Tasting the waters of Africa

I have been in South Africa for almost a week now. I have no words to describe this country. Nothing can fully convey how absolutely beautiful and wonderful it is.

We flew into Johannesburg and spent a day touring the area. We were in Soweto, a township outside of JoBurg, for most of the day. We visited an informal settlement for a while. When the apartheid was in full swing people were forced out of their homes and had to create informal settlements to live in. After 94 many people went back to their homes, but some people stayed because of the family that they had created. It isn't a sad place. It's very hopeful. People work together to make sure that everyone has enough food to eat. They do tours in order to keep gangs out of the area and raise money for the families. It was a very hopeful place and it really changed a lot of the stigmas that Americans have attached to "poverty stricken" areas in Africa.

Then we went to a museum about apartheid and the horrific events of June 16, 1976. During that time the mainly white government changed the official language in school from English to Afrikaans. This was to restrict the learning abilities of the youth of South Africa. If they could not learn English they could not move to other countries and work. They could not work in the government or any high paying jobs in SA.

So the students of Soweto staged a march to occur on June 16. It was very well thought out. Most of the students were between the ages of 8-13. They would hold hands in groups of five and each person was responsible for the person next to them. It was intended to be a peaceful march. Until the police ahead of them started to throw rocks at the children. The children then threw rocks in defense. It turned into a massacre of children.

A picture of the terror was smuggled out of the country and the UN intervened, and the other cities in SA took a stance against Afrikaans as well. It was a horrible thing to read about and see but it really helped us all to understand the terrible things that happened during the apartheid.

After lunch we drove to Pretoria, a Dutch settlement. It was much different city than Joburg or Soweto. It was lush and green and the houses were very beautiful. Our history professor, Reg, pointed out the monument that we were going to visit. On top of a hill was a gorgeous, huge building. Reg then began to explain the history of the building. It was built to commemorate the Dutch overcoming the Zulu tribes. Then we all thought, wait...they have a monument commemorating the Dutch stealing the land of the Zulu? Stripping them of everything, their homes, their culture. Reg said Pretoria has been one of the hardest places to visit during his whole life because he feels like it commends persecution of the Africans.

We ended our day there in Pretoria and flew to Durban the next day. We then drove to Pietermaritzburg, to our incredible new home. That I will tell you all about in my next blog!