Zuleika's realizations

While in Cape Town one of the greatest things I have been able to experience is being taught by the people who experienced and were impacted by these tragedies. In almost every tour or museum I have had the pleasure of hearing the history with personal experiences. In a way this makes the history we have been taught by our history teachers and professors real and the ability to connect on a different level than just reading from a textbook. One of the things that people including myself have often said is that these tragedies happened in the past and will never happen again but it can not be too much of a past if these people are standing here able to tell their stories. This is important to understand that this did not happen because of the past but because people continue to let the past repeat itself.

The history that I learned from the people such as Joe Schaffer, Lucy Campbell and even Vernon is on the apartheid and the slavery that happened in Cape Town. I learned in greater detail about these things. Before coming here I did know about the apartheid and slavery but not in detail. I was taught what the United States want us to know. For example, the slavery that happened in South Africa is taught to be much less than in the states and less brutal. In my opinion both places were equally as important; slavery in South Africa was not in a small scaled as was made to seem. I learned this through Lucy Campbell she made it a point to show us that South Africa’s slavery was just the same. She even taught me that not only were Blacks being enslaved but people from all over were being brought here for slavery. That had answered my question on why South Africa is so diverse; it is as if we are at home but they are just speaking another language. When walking through South Africa you can see Indians, Chinese, black and white Africans and many people of Muslim religion. This made me realize the importance of this study abroad and seeing that not everything you hear or are taught is true.