Johannesburg by Gabrielle

For our final weekend in South Africa, our group was fortunate enough to travel to Johannesburg. The city of Johannesburg played a major role in ending the apartheid and several anti-apartheid activists have lived or still live there. We arrived in Johannesburg fairly late, but found our stay to be quite comfortable. We stayed at a beautiful home that is commonly used for backpackers. I was even happier with our stay there when I found the two dogs that live at the house!

Jess with the cute dogs!

On Saturday, our first stop was Constitution Hill. While we were there, we took an extremely interesting tour of the prison grounds. At the height of apartheid, several South Africans were imprisoned for pursuing their beliefs in human rights and/or for not obliging to the inhumane and unequal rule of apartheid. This prison kept people like Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Luthuli, and Robert Sobukwe captive for years in attempt to prevent the destruction of apartheid. But, as we all know, these people were not terrorists and nor were they criminals. These people were freedom fighters and were willing to risk their lives to rebuild a South African nation that is not ruled by racial discrimination.

A photo of some of the prison cells. If you look closely, you can see that at the end of the row of cells, the door is shut. This cell is haunted and that is why the cell door is shut and locked.

After we toured the prison grounds, we visited South Africa's highest court, also known as the Constitutional Court of South Africa. There are 11 judges for each of South Africa's official languages. The waiting room outside of the court room was so beautiful. It was very modern and had beautiful light fixtures. I thought it was great to see such bright colors in such a serious and historical place. But it does make sense because South Africa is the rainbow nation! The court room also had a beautiful creation of the South African flag. For lunch, we went to a casino and a few people from our group tried out gambling.

Once we were done eating, we went to the Apartheid Museum and the Nelson Mandela Exhibit. It is extremely difficult to explain how powerful these museums were. They brought the apartheid alive through images, videos, quotations, art work, music, and personal stories. One video that moved me was a short documentary that contained real footage from riots in the late 80s. It is so hard for me to fathom the violence that people experienced and the violence that people participated in order to defend apartheid rule. This video made me very upset because I know that similar violence still exists all over the world. Later that day I was walking with Sly (one of our tour guides/the coolest guy ever!) and talking to him about apartheid. I asked him what he did when Nelson Mandela was elected and he was almost speechless. He could barely put his emotions into words and our conversation put everything I have learned into a different perspective. I don't know why, but everything he had to say really impacted me and allowed me to views things in a whole new light. Like many South Africans, Sly is a living piece of history who worked so hard to achieve equality and to take down the apartheid rule.

These sticks and the different colors represent the many characteristics Nelson Mandela represented. At the end of the exhibit, each person has the chance to make a promise to the world by choosing the characteristic/quotes they admire most about Nelson Mandela. By choosing a stick and placing it in one of the many holders, you promise that you will live up to Nelson Mandela's words. I chose a green stick and placed mine in the very last group.

Sly and I.

On Sunday, our group traveled to Soweto--a township in Johannesburg and a historical landmark. We toured Soweto on bicycles and it was so much fun! Soweto is an extremely diverse township because there are shacks, apartments, and even homes with ADT security services. We were able to see the home that Nelson Mandela once lived in and we also saw Desmond Tutu's home. A very memorable part of our bike tour happened right in front of Nelson Mandela's house involving a crashed bike, but I won't mention names!

Soweto is a historical landmark because it is known for the Soweto Uprising. On June 16th, 1976, black students began huge riots against the Bantu Education Act--an act that (among several other things) forced all black schools to use Afrikaans as a language of instruction. Because the students did not speak Afrikaans and because Bantu Education was just another way to implement apartheid/white supremacy, the youth of Soweto revolted and literally started the beginning to the end of apartheid. Several children were murdered by government officials and police officers. But their lives and sacrifices are honored in Soweto with an extremely beautiful and symbolic memorial. I am so grateful that we got to experience Soweto because I think we all took home a very valuable life lesson: we all have the power to make a change, no matter how young we are.

The picture that I am standing next to is of Hector Pieterson. Hector is the boy that is being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo (following behind Mbuyisa is his sister, Antoinette). When Mbuyisa saw that Hector (a stranger to Mbuyisa) was injured, he carried Hector away from riot in hopes that Hector's life could be saved. This photograph made Mbuyisa so famous that he fled South Africa. Apartheid rulers deemed Mbuyisa as a terrorist when he was merely attempting to save a young boy's life. No one knows where Mbuyisa is now and he may still be alive. Hector was one of the first of many children to lose their lives in the fight against apartheid. This photograph is a visual representation of the beginning to the end of apartheid.

Here's a great music video with pictures from the Soweto Uprising and very powerful lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LE0c3iTfGk&feature=related