Since arriving back in PMB on Monday, this week has just been moving.
On Monday, Za, Stha and Mbali visited me. We had delicious apple pancakes, laughed over music and power outages and discussed Stha and Za’s hope for the training they were putting together. Then I had to leave to have lunch with a professor from UKZN, Eckson. Since I arrived and he found out I was from the states, he was very keen on getting together and sharing experiences.
This lunch was the most forced interaction that I had ever had. First we ended up at a restaurant that only had 2 vegetarian options on the menu. B, the conversation was primarily guided by my questions. What happened to your interest in connecting due to our work? And lastly, the only questions he asked were: do I drink wine (because after work he likes to sometimes get a bottle) and when was I leaving (because there was a jazz concert the first weekend in August)? I told Za and she was convinced that he was just a nerd trying his luck and I called his bluff & he didn’t know what to do. Either way, it was a waste of time, but I got a good meal and got to sit over the water and watch the ducks enjoy their lives.
The following day I went to CAPRISA and got to meet the young women that were committed to Za’s training. I wasn’t prepared for how much language would be a barrier. I assumed because Za had been working with them and she had never mentioned their being a barrier that I would be fine. No.
(1) While we all tend to talk about concepts of identity, we engage with it in very different ways. Most communities that discuss it do it in the very concrete way of discussing their experiences and how various identities (such as race or class) impact those experiences. But the intellectualization that comes with labeling everything and using academic language does not happen.
(2) Introducing the language and similar definitions is difficult enough, but when we are unable to understand each other due to using different languages or accents, that adds a whole other level of difficulty and frustration.
(3) If I had an understanding of the level English understanding in the room, I could have planned for it. When I first came in, I immediately was made hip to the fact that I needed to slow down to ensure understanding, something that English speakers in the US say to me as well sometimes. It wasn’t until after lunch that I was told that some people wanted what I was saying to be translated because they were unable to understand me. At this point I had been engaging with them for over an hour. When reflecting, this barrier also speaks to the fact that I don’t need to be leading such conversations. This is not my space. While I can connect with them on topics of race and gender, due to intersections of identity, I don’t need to be in the room or even facilitate such conversations. We’ll see what manifests from our group reflections.
With all of this difficulty of language we were able to connect over their interest in the water I was drinking (I had cucumber and lemon slices in it), the food I ate (I ate my snacks during their lunch time and I had pecans, almonds and pistachios) and my lip balm. I had my EOS egg and they were really interested in what it was. To the point where one of the shyest young women asked to try it, immediately after she had already glossed her lips. And my statement of, “Your lip gloss is popping girl!” encouraged her to wipe it off so she could use it. Then the young woman next to me tried to buy it off of me, and I didn’t want to give her a half used lip balm, so I said I would send her one. My silly butt got trapped because the next thing I knew another girl asked, “You’re sending us all one, huh?” LOL. I admitted to them I’m broke, but I will try. And at the time, I was frustrated with the predicament I found myself in, but by the end of the day I found myself internally committed to purchasing and shipping 7 EOS lip balms for the women from that first session.
How we were engaging with each other by the end of the day made me feel like I was interacting with younger cousins. There was this moment when the young woman next to me, Lihle, the same one who initiated the EOS lip balm negotiation, turned to me and said, “I love your color,” and I responded, “Thank you, I love yours as well.” For someone who has struggled since I was young with my feelings about my skin complexion, it always means something when another black woman recognizes the beauty in mine, which tends to be regarded as very undesirable. And the very forward, unprompted way in which she shared her thoughts let me know how genuine they were. To be seen by a black woman is the greatest compliment and recognition I can receive. Especially when I’ve been feeling like the black women I’ve been encountering in South Africa usually view me with disdain.
Two days later, I was heading to Durban to meet up with some researchers, Brit and Iver (who of which was the founder of the Paulo Freire Project in South Africa and engages with the work still even though he has moved to Port Elizabeth) who were engaging with “Profiles of Possibility.” These are institutions, NGOs, and other organizations that are working outside of formal educational spheres and use non-formal education to re-imagine the post-school sector (which includes anyone that is no longer in school no matter what grade they stopped going nor what degree they have received). Their hope is to learn what is happening outside of formal education sector and determine what we can learn from what is happening in these spaces. They focused on 10 international organizations and 10 South African, and I was shadowing them on the KwaZulu-Natal leg of the trip.
We went to three NGOs and had extremely telling conversations about the work they are doing.
Our first stop was the Workers College (http://www.workerscollege.org.za/), in Durban, and we talked primarily to a woman named Kuki. She told us the amazing history and progression of the organization and I was just blown away by what their purpose was and the fact that it had withstood the changes. They found a need to educate during the struggle and prepare workers to engage with the changing government structure. It was initially for union workers then it opened to all workers and people apart of every union. It wasn’t until 1996 that their first course was accredited and they worked with the University of Natal to develop a collaborative degree. When political parties started sending their members they brought the political tensions into the classroom and this gang-like mentality led to course evaluation. So now there is an introductory course called “Activism”. This course challenges students to look at their values, irrespective of the name given to the ideological principle (i.e. socialism, communism, Marxism, capitalism, etc.), and ensure that the ideologies do not get in the way of members tapping into the values. Unlike the formal education sector, where we come to college as individuals and learn for ourselves, this organization is invested in building individuals to go back and build and empower their respective organizations. It’s been found that when students finish the program they never go back to their organizations the same, they either resign due to a difference in views or are targeted because of the way the challenge things their organization does. I could go on and on about this organization because I loved what was shared with us.
The next day we traveled back to Pietermaritzburg and met with PACSA (Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action - http://www.pacsa.org.za) and talked primarily to the director of the organization, Mervin. The organization has a strong Christian history, and was started in 1979, after the Christian Institute was banned and they wanted to stay true to the original objective, to make white Christians aware of the evils of apartheid. After the 7-Day War in the ‘80s, there was a shift and they were asked to become involved on the ground. Their new role became development issues and consolidating a human rights culture through workshops and training. In 2010, they found themselves questioning their purpose more and put their energy into working alongside people who are engaged in struggles they have identified, not identified by PACSA. From inception, this organization recognized that those who suffer have to lead their own emancipation and whites needed to learn to going in a movement led by blacks and respect that. Even though the organization is not primarily white anymore, they still recognize that those who suffer will lead their emancipation, and that those working for PACSA are not necessarily those suffering, so they should recognize and respect their supporting role. I loved a lot of what this organization shared and how they seemed very aware of their role. One of the women I had met earlier during my time worked for PACSA, but I had forgotten this. So I was blessed with her presence for a little bit before we left.
On our last day we found ourselves back in Durban, meeting with Biowatch (http://www.biowatch.org.za). While I was initially enticed because of the promise of non-GMO seeds, I have to admit I was let down by what was shared and their approach. We met with the present director; Rose and she did not seem the best to give us a complete picture of what they were doing. But from what she shared I understand that the organization was established in 1999 by academics, researchers, intellectuals and academic activists that wanted to challenge industrial agriculture and demonstrate ecologically sustainable alternatives. Their approach is through advocacy, research and networking and on the ground with smallholder farms. Unlike the two other organizations, this one went and offered their services to the community and from a video that was created and shown to us, it is very clear that academics influenced the way in which the communities discussed and viewed GMO and government provided subsidiaries for their farms. While I support the principles (non-GMO, non-synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, composting, recycling of grey water, protecting indigenous knowledge systems, etc.), I am not a supporter of their process. In a lot of ways they reminded me of the “benevolent white savior”.
Between all of this researching and formally planned time, I got the opportunity to engage with three youth from the Eastern Cape and Limpopo. And our conversations were very fulfilling. Milisa is a Xhosa woman who received her degree from Amherst College in Massachusetts and had been back and interning at a research organization, Ubizo is a Xhosa man who is a present college student going through his process of becoming a traditional healer and Raymond who is an engaged member of a workers’ union. They were really refreshing especially with the way Brit, a white woman from South Africa and a present researcher, who acted like they were also subjects that she was researching. I’ve connected with two of them via Facebook and hope to continue to nurture the relationships when I get back to the states.
But this is my last weekend and Za, Stha and Mbali are on their way over to ensure we make the most of it. So let me finish my laundry and get dressed to make the most of this final weekend with these bright and spirited souls.
