Lecture, District Six, Market, Bars

Today was a gorgeous day. It’s funny that it’s South Africa’s winter right now, because I could wear shorts and be fine. We were on our own today with finding our way to the campus, which was a cool feeling even though we did have to ask for help once. Another funny thing was that when we asked this guy for help (who had a British African accent), he said our building is on the opposite side of campus, which was only about six buildings away.

Our lecture this morning was about the history of South Africa. The professor (Zwelethu Jolobe) was very friendly and intelligent. The structure was much like the U of M’s lectures where the professor will give you information, jot notes down on the board and ask if you have any questions after touching on a subject. Jolobe touched on several different topics including the affect the discovery of diamonds had on the Cape colony, Nelson Mandela, the rise of skilled black people in urban areas who wanted more rights, the end of apartheid and more. Currently in South Africa democracy is stabilizing and there are three party systems (ANC, Democratic Alliance and Congress of the People). They no longer organize elections around race (which is what we do) and instead organize them around interests. NJ mentioned that South Africa is a third world country, but has attributes of a first world country also. For example, if people have health insurance, they are granted free membership to gyms in order to encourage fitness and healthiness. They also have a deal where if you buy rockets (green leaf plants), you get 10% off on your vegetables. This makes me very curious as to why the U.S. doesn’t provide these same benefits nation-wide when we are a first world country. It’s kind of mind boggling that a third world country is a step ahead of us when the U.S. is more fortunate. In order to create changes like this, people need to be committed to their beliefs. Not only that, but help others believe in what you think would benefit society while taking into consideration other people’s perspectives so that the outcome is that more powerful and successful.

After the lecture we visited the District Six Museum, which is a monument revolved around when the government forced colored people out of their homes during apartheid. In the museum there was a long cloth that visitors signed. It was really painful to see pictures and read about the devastation during this period. People were kicked out of their homes and forced to live in a tiny box. A section of the museum demonstrated a remake of what someone’s home looked like. It was about 7x7 and the room had plaster on the wall with different materials (like clothes) sticking out of the plaster to demonstrate what rooms were in the sections of the home. The home consisted of his closet, bed, kitchen, and bathroom shelf-each “room” being about 3x3. I honestly am not sure if I’d be able to survive in an environment like that. I know I say this because I’m used to having a nice home with the ability to purchase luxury items, but it’s just mind boggling right now to think about how people can live in that situation. We were talking today about how the government thought their reasoning was justified, which is a good point because sometimes I have a hard time wondering how people can do something like that to others. One of my favorite signatures on the cloth said, “Sadly, sometimes the world needs a bad example in order to provide a good one.” I think this goes for a lot of world history- it’s sad that it happens this way, but at the same time I understand how people need to learn from their mistakes and other’s. Another signature said, “Malcom X, MLK, Mandela, Obama. 1 struggle. 1 people. 1 love.” It’s crucial for people to remember that we’re all in this together.

We then walked downtown to the Greenmarket Square. There were SO many little 4x8 tents filled with a booth of various goods. All of the vendors would try to attract you to purchase their goods buy yelling, “Hello, what would you like to look at? I’ll give you a good price, only to you nobody else.” This became very overwhelming because it was such a tiny area. At first I was super nervous to barter with the vendors because I would feel uncomfortable fighting them to lower their prices. But at the last booth we visited I did it! The guy was very stubborn too. You just have to set your mind on one price and not budge for anything less. Afterwards I was pretty proud of myself because I overcame a fear, but at the same time I felt a little guilty because I’m not 100% sure on what a decent price for the good would be. So I’m hoping that I didn’t rip the vendor totally off. I don’t want to make an assumption, but the vendor may be banking on his sales to provide him or his family with food and shelter. But at the same time I don’t want to get taken advantage of and pay more for a good than what it’s quality is actually worth. One of the most shockingly sad things in the market was this little boy, who was about 10 years old, who was begging for money. He was wearing a dirty white t-shirt and sweatpants. He spotted a couple of us girls paying for a good from a vendor and then circled us with his hands open asking for money. This was really hard and sad to avoid. It’s hard to see him suffering, but it also wouldn’t be right to give him money because then he’d keep begging for more (like what happened to Emily T. with the lady). This situation made me think of the brothers in Slumdog Millionaire, when they lure in tourists to steal from them. It’s weird and heartbreaking to see situations like this happen in real life.

Tonight we decided to go out after having dinner. The restaurant we went to was so beautiful. It was surrounded by glass windows and was located close to Table Mountain on top of a steep hill overlooking the whole city. I feel really bad visiting these nice, expensive restaurants when I know we’re surrounded by townships that consist of people who are unable to afford meals. After dinner, the air in the bar that we went to was filled with clouds of cigarette smoke (yuck). While a few of us were sitting outside, a fight broke out between a couple of guys. After a few seconds there were punches being made, which was quite frightening. I have never witnessed anything like this before. It was very shocking and scary because I didn’t know what would happen. Something that was a little different was that the bouncers/workers didn’t kick the guys out-they only broke up the fight. A little while before this happened, a South African girl named Precious came up to a couple of us girls sitting a table and asked to join us. She dominated most of the conversation by informing us on her background and asking us about Minnesota. She was extremely fun and outgoing. I feel like the people in South Africa are very friendly and open, because I can’t picture this situation happening in Minnesota or Wisconsin. Sometimes I don’t really believe that we should be called “Minnesota nice,” because we aren’t always friendly to everybody. When walking down the streets people don’t say “hi” to each other and I feel like not everybody goes out of their way to meet new people (like what Precious did). Although I do think that this does change depending on what people’s personalities are. Sometimes I wish that people were more open with one another and not always so judgmental. For example, instead of turning your head when you see somebody you know, I wish that they would smile and have a heartfelt conversation. I think this would give us more of a sense of community with one another.

Bed time. Stay tuned for more!