Politics Discussion and District Six Museum

Yesterday morning we had our first lecture from Zwelethu Jolobe, a Political Science lecturer at the University of Cape Town. He lectured to us about apartheid and issues surrounding it and the current status of the governmental structure in South Africa. He enlightened us about a lot of the technical information and all of the deep political issues facing South Africa. I don't necessarily understand all of the technical jargon associated with politics and don't always go abaove and beyond to do it. But what I do understand is that a formal governmental structure implementing laws to "legally" oppress a population is absolutely wrong. It is unfathomable to me that that was the case not even 20 years earlier.

After the lecture we had lunch in the cafeteria, and yet again, it felt that we were easy to pick out. After lunch, we went to the District Six Museum, which is a living memorial to the people who were removed from their homes by the government and relocated to other parts of the surrounding areas of Cape Town. Again, an unfathomable action that I cannot begin to express the emotion this issue brings out in me.

The museum had many exhibits and a lot of information about the whole relocation of the colored population who resided in District Six. It was hard for me to wrap my head around what it would feel like to be removed form my home by the government. As Americans we have security in our belongings and would never even ponder that happening to us. More than saddening.

After our time in the museum, we walked around downtown, stopped in a few stores and visited the street markets where people come each day to sell either crafts or pre-produced goods on the street. People carry all of these things with them everyday back and forth form wherever they live to downtown to make a living.

When me and TJ were on our way back to meet the group, a police truck drove by and there were people who had presumably just been arrested yelled out of the holding container, "Go your home!" This comment was again, presumably directed towards us, two, young college students looking to help the people in the community in which these people live. It hurt me to hear that. I felt that I was not wanted. How do they even know why I am there? They don't. Don't they know that not all Americans fit the stereotype of the typical American? I am here, in your community, trying to do something good. It was frustrating.

After that, we turned onto a street and saw some of our group up the block being directed towards going down another street. The feeling was tense in the area. People looked nervous and were trying to understand what was going on. We were then directed again to not go down this street, that had a lot of commotion and a lot of people being detained by Policemen. We came around to the front of the building and saw what was going on. We still do not know what was going on but it had something to do with the recent issues going on in South Africa. Surrounding countries are having difficulty with their economies and job markets. The directly effected people are coming to South Africa to find a better job. The South Africans that are in somewhat of the same situation as the people for example, Zimbabwe, are unhappy with people coming here trying to take their jobs. There have been demonstrations and riots in Johannesburg and one or two in Cape Town, in which people were injured as well as some accounts of death.

There were people arguing and yelling and police were trying to hold them back and control the situation. Again, the feeling in the area was tense and knd of scary. We were waiting across the street from this because that is where our vans were picing us up. I felt that something could have happened. Violence could have become an issue very quick. We saw people wearing shirts that demonstrated the different sides of the issue. That makes it sound like it was planned and with the low probability of the situation becoming uncontrollable. Again, I don't know exactly what was going on but there were people being arrested and an ambulance was there, suggesting that someone was hurt. Pure speculation. Some people in our group felt uncomfortable to be in the vicinity of something that we know of as only news; we just brush things like that off all the time. People say, "oh, thats terrible." Then they go back to whatever they are doing. We don't understand the raw emotion that was being expressed there. It was an eye opening experience for me.

However, our vans came and picked us up. We are all safe and hopefully everything turned out okay after we left. To see that in real life somewhat put it into perspective, on the news, you don't get the feelings. We felt it and it was real.

Again, the African sun feels amazing. The air feels different; there is more to it than what I am used to feeling. The air really feels different here . A lot of feelings have been and will continue to go through me throughout the next couple of weeks, regardless of where I am feeling it. I am ready for it.

Peace.

JB