The Spirit of Lynedoch

I think everyone has some sort of abstract notion about study abroad. It varies from person to person and from place to place. Most people expect to better understand a certain culture; all expect to have the time of their lives; some, myself included, expect a new outlook on the world as a whole.

As I prepared to leave for South Africa, I hoped that my semester abroad would change me in some profound way. Perhaps it was a little much to imagine a whole new me after a mere four months in a foreign country. But, while I don’t feel like a completely new person, I definitely found new perspective on the world and mankind after my time in South Africa, specifically my time at Lynedoch Primary school. My expectations on life in Africa differed from what I found there; but at the same time, I was able to better understand global culture and the importance of experiencing the way others live.

I thought I would learn about the “real” Africa, but instead I found that there is no one Africa. There are only real individuals. It was not about the place, necessarily, but the people that characterized that space, that made South Africa a reality for me. My experience at Lynedoch, as well as throughout South Africa, was defined by the people that I met.

I thought Africa might be dangerous, exotic or wild, but it was no different than home in a lot of ways. Yes, some people are very unfortunate. Many of the students came to school with ripped pants and broken shoes, but with their spirits intact. And that’s what the people of South Africa taught me: spirit. Less than two decades after the end of apartheid, the South African people have much to be unhappy about. Yet, many that I met had a way to channel the happiness deep in their souls into a spirited approach to life.

Surprisingly, I learned the most from my fifth grade students. According to Gandhi, “The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.” And so, with my brief time helping a group of South African fifth graders, I managed to better understand the perfect approach to life.

I learned to look through the eyes of a ten year old; I learned to get down on their level. I figured out that instead of teaching a lesson, I should be sparking creativity. I realized that the best way for me to help my students was not to teach them about history or geography, but to help them understand inspiration, hard work, perseverance and happiness. And, as a bonus, I could be a role model to the young girls in the room, and they could help me understand how to remain spirited when times get rough.

The Culture of Racism in South Africa

I wrote my second letter for the Junior Year Abroad Network on the racism I encountered while abroad.

Read it here.

Lesotho

I had the chance to take a day trip into Lesotho, a small, landlocked country within the northeast region of South Africa. It was an interesting contrast to the familiar context of South Africa. We visited the small, rural village of Mafika Lisiu, a remote region if the country that does not see many visitors.

The beautifully brown hills were dotted with pink flowered trees and small, round huts. The scenery was breathtaking and the land was awesomely untouched. It was refreshing to be in such a simple place, until the abject poverty there was revealed.

Lesotho is a largely agricultural nation, consisting of small villages that pretty much live off the land. What seems to be a simple place is really one that reflects its economy. There is not enough money for modern advertising, so if someone has a business, he uses a different colored flag to note the type of item for sale: white for beer, yellow for pineapple beer and green for vegetables. Lesotho’s economy is also largely dependent on South Africa, as it exports much of its water there.

The first school building was not built in this particular village until the 1950s, and even now the school is small with few resources. It was very different compared to what I have experienced in a rural South African school. Much of the country is illiterate to the point that they have trouble providing for themselves and their families.

While I was certainly struck by the poverty and lack of education, I found the unique culture to be the most intriguing aspect of my visit.

The people of Lesotho have round houses because they believe evil spirits lurk in corners. If an animal walks into a round house, one will not kill it because it may be one of his or her ancestors. This rule does not, however, apply to buildings with corners – the only such buildings are churches. About 80 percent of the country practices a form of Christianity mixed with local, traditional beliefs – a product of a place with some Western influence yet relatively undeveloped rural villages.

The local cuisine is simple yet tasty. I was able to try mealie pap, which is made from maize, with spinach and with curried cabbage. While that was delicious, I did not enjoy the homemade maize beer.

Lesotho is also home to ancient San rock art, of which I was able to see a little bit. The San people drew pictures of what animals were in the area, so that the next group passing through knew what was available for hunting. I found it particularly interesting that they drew animals as larger than themselves in order to show respect. Unfortunately, Lesotho does not have any laws that protect ancient art, so much of it has been ruined.

What always amazes me about impoverished places, though, is how happy and spirited their inhabitants seem to be. While I know they struggle with economic woes, they don’t let this affect their daily attitude. We visited a remote part of Lesotho that doesn’t see many visitors, and the villagers could not have been friendlier or more welcoming.

Religion and South Africa

I'm participating in the Junior Year Abroad Network through the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs at Georgetown University. Each junior in the program writes two letters from abroad, one on religion and the other on any part of culture in his or her respective host country.

Check out my first letter on religion in public schools in South Africa!

Big Five Safari

One of South Africa’s main claims to fame is the Big Five – rhinoceros, elephant, lion, buffalo and leopard – in addition to many other animals found on safari. While I knew this was one of the country’s biggest attractions, I still rolled my eyes when someone solely associated my chosen study abroad destination with giraffes. I did plan on going on a safari, but was also interested in a whole host of other sites and sceneries. This made me skeptical towards a safari and whether or not it would make or break my experience in Africa. But, The Lion King fan that I’ve been since childhood, I could not resist the chance to see my favorite characters.

While my safari in Kruger National Park was not quite what I expected, or what it had been made out to be, it was still awesome. No matter what way one looks at it, seeing animals in the wild is a breathtaking experience. My clear favorites are elephants and giraffes; they are the most interesting to watch and have a really unique look. This may have been influenced, however, by the fact that I was reading a book about elephants at the time, and that every giraffe I saw bore a striking resemblance to Melvin from Madagascar. We also saw a giraffe and her 3-month-old calf on a nature walk; we were about 10 feet away from them, which was absolutely priceless.

The lions truly looked like they were straight out of The Lion King, even though I only saw them from far away. Yet for the rest of the day I could not get “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” out of my head!

As to the rest of the Big Five – rhinos, buffalo, and a leopard – those experiences are not what made my trip to Kruger. My rhino and the leopard sightings were from far away, making it difficult to really appreciate them. And the buffalo were just plain ugly.

We also saw a cheetah, which was surprisingly skinny and lazy. The warthogs did not look much like Pumba, however they were both hideous and adorable. The zebras were interesting too, and stand head to tail so that they can watch for predators at all angles.

The most active creatures I saw were the vervet monkeys and the baboons. Some monkeys put on a show of sorts at a lunch spot in the park, which was amusing. And baboons, just like in the Western cape, were everywhere. One very large baboon even jumped onto the side of our vehicle in search of food.

So although the long rides on the open safari vehicle were often cold and boring, the moments in between when we saw a herd of zebras or a lone rhinoceros more than made up for it. And even though I cannot say that the safari was the absolute highlight of my experience in South Africa, it is definitely a necessity for any sub-Saharan jaunt.

Collective Memorial Sites

When travelling abroad one expects to visit a certain amount of tourist sites – memorials, museums, mountain ranges – that tend to be very similar. South Africa has its fair share of statues, national museums and guided tours, but the end of the Apartheid era ushered in a newform of monument: collective memorial sites. These are monuments created by a group of victims, families and community members themselves, rather than by the government or an outside organization.

The conclusion of over 40 years of apartheid called for healing and reconciliation not just on the part of the government but also by the people themselves. With this, various communities and non-governmental organizations worked to memorialize the events and atrocities of the past few decades.

I have visited three collective memorial sites, all of which were very different than any monument I’ve come across in the United States. I found collective sites to be much more interesting and meaningful. Although they tend to be less formal, they are made with more creativity and local touch.

The first place I visited was the District Six Museum in Cape Town. District Six was a multiracial district in Cape Town before apartheid, and was essentially obliterated when the Group Areas Act, which created separate districts for blacks, coloureds and whites, was passed. All residents were forced out of District Six and the District itself was destroyed, leaving a gaping hole on the Cape Town map.

The District Six Museum, then, is its former citizens’ attempt to memorialize its multiracial harmony and to symbolically reclaim their old homes. The museum was started and is run by ex-District Six residents. The museum contains artifacts from the neighborhood and stories of its residents in addition to a map drawn from memory on the floor and huge cloths signed by many former community members. The museum may not be as polished as the average, but it’s very well done and its amalgamated feel adds to its charm. I particularly enjoyed reading the personal accounts about life before apartheid. So many apartheid memorials focus on the atrocities committed under the apartheid regime, but not on the way of life that was disturbed.

The next two sites were for the Trojan Horse Massacre in Cape Town. In October 1985 three young men were shot and killed and thirteen were injured by the police response to an anti-apartheid protest. Police hid in wooden crates on the back of an African Transport System truck and fired automatic guns into the crowd when a stone was thrown at the truck. This was one of few apartheid atrocities that made it to international television, and it therefore had a large impact on the international response to apartheid in South Africa.

The first memorial we visited is a concrete wall spray-painted with the words “Remember the Trojan Horse Massacre” and the names of the victims. The memorial also includes the stories of the three victims, as dictated by their family members. The spray painted portion was done before the establishment of the official memorial, which I think adds meaning to the site. It emotes the feelings of community members toward apartheid. The stories, rather than just the names, helped viewers better understad how the event impacted the community.

The second memorial for the Trojan Horse Massacre is located near the Township in which some of the victims had lived. Plaques carved into trees with their names, and a horse carved out of a tree, comprise the monument. Again, the building of the memorial was instigated by community members, which made it more meaningful, and it also helped them to accept the occurrence and move on in a way.

First Impressions

At the two-week mark of my time in South Africa, I’m still working on my first impression of the country. I have spent the past days throwing my pre-conceived notions out the window and developing a first look at the country.

What I have found is a paradoxical nation – one filled with conflicting aspects that are confusing, yet make sense considering South African history.

The first dichotomy is that of the natural environment. There are gorgeous national parks and diverse wildlife, yet the waste-managementsystem is underdeveloped and inefficient. My firstweekend here CIEE took our group on an overnight in Table Mountain National Park. The setting was picturesque: the rolling hills covered in shrubs went on forever, only to meet the mountains on one side and the Atlantic on the other. The land was magnificent and untouched. We drove past zebras and bucks living together in harmony – it was straight out of a movie.

Yet as I saw more of Stellenbosch and spoke to the assistant director of the program, I learned that much of the land is littered with garbage and ruined by landfills. Many of us have this view of Africa as an untouched land where the people live a life free from materialism and industrialization. Yet almost nobody recycles in South Africa, and the Stellenbosch area landfill is nearly full. So although much of the land is pristine and protected, the developed areas are as dirty, if not dirtier than cities in the U.S. This surprised me, but I’m not sure why. I should have expected the cities to be dirty, and the new government to still be working out an efficient and complete system for maintaining the land.

Another dichotomy I have noticed is that of the Stellenbosch area, and the legacy apartheid has left there. When choosing a study abroad site, I was drawn both to the beauty of the Stellenbosch winelands, and the opportunity the Learning Service program would give me to see the “real South Africa.” My time at Lyndoch primary has shown me how much greater the gap between the rich and the poor is here in South Africa, and how distinctly parallel race and economic lines are. It has always frustrated me that many people rush to help those starving in Africa when poverty is very real for many in the U.S., yet the definition of poverty in Africa is very different from that in the U.S. In New Jersey, Abbott districts receive more state funding than wealthier areas in an attempt to even the playing field. However, the system appears to be quite different in the Western Cape region. I don’t claim to be an expert, but from what I understand, the state funding for public schools is insufficient. In 1994, Lynedoch was the second-worst primary school in the Western Cape, and received only 150,000 rand (roughly $20,000) to help improve the school. I don’t mean to be harsh on the South African country, especially considering the new government and rule has barely been established, but these were insufficient funds to help a struggling school in an impoverished area. With the financial backing of the progressive Spier wine estate, however, Lynedoch has become a model for rural area primary schools in the region. The school still struggles to find the resources to maintain a school in the 21^st century, though, and still lacks certain things like computers that are commonplace in schools in America. Additionally, most of the Stellenbosch area wine farms are not as philanthropic as the Spier Estate and the region has a long way to come. So although on paper the Rainbow Nation is one of equality, the reality is far from that.