Apartheid Policies. Robben Island. Township Homestay. HIV/AIDS Outreach.
South Africa - February 24th-29th
I had mixed feelings before I got off the ship in South Africa. Knowing all that I had learned about how race being a tool of oppression for decades before there were serious political changes and their issues were presented on an international landscape. Then those Apartheid policies were put into question and challenged by world leaders all around. Nelson Mandela is certainly one of my idols but what it is even more interesting is learning about the thousands of grassroots organizers who made it even possible for him to be in the position he was able to attain. I was not sure how I would be received being a student of color in the metropolitan area of Cape Town, if the leftovers from Apartheid would affect my daily experience there.
Day one, before I went on my first FDP (Faculty-Directed Practicum), I went with a few friends to the closest establishment to the port where we were docked called the Waterfront. While riding the shuttle on the way, it was clear that the area where we were was industrialized, and expected tourists. The Waterfront was certainly a manifestation of tourism and rich people and reminded me of Navy Pier in Chicago. It was strange and I was torn between fear of what the rest of Cape Town had to offer and how eerily comfortable it was to be reminded of home. The Waterfront had a lot of restaurants, Wi-Fi access, a grocery store, post office, massage shop, beauty shops, gelato storefront, a store to buy soccer jerseys and several kiosks selling everything from fancy scarves, to South Africa trinkets. Up until this port, I did not immediately see anything that necessarily reminded me of home and Cape Town did exactly that.
Next, I had an FDP (Faculty-Directed Practicum) entitled “Race Before & After Apartheid” for my African American Psychology class. This FDP took place primarily at the South African Natural History Museum, Company Gardens, and the Slave Lodge, formerly known as the Cultural History Museum. Additionally we had Professor Morris from University of Cape Town informing us about the history of apartheid and the effect on shaping the cultural landscape of Cape Town as well. We began with an informal lecture from Professor Morris outside the South African Natural History Museum about the classification laws. We learned the specifics behind the racial categories or labels: White – Culturally European, Coloured – Mixed, speak English or Afrikaans, Muslim, Black – Bantu, Culturally African, Cape Malay – Indonesian, Muslim, Griqua – Hottentot, Upcountry, Indian - culturally Indian or Pakistani, Chinese – seen as Honorary White, and much more. The group of which you were classified under Apartheid rule influenced the type of housing you had access to, educational opportunities, and even marriage rights among other things. Essentially depending on which category you were formally assigned, affected every aspect of your life.
One of the several arbitrary tests to verify someone’s racial classification was the “pencil test” in which a pencil was put through someone’s hair and depending on the texture and thickness, they would receive a label. Racial classification was so important that there was a bureaucracy created to investigate what a person’s actual race was. Race was also indicated on citizen’s ID, which they had to carry with them. Prof. Morris showed us some of his original, unpublished research, which had data about the 10,000 people who took advantage of the Race Classification Court to get their race changed. There were certain years where a spike was observed in the number of people who tried to get their race changed. Prof. Morris explained certain years as instances where students would protest and school systems would collapse. Overall, the biggest groups were “Coloured to Black” and “Coloured to White”.
Even in recent news, there was a court case where three prison guards were denied promotion because they are Coloured in a prison that primarily employs Bantu or Black people. Another recent issue is where Black students attempting to be admitted to a medical school are upset because they cannot get in due to their limited educational resources in their neighborhoods or townships. Seeing that race continues to be a problem in the wake of post-Apartheid is comparable to people of African descent in Latin America and certainly in the United States. Where the color of your skin can help predict your life expectancy, income, type of job, criminal record, level of education, type of family you came from and so much more. Not only are you battling with your own perception of yourself, but you are also trying to deal with how other people define you. This probably presents a lot of anticipated stress day-to-day for people of color in South Africa who are dealing with constantly being categorized in people’s minds.
The goal of FDPs is to connect what we learn and observe to what we have learned and discussed in class. This connects to Mogobe B. Ramose’s discussion of the impact of colonization in “The Struggle for Reason in Africa”. Everything European is seen as the right way and so anything that brings you closer to that in terms of racial classification gets you a better life in Apartheid South Africa. Black people were forced to live in terrible conditions because of their racial ancestry and present a complex that they are cursed because of their race or ethnicity alone. Therefore, this makes Black people certainly fight with themselves to regain any kind of cultural pride or dignity and affects their overall self-esteem. This connects also with the notion of the black self-concept, which is lower because of their inferior status in the Americas and certainly similar here in Apartheid South Africa.
If that was not enlightening enough, the next day I prepared to leave for my overnight trip at Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela served most of his time. Surprisingly there were only 10 Semester At Sea students signed up for the trip, but I think it was because either people didn’t know much about it or weren’t sure what an overnight trip at a world-renowned prison would be like. This trip turned out to be one of my most unforgettable experiences through Semester At Sea because of the conversations we engaged in, the information we learned and the bonding that ensued.
Robben Island is located in Table Bay In order to get Robben Island, you have gone to the Waterfront, where the Robben Island Museum is housed and then get a ticket to ride on the ferry. There are limited numbers of tickets sold every day because there are a limited number of ships to carry the potential visitors to the island. This was observed as a handicap to the tourism that site could have from the tour guide we had. Because although it is an official UNESCO World Heritage Site, it gets a lot of visitors but not as many to top Kruger National Park consistently. The ferry ride was fairly short and once we arrived I was trying to take everything in without getting too emotional. We boarded a mini-van where we were introduced to our amazing tour guide for the next 24 hours. As we rode through the island, different buildings were pointed out. Because of the staff needed to keep the island up and running there are homes built for them and their families. The children ride a ferry into town to attend school every day.
Although Robben Island is known primarily for housing political prisoners during the Apartheid regime in South Africa including Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe, Robert Sobukwe, Jacob Zuma and others, there is immense marine life and animals to learn about as well. There are many unique species of plants and animals, which inhabit the island, and providing an interesting perspective in a place, which while being such a vibrant place for animals, was depressing and for some of the most inspiring people in South Africa. It was a place where thousands of leprosy sufferers lived as well.
In housing the political prisoners, they were kept separate from common law prisoners to incite jealousy amongst the prisoners. Different types of prisoners received benefits such as better clothing and time to read and educate themselves and more opportunities to write family and friends. They also separated prisoners on race as well to create tension. Administrators intercepted letters and they would write horrible letters back to their wives and friends making it difficult to reconnect with them when they were released. The letters were also inspected to see if they were discussing political issues. One interesting thing was when journalists came to Robben Island to learn about Nelson Mandela’s experience, they bought clothes for him so he could look nice for them.
One of the punishments that prisoners would take part in is mining the quarries. One of the quarries had water about 15 meters deep and it would take 2-3 hours to drain manually and then to mine sharp stones barefoot made it a certainly strenuous activity. This quarry was nicknamed “The Quarry of Blood and Tears”. Of course, one of the most emotionally stirring experiences was seeing Nelson Mandela’s cell and it took a moment before I could compel myself to take a picture of it as so many thoughts started running through my head.
I enjoyed learning a lot about Robert Sobukwe’s life and death through his house arrest and extreme isolation on Robben Island. One of the examples of solidarity and consciousness was when the other prisoners would walk by where he was housed and take roll call. They would include him but not acknowledge him aloud to the warden except to say that for example they had 400 plus 1. Sobukwe would put up his fist and dirt fall through it as to say, “We are children of the soil and they will not ruin us”.
The peak of my experience was the hours of socio-political discussion, which we were able to engage in with the tour guide and one of the ex-political prisoners. We discussed current issues for post-apartheid South Africa and informed them of similar or different issues that are faced in America that center around racial inequalities. We talked about the influence of the penal system in South Africa and that in the United States and its effect on voter registration, unemployment, educational attainment and other things. We also talked about how the generation of people who raised arms against the government during Apartheid is looking forward to the younger generation in hopes they will mobilize and uphold the government to their progressive claims much like our generation in the US post-Civil Rights era.
The same day, I left for my homestay in the Tambo Village township in Mannenberg. According to one of my cab drivers, it is reportedly one of the worst areas for crime. However, I felt like this neighborhood reminded me so much of my neighborhood back home in terms of the issues they deal with. One woman affectionately named Mama Knocks ran the homestay program, and had been doing so for the past five years. My homestay mother was named Nokhaya. She was excited because I was her first African American visitor. She said she had only seen black people on TV and was happy to finally meet a black person. They were interested in learning about my ancestry and how it contributed to my physical features and the way I talked.
My homestay family all spoke English and so we were able to have great conversations and definitely made it easy to get to know each other. I spent a lot of time talking with my mother’s daughter who was 20 years old. She told me about how she was working long hours at the convention center in downtown Cape Town as a server and bartender. We exchanged music and talked about her family life. Interestingly enough, the youth there sometimes like American music more than they like South African music. When I played some of my music, her and my other homestay sister knew almost all of the songs. I helped my homestay sister Ziko prepare and cook dinner, which consisted of sweet potatoes, chicken, carrots, cabbage, and samp, which is something like rice.
My homestay father came home and we were able to talk about different things like the history of the area and Mandela’s influence. My homestay family was clearly one of the more fortunate because my homestay dad took out his pension money and rebuilt their house from the ground up. He pointed one of the old township shacks the next day, which were built for all of the families originally. In comparison to my homestay house, the progress was evident.
I learned some words in the local Xhosa language, perceptions of Obama and the relations with local whites in South Africa. They said that whites in South Africa never come to the townships but whites from the US and Europe came often. Throughout the township experience, I was thinking about how residential segregation continues to adversely affect so many lives for people of color in major cities like Chicago. My homestay family had no idea there were even comparable situations in the US and I was not surprised that they did not know.
Exchanging my homestay gifts was fun too. My homestay mother really enjoyed the Cheetos and the puzzles and gum. I gave my homestay Dad a Chicago White Sox hat and told him that it is the best baseball team despite what anyone says. I also gave pictures of me and a family photo album and toys for her grandchildren that I met earlier. It was hard to leave because I felt like I was at home and learned so much about these people who tried to make things work despite oppressive circumstances. I am definitely keeping in touch with them.
I had a free day after that and decided to get my hair done which was great. I also went out for lunch at a restaurant I ate at a few nights earlier. The next day I went on another FDP for my Spanish Conversation class. We assisted a local NGO called Operation Hunger with one of their programs at a township. This was a great experience for me because I just had a homestay and was able to compare them. I talked with one of the community leaders about residential segregation in the US and my growing Pan-Africanist beliefs and how I may consider working in Africa in the future. Operation Hunger is a great NGO, which pushes for multi-level reform in nutrition, education and informing people about HIV/AIDS treatments. We helped local women prepare the food for the children which often are malnourished and do not receive regular meals. Semester At Sea students also helped do height, weight and arm circumference measurements. Through the regular visits from Semester At Sea students, they are able to measure their progress with the food deposits in the townships.
My last day in Cape Town involved my last required FDP for my African American Psychology and all of my Semester At Sea classes. We attended a presentation and visited the site of Hope Cape Town housed at Tygerberg Hospital. HOPE stands for HIV Outreach Program and Education. The main tenets of this NGO are focused on HIV/AIDS and TB prevention, outreach and education. Their approaches are innovative with educating local tribal healers and community members to act as liaisons between the NGO and the communities. Hope Cape Town also has the Ithemba (meaning Hope) Pediatric Ward, which provides treatment, care and education to children affected by HIV/AIDS. Before the government started funded Anti-Retroviral Treatment, Hope Cape Town sponsored these regiments for their patients. Hope Cape Town is certainly an influential NGO and necessary for continuing to change the conversation surrounding HIV/AIDS in Cape Town, South Africa, other countries in Africa and perhaps the world. They are planning are starting e-learning initiatives for their staff and providing access for people in Cape Town. I learned a lot while I was in Cape Town and while it was exhausting, it was definitely rewarding and unforgettable.
