Every time I think of where I am I have to pinch myself. I still cannot believe I ended up here. It all seemed so simple; 1. Buy plane tickets to everywhere I want to go around the world, 2. Quit job…..I just wish everyone was here to share it with me, especially this place.
Cape town is a magical city. The mountains, the city, and the beach are all within ten minuets of each other. It is giving Cali a run for her money. This is more or less a Cali winter as well. A friend from couch surfing, Sifiso, has agreed to take us in for a few nights. He is the warmest sweetest person and makes us feel right at home in his more than cozy apartment right in the middle of the city. This is a good feeling to have since it is so cold outside. He works for Facebook in Cape Town, but is a political science major. We are the perfect students to hear his ideas about politics as a black man in South Africa.
Though South Africa is one of the most amazing places, its social problems are bubbling at the surface. Its social structure is well, new, and will take some time to develop. Civil rights and equality of man is very new here and it cannot go unnoticed. The city is filled with security in every corner, yet I feel no actual presence of danger anywhere I go. I am sure it is here but fails to show its ugly head to me. I am not sure if I am lucky or naive. Benches marked in “non whites only” still stand by Parliament to remind the country of its progress in ending segregation.
In South Africa there are many tribes but there are two main languages are spoken among the natives, Zulu and Swahili. They’re the two most dominant tribes. There are many other tribes that fill this lustrous land as well. The earliest people to inhabit this land were the San and the Khoek Hoe people. I am not sure what happened to these people, but I am pretty sure that when the Dutch settled here in the mid 1600’s, it is not good. Just writing this story and thinking about the similarities of America I get this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. The Dutch did not rule for long, even though many of the buildings and roads are market in their language. In the early 1900’s, South Africa became a British Empire and the tyranny continues.
Under this rule the natives were put into groups and sent to live on their own reservations away from the white people. The first group was the Blacks; these were natives with both parents being African, purebreds. Then there were the colored people. This group of people had mixed parents, one black and one white. Though it seems crude to call them colored people, this is their actual nationality and is marked as such on their personal identifications. Then of course, you have the whites. “The Man”, who will forever continue to take what does not belong to him.
This brought war. The fight for freedom stained the streets and would hopefully one day belong to them again. Freedom seemed so far away. In 1994 Nelson Mandela, the first black man in South Africa to become president, would make their freedom a reality. The civil rights movement would begin. Equality for man would soon be the new pulse of South Africa, whether everyone liked it or not.
Tolerance should not have to be learned, but unfortunately it is a slow process.
No comments:
Post a Comment