Today was a really exciting day! First of all, we got to see our campus and it is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! Seriously, I can’t describe in words or even in pictures how incredibly beautiful it is. I just don’t know what to say. I’ve never seen anything like it. The view is so beautiful from the main stairs (where people congregate between classes apparently) and Table Mountain is right in the background. I had seen that picture so many times on the UCT website so when we walked up and saw it, it was just astonishing. I couldn’t believe it.
When we got on campus, we started orientation by learning this South African dance similar to the Macarena. Thapz, one of the SOLmates, taught us, and it was really fun! Then we watched this incredibly moving video called Amandla (which is Xhosa or Zulu – I forget – for “power”) abot the anti-apartheid movement and how songs mobilized people. It made me cry a few times, but the part that hit me the hardest was when this man was describing voting for the first time, when apartheid was finally defeated after decades. He said, “I voted not for me, but for my mother, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother, who never had the chance to.” It was so powerful to see how people were able to see a vision of a brighter future even in the midst of such darkness, and it truly made me feel empowered to effect change in society.
The attitudes of some other Americans really bothered me, though. Quinton (CIEE director) said after the video that the reason he showed it to us was so that we could see how apartheid’s segregation of Blacks and Coloreds into townships had had a lasting impact on the country today, because these marginalized groups, although the majority, still have unequal access to resources and are living in poverty when compared to the average White South African. Many of these people, because of the affects of apartheid, feel no hope for the future because they have seen such horrible things, so there is less of a sense of wanting to strive and achieve, which contributes further to poverty and crime. But right after he says all this, these two guys behind me started talking about how a friend of theirs had gotten robbed by a street kid last year, and the guy goes, “yeah, I’d be pretty pissed if some kid robbed me at knifepoint.” I was thinking, are you serious? Did you not just see the video and hear what Quinton said? Hopefully this experience will change their perceptions and make them realize that there are societal factors and deeper causes behind everything, if they just open their eyes.
After that we had presentations about different volunteer opportunities, and two caught my attention: a baseball team for kids in the townships, and a charter school focused on Black empowerment. The guy who runs it is so passionate and deep, so I’m really looking forward to working with him. And if I have time, I’d also like to work at this homeless shelter called ARK, which has so many services and is Christian-based. After the presentations, Tawanda showed Terrance & I some real African food on campus (before that we were just eating generic stuff, outside of the ostrich burger lol!) We had sadze (in Shona), which is kind of like really thick grits that you eat with chicken. It was funny because the night before, Tawanda had JUST described the whole dish to me, and then I got to try it the very next day! It was really good, but apparently you’re supposed to eat it with your hands. Maybe next time! Then we sat on the steps for the first time (maybe the equivalent of sitting out on Healy lawn with a blanket? A really college-y thing to do) with Tawanda and Lowena (SOLmates) and it was really cool. After that, I went CD shopping and got some South African music with a couple of the SOLmates, Chenai and Nyoko.
But the best part of the day was going to Marco’s African Place. It’s this traditional restaurant with really good food and performers and everything. So Chenai (who really reminds me and Terrance of Buky, for all you Georgetown people – she’s SO funny!) was teaching me all these African dances to the songs they were singing, and it was so fun! She ended up being the star of the night and got invited on stage to dance and everything so it was really cool! Then we hit the clubs on Long Street again, and since we stayed longer there were a lot more people out and it was a whole lot of fun! Interesting thing to note about one of the clubs: on the walls there were posters of Tupac and Bob Marley. And guess whose picture was right in the middle of them? Nelson Mandela. It just really hit me when I saw that what a symbol of pride he is for this country, and how much he embodies the spirit of South Africans. They have so much reverence for him from what I have seen, and it’s really moving.
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