Getting to
travel to other areas of South Africa for excursion was really great. The sites
we visited in Johannesburg really brought together a lot of what we’ve been
learning here.
The first
Museum was the Hector Pieterson Museum, dedicated to Hector Pieterson, who was
a student killed during the Soweto uprisings. The museum made me realize how
really young the students of the Soweto uprising were… I knew they were
students but I hadn’t pictured them so small and young (as young as 11 and 12).
The Mandela
Family Home was really cool to go to and get to walk through where Nelson
Mandela lived. I realized a couple things that I hadn’t known. First of all I
never knew the US was involved in the capturing of Mandela to send him to
prison. I also saw two juxtaposed pictures of right before he went and right
after he was released from prison and it was profound seeing how much he really
aged. Overall it left me wanting to learn even more about Mandela’s life
because I continuously am hearing more and more amazing stories about his
character and the imprint he left in South Africa and the world.
The
apartheid museum was a really eye-opening experience. There was so much
information and so many personal stories captured and it felt really surreal to
imagine all those things had happened here recently. I’m more used to museums
being much deeper into history.
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| Constitution Court |
Going to
Constitution Hill was cool. Their courtroom was designed very symbolically to
be inclusive of all the different cultures in South Africa.
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| Melanie at the Pimville Boys & Girls Club in Soweto |
Going to
the Boys and Girls Club of South Africa was by far my favorite day. Marita and
I sorted through and alphabetized SO many files and it felt accomplishing to
finish. Then we played with the kids all afternoon and they were so energetic
and fun.
Lastly, Sharpeville
was also a really profound area to visit. Meeting a man who had been shot and
survived the massacre where 69 people were killed at a march also felt surreal.
It made me realize how much living history there still is in South Africa.
Going to the cemetery where all the victims were buried was really emotional. I
learned that they had a mass funeral for all the victims and I kept imagining
each victim’s families and friends surrounding the massive line of graves. I
can’t even imagine the amount of grief and shock all gathered together on that
day. It also made me sad to learn that Sharpeville does not receive many
visitors, especially for being such an important part of history.
We returned
to internship at Klipfontein Primary School to some bad news. One of the first
clients we met had passed away while we were away. We knew she had cancer but
it still never really hit me that she would pass away so soon. The husband and
another elder man from the family came and were discussing where to go from
there, specifically in regards to getting financial support from the government
for caring for the two young children. It seemed like there wasn’t much time
for grieving, right away they needed to take steps to figure out how they were
going to take care of the kids. Next there was more sad news. The crèche
teacher’s daughter’s father was stabbed by his girlfriend and died last
Tuesday. It was terrible to hear about and I realized how death is a much more
common part of life in the poorer communities here. When the teacher left to
take the day off I ended up holding her daughter, Cailin, for a long time while
she cried that she missed her parents. I felt sorry knowing that this child
would grow up now without a father.
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| Melanie at Maitland Cottage |
Also, was
so sad to miss the championship basketball games but GO HUSKIES!! We enjoyed
waking up at 3am for Emily’s parents to live-stream us the game anyway! 
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