Leslie's homestay experiences

Before even applying for the study abroad program and getting accepted, I was so excited for the home stay portion of the trip. I was really interested to see what it is like to be in another person’s shoes. To live in their home and follow their daily lives for a weekend. I wondered what kind of family would I get placed in, how many kids do they have, do they even have kids, what they do for living, can the mom cook, what do they have in stores for us, am I going to fit in, etc.

When the time was getting close to our home stay weekend, the excitement turned into worry. I didn’t know what to expect or even if we were going to be alone (one person to a family). I guess I was a little relieved to find out it was two students per family. As we walked to everyone’s homestay and dropped them off, a shift of location occurs. It went from decent housing and nice neighborhoods to a township/decent kind of location. There is where I met my homestay mother and family. My overall experience wasn’t what I expected and I guess I could not adjust to the hard life my family lived. After a few events, I met my second homestay mother. She lived in a flat but it was comfy and felt like home. She was so welcoming and loved to converse with us. For every meal, she laid everything out and we ate together. For our free day we went to another wine/farm place. There we rode camels, did some shopping, and just enjoyed the day.

At the end of the day it was a great experience and I was sad to say goodbye. I appreciate that these families took us in as their own, just so we could get a real inside look, It’s one thing to read, assume, or learn and another to live, witness, and experience.

Deborah finding more than her passion . . .

Deborah on Signal Hill with Lion's Head in the background

Destiny is the hidden power that is believed to control what will happen in the future, also known as fate. Have you ever wondered or asked yourself what is your destiny. As a child growing up, I was always taught that everyone has a purpose in life. In church the preacher would always state that “God has a special plan to you!”. Yet, many may ask themself, what is their purpose in life? What will one be doing for the remainder of their lifetime to make a difference in the world and making it a better place? I started to ask this question during my second semester in college. I came to the realization that I needed to discover my passion? To conquer this quest, I decided to take part in the Public Health South Africa Trip in Cape Town. However, through this trip I have found more than my passion. The South Africans history, culture and people helped me appreciate my own life and has demonstrated the important attributes that I need in order to be fit for the purpose that I am now obligated to fulfill. This far, I have learned about compassion, hope, perseverance and inspiration.

Eddie making connections among countries with state sanctioned oppressions

Tony Sickle of  ScanZa

Today we listened to Tony, who recounted his experiences of living under the apartheid regime and outlined how people were conditioned by the government to only view and treat people according to the colour of their skin.  He was classified as ‘coloured’ by the authorities and he proceeded to protest that although apartheid disintegrated almost two decades ago, its legacy of frenetic skin categorisation lives on in the older generations.  South Africans born post 1994 are not institutionally encouraged to solely analyse people by colour, as this lens has been shattered asunder. 

The racist apparatus of apartheid was instigated after 1948 until the first race free elections in 1994.  The framework was solidified and unabated.   1994 brought a quandary as to how can you detoxify whole generations of this racist lens?  The Allied powers had the same predicament when they occupied Nazi Germany in the mid 1940s.  An extensive denazification programme was inaugurated but unlike the visible deconstruction of menacing eagles and swastikas; the imprisonment of key officials; the closure of camps and barracks and the splintering of the Nazi code of laws, the denazification of people’s minds was not so tangible.  Legislating on what can and cannot be in a person’s head also brings constitutional and democratic concerns in and of itself.  The hard-won freedoms of the 1940s and 1994 in Germany and South Africa respectively centred on securing unregulated freedoms of speech and assembly for the citizenry, without fear of reprimand or incarceration.  Tony’s discussion underscores the difficulty in recasting people after decades of state sanctioned oppression.  Apartheid utilized a tactic employed by colonialism of divide and rule where certain groups were favoured and awarded privileges over others.  Whites were seated at the top of the hierarchy with ‘Indians’ and those termed as ‘coloured’ afforded slightly better freedoms than blacks (or Africans).  Due to this ranked societal structure those who were at the higher end of these former governmental preferences may still think the same about those which apartheid classified below them.  As Tony articulated this is not conducive to the unity needed to address the problems of today if there are still people who identify with what apartheid created.  An age old remedy for any form of grief whether it be coming to terms with the death of a loved one or the aftermath of a civil war is that ‘time heals all wounds.’ 

As South Africans celebrated their freedoms, a few borders away in the centre of the continent Rwandans fled in terror as almost a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered with machetes.  The Rwandan genocide was truly an epoch of the twentieth century and the repercussions required extremely delicate attention.  All official racial identifications between Tutsis and Hutus were abolished and quotas were installed in the parliament.  The makeup of the cabinet has to reflect the national makeup and the President, Prime Minister and the Speaker must originate from differing parties.  Some Rwandans say time has been a healer others will disagree.  What is clear is that South Africa must observe a fine balance between looking ahead whilst respecting its history and learning from it.

Eddie gaining insight on South Africa's realities

Today I attended a meeting in Cape Town, which comprised of multifarious organisations, charities and pressure groups with the aim of coordinating a common framework to achieve a better democratic South Africa for everyone.  Being in attendance was hugely insightful as I heard a broad range of grievances and strategies to make democracy more inclusive for people who have been relegated to the fringes. 

One professor proffered the ‘democracy rand’ where the government would deposit about R100 (about £6) into eligible voters’ bank accounts.  The voter could then use this money to purchase newspapers, journals, party manifestos and other enlightening items to properly inform them of the choices presented before them.  The theory is that it is the voters who will drive the national debate rather than the parties and the media directing the contemporary issue.  Another salient grievance was raised when a Xhosa speaker through an interpreter criticised the neglect of languages other than English and Afrikaans in official government correspondence. She argued that this was a method to restrict people from entering and understanding South African politics and stymied inclusion.  When this was raised I immediately thought of Spanish speakers in the USA and wondered if they have ever felt like they were excluded from politics.

An activist advanced the power of mobile phone companies and their charges for airtime.  He maintained that the high prices are a means used to restrict political communication and are an agent of control.  He reminded the meeting that communication is a right enshrined in the constitution and that tariffs are a veiled method to regulate who communicates and who doesn’t.  It was also very intriguing to listen to the quandary shared by many people who said that in the face of what was being discussed, they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for the ANC, but they also cannot bring themselves to vote for a party other than the ANC.  Many commented that they intended to spoil their ballot in the forthcoming presidential election.

The meeting was hugely incisive as it introduced me to the important tribulations of South African democracy and to those that strive to mould it to include everyone.  It made me contemplate if the democratic country, which Nelson Mandela and all of the other activists fought for, has been realised.  I was reminded of Mandela’s sentiment that once one climbs a mountain, one finds that there are many more to climb.

Maeve's CPT family

We all know how important family is. For most people that means parents who take care of them and people to love them. But the family that’s foremost in my mind right now is my Cape Town family and Homies for Life. The ten of us are experiencing South Africa together but how can we share the experience if we don’t really know each other? As we head into the third week, I think we’re at a point where we were set into our spots and how we saw each other. So with discussion about our homestay over the weekend and race and privilege in class today, I thought I’d ask the group to do an activity that I did in my peer leadership class during the semester. It’s presented as a card game similar to Go Fish but then there’s a twist: the leader reads off requirements for cards which tell each person to either take a card from the middle pile or put one back. The card game is a metaphor for life and the hand you’re dealt when it comes to society and privilege but it was also a way for our family to bond and really get to know where we come from. We’ve been living together for 18 days and we’ve been discussing our experiences but it’s all that much clearer once you know where your family comes from. For some members of my new family, the lives we’re seeing here aren’t all that different from home. What happens in family discussion stays in family discussion but I feel like I have a better understanding of not only my situation but that of my brother and sisters as well which helps me to understand their experiences and their reflections in class. I feel closer to my housemates than ever before and it’s going to be that much harder to leave at the end of the trip (especially with Eddie going to a different country). As much as this trip is about South Africa and the history here, it’s important that we get to know each other and find connections to our lives and learn ways that it connects to situations different than ours within the US. One of the most important conclusions after our discussion was that race really is skin deep. Whether you’re white, black, Jamaican, English, Puerto Rican, Colombian, Irish or whatever society defines you as, we all have hard times in our lives and we all need family, of any variety, to support us. I’ve grown up with privilege but that by no means says that my life has been a cake walk. And just because someone of a different race or ethnicity didn’t have it as easy as me doesn’t mean they’re miserable with what they were dealt in life. All we can do is make the most of what we’re given and be open to helping others with their problems. I told my Cape Town family things I haven’t told friends at home because I felt that comfortable and loved by the sisters and brother in that room. These next two weeks together feel like a whole new start because we’re free to really be ourselves and we’ve opened up to each other in ways some of us never have before. I love my family and we really are homies for life.

One big happy Cape Town Study Abroad Family:
Deborah, Alyssa, Leslie, Maeve, Zuleika, Chivell, Cynthia, Cindy, Daniella, & Eddie

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Hand You’re Dealt Activity

The premise of this activity is that you will be playing a card game, but you must first read some requirements to determine how many cards each player starts with:

1.     Start by saying you will be playing Go Fish or some other card game where the goal is to get rid of all your cards.

2.     Deal out cards equally, leaving any leftover cards in a pile in the middle.

3.     Start reading card requirements (see below)

a.     If someone runs out of cards before you finish the requirements, he/she has already won the game before even playing it.

Requirements

Put a card back if:

1.     Your father finished college

2.     Your mother finished college

3.     You were read children’s books by a parent when you were growing up

Take a card if:

1.     You are not a white male

2.     You attended grade school with people you felt were very unlike yourself

3.     You grew up in an urban setting

Put a card back if:

1.     You ever had lessons of any kind as a child or a teen (music, dance, etc.)

2.     You had a credit card with your name on it before college

Take a card if:

1.     Your family does not have health insurance

2.     You were born outside the US

3.     You don’t own a car

Put a card back if:

1.     You had or will have less than $5000 in student loans when you graduate

2.     You went to a summer camp

3.     You had a private tutor for school

4.     You have been to Europe more than once as a child or teen

Take a card if:

1.     You did not have a computer at home when you were growing up

2.     You or your family has ever received any type of social welfare support

3.     You have ever shopped for second hand clothes

4.     The furniture in your house was bought second hand

Put a card back if:

1.     Your family vacations involved staying in hotels rather than at a relative’s homes

2.     All of your clothing has been new

3.     You had a phone in your room when you were growing up

Take a card if:

1.     You or your family have ever had utilities forcibly turned off (such as not paying a bill on time)

2.     You grew up in a household without both parents

3.     Your guardian was ever someone other than your parents

Put a card back if:

1.     Your parents owned their own house or apartment when you were a child or teen

2.     You had your own room as a child or teen

3.     You participated in an SAT/ACT prep course

4.     You had your own cell phone in high school

Take a card if:

1.     You or your parents rent your home/apartment/condo

2.     You worried about your safety in your neighborhood growing up

Put a card back if:

1.     You had your own tv as a child or teen

2.     You opened a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college

3.     You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

Post-Game Discussion Questions

1.     How do you feel about the number of cards you have? Does it accurately match your position in society?

2.     Did you notice when others were taking/dropping cards?

3.     What does it feel like to have few/no cards? A lot of cards?

4.     Discuss qualifications for taking/putting back cards:

Paul Newman: “I want to acknowledge luck; the chance of it, the benevolence of it, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, made especially savage for children because they may not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it.”