Our last couple days in Joburg have been two of our most intense. I mean this in terms of what kind of emotional effect the sites we’ve been visiting have had on me, and probably the rest of the group…
On Friday, we made our way onto Constitutional Hill to meet with one of the Justices of the South African court. This South African equivalent of our Supreme Court was the US’s polar opposite. The building, having been constructed on the foundation of the old court and even has some of the old bricks raising its walls, is breathtaking. Its high ceilings and sleek features make it look more like a studio flat in New York than a government building in the middle of South Africa. If I ever figure out how to post pictures on this blog, I’ll do those. But until then you’ll just have to use your imagination. You can handle that right?
Our meeting with Justice Mokgoro was brief. Most of us had either met her or at least heard her speak when she came to Duke this last spring semester. This little woman is probably the most distinguished looking and speaking person I have ever seen. Every soothing word that comes out of her mouth is a golden, satisfying, yet somehow vague answer to whatever question has been posed to her. Our time with her was short as she was called into a meeting, but some of the clerks in the building gave us a quick tour on the architecture and organization of the building. It was during this tour that it hit me again how recent all of South Africa’s history really is. That the more modern architecture was more of a reflection of a modern history than anything else. These indications keep popping up at me, and they keep throwing me off. It just doesn’t necessarily feel like this country was extremely racially segregated until 20 some odd years ago, and that xenophobia is such a part of everyday life. Maybe it’s because at night we go back to our lovely little bed and breakfast, away from the tensions present in the middle of South African society.
Constitution Hill is also on the site of a former prison in Joburg. Prisons in and of themselves are depressing, but this one was particularly horrible to walk through. Our tour guide, while good, went into great detail about the horrors that had recently taken place within those prison walls. As recently as 1984 when the prison stopped operating. It takes a lot, I mean a lot, to jerk serious emotions out of me during a tour when someone I don’t even know is talking to me about things I will never fully understand, but I cried at the end of this one. As the tour guide described to us how apartheid had kept him from ever knowing his father, who was suspected to have been brutally murdered and randomly buried while attempting to cross the border with the ANC. How this young man had never known his father because to others, his life and body had been too worthless to even bother bringing back to his family for years and years. The prison was essentially a torture chamber to all its members, but especially to its black residents. Didi I mention that Ghandi had been kept there? As well as Winnie Mandela and a number of major movers of South African history. I won’t go into severe detail about the prison, but I do think that a quote by Mandela on one of the signs there does an excellent job of conveying the purpose of its story: “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” If you can only imagine…
Later in the day we went to the apartheid museum that we had been hearing about since our first meeting as the DukeEngage group to South Africa. Oh, important detail, we didn’t have lunch this day because we were trying to make it to the apartheid museum before closing hours. Our lunch time consisted of a quick stop at a gas station where most of us got a small granola bar and a water. In other words, we were all starving and lacking energy from the already trying day. As such, I don’t think I got everything out of the apartheid museum like I normally would have. While it provided an excellent history of pre to post-apartheid, I was unable to fully appreciate the museum. One part that did impact me though were the three massive television screens at the end of the museum. On these there were clips of xenophobia and apartheid movements playing. And again, it struck me how recent all this history truly was. The clips were in color, clear color. Only a couple years ago. I still am having trouble grasping and understanding this country…
All in all, it was a very eventful and emotionally draining day. That night, we had a reflection session as a group. Clearly I can’t discuss what we talked about, but let me just say that it floors me how well all 8 of us have connected in the little time that we’ve had together. We have such a great time together, and somehow manage to perfectly balance intellectual conversations with ridiculous discussions on any random aspect of life. We have all become great friends, and I know that these seven people will be a huge factor of entertainment and support throughout my time here. We’ve already been here for each other through our confusions, difficulties, thrills, and laughs. Amazing J
Ukuthula,
Lynn
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