Monday we began our journey to South Africa!! We left Hanoi at around 5:30pm (on time, for once!) and got to South Africa on Tuesday afternoon. Our flight was long!!! However being the third of many long flights on this program, I was well accustomed by this time and I was able to sleep right through. As soon as we got off the plane in South Africa we heard music playing in the walk-way. The song was a Pitbull song, so it made me feel like I was in the States again. Then as we made our way out of the airport, I noticed I was able to read every sign and understand all of the announcements, the cars outside were all regular size, and the people were black, white, and everything in between. We weren’t in South Africa, we had landed back in the US! Well not really, but that is what it felt like our first few hours in Joberg.
Our first week in South Africa began with our stay at Wilgespruit, a Christian fellowship center. It was breathtaking. At first, I was a bit worried about staying at this center outside of the city, but it soon became an amazing and unforgettable experience. Upon arrival we were each given a room, and were then treated to an amazing home cooked meal for dinner. During our dinner we officially met some of the staff there and learned a bit more about the place where we were staying. This location in the outskirts of Joberg was the site of many important historical moments; it even served as the hiding spot for Nelson Mandela during the Apartheid regime. Who would have known we would be staying in such an alternative and impactful place!
Wednesday we had a more in depth orientation of Wilgespruit. Anastasia, the executive director and also the daughter of the founders of Wilgespruit, told us all about the place where we were staying. Her father was placed here by the church as a minister in 1965. Wilgespruit was a Christian-based center, however it worked across all religions and cultures, focusing on the peace-building role of religion. Seven ecumenical ministers were placed here in total during the Apartheid in order to bring people together in a time when the country was splitting apart. 3.5 MILLION people were removed and relocated from certain areas by the Apartheid regime in order to create distinct white and black home lands and these people were prohibited from intermixing with each other. Anastasia was born in 1970, during a time of political turmoil in South Africa, and because of this her name means "resurrection". Her parents were white, but they believed in creating interracial ties and communities, so they adopted 16 other children, all of which were black. She was very lucky to have grown up in this alternative environment at Wilgespruit. By the time she was 18 she was involved politically as a student to end the struggle of Apartheid and because of her involvement she had to flee from the authorities until she was 20. In fact most of the power behind the struggle to end Apartheid came from the youth at the time. I could never even imagine what that would be like. Sitting there listening to her story made me think of what I would do in her situation. Here I am a 21 year-old in college, learning about all the problems and struggles that exist in the world around me, yet I have never taken initiative to end any of them, at least not to the extent of Anastasia. "Wilgespruit has always been the place to conduct things that need to be done. To bring people together as human beings." - Anastasia.
We also learned a lot about the history of South Africa from Jean Paul de la Porte. He came to talk to us for about 2 hours on the very intricate and complicated story South Africa has to tell. He started off by saying however that you will never hear the same story from any two South Africans, because the story is very personal. I obviously can't share the whole story with you, but here are just a few facts that I thought were very intriguing:
We also learned a lot about the history of South Africa from Jean Paul de la Porte. He came to talk to us for about 2 hours on the very intricate and complicated story South Africa has to tell. He started off by saying however that you will never hear the same story from any two South Africans, because the story is very personal. I obviously can't share the whole story with you, but here are just a few facts that I thought were very intriguing:
- The first people came to South African around 500 B.C.
- People migrated south because the population kept growing. They moved approximately 100 miles in 10 years.
- The Dutch then colonized South Africa near Cape Town.
- "You don't need writing unless you want the hierarchy to administer resources, like the Egyptians. Writing and domination go hand in hand."
- Black South Africans extended all over the country, they farmed and used every meter of land, but they were forced by the colonist to occupy only 7% of the country.
- Nazi notions of white supremacy largely shaped the Apartheid movement and American examples of black movements during the Civil Rights era largely inspired black unity in South Africa.
After our history lesson, we went on a group excursion to a nearby mall to take out money and buy any miscellaneous necessities. Again we weren't in South Africa, this was Oak Lawn and we were in the Chicago Ridge mall. There were stores that looked like Sears and JC Penny, an accessory store like Claire's, phone stores like T-mobile, and much much more. As soon as we came back to Wilgespruit, we headed off an an optional tour of some caves right beside the compound. These caves were said to be one of the many hiding spots for Nelson Mandela during Apartheid. The hike up and down these mountains and valleys outside of Johannesburg was beautiful. And again I felt very lucky to be here and to be able to witness all of this beauty.
Thursday we began our academic portion of the program by visiting the Aurum Institute for AIDS and TB research. This center was founded in 1998 with the goal of providing ARVs to South Africans working in the gold mines. As most people know, Africa has a large epidemic of HIV/AIDS. In South Africa specifically there exists approximately 40% of the population living with HIV and about 75% living with TB. Although treatment is available for free, there still exists a very high rate of HIV infection because patients stop taking treatment when they feel no symptoms or simply avoid getting tested to begin with. After our visit here we headed towards Bree street at the city center. At this location was one of the clinics set up by the Aurum Institute to test and treat HIV/AIDS and TB. They informed us that one of their largest populations included taxi workers or bus drivers, most of which are men. TB is spread very easily this way because of the confinement between healthy and sick people. TB is a very contagious disease and so any slight cough or sneeze could be enough to contract the illness. It is interesting to see how illnesses that are not even on our radar in the US as being epidemic, exist in vast quantities and are life threatening in other places such as South Africa.
Thursday we began our academic portion of the program by visiting the Aurum Institute for AIDS and TB research. This center was founded in 1998 with the goal of providing ARVs to South Africans working in the gold mines. As most people know, Africa has a large epidemic of HIV/AIDS. In South Africa specifically there exists approximately 40% of the population living with HIV and about 75% living with TB. Although treatment is available for free, there still exists a very high rate of HIV infection because patients stop taking treatment when they feel no symptoms or simply avoid getting tested to begin with. After our visit here we headed towards Bree street at the city center. At this location was one of the clinics set up by the Aurum Institute to test and treat HIV/AIDS and TB. They informed us that one of their largest populations included taxi workers or bus drivers, most of which are men. TB is spread very easily this way because of the confinement between healthy and sick people. TB is a very contagious disease and so any slight cough or sneeze could be enough to contract the illness. It is interesting to see how illnesses that are not even on our radar in the US as being epidemic, exist in vast quantities and are life threatening in other places such as South Africa.
Friday was a very historical day. We spent the majority of our morning in Soweto, a town in the outskirts of Johannesburg. This town was designated as an all black home town during Apartheid and still houses most of ht black communities near Johannesburg today. Our initial plan was to visit the Hector Peterson Memorial Museum, however being Good Friday it was closed. So instead we walked around the neighborhood and discussed some of the key historical moments and locations during Apartheid. Hector Peterson was a young boy the age of 12 or so who after school one day was tragically killed during one of the Apartheid riots. His shooting impacted the community drastically in 1976, it was the beginning of a long struggle to end Apartheid. After seeing the site of his shooting we walked further towards Nelson Mandela's house. Nelson moved to this house soon after he was married, but only 4 months later he was imprisoned for over 27 years. Once he was released from prison he returned here to tend to his wife and community. We also learned that Bishop Desmond Tutu was a big member of this community in the religious sense, and that both he and Mandela knew each other before imprisonment. How cool!
After Soweto we went to visit a smaller town called Kliptown. This was more like a village than a town, with dirt roads, smaller homes, and much more prevalent poverty among the vilagers. We visited a Children's Center here where community members were involved in keeping the children off of the streets. They come here before and after school to play sports, do art, and dance! It was very motivational to see the energy in all of these children. Their ages ranged from about 4 to 20 years old. At the end of our visit they performed a dance for us. This dance was actually used as a form of training for Black activists and militant men during the Apartheid. Children at this center performed this routine every morning at 6am before school and after school. It lasted at least 30 minutes and during the entire time the children remained energetic and motivated. I didn't understand all of the words to the songs but I could sense the power behind the movements. It was quite moving. After the Physical Training as they called it, we took pictures with the group and then they invited us to sing and dance with them. During this time I talked to several girls at the center and learned a lot about what role this played in their lives. They are encouraged to go to school and they are supported in that process. Some children have no other home other than the center, so it forms a huge part of their lives. As we were about to leave, a little girl, about the age of 9 or 10, came up to me, held my arm and lead me around everywhere. I was very surprised, she hardly spoke to me but she seemed very interested in me and very attached. She hugged me several times, as if wanting to prevent me from leaving, and she almost always had a hold of my arms or hands. Finally, right before leaving she grabs my hair, she plays with it for a while, and after about 2 minutes she stops and asks me, "Is this real?" I had no idea what to say, I had never been asked this question, so all I could think to say was "yes". Although this was a very small incident, it helped me realize how lucky I am to be seeing all of these things, noticing our differences but building upon our similarities.
After Soweto we went to visit a smaller town called Kliptown. This was more like a village than a town, with dirt roads, smaller homes, and much more prevalent poverty among the vilagers. We visited a Children's Center here where community members were involved in keeping the children off of the streets. They come here before and after school to play sports, do art, and dance! It was very motivational to see the energy in all of these children. Their ages ranged from about 4 to 20 years old. At the end of our visit they performed a dance for us. This dance was actually used as a form of training for Black activists and militant men during the Apartheid. Children at this center performed this routine every morning at 6am before school and after school. It lasted at least 30 minutes and during the entire time the children remained energetic and motivated. I didn't understand all of the words to the songs but I could sense the power behind the movements. It was quite moving. After the Physical Training as they called it, we took pictures with the group and then they invited us to sing and dance with them. During this time I talked to several girls at the center and learned a lot about what role this played in their lives. They are encouraged to go to school and they are supported in that process. Some children have no other home other than the center, so it forms a huge part of their lives. As we were about to leave, a little girl, about the age of 9 or 10, came up to me, held my arm and lead me around everywhere. I was very surprised, she hardly spoke to me but she seemed very interested in me and very attached. She hugged me several times, as if wanting to prevent me from leaving, and she almost always had a hold of my arms or hands. Finally, right before leaving she grabs my hair, she plays with it for a while, and after about 2 minutes she stops and asks me, "Is this real?" I had no idea what to say, I had never been asked this question, so all I could think to say was "yes". Although this was a very small incident, it helped me realize how lucky I am to be seeing all of these things, noticing our differences but building upon our similarities.
Saturday we learned more about the history of South Africa by going to visit the Apartheid Museum. I was actually very surprised that Johannesburg already had developed this type of institution so recently after the struggle. It took Chicago many years before creating the Holocaust Museum for example. So it was a huge accomplishment by the government of South Africa to acknowledge this point in history. The museum was very powerful. Upon entrance you were assigned a class or race, and you proceeded through the museum as that race. I was assigned to be a white, and I witnessed and learned a lot about the way this group thought about their birthrights and power. It was very intimidating and scary, for the lack of a better word. Below are several quotes I saw along the way through the museum that I would like to share with you...
Sunday was our last day in Wilgespruit. We left early in the morning to begin our travels to Bushbuckridge. We arrived at the Southern African Wildlife College around 6 pm super drained and tired. But as soon as we arrived we ran into approximately 7 giraffes and suddenly our day changed for the better. This is exactly what we wanted to see! Our college is centered in a wildlife animal reserve, so we get so see animals everyday at school. How awesome!
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