The last few days in Joburg have
been really eye opening. We went to the Apartheid Museum on Saturday along
with Constitution Hill. The apartheid museum was so interesting and had so much
material. I only wish we could have spent more time there because I definitely
wanted to read more of the plaques on the wall. The thing that got me the most
though was the newscast video footage from when riots and all were really
happening. It was unbelievable and pretty intense. It still astounds me how
this wasn't that long ago.
Constitution hill was also
interesting learning about the gang hierarchy in the prisons and how some
people would be there for a political transgression we would consider minor. It
was crazy seeing the isolation cells too. In psych we learn about how harmful
social isolation is and how isolation in prisons is actually torture. So it did
have big impact learning about those and the general conditions prisoners lived
in. It was just so horrible, and it's moving to hear about how people were willing
to go through this to fight for their rights.
The most emotional museum for me was
the Hector Pieterson museum. I remember reading about the Soweto Uprising
online before coming to SA but I definitely learned so much more at the museum.
The pictures, videos, and eyewitness accounts made me feel right there and made
me understand and empathize more. It made it so much more real and I think this
being the third museum kind of hit home for me about the true nature of
inequality and the struggles people lived through. Like I knew what kinds of
inequality there was and things like that, but this just made it all clearer
and more understandable somehow. Society was so bad that people were willing to
die for their rights, even young school kids. It's amazing and tragic to think
of really. I always wonder what I would have done if I were in the situation. Like would I have protested for my rights but
risked getting shot?
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| The group at Hector Pieterson Memorial, Soweto (Mary second from left in front row) |
The museums made think of the US,
particularly about social issues and increasing tuition and how there are so
many problems we are silent about and just passively accept. UConn got a huge
budget cut and many academic classes and programs are being harmed (not to
mention rising costs) yet people just complain about it and move on with their
lives in acceptance. Honestly I used to be like that, I never was a big
activist or anything but this trip (and learning about South Africans fighting
for their rights) really makes me want to be more active now and not passively
accept things like that.
Last, all the Uber and cab drivers I
talked to in cape town seemed to hate Johannesburg and say it was way worse and
more busy. We haven't seen that much of Jo’burg but honestly it's not that bad;
I actually like it. Yes it's more industrial and there are many buildings and
towns but that just seems more like real life. Cape town for me has palm trees
and mountains and beaches and many, many tourists and it feels like vacation,
not a real place almost. Jo’burg does feel more like reality, and I hope we get
to see more aspects of it and other parts of South Africa that aren't just
around Cape Town.
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