African problem, for there are instances of social division all around the world. He also claimed that South African church and state were not connected, as opposed to other historical accounts we heard. The overall reaction to his discussion amongst the group was split.

After we left the monument we traveled to the South African Parliament, a grand building overlooking monument. On the Parliament’s hills we reflected on our experiences in South Africa, commenting on the implications of race and wealth. We returned to That’s It! and then flew to Namibia.

On our first full day in Windhoek we were taken on a tour of the city. On the tour we saw Katatura, the former black township from the time of Apartheid. Similar to Soweto, Katatura has a wide range of economic situations (hardships and triumphs). Both Katatura and Soweto have areas of extreme poverty situated directly next to areas of wealth. It is not uncommon to find a nice house across the street from a house built out of sheet metal. One single road separates the black, colored, and white townships created during Namibia’s apartheid regime. After leaving Katatura, we drove to a hill to look over the informal settlements of Windhoek. For at least two miles in either direction, sheet metal houses could be seen glinting in the sun. Among the shacks we could see one medical clinic, a church, and one small schoolhouse.

During the Katatura Quest one of the groups visited the Soweto market.
The next day was Friday and that meant Katatura Quest. Students were split up into groups of three and assigned a tour guide from a local student leadership program. These groups went to areas around Katatura such as the Soweto market, a political opposition’s headquarters, and other points of interest in the area. This experience was very rewarding because we got new insight into the community. We were no longer one large group of white American students parading through an area, affording us a better chance of being accepted into the community and getting the chance to directly with locals. With less attention placed on us, we became more comfortable in the community. After this, many students took the opportunity to go to the local shopping mall. Prices here are very different from the US. The exchange rate has been hovering around 10 Namibian dollars to one US dollar, which makes it very cheap to buy things such as food, phone cards, and jewelry: cheap for us Americans that is. Price levels are very high for many Namibians, making necessities difficult to acquire and luxuries out of the question. Outside of the mall you can see the way in
which many Namibians make a living, selling “air time” or extra minutes for your cell phone. This reflects our learning of the many different opportunities that have been created to increase job opportunity in a country where unemployment is a very serious issue.

Stay tuned for further amazing adventures!

Week 1: Johannesburg Visit and Soweto Homestay

Sam McCabe, Carolyn Gaglione, Clarke Reeves

Our journey in Southern Africa began on January 18, 2009. After a 17-hour flight, we finally descended into Johannesburg, South Africa (SA). Despite severe jetlag, our learning experience began immediately. As we all departed for Southern Africa with different backgrounds and knowledge of the region, our first speaker proved to be an essential foundation to our understanding of Southern African history. He offered a personal account of his struggle with the institutional racism, known as Apartheid, imposed by the Afrikaner National Party. He took us back to pre-colonial South Africa where indigenous tribes evolved on their own time. We then moved on to the colonial period in which indigenous people were enslaved, displaced and exploited. Black Africans were seen as uncivilized, inferior intellectual beings, therefore justifying the imposition of European settlers. His personal experience during the Apartheid years (1948-1994) exemplified the horrific actions of Afrikaners against black Africans. After years of oppression, black Africans began to organize and revolt and many such citizens were targeted by police forces to be imprisoned or killed. In this regard, the speaker drew many parallels to the United States Civil Rights Movement. In both cases, many blacks simply disappeared never to be heard of again.

Unfortunately, we learned shortly after this brief history lesson that nothing much has changed in South Africa post-Apartheid. This was apparent as we traveled through Soweto, one of the best-known and largest townships of South Africa. Soweto’s population (approx. 3-4 million) is greater than the entire population of Namibia (1.9 million), and it is contained in a mere 31 sq. miles. A visit to Kliptown, an informal settlement in Soweto, showed us firsthand the conditions under which the people there lived. We were shocked by the number of barefoot, unclean children we saw running free with no parent supervision, playing in open sewage systems that ran through the dirt streets of the community. We walked through a tiny 2-room house made of tin siding and scraps of wood which six people called “home.” We were also unprepared for the overall kindness of the Kliptown dwellers who we passed as we walked by their homes.

Settlements just like Kliptown exist all over Soweto, and it is difficult for the government to deal with increasing unemployment rates and growing poverty rates. The government is building new, permanent homes for people to move out of the settlements, yet as quickly as one family moves out a new family moves in. Seeing the settlements firsthand made it clear that the government’s efforts to eradicate poverty are nowhere near adequate, and a new method of dealing with this catastrophic problem needs to be implemented.

As poverty is one challenge that black Africans have had to face, violence is another. This was clearly demonstrated on our visit to the Hector Pieterson Museum, which was created in memoriam to the first student killed in a protest that took place on June 16, 1976. The protest was against Bantu Education, in which black Africans were forced to learn Afrikaans, the language of their oppressors, as a medium of instruction. This system also furthered the institutionalization of Apartheid. A picture of his small body being carried away from the gunfire by a young man and Hector’s older sister stands outside the museum. The sister who is in the picture, Antoinette Sithole, spoke to us about her experience on that fateful day, as well as her opinions about the entire Liberation Struggle. It was powerful to hear an opinion from a person who has such strong ties to the liberation of SA and eradication of Apartheid.

Our group was able to hear many more voices such as Ms. Sithole’s on our visit to the Apartheid Museum. This trip was well placed in the itinerary because it acted as a sort of culminating event of what we had learned up to that point. The most interesting part for me (Clarke Reeves) was seeing the black and white stills of daily life for black Africans under Apartheid. The museum covered everything from the founding of Johannesburg to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Apartheid was formerly implemented in 1948 by the Afrikaner National Party, an all white party. Black people were forced to live outside of the major cities like Johannesburg in townships like Soweto. Soweto is literally an abbreviation of South West Township. Segregation, racial violence, and an education system designed to keep blacks at the lowest rung of society were the norm. Resistance to Apartheid grew from the 1970’s onward. From the student protest of 1976, resistance against Apartheid snowballed until 1990 when Nelson Mandela, the leader of the African National Congress (ANC), was released from jail. The ANC was the main opposition to Apartheid. In 1994 South Africa held its first free elections and Apartheid was officially ended on paper. Learning all of this history throughout the week and at the Apartheid Museum was both significant and humbling. Although South Africa banned Apartheid by law, socio-culturally and economically there was still much to be desired for the newly freed, Black South Africans.

We were struck by the relatively short amount of time between the eradication of Apartheid and the erection of the Apartheid Museum. We compared this with the large amount of time between the end of the Holocaust and the erection of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, and wondered why the Holocaust Museum took so much longer to build.

Later on that day we had a speaker who talked about Apartheid more. He surmised that the political changes looked good for the country and for the people but that socio-cultural and economic changes were few and far between. For instance he said the fact that 13 percent of the population (which was mainly white) owned 87 percent of the land didn’t change after Apartheid was banished. He further said that politics was de-racialized but economics were not. This was evidenced by sites we had seen such as Kliptown. Since there was a lack of redistribution of fundamental opportunities, education and social services not much had changed in South Africa. His solution for the problem involved replacing capitalism with a more socialist economic system, in which local forms of government had more political power. In this way government would really have to answer to the people. He was great speaker who offered many interesting insights into poverty and capitalism.

After a long and educational first week in Southern Africa, we reflected on our experiences, and realized that many of our preconceived notions were far different from what we had seen. For example, in post-Apartheid South Africa, land distribution and socio-economic disparities have not been improved upon by the government. We were grateful for what we had learned and the speakers we had met throughout the week. They broadened our perspective on both the history of South Africa and its contemporary political situation.

That evening we visited a local bar in Soweto and watched the inauguration of Barack Obama into the American presidency. It was clear that this was not an event solely contained in the US, but created an impact that was felt all over the world, and specifically in SA. The bar was quiet during his inaugural address, as South Africans listened to Obama, hoping for personal words of encouragement from this inspiring man. Additionally, throughout our time in Africa so far, we have been asked questions about Obama, and been told that everyone is waiting for him to change the world. The Africans’ optimism is met by our group’s skepticism. While we all hope for the best during the Obama Administration, we understand that Obama will not be able to “save the world” or even Kliptown for that matter.

To start the tour we all given cards that classified us as white or black. We were forced to enter the museum through different doors based on our card. The paths beyond the doors were different for each group. The people with black cards got to see the passbooks they would have had to carry and the segregation that they would have been exposed to. The white group got to see what a life of privilege was like. This section was short and the group came back together after the black and white entrance.