In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply camp for the Dutch East India Company, today that site is a beautiful hike to the most southwestern point of Africa. We climbed up to the lighthouse and back down and over to catch one of the most breathtaking views on the continent. Along the way we saw a variety of wildlife from lizards to ostriches. The path was narrow, steep, rocky and invigorating. Here are a few snapshots of our voyage to the top.
The most powerful lighthouse on the South African coast with a range of 63 km.
We climbed to the top of the most SouthWestern point of Africa...and then continued to swim to Antarctica!
On December 28th, we left Chicago for London. The plane ride was about 8 hours and for many of us, this trip was our first internationally. Some of us were lucky enough to sit by another classmate, but others had to sit by themselves. We were very lucky because we had TVs in our seats and had a great selection of movies, TV shows, and music. I watched the latest Harry Potter movie because I couldn't fall asleep on the plane.
Once we got to London, we went through customs and bought our tickets for the Underground. We had a 12 hour layover and had a few sites picked out that we wanted to see. One of the first things we saw was Big Ben--it was really cool because right when we stepped outside, all we had to do was look up to see it!! We also saw a statue of Nelson Mandela so that got us really excited to get to Cape Town. A lot of us took pictures by the red phone booths and saw our first double decker buses. For lunch, we had to split up into two groups because a lot of the restaurants were either too small or too busy to serve our large group. My group went to a really nice pub. The environment was so relaxed because we got to eat and drink by fireplaces. A lot of people ordered London's staple meal: fish and chips. After lunch, we walked around some more and visited musuems. Overall our layover was great (even with the very cold and rainy weather)!!
We had to head back to the airport 3 hours before our flight left to insure that we would make it through security. This left us a lot of time to explore Heathrow and to get to know everyone better. Many of us walked around Heathrow, checked out the shops, and stopped at the restaurants to get dinner. Once we got back to the airport, all of us were so exhausted and just waiting to get on the plane so we could get some sleep.
Once we were on the plane, I fell asleep the second I sat down and it was some of the best sleep I have ever had! Everyone was able to sleep on our 11 hour flight to Cape Town, but some of us were woken up by a lady sitting in the row behind Brendon. The woman was extremely upset because the man in front of her had his seat back. So instead of asking him to move it up, she decided to hit the back of his seat and eventually started hitting his head. It took a few flight attendants and quite a bit of persuasive talking to get her to calm down. We also had another great selection of movies and music. On this flight I watched 500 Days of Summer and listened to Calvin Harris, David Bowie, and Athlete.
After a long flight, we finally made it to Cape Town! It was so amazing to see the sun and palm trees. Jan was waiting for us, along with a few others that we were excited to get to know. I was also fortunate enough to be reunited with my sister for a few days, who is spending the year studying abroad in Kenya. Our house in the Observatory neighborhood is a quick drive from the airport. During the drive, we saw our first township and the Atlantic Ocean. Our house has quite a few rooms, even though it looks very small on the outside. Ivy, our cook, made us a great welcome meal--it was traditional South African food and was SO delicious. After our meal we headed to the beach. The water was very cold but we still had a great time. We had our first rock climbing adventure on the beach and got to experience a part of Cape Town that a lot of tourists visit. For dinner we went to a restaurant called A Touch of Madness. Jess, Jan's daughter who lives here in South Africa as she earns another degree, works there. It was a delicious meal and we all shared our food so we could get a taste of everything. I had a stuffed mushroom, kudo with chips, and chocolate cake. Kudo is antelope and I though it tasted pretty bitter but other people enjoyed it very much. An interesting fact about the restaurant is that it is haunted and Jess has even seen the ghost that stays there. After we finished dinner, a 4 hour process, we went home happy and full!
Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood, portrays one of Nelson Mandela's (played by Morgan Freeman) greatest achievements as president. Several of us have seen the film and enjoyed it very much. We will even get to visit several of the places seen in the movie! The following abstract is Fei Wan's response to the movie.
On the surface, Invictus may have seemed like another sports film aimed to motivate and inspire, but deep down it is really a film about leadership and humility. The film is about Nelson Mandela’s effort to unify the country through the sport of rugby. Interestingly enough, he sought to do this by placing a bet on the Springboks, which was performing poorly and losing support from its main fan base, the Afrikaners. Instead of mindlessly listening to his core constituents (ANC supporters) to put a new rugby team in place of the Springboks, he had the audacity and vision to tell them that they were wrong. He recognized the potential of the team captain, Pienaar, who had the capacity to lead the team to victory in the world cup. Throughout the movie, I was moved many times by Mandela’s humility and his capacity to forgive. When I was reading his book, I felt the same thing that Pienaar had felt after visiting Mandela’s prison cell on Ruben Island: how can a man be so forgiving and loving to his worst enemies after he had lost 30 years of his life in prison. This question became clear to me after I read his biography. In the book, he talked about the time when he had to ask himself whether there was anything in this world he would be willing to lose everything for, including his family and freedom. The answer to this question is the freedom of his people and prosperity of South Africa and to achieve this, he knew that unity was paramount.
This movie is a perfect example of why Mandela was such a great leader. He consistently showed humility in dealing with everyone around him, from his staffs to ANC supporters to members of the Springboks. With such a tremendous reputation around the world, he did not let his ego grow beyond his soul, which is why he continues to inspire people around the world. In addition, he did not let his personal feelings influence him in making the decision that was best for the country, which is what separates great leaders from the common citizens. Like many of his ANC party members, he had every reason to eliminate the Springboks, which his previous oppressors adorned. Instead, he recognized the importance of a united South Africa, which meant the support of the blacks, whites, and colored alike. While most Afrikaners expected him to retaliate, he simply chose to forgive and embrace the team that once represented everything he fought against. Mandela understood the meaning behind a sport team is simply based on human perception and that it is never absolute. As a leader who led by example, he fully embraced the Springboks as his own and people eventually followed. Lastly, he recognized the key individual, Pienaar, who had the potential to help him achieve his goal and invested significant effort to help him grow into the leader he was meant to be.
I am thankful that I saw this movie because it offered a window into Mandela endeavors after he was elected as president. Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of Mandela brought him to life for me and I’m eager to learn more about him and the history of South Africa in the future.
By: Fei Wan
Another movie I would recommend watching is Peter Jackson's District 9. I saw the movie before our class started and I loved it. The film does a great job addressing the xenophobic violence in South Africa. District 9 is also enjoyable to watch--the technology is great.
1480s: Bartholomeu Dias, a Portuguese navigator, is the first European to travel around the southern tip of Africa.
1497: Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese explorer, lands on the Natal coast.
1652: Jan van Riebeeck, from the Dutch East India Company, founds the Cape Colony at Table Bay.
1795: British forces seize Cape Colony from the Netherlands.
1803: Cape Colony is returned to the Dutch in 1803.
1806: The Dutch surrender Cape Colony to the British.
1816-1826: Shaka Zulu finds and expands the Zulu empire to create a formidable fighting force.
1835-1840: The Boers leave Cape Colony in the Great Trek. They find the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.
1852: The British grant a limited self-government to the Transvaal.
1856: Natal separates from the Cape Colony (Also, in the late 1850s, the Boers proclaim the Transvaal a republic).
1867: Diamonds are discovered at Kimberley.
1877: Britain occupies the Transvaal.
1879: The British defeat the Zulus in Natal.
1880-81:The Boers rebel against the British and spark the first Anglo-Boer War. The conflict ends with a negotiated peace and the Transvaal is restored as a republic (Also, in the mid 1880s, gold is discovered in the Transvaal and a gold rush begins).
1899:British troops gather at the Transvaal border and ignore an ultimatum to disband. This begins the second Anglo-Boer War.
1902:The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the second Anglo-Boer War. The Transvaal and Orange Free State are made self-governing colonies of the British Empire.
1910:The Union of South Africa is created by the former British colonies of the Cape and Natal, the Boer republics of Transvaal, and Orange Free State.
1912: The Native National Congress is founded, which is later renamed the African National Congress (ANC). 1913: A Land Act is introduced to prevent blacks, except those living in Cape Province, from buying land outside reserves.
1914:The National Party is founded.
1918: Secret Broederbond (brotherhood) is established to advance the Afrikaner cause.
1919:South West Africa (Namibia) comes under South African administration.
1948:The National Party takes power and the policy of apartheid is adopted. 1950:The population of South Africa is classified by race. The Group Areas Act is passed to segregate blacks and whites. The Communist Party is banned and the ANC responds with a campaign of civil disobedience led by Nelson Mandela.
1960:Seventy black demonstrators are killed at Sharpeville. The ANC is formally banned.
1961:South Africa is declared a republic and leaves the Commonwealth. Nelson Mandela leads the ANC's new military wing, which launches a sabotage campaign (Also during the 1960s, there was a rise in international pressure against the South African apartheid and South Africa was excluded from the Olympic games).
1964:Nelson Mandela, one of the most prominent ANC leaders, is sentenced to life imprisonment.
1966:Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd is assassinated.
1970s:More than 3 million people are forced to resettle in black “homelands.”
1976:Clashes between black protestors and security forces begin in Soweto. More than 600 people are killed.
1977: After being arrested, anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko dies on his way to Pretoria as a result of extremely poor treatment from inhumane police officials.
1984-89:South Africa is in a state of emergency as several black South Africans revolt in the townships.
1984: Desmond Tutu wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1989:Frederik Willem de Klerk replaces Pieter Willem Botha as president and meets with Nelson Mandela; public facilities begin to desegregate and many ANC activists are freed. Also, Gordon Oliver, Desmond Tutu, and other anti-apartheid leaders lead the Cape Town Peace March.
1990:The ANC is no longer banned and Nelson Mandela is released after spending 27 years in prison.
1991:President De Klerk repeals the remaining apartheid laws and the international sanctions are lifted.
1993: An agreement on the interim constitution is reached and Nelson Mandela wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1994:Nelson Mandela becomes president of South Africa when the ANC wins the first non-racial elections. Also, after a 20-year absence, South Africa regains a seat in the UN General Assembly.
1996:Desmond Tutu leads the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and begins hearings on human rights crimes committed by former government and liberation movements during the apartheid era.
1996:Parliament adopts a new constitution and the National Party withdraws from the coalition.
1998:The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report brands apartheid a crime against humanity.
1999:The ANC wins another general election and Thabo Mbeki becomes president.
2000:The ANC prevails in local elections, while the recently-formed Democratic Alliance captures nearly a quarter of the votes.
2001:Several multi-national pharmaceutical companies halt a legal battle to stop South Africa from importing generic AIDS drugs. The decision is hailed as a victory for the world's poorest countries in their efforts to import cheaper drugs to combat AIDS.
2002:The Constitutional court orders the South African government to provide key anti-AIDS drug at all public hospitals because the government was arguing that the drug was simply too costly.
2003:Walter Sisulu, a key figure in the anti-apartheid struggle, dies at the age of 91. Thousands of people gather to pay their final respects to the leader. Also in 2003, the South African government approves a major program to combat HIV/AIDS that will create a network of drug-distribution centers and preventative programs (the cabinet had previously refused to provide HIV/AIDS medicine through a public health system).
2004:The ANC wins a landslide election victory, allowing Thabo Mbeki to begin his second term as president.
2005:Investigators exhume the first bodies in a Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigation to determine the fates of hundreds of people who disappeared in the apartheid era.
2005:President Mbeki dismisses his deputy, Jacob Zuma, in the aftermath of a corruption case. Also, around 100,000 gold miners begin a strike over pay and bring the industry to a standstill.
2006:Jacob Zuma is acquitted of rape charges by the High Court in Johannesburg and is reinstated as deputy leader of the governing ANC. Zuma’s bid for presidency is eventually boosted. Also, South Africa becomes the first African country and the fifth country in the world to allow same-sex unions.
2007: President Mbeki, who is often accused of ignoring South African crimes, urges all South Africans to join forces in order to bring rapists, drug dealers, and corrupt government officials to justice. Also, Zuma is elected the chairman of the ANC and is placed in an even stronger position to become the next president of South Africa.
2008: A wave of violence is directed at African foreigners in townships across South Africa. Several of the foreigners die and thousands of Zimbabweans, Malawians, and Mozambicans return home. Also, a judge throws out another corruption case against Jacob Zuma. This leads the way for Zuma to become the country's next president in 2009.
2009:Public prosecutors drop the corruption case against Jacob Zuma and the ANC wins another general election. Parliament elects Jacob Zuma as the new president of South Africa. Also, township residents begin a violent protest against their poor living conditions and President Zuma condemns their violent actions but promises better services for the townships.
"The World AIDS Campaign is a global coalition of national, regional and international civil society groups united by the call for governments to honour their AIDS commitments under the slogan 'Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.' The campaign is governed by a steering committee of global constituency-based networks and supported by a team of support staff based primarily in Cape Town, South Africa and partially in Amsterdam, The Netherlands." The Campaign's website can be found here: http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/
In honor of this day and the World AIDS Campaign, I will post some quick facts about HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
In 2008, an estimated 5.2 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, more than any other country in the world.
1 in 3 women aged 25-29 are living with HIV.
Over a quarter of men aged 30-34 are living with HIV.
In South Africa, HIV is mostly transmitted by heterosexual couples.
Mother-to-child transmission is also extremely common in South Africa.
The overall number of annual deaths in South Africa has increased sharply. In 1997, 316,559 people died and in 2006, this number rose to 607,184 people. This jump in the mortality rate does not solely rest on HIV/AIDS, but young adults--the age group most affected by AIDS--are shouldering the burden of this epidemic (in 1997, 29% of deaths were attributed to 25-49 year olds with AIDS and in 2006, this rate rose to 41%).
There are 1.4 million AIDS orphans in South Africa, which is half of the country's orphans.
In 2007, there were 46 deaths per 1000 babies born in South Africa. HIV/AIDS is a main contributor to the infant mortality rate because there is poor mother-to-child prevention in South Africa.
In 2007, only a quarter of adults took an HIV test and only 7% of those adults had taken a previous HIV test in the past 12 months.
Although South Africa has the largest antiretroviral therapy program in the world, access to treatment is low because South Africa also has the world's largest HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The leading cause of death in South Africa is TB. The only way to successfully combat TB is to fight against HIV/AIDS--people living with HIV/AIDS are more susceptible to TB.
To learn more about HIV/AIDS in South Africa, visit http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm
Part of the reason that HIV/AIDS has taken over South Africa is due to a lack of government support. But today, current South African President Jacob Zuma announced that drug therapy for pregnant women who are HIV positive will be broadened and will also begin earlier. Zuma's announcement is extremely exciting because the South African government has delayed AIDS treatment and education. Several political leaders have been involved in HIV/AIDS scandals, including Zuma himself. Just three years ago, Zuma admitted, while on trial for rape, that he knowingly had had sex with a woman infected with H.I.V. without using a condom, saying he showered afterward to minimize his risk of infection. Zuma's personal record illustrates the impact of the epidemic in South Africa because HIV/AIDS is even affecting the nation's leaders. His example also demonstrates the dire need to increase education and drug therapy among all age groups in South Africa. To learn more about Zuma's announcement, please see the following New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/world/africa/02safrica.html
Also, South Africa has it's own version of Sesame Street and one character is Kami, a young muppet who is HIV positive. Former president Bill Clinton joined Kami to make a public service announcement about HIV/AIDS which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eXlNn-C8BY
Cape Town is a Cosmopolitan city featuring wi-fi cafes, museums, restaurants, shopping centers and open markets in a multicultural atmosphere.Its beautiful mountains, beaches, and golf courses however, contrast starkly with the poverty stricken townships that are still home to millions of “non-white” South Africans.
The townships remain as remnants of apartheid-era policy, which relocated entire communities based on race.These racial divides still exist today as economic redistribution has not happened overnight.The result is separated communities with a wide gap in access to health care and education.
Our objective during the trip is to introduce students to both of these worlds and to encourage understanding about how they affect one another, to see what steps are being taken to improve the well-being of children and their communities, to interact with these communities, and to reflect on what they have learned about children and families at the University of Illinois and what they have experienced in South Africa.
There are four books we are required to read this semester:
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Mother to Mother by Sindiwe Magona
The House on Tyne Street, Childhood Memories of District Six by Linda Fortune
Each week we write a response to the assigned readings. Our readings typically consist of an assigned book and a short list of articles we can find online. The following is my response to Magona's novel and I hope it encourages all of our blog readers to learn more about South Africa!
In Sindiwe Magona’s Mother to Mother, Magona details the murder of Amy Biehl and illuminates the all too common effects of the South African Apartheid. Magona’s goal is not to justify the murder of Biehl, but to explain how Biehl was a consequence of the inequalities and prejudices that the South African Apartheid created. Biehl’s murder is another example all of us can use to examine the social and racial relations between whites and blacks in South Africa. Her murder can also be considered a historical legacy of South Africa’s past. This novel definitely influenced the way I understand South Africa’s history and has broadened my views on life in general. I think that most of us are too quick to judge acts of violence because attempting to understand the specific reasons behind each act can be very difficult. I feel that Magona’s novel is very special because I was able to not only see her message in a South African perspective, but I can also place her message in an American perspective and see how murders like Biehl’s are a common part of urban America. Magona’s novel opened my eyes and showed me that there is more to be seen than just violence—there will always be the events, people, and social/racial issues that lead up to such horrible occurrences.
Like Magona, Biehl's parents also believe that their daughter's murder was a consequence of the apartheid. As a result, they started a foundation in Amy's name: http://www.amybiehl.org/
This website is a great place to visit and you can really see the importance of grassroots organizations in South Africa.
