Introduction to South Africa World Wide 2006

In May of 2006, I set off to South Africa with four other Warren Wilson College students (Shaina DeCiryan, Maggie Leasure, Nicole Emma Meistrich, and Caitlin Smith), sociology and women’s studies professor Jennifer Fish, and Service Learning Coordinator Debra Kiliru. The three-week journey was part of Warren Wilson’s WorldWide program.

Entitled "South Africa: Apartheid, Inequality, and Social Change", the program was an experiential-learning course focusing on race, class, and gender inequalities. We studied these issues in theory throughout the semester at Warren Wilson as part of the course preparation and in a pre-requisite sociology class, "Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa". These theories became reality as we experienced them through various lectures, interviews, formal and informal conversations, and immersive experiences (such as our work at service projects).

In preparation for the journey, in the pre-departure section of the course we read the novel You Can’t Get Lost In Cape Town by Zoë Wicomb, which helped us understand some of the complexities of race and identity in South Africa, particularly from the point of view of a Coloured woman. We discussed traveling consciously, the politics of languages, and group dynamics. One class session we spoke with teachers in the art and writing departments about creative journaling. This inspired me to purchase a travel-size watercolor set and bind my own journal. My journal served as a space for artistic expression, scrap-collection, and ponderings and narratives of our experiences.

We flew out on Wednesday May 17th, 2006, from Greenville, South Carolina. We made a brief visit to Frankfurt during our long layover, and finally arrived in Cape Town in the early morning of Friday May 19th. We spent that first day sleepily touring the Bo-Kaap District and the prison on Robben Island. The next day we were introduced to Khayelitsha township, outside of Cape Town, where several women in the group would be assigned for our service projects.

On Sunday, we visited the District Six museum and site, where we were given historical and narrative information by Linda Fortune, author and former curator. She then gave us more Coloured history at Oudekraal Beach. We finished up that Sunday with a visit to Stellenbosch, a contrast with its wineries, wealth, and prestige.

Monday morning, May 22nd, we made our way into the townships to tour the service projects at which we would spend the week volunteering. The next three days were spent at these sites, with some afternoon visits elsewhere:

• We had coffee and dessert with University of Cape Town (UCT) professor Helen Moffet, who teaches women and gender studies and is a Rockefeller fellow. With Dr. Moffet we discussed the recent rape trial of former vice president Jacob Zuma, as well as other issues of sexual violence in South Africa.
• We met Dr. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, author of A Human Being Died That Night, a book we read about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process. She was part of this process as a psychologist, and she is currently a professor at UCT and part of UCT's Unit for Trauma, Reconcilation, and Forgiveness.
• We visited the headquarters of COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) and ate lunch with several of the union heads and members; a few later traveled with us to the Cape of Good Hope.

At the end of the week, on Friday the 26th, we wrapped things up at our service projects - we would return a week later to give gifts and say goodbyes. On Saturday we visited a crafts store run by Margaret Waermann, who explained to us the importance of allowing creativity and funding individual artists in the South African arts and crafts market, particularly in Cape Town, where art is very demand-driven.

We spent Sunday May 28th driving East on the coast to Plettenberg Bay, where we had a day of rest on the Indian Ocean. On Tuesday we drove to Port Elizabeth, an industrialized, developing city. We stayed at Ekhayeni Bed and Breakfast in the township of Motherwell, where we were greeted by a troupe of young girls performing African dance to drumming, interspersed by hip-shaking dances to pop songs. We spent the next day touring the Coega Development Project and other area projects with Richard Unite, including the community of Walmer, a historical site of political resistance, and a youth center. We met Stone Sizani, the regional director of the African National Congress, and had a very interesting discussion with him about politics.

On Thursday June 1st, we moved Northeast to the former Siskei, where we stayed with the Roqoza family for two nights in the village of Masele. We visited their local health clinic, a community project and garden for seniors, and our host-sister Peliswa’s elementary school. Our last morning there, we attended a post-funeral cleansing ceremony and learned about Xhosa funeral traditions.

We returned to Motherwell Saturday evening, and on Sunday June 4th, we visited the graves of the Sontashe family’s mother and sister (the Sontashe’s were Jennifer’s host family when she first came to South Africa). We spent the evening with the whole extended family, eating delicious food and tasting their homebrewed ginger beer. We made friends, or rather new family with this family. We returned to Cape Town, where we wrapped up our service projects and said goodbyes. We spent our last evening as a group at the Africa Café.

Service Learning Sites:

Etafeni
Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDs (GAPA)
Yabonga
Sibanye

Our first morning in South Africa.

Day 1, May 19th: After 30-something hours travelling and an hour or so to freshen up, we set off down the streets of Cape Town to learn about the local culture.

View of Cape Town

With bleary eyes, we gazed in wonder at the colorful houses, high-rises, and misty rocky mountains of Cape Town, from our view in the Bo-Kaap.

The Bo-Kaap Museum

In the Bo-Kaap, we gazed at beautiful black and white photos of the neighborhood's people while we waited for our tour to begin. Emma sketched some of the faces into her journal.

The Bo-Kaap is a colorful neighborhood in Cape Town, with many Muslim residents. The Bo-Kaap Museum is transforming from a cultural history museum to "a social history museum that will tell the story of the local community within a national socio-political and cultural context" (museum website).

Robben Island Prison

This is one of the prison rooms at Robben Island.

After a quick roti at a woman's house in the Bo-Kaap, we rushed to catch the noon ferry to Robben Island, where we toured the prison. Sadly, we were so sleepy from our travels that we rudely fell asleep on the tour bus! The guides were understanding when we explained to them that we had just flown in from the United States.

Nelson Mandela's tiny solitary cell.

Nelson Mandela was kept in solitary confinement in this tiny cell - all you can see is all the space and furnishings that he had. Mandela came out of prison and won the first elections open to all South Africans. He became a hero, and everywhere we saw pictures of him - most often printed on fabric used for skirts, tapestries, etc.

Khayelitsha Township

Day 2: We were introduced to Khayelitsha Township (outside of Cape Town) by Thope Lekau, founder of Kopanong Bed & Breakfast. This was one of our first close-up views of the sprawling shacks of the townships that surround every city in South Africa. We felt like tourists as we guiltily snapped pictures; some people walking by pretended to pose for our photos. Many tourbuses come through, and foreigners stick their cameras out the window to catch a snapshot to bring home. Although at the time we felt too much like one of those tourists, we soon came to know the townships and the people better and felt more at home. After spending a week away, we were happy to see the sign for Khayelitsha and the other townships we had worked in as we returned to visit our welcoming friends.

Golden and his flowers

Thope introduced us to Golden, a man who makes beautiful flowers out of discarded cans. Neighborhood children collect cans for him, his children help him paint the petals and stems, and he cuts the cans into the shape of lillies, sunflowers, daisies, and roses. This is just one example of the many creative recycled arts that flourish in Cape Town and often support the people and programs of the township directly. Sibanye is one program that brings arts and craft created by HIV-affected and infected people to market so as to directly benefit these people.

Day's end in Khayelitsha

Thope packed our day with many facets of Khayelitsha. Besides meeting Golden, we visited the maternity ward and trauma unit at a local hospital, visited a community garden, and stopped at a local market to purchase some South African staples - mealie-meal (cornmeal of sorts), bananas, and various other fruits and "veg". We were quite a spectacle, the only White people walking down the muddy, smoky road of the marketplace, but we felt quite safe - except when the large taxis drove by rather quickly and close! We ate a delicious dinner featuring local food at Kopanong B&B and then listened and danced to the upbeat youth marimba band pictured above!

District Six Museum

Day 3: Linda Fortune, former District Six Museum curator and author, gave us a special Sunday tour of the museum and told us about her personal history. Linda lived in District Six, a vibrant and diverse neighborhood, until her family and most other residents were forcibly removed in 1971 as part of apartheid's regime of segregation. The nieghborhood was demolished. Very little was left behind, and not much has been built since. This museum is a monument to the memory of the community that once existed there. Inundated with information and emotions, in my journal I described the museum as "a building decorated entirely with memories - art and artefacts, inscriptions, poems, soundclips, photographs, street signs..."

Images from District Six Museum

A collage in my journal.

Homeless in District Six

In the huge vacant lot of District Six I saw homeless people gathered around a fire under some palm trees, a blatant reminder that the people displaced and oppressed by apartheid have still not received reparations.

Stone Cairn

As part of a continuing ritual that Linda Fortune conducts with people she brings to the District Six site, we moved stones from the hillside with the cross to the cairn in the foreground of this photo. This was a moving experience, especially to see the ruined and abondoned land that still waits, after all these years, for a proper healing and rebuilding. What was once a beautiful community was left this vacant lot, showing the hole left in the hearts of people forcibly removed.

Oudekraal Beach

Our first trip to the ocean, Linda Fortune continued to tell us about the displacement of Coloured people during apartheid. The caves of this beach used to serve as Coloured people's summer vacation homes, until apartheid mandated almost all beaches as "Whites only". Now, Linda is working on memoralizing the history of this beach, with plaques about the people who lived in each cave.
A page of my journal decorated with seaweed and shells from the beach, "ulwandle" in Xhosa.

Mountains and ocean

Even the beauty of nature in the form of these incredible beaches was not allowed to the Coloured and Black people of South Africa during apartheid.

Linda Fortune and her sister Sheila

At right is our guide Linda Fortune, at left is her sister Sheila.

Stellenbosch University

To utterly contrast our morning and afternoon at District Six and the beach, we went to Stellenbosch (Linda and Sheila came along) and met with Stellenbosch University professor Robert Vosloo, a progressive Afrikaaner. He brought us to Boschendal Vineyard, where we had a taste of Afrikaaner life and wine, and discussed some of the debates among university students. There was such an incredible contrast between the township slums and the wealth and prestige of the university and the wineries in Stellenbosch!

Introduction to Service Projects

Day 4: We toured each of the service projects that we would be working at for the rest of the week. Above is the garden at Etafeni Community Center where I was to work, in Nyanga township. Etafeni has a daycare center for children of HIV-infected parents and an income generaton project and support group for the adults. The garden provides food for the daycare center as well as the adults at the program. Healthy food is important for the health of HIV-positive people, and organic vegetables provide the best and safest nutrition.

Congress of South African Trade Unions

We visited the office of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU, and met several women Jennifer had befriended during her research for her book Domestic Democracy at Home in South Africa.
In this photo, we were speaking with COSATU's gender coordinator, Elma Geswindt, a vivacious and interesting woman.

Gardener Khehle Makhabeni at Etafeni

Etafeni gardener Khehle Makhabeni taught me methods of organic gardening in limited space over the course of a week, and so much more. Once I said to him, "South Africans are so nice and welcoming," and he responded, "We're just pretending." He explained to me the next day that "We're taught to respect and act nice and pretend to understand the White people; they are respected and they know everything. That's why I said we pretend."

Caitlin and children at Etafeni Community Daycare Center

The walls of the school at Etafeni held posters of White students rather than the students from the school itself, so Caitlin remedied this by undertaking the project of photographing everyone at the school and printing out each of their photos! I caught her with the children during one of her class photo shoots - which were quite an endeavor! I couldn't move much, covered as I became with clambering children. Definately some of the sweetest moments in South Africa were spent with children.

Boy at Etafeni

One of the cutest, sweetest boys who wouldn't stop crawling all over me at Etafeni!

After giving Khehle is biography

I interview Khehle about his life, and wrote what he told me into the form of a story. I typed this up and printed it out, pasted a photo of him on the cover, and gave two copies to him for himself and his children. He was so happy to receive this gift - he was touched and amazed. I caught his characteristic grin and laugh in this photo!

Victoria at Etafeni

Victoria is a construction worker at Etafeni. She befriended me. I loved her strength and humor; she was one of only a few women working amongst men - most of the women working at Etafeni were in the daycare, crafts project, or kitchen.

Cape of Good Hope

The tip of Africa!

Where is the tip of Africa?

Some perspective on our location at the bottom of the continent!

Group with Domestic Worker's Union Leaders

Visiting the Cape of Good Hope with Jennifer's friends, leaders of the Domestic Worker's Union of COSATU. From left to right, Ntombizanele Felicia Msila, Hester Stephens, Jennifer Fish, Maggie Leasure, Liina Laufer, Caitlin Smith, Emma Meistrich, Shaina Deciryan, Debra Kiliru, and Myrtle Witbooi.

Viva Cosatu!

Jennifer, Felicia, and Hester having fun spending time together once again! Felicia kept on calling "Viva COSATU! Viva Mandela! Viva Jennifer! Amandla!" - the revolutionary calls of apartheid resistance. We all found it thrilling to hear and see Felicia, an embodiment of the amazing movement we had only read about.

Reflection and quietness on the beach at the Cape of Good Hope

After an intense first week, we all enjoyed the repleneshing opportunity to wonder along the rocky beach at the Cape of Good Hope.

Last view of Cape Town as we headed East

The beauty of Cape Town never ceases to inspire awe and delight...

Day of Rest at Plettenberg Bay

Emma walking in the waves of the Indian Ocean.

Port Elizabeth information overload!

May 31st: A day full of lectures and tours in Port Elizabeth...I don't have any photos of this day, only pages and pages of notes and doodles! We visited the Coega Development project with Richard Unite. He also took us around to various site of interest concerning development in the townships of Port Elizabeth.

We were overloaded with information, but here are some notes I took that stand out:

At Coega:

• The development projects are funded by foreign investors, for export products. 
• Much lip service is put to supporting the local economy and providing jobs, but the laborers, 84% from the area, are paid the very low national minimum wage. 
• Environmental impact assessments are performed, but the larger environmental impact of the project is ignored for the sake of economic growth. The aluminum smelter uses more energy than the entire city, and emits visible pollution. 10% of the world's catalytic converters are produced in Port Elizabeth! 

Walmer/Gquebera:

• a community with a history of political resistance 
• Steve Biko, the founder of the Black Consciousness movement, was imprisoned here 
• this community does particularly well become of its proximity to shopping malls, suburbs, and the airport - this makes the town attractive - its walkability. 
• The Xolenanii Youth Center was founded to create bridges and relationships between White and Black youth. Some of the problems with this mission that the Center encounters are language barriers and ingrained social roles. They told us that alleviating hunger and poverty is important before social transformation and reconciliation can occur. 

We were lucky enough to meet Stone Sizani and discuss the current political/economic situation in South Africa. Sizani is the regional director of the African National Congress (equivalent to U.S. state governor), he was imprisoned on Robben Island with Mandela.

Former Siskei in the Eastern Cape

We left the Port Elizabeth to visit the former Siskei (or Ciskei), just northeast of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The Siskei was a homeland - one of the rural areas allocated to Blacks during apartheid. We read about life in the homelands in the book And They Didn't Die by Lauretta Ncgobo during our Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa course, so traveling to a homeland was bringing the novel to life in some ways. While the resistance in the cities has been glamorized, until we read about And They Didn’t Die, we didn’t realize the level to which the people in the homelands were part of the movement against apartheid. During apartheid, Blacks were forced to live in the countryside unless they obtained a special permit to work in the cities as domestic servants, gardeners, or laborers. The townships formed to house the labor that supported the city, while the interior was reserved for whites. Coloured people were caught in between, with little power other than the power given to them over Blacks to maintain the system of racial economic stratification.

Today, the spatial and economic system has not changed drastically. Most Blacks in the townships have family in the countryside that they support. Children in the rural areas all expressed to us their desire to move to the cities and work in an office. But our driver Mphutumi, who brought us to his houses in the rural village of Peddie and in Khayelitsha Township, expressed his desire to earn enough to retire back to the village, where life is more peaceful and pleasant. We could definitely see this tranquility - and space! as we left the bustling city and drove down the dusty side road to the village of Masele.

An illustration in my journal of the plants seen in the Eastern Cape.

Entering Masele

Goats grazing alongside the road signal the agricultural aspect of the rural areas. While the rural villages depend on livestock and gardens for much of their food, a career in farming is not an aspiration many of South Africa's youth are looking forward to.
On the other hand, on the drive in I noticed many signs for estates - the game reserves and cattle-grazing land of wealthy Afrikaaners. While Blacks were expected to subsist on the fruit of the homelands during apartheid, they were given the least-usable land, and too little of it, forcing them to overgraze and cultivate their land, while neighboring Whites had much more land and livestock then necessary.

Downtown Masele

This is the main intersection of the village of Masele, where we stayed for three days.

Binanda Roqoza, host mother in Masele

Our host-mother in Masele, with good-bye gifts from all of us - W. North Carolina jam, a couple scarves, a placemat...

Lizo Roqoza, host-father in Masele

Our host-father in Masele, with his Warren Wilson hat, and a card from all of us.

Sive Roqoza, Sesethu Sera, and Pelisa Roqoza in Masele

Our host cousins Sive (also in his Warren Wilson hat) and Sesethu and host sister Pelisa.

Visiting Pelisa Roqoza's school in Masele

We walked Pelisa to school at 7:30 AM our first morning in Masele. We were surrounded and followed by a crowd of children, and that day Pelisa was the coolest girl in school. Pelisa showed us the different classrooms. The adolescent boys catcalled at us in a crowd, but were shy when approached individually. The principal arrived and took us into his office, where we had a friendly but awkward conversation.

As white, foreign, and especially American, we stood out in Masele. Television has had much influence on these people, and so many throughout the world. We were respected and held in awe, almost, and some people asked us if we know movie stars, or just assumed that we do. America and the American way of life portrayed on television is influential, and I think unhealthy. The combination of television and the history of apartheid gave us a position of power and respect that was strange to us.

As women's studies students, none of us wanted our culture and position to be seen as superior, but this seemed inevitable. But the complexity is that apartheid both created inequality and racially-based social roles, but the resistance and revolution against apartheid built a strength and pride that every South African we met embodied. Even in the removed village of Masele, everyone was politically aware - much more so than most Americans. The amazing post-apartheid optimisim, hope, and possibility is battling the regressive effects of globalization and capitalism.

Oswell Odwa painting in my journal in Masele

Oswell Odwa, a teenager in Masele, paints in my journal. Oswell told us that he is a historian, and hopes to become a lawyer. A serious and sweet young man!
The painting:
Another painting in my journal by a few young men in Masele:
I spent an afternoon hanging out with many of the children and teenagers of Masele. Not only did they paint in my journal, they also taught me many Xhosa words. A wonderful memory and experience! Shaina was ill in bed, and the rest of the group had gone off to visit an orphanage, where they met Mrs. Mbeki, President Thabo Mbeki's mother. Yet I don't regret missing that, as my own time with the youth was so special.

Dance and 'smore party in Masele

Our last night in Masele, we taught the village youth to make 'smores - over a candle! We had planned to make them over a fire, but it rained. A radio appeared and a dance party ensued, teachers, guide, and all!

Pelisa Roqoza

Our little host sister, with sad eyes during our goodbyes. Pelisa's mother died last November, and her father when she was little, so she now lives with her grandparents, our hosts. She has no siblings, and she was so happy to befriend all of us and show us off to her friends. Pelisa taught us words and songs in Xhosa, and confided in us. We were all sad to part - probably the hardest goodbye we had throughout the trip.

Masele's young men

Sesuthu, Sive, and Oswell posing for a photo during goodbyes.

Nomonde receiving a gift

Nomonde, the daughter-in-law of our host father Lizo, was very touched by the gifts we gave her. According to social custom, she served as a domestic in the household, preparing the food and so forth. While Lizo told us about the great percentage of women in South African government, he called out for her to bring him his coffee, reminding us of the phrase "democracy stops at my doorstep" that Dr. Helen Moffett had quoted for us.

Nomonde as domestic, cooking rice with amasi (sour milk)

Nomonde made us a traditional dish of rice with amasi, sour milk, over a fire in the yard.

Shaina tries some of the rice and amasi

Shaina tries the dish - always an interesting experience, especially with already weak stomachs!
The smokey flavor could take some getting used to...
However, Mphutumi and Vuyo enjoyed it! Vuyo was Jennifer's host brother in Port Elizabeth when she studied there in 1995; he came along with us to Port Elizabeth and dropped us off and picked us up in Masele with our driver, Mphutumi. Along with Bukela, he served as a guide, explaing cultural and social traditions.