Smiles All Around the Township...but Only Circles of Emotions in Mind

Today was a day I was excited to see unfold. I really tried to come in with no expectations but that is never the case. I expected to see poverty, I expected to see resilience, and I expected barriers. Today was so much more than those three things. Today we started off with lectures, well not lectures, but talks with Edwin, Reverend Spiwo, and Kenneth Nkwenkwe Lukoko. All three of these men have had a big impact in the community and all had a personal struggle to get where there are today. I believe Edwin’s greatest challenge was his personal struggle to be different and his struggle to be himself. He talked quite a bit on his mixed heritage of having a white, wealthy mom and a poor Jamaican dad. One thing he brought up that absolutely blew my mind was the pencil test. In order to tell if someone was a native South African people would use Xhosa, different phrases, and finally the pencil test. The pencil test was if you stuck a pencil through someone’s hair and it stayed they were black, if not, they were colored. I think Edwin had a real struggle with this because of his mixed back ground. He spoke of how his children were even very different from him and he would have to prove that they were his children because people would not believe him. He is a very strong, positive person.

Next was Dr. Reverend Spiwo Xaphile. Reverend Spiwo was a very passionate man. He was all about the community and leadership and I was very excited to hear his perspective on leadership especially within the community and township of Guguletu. He spoke of the history of JL Zwane and how he had watched it go from something to nothing. He was completely behind leading by example. He said he had learned to ask for forgiveness from the church rather than ask for permission because otherwise things would not be done in the community. We talked a lot about how people were culturally conditioned to what they are dealing with and how success is not something people wanted in a way. He gave us one story of a woman who wanted to start selling electricity but she did not want people to think she was rich. If people think you are successful people become afraid for their lives. That was something I am not used to at all! I believe almost too much pressure is put on a certain success here in the states, yet here success is looked as bad because you are moving on and up. Which leads into how people are used to poor and poor is all they know so it is such a barrier to get through.

“If you walk with dwarfs you will become a dwarf. If you walk with giants you will become a giant. We are trying to make giants out of dwarfs.” This quote from Spiwo had a strong impact on me and I thought it really summed up leadership and friends. You are who you surround yourself by. Whether or not that is good or bad is up to you but it is all in your hands.

Another quote that really took us all back from Spiwo was when he said, “The greatest challenge is that a black person does not belong with the white. You have to prove yourself.” This really took us all back I believe. I thought it was a very powerful statement. A lot of people took it as more of a fact rather than focusing on the challenge portion. I really believe that he meant it as an awakening and pointing to where we sit now, not where it will always be. Personally I thought it was weird because I at least feel that I need to prove myself to everyone in some way. Here in South Africa I feel like I need to prove myself as an American. We came here with such a stigma behind saying you are American and I feel like we need to prove ourselves and trump the many skewed perceptions. I would really like to spend more time talking with Spiwo and Edwin together because they both did come from the same poor, rural background. I really loved how passionate of people they were and their willingness to do anything for the community. These two men were very inspirational and like all of our lecturer’s to this point they make me want to be a more passionate person.

Our final lecturer was Kenneth Nkwenkwe Lukoko from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation which was formed from the TRC after apartheid was finished. This NGO focuses on healing communities that were separated because of apartheid and all the damage that was done that was not physical. I really enjoyed hearing all of the progress being made between the townships that had been separated into colored and black and all of the communication that has been going on. I feel like the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation should have been created along side the TRC because of all the good it does do. This was really needed in South Africa after apartheid because people were so quick to solve problems with anger and not to talk them out.

After our speakers we went and saw Seiyaya (sp?) a singing and dance group that does plays around AIDS/HIV in the community and high schools. They were absolutely amazing! They were getting ready to leave for the states for a big tour so we only got a glimpse but at that I was blown away! They are coming to Minneapolis July 1st-6th and I know a bunch of us are going so I am really excited! I really enjoyed talking to them all!
Oh…lunch today was AMAZING! It was like thanksgiving dinner and absolutely wonderful! I just felt that needed to be shared!

After lunch we headed out for our tour of Guguletu. I really had no expectations. As we went down the streets kids would wave at us and smile, people would give us thumbs up, and frankly I felt completely weird. As I look around I see houses that are smaller than my single bed room at home.

I had a real struggle today going on the tour and not really knowing how to react. I didn’t want to be sad because what right do I have to be sad at what they have? I felt excited to be able to share their lives and stories with you all in order to educate and share the experience, yet that really doesn’t do the situation justice. These people have great resilience and it is very admirable. We stopped at one girls home to see what a shack house entails. She was 17 and in 12th grade. She lived in this two room shack with her younger brother who was 9. Both of her parents had passed many years back and she was in charge of raising him and taking care of herself. At this point I tried to put my 17 year old shoes on again and think about my life. Again, what right do I have. This portion of my blog will end there because frankly I need more time to think, digest, and really understand today. Tomorrow we start our home stays so I am sure I will be able to elaborate more in a few days but today was eye opening and humbling to say the least.

Once we got back to JL Zwane we were introduced to the Rainbow after school program that is run at the community center. They provide the students with an outlet to help with school everyday after class. I had been waiting for these kids all day long! After talking to one of the original teachers for when the program was started a few years ago I found out that the teachers in school are really doing a poor job with teaching and that there are many barriers in the systems right now. The availability to quality education is drastically skewed depending on where you are. As soon as I could I jumped in and started helping the kids. I started off helping a few boys with some math problems. They were very typical 2nd grade boys! They always were getting off topic and doing everything to get away from the homework but finally I got them to work out their problems. I then went and helped some 3rd graders work on their English. These students were very smart and just needed the extra little help and I really can’t wait to go back and keep helping throughout this week!

Today’s blog was kind of all over the place and I am sorry for that but it was a hard day to digest emotionally. I leave for my home stay in about 5 hours and am really excited! I won’t be able to blog until Friday I am guessing!

Until then,
Cheers