Decolonizing the Mind--South Africa

More pictures of South Africa:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037447&id=40402759&ref=mf

It is about time to post an update as I have been south of the equator for about a week and a half. Though I hope you understand that internet is a rare commodity here. The departure from Olaf was a very comforting one; I finished the design of a 'microcredit & economic development' teaching module for a professor, packed up my room, saw those adventuring during the fall semester, and said a peaceful goodbye to my life as I knew it this past year. However, it was not until Blair, Hannah and Nicki drove off honking and waving as they drobe off leaving me standing by the airport doors with what are my belongings for the next 7 months, and a head full of confusion.

After a short flight to DC, and a sleepless 15 hour flight directly to Johannesburg, I arrived as breathlessly excited as if I had slept for hours. The staff from the Center for Global Education welcomed us all at the airport, we settled in St. Peter's Place Guesthouse, and took the liberty of getting to know eachother. May I say that 20 students from all over the US, here with a purpose of selflessness and curiosity, 90 degree weather, and a green courtyard, are great ingredients for making life-long friends!

The purpose of our 10 day seminar in South Africa was to learn about the history and current political, economic, and social situation of this fastly developing nation. Most days we heard adresses by activists from the apartheid era, interacted with men and women who rose with the youth to protest the apartheid regime and the enforcement of Afrikaans as the medium of teaching in all schools. The Hector Peterson Museum comemorates that same youth that died in the June 16th, 1976 protests in Soweto by the hand of the Boers, the creators and executors of the biggest injustice in the world--legal discrimination, segragation, and oppression in all of South Africa.

We also visited Soweto, where we met wonderful, warm-hearted people, and experienced the continual suffering of forced migration of all blacks from Johannesburg to outside townships. Silent hours spent in the Apartheid Museum lead to thinking about humanity, the greedy drive to own and control, as well as the power of the people to change the system and break the opression. Though the unimaginable suffering, torture, and continual inequality persist as we glipmse headlines about Darfur, Zimbabwe, Kenya...

Though I feel the seminar is the balance to the 'reality' we recieve every day, we still went to Pretoria to see some 'balance' to all we have been experiencing and learning. The US Embassy proved pointless with their passive role in breaking the injustices of apartheid and the continual struggle to fight the highest rates of HIV in all of Africa. The Voortrekker Monument stands to show the Boers' immigrant struggles, as they came and sleyed the black population, enslaved them for centuries, gave them township shacks to live in while working in their gold mines, and continually thrive above the majority's standard of living. They claim it stands as it is history. I say history belongs in museums of truth as we know it, while monuments celebrate. The Boers' mission is not one for celebration.

The seminar ended with the most perfect experience I could have ever asked for! I spent a 3 day homestay in Soweto, where I was taken in as family. Vincent & Nellie Phangisa had a very cute, small, and simple house in a community very much reminding me of my homeplace. Perhaps not the visual; but the feel. Firstly, they were wonderful to allow Jessica and I to participate in their daily activities (not treating us as a tourists, thank Buddha!), opening up about their views on the past, the present and the future of South Africa, taking us to welcoming neighbors uninvited, showing us around the town, and inviting all their family to meet us and speak to us....Though I must say that my stay would not have been the same without Nathi (their 1.5 year old boy) and Mbali (their 6 year old daughter). Being such a kid-lover, they warmed up to me in less then 20 min, aside from the unfamiliar color of my skin. We even spent a day at the local zoo with the neighbors who hosted Alex and Jana--a recipe for a wonderful weekend day, undistinguashable as a day in a foreign land spent with newly-met people. Participating and learning from the lives of such a wonderful people was the most rewarding experience so far. The tears were hard to retain during good-byes, though we have pictures to keep, promises of staying in touch, and an agreement that I will stay with them in May after the group departs back for the States.
The last few days involved lots of adventures around Johannesburg, lots of late nights spent chatting and laughing in our guesthouse courtyard, reflections on our experiences, and last minute interactions with the community. We visited 17 Shaft-an NGO established to train unemployed persons obtain skills to enter the construction working sector. It was pretty much the coolest tour we have taken as we were split in small groups, walked around the complex, met the trainees, interacted with the staff, learned about issues facing South Africa today, and most of all-made friends. We also visited a local school, learned about the education system, chatted with students, sat in on a few classes, and had a BLAST! Everyone took us in so well; they were excited to learn about where we come from, as much as we were curious about their daily living, their families, their goals, and interests. I came to realize that though we come from different worlds, live in different conditions,;we are much more similar than expected. The hopes we have, the goals we set, the love we give; we are all humans and no matter the color of our skin, or the countries we grow up in, we all dream for a brighter future and a peaceful world.

As the seminar ended, I finally find myself settled in the house that I will call home for the next 3.5 months in Windhoek, Namibia. As amazing as the seminar was, constructing a life for myself where I will be constantly exposed to community I will grow to know and love, is what I have been looking forward to very much. I live in a room with 4 other girls, and am attending orientation and prep sessions by the staff in the CGE house-our same coordinator from South Africa, the crazy man Urbanus, and a peaceful, warm-hearted woman, Linda whom I shall be doing yoga with :) Monday I begin with my internship at the Namibia Housing Action Group/Shackdweller's Federation of Namibia and my classes in Development, Political Science, and History on Tuesday. More is to come about my life here, but for now I leave you with a reaffirmation that I am alright; no malaria, no muggings, no homesickness, though a wishful thought that you all could be with me here to experience this great land, these heartful people, this dazzling culture.