*Caution: This post is quite long*
What do I write about my time in South Africa? I have been
thinking about this for the past couple of days. People have asked me, “How was
South Africa?” I have been responding by saying, “It was good. It didn't feel
like Africa.” That statement leads into why South Africa didn’t feel like I was
in Africa, which eventually means that I am talking about the racial divide
there. So I’ll do my best to write about my time there.
Jo'burg
A couple of days before I left for South Africa, my travel
partner Zoe and I decided that it would be best for us to rent a car while in
Johannesburg (Jo’burg for short). I was fine with renting a car until I
realized that the car was going to be a manual. Since Zoe does not know how to
drive, I was going to be the main driver. I had no issue with this, except that
I didn’t know how to drive a stick. Yet I had a few days before we arrived in
Jo’burg. There was still time to learn how to drive a manual. I pleaded with my job’s driver, Vincent, to
teach me how to drive his van, which is a stick. He decided to teach me. While
he was leading me to the practice area to drive he told me, “Driving an
automatic is not real driving. You drive the car. The car is not supposed to
drive you.” He stopped the car on an up hill and told me, “This is your first
test to see if you can drive a manual.” I passed the test, which meant I was
ready to drive in Jo’burg. I also had two of my favorite students share their
knowledge with me on how to drive a stick. I thought to myself, “I got this. I
can drive a stick. I learned in one hour.”
After we arrived in Jo’burg, got South Africa sim cards for
our phone and got out little car, we were ready to hit the streets of Jo’burg
and make our way to our host house. An hour later our host, Nick, called Zoe
and asked where we were because he only lived 20 minutes away from the airport.
I guess I wasn’t as proficient on driving a stick as much as I thought. I think
I stalled the car about 5 times before I left the parking lot, I went about 20
kilometers under speed limit, and I prayed the cars would just keep going so I
wouldn’t have to stop the car and start in first again. Did I also mention that
South Africa drives on the left side? First time for everything. Eventually we
made it to Nick’s house. As he expressed his concern for us arriving to his
place I sat in one of his big recliner chairs trying to calm myself down and
praising God that I made it safely to his house. That was day one. I decided
not to drive for the rest of the day.
Our little car named Better. Short for Better Make It.
Driving a manual in a city I have never been to was not the
only adventure I encountered in Jo’burg (just so you know, I eventually
mastered the manual). We went to the Apartheid Museum. This museum from the
beginning was very powerful. When you pay for a ticket, on the back of the
ticket it tells you what racial classification you are. By that classification,
that determined if you enter through the whites or the non-whites only
door. I’ve read about the Apartheid, but I did not know the extent of it. They
displaced thousands of Black and colored so they could create more white
housing. There was no such thing as separate but equal. The Apartheid only
benefitted the whites. One author I read about in the museum, Ernest Cook, said
that when the Apartheid started, South Africa became a land of signs. Signs
that separated people and dictated what people could and could not do or go.
Hundreds of laws were created to separate people. The most ridicule thing I
viewed in the museum was the Race Reclassification board. There used to be this
board where people could contest their current racial classification. The
closer a person was to white, the better. No one contested to have his or her
race changed to Black. Starting off trip going to the Apartheid museum was all
for the best. It gave Zoe and I a better perspective of South Africa and where
the country is heading.
At the Apartheid Museum
While being in Jo’burg, I viewed a city I was not expecting.
I had reverse culture shock when I was in Jo’burg. Hot water came out of the
faucets. There were McDonalds (this was my 7th country I’ve been to
where I have eaten McDonalds), KFCs, nice grocery stores, cheap grocery stores,
malls, signal lights, paved streets, similar climate to America, and a diverse
population. In Jo’burg I realized I was in America, but I still in Africa. That
realizing really tripped me out. My view of Africa is only through the lens of
I what I see in Uganda and Rwanda. To see how diverse South Africa’s cities
were really threw me. There are upper class Blacks that live there called “The
Black Diamonds.” Many Blacks there resemble Blacks that live in America by how
they dress, their hairstyles, the technology they use, and how they carry
themselves. Jo’burg also has this cool hipster scene happening there. We went
to this Saturday market and it felt like I was back in Seattle. Local organic
food was served there and the people were wearing vintage clothes with
unnecessary glasses. I felt as though I was back in my element.
Photos of Jo'burg
Nelson Mandela Bridge
The rest of our time in Jo’burg was great. Our host Nick,
his roommate/cousin Alex, and their friends were really great and took us
out to see a lot of the city and it’s surrounding area. I don’t know if it is
because Nick, Alex, and a good majority of their friends are of Greek descent
or not, but they were so hospitable to us. They paid for everything while we
were there, food, drinks, and different places we went to. We went to the
Cradle of Humankind to go through caves to see the places of the first human beings, and they paid for everything while there. We couldn’t have asked for
better host. We only spent five days with them, but we wish that we had spent
more time with them and in Jo’burg. Our next stop was Cape Town. Luckily we
were going to see our new friends in Cape Town the following week.
The Cradle of Humankind: inside the cave
New Friends!
Cape Town
My journey to Cape Town was quite nice. Zoe and I decided to
take an overnight bus there. It was a great way to view more of the country. It
reminded me of driving across America. I am convinced that South Africa has a
similar climate to America.
We arrived in Cape Town and were greeted by my dad’s friend and her family, Faiza. We couldn’t have afforded Cape Town without them.
They’re family members drove us around the Cape Point, which is the peninsula
where Cape Town resides. I didn’t know that the Western Cape had such beautiful
beaches. It seemed like I spent hours just staring at the sea. The cool thing
is that the Cape Point connects the Indian and Atlantic Ocean. I can know check
off “swim in the Indian Ocean” off my list.
Cape Town is a beautiful city. Once again, I had a cultural
shock… well it was more like country shock. Cape Town felt like a mixture of
America and Europe. This was also another city that has remnants of Apartheid.
When I went swimming in the Indian Ocean at a beach called Muizenberg, I
realized that 20 years ago I would not have been able to swim at this beach
since it was a white only beach. Knowing that reality really affected me. To
know that I could not be allowed on a certain beach because of my skin color
made me feel hatred towards those who created that sanction and felt as though
it was a just law. When I asked Farouk, one of the family members who drove us
around Cape Point, how it was growing up during Apartheid, he said he didn’t
know any differently. I guess it is possible not to understand basic freedoms
that everyone deserves if you can’t have access to the freedoms that only a few
can have. We also saw an area called District 6 located in Cape Town where
Blacks and colored were removed in order for that land to be a white only area
in 1966. Before the removal, the area used to be quite vibrant, but now it is
quite vacant since whites did not want to move to there. Being at the beach
and District 6 helped me to realize how far Apartheid went in South Africa.
This will always stick with me.
Downtown Cape Town
Bo Kaap: A Malay/Colored area
The rest of my time in Cape Town was spent exploring the
city. I got to hike Lion’s Head Mountain. It was a mixture of hiking and rock
climbing. I loved it. I saw baboons and penguins. Who knew they lived in/around
Cape Town? I ate a lot of food that is rare in Uganda, which meant a lot of
dairy. I am also pretty sure that I had an ice cream cone almost every night.
Cape Town family
Penguins
I've never seen a baboon alert sign before
Baboon just chillin' near the road
Zoe and I on top of Lion's Head Mountain
In a cloud on Lion's Head Mountain
A new group of New Friends!
In the end…
I really enjoyed my time in South Africa. There were times
where it felt kind of strange to vacation in a place where there is vast
inequality mixed in with beauty. Yet I encountered great people. Many people
were very helpful and super kind to both Zoe and I. My best memory from the
trip was when I was at a market in Cape Town and I started talking to this
Indian woman who was selling Indian garments. She could hear that I was from
America and wanted to talk to me more about it. She told me about her son who
visited America and I told her how I am here for the holidays. When I left her
shop she came to me and said, “Here, this is for California.” She handed me a
Geeta, which is like this long Indian shirt from her shop. It was the nicest
gesture. It made me tear up. Experiences like that in South Africa really
showed me that all races could live together and care for each other. There is
beauty in the country that is more than just its landscape or beaches. I loved that
my time there was spent with people from all different ethnicities. In the end
it was a great trip and I am really thankful for the people I met and the
places I saw.
I have more pictures in my Picasa photo album. Click here to see more pictures.
