Hello Everyone!
Yesterday we met all of the other people in our program. They are from all over the USA. My other room mate is from West Virginia and she wants to be a vet. Today we began the day at 8:30 AM. We got picked up from the Beacon Lodge and headed to campus for an orientation, campus tour, lecture, and tour of Port Elizabeth. The university is pretty. There are 6 different campuses in South Africa. Four are in Port Elizabeth and two are in George. George is three hours away and, I guess, the halfway point between us and Cape Town. There are monkeys that live on the campus, but we didn't get to see any today. They said that they become especially friendly when you are eating your lunch and if you are playing with anything that is shiny. The University and where we are staying are located in Summerstrand. This is a white suburb of Port Elizabeth and it kindof reminds Addison and I of Miami. The architecture of the houses is pretty similar to the houses you see in Miami. All of the houses are surrounded by tall walls or gates and have signs outside their houses saying that they are protected by armed response alarm companies. Some of the houses have bars on the windows, but they are to keep the monkeys out.
After our tour we went to our lecture which was on the History of South Africa. Now, I'm going to be honest and tell you that I am relatively ignorant on the history of South Africa. It's sad, especially since a lot of the big deal events happened during my lifetime. I have always admired Nelson Mandela and I knew what he stood for, but I just didn't know very much of the background to the Apartheid. Our lecturer began by talking about the unemployment rate in South Africa compared with the United States and the European Union. South Africa is at close to a 40% unemployment rate. He then broke that figure down into the different racial groups that contribute to it. Of that figure, 80% are black Africans, 15% are "colored" (Colored people are essentially "mixed"- they are the child of a European and a Black African), and 10% are white. He then delved into the issues that surround that 80% of unemployed black Africans. Most of the blacks in that category are males between the ages of 20 and 30. He told us that people are always wary of traveling to South Africa because they hear about high crime rates. He told us that the biggest percentage of criminals are black males between the ages of 15 and 30 and that an astounding amount of the crimes do not happen in the white suburbs, but happen in the black townships (translate: 99.99% black communities). He wanted us to understand that South Africa is just 18 years into it's new democracy and the wounds that are left from the Apartheid are still very fresh and nowhere near to being healed. He said that we would be faced with images of life that are so far and so different from the life we are accustomed to and he wanted us to understand why things are the way they are and to question these reasons. Racism is still very much so alive in South Africa and the amount of inequality that surrounds this racism is really frustrating. Of course, I didn't have to travel to South Africa to tell you that...the ties that can be made to the issues that are still alive in Mississippi are really astounding. His lecture was meant to be a preface to the tour of Port Elizabeth that we were about to go on and it really was perfect.
We set off on a tour with the rest of the students in our Environmental group (there are 6 of us), our tour guide- a man from a township here in Port Elizabeth, and a university intern that is a white African. He began by driving us around Port Elizabeth. By the way, they drive on the left side of the road here and they drive like MANIACS. Our tour guide didn't or else everything would of been a blur, but the taxi drivers are seriously all over the place. The British influence is also very evident. We are staying in "holiday flats" (translate: vacation homes) and they say cheers when they leave and call each other mate. He showed us the port and the down town area. The port is huge and the down town is very obviously European inspired. The buildings are all very beautifully and artfully designed. Then we went to where all the townships are. I'm going to stop for a second to tell y'all that I'm not sure if I can describe these peoples living conditions accurately. If you picture the slums that they depicted in Slumdog Millionaire you've got a very accurate picture as to how these people live. There are people walking and hanging out on the streets. There are little children all over the place and SO MANY dogs. We were experiencing such a mix of emotions. I felt awkward for being a "tourist" in their township, so guilty for the life I live, sad for the lack of opportunity they have(and for the dogs...I'm not even going to go there..I would take every single one home if I could....Maybe Sam could get 12 new friends Mommy and Daddy???), and angry that people live like this. We took pictures (I know, I know...but it'll serve as a good reminder when I'm beginning to think my life is too hard or I wish I had another purse or something equally as petty) that we'll include for y'all to kind of get a feel of what we're talking about. We stopped to have a typical South African meal. It was...good, haha. We had beef, carrots, broccoli, potatoes, and rice and gravy. Oh, and cow stomach. Which I tired! I know I didn't have to go to South Africa to try it, but hey! It wasn't my favorite thing in the world, but it wasn't too terrible.
The man who gave us our lecture said that so many people are so quick to pull out their money and stuff them in the cups of the people that are out begging, but in the end the only good it does is for their ego. He said if we really want to help, we should look into NGOs that seek to educate these people and help them find jobs and put our time and effort and money into these programs. He also said for every 7 people that come to South Africa, 1 permanent job is created. So here is our PSA, COME TO SOUTH AFRICA!!
We hope y'all are enjoying our blog! We miss y'all and love y'all!
Love, Natalia and Addison
No comments:
Post a Comment