This
weekend Becca, Bernie, Molly, and I did the Garden Route. It was a pretty
adventurous weekend that included walking with lions, feeding and riding
elephants, petting cheetahs, and even bungee jumping for a brave few (not me).
I think my favorite parts of the weekend were petting the cheetahs and being
with the elephants. At first my experience petting the cheetahs was a bit
scary. When I went to pet one of the cheetahs, another one came up behind me-
so I was surrounded by these cheetahs. I slowly got up and walked away
cautiously. Once the cheetahs were settled I got to try again and this time
neither snuck up behind me. The elephant ride was also a little scary for me
since I don’t like heights or things I can’t control. Joe, the man with me on
Jabari, had to constantly talk to me and tell me stories so I wouldn’t freak
out. In then end, it was an awesome experience and I am glad I did it. The only
thing that bothered me during the weekend was the questioning of whether these
encounters were ethical and if the animals were treated right. I am pretty
certain the cheetahs were treated with love- you could just tell by the way
they loved humans and how affectionate they were towards their trainers- almost
like dogs. I think the elephants were treated right, but it’s still not natural
for them to be giving rides and doing these circus type tricks. The only ones I
really don’t think were treated right were the lions. The men that train and
keep an eye on the lions were sort of mean to them and would hit them with a
stick to move- lightly, but still not the nicest way of doing things. Also, I
think they must feed those lions a lot in order to train them when lions really
aren’t supposed to eat that much because their food is stored as fat. Lions can
go a few weeks without food, so by eating so much food to train, they have
unnecessary weight on them that can’t be healthy.
On
the trip, a Saudi Arabian man and a German woman joined us. A few things they
said and talked about got me thinking. The German woman, Natalie, had spent a
few months in Cape Town last September through December as an au pair and
student learning English. She was now back on holiday. You would think that
having spent so much time in Cape Town that she would know the townships, but
it turns out she didn’t even know what Manenberg was. Manenberg is one of the
most dangerous townships in Cape Town, only competing with Hanover Park. It
seemed like she hadn’t even visited a township in all her time spent in Cape
Town. I can’t imagine coming here and not seeing all sides of Cape Town-
especially the way the majority lives. It made me so grateful for the way this
program really sets us up to experience and gain knowledge about the society.
Cape Town can just be a fun tourist city, but you really won’t understand the people
unless you know how they live and what they’ve been through.
Abdullah,
the Saudi Arabian student learning English, made me feel both defensive and
ashamed of the U.S. He mentioned that he could not go to the U.S. and when I
asked him why, he said it was because he was Saudi Arabian and that’s where the
terrorists are from. He said the American embassy in Saudi Arabia denied him
entry. This didn’t really shock me, but it hit me hard to actually hear this
happening directly from a person it happened to. I hate that even our
government generalizes people and therefore encourages stereotyping. Until now,
I’ve never had the opportunity to speak much to a born and raised middle
easterner, so I took advantage of it and asked one more question: how did Saudi
Arabians react after 9/11? He said everyone was very sad and it wasn’t just
Americans that died because of it. Then he went on to say, though, that he
believes that the U.S. government knew of the attack before hand. He thinks
that with the technology we have, there should be no reason we didn’t know.
Although I didn’t express my defensiveness, I definitely felt it. Although it’s
a decent argument, I just can’t believe that a government would sacrifice the
lives of thousands like that. Even though I am constantly being challenged here
with questioning the integrity of my own country, I’m glad to see in some way
that I still believe in it.
Lastly,
today at the GEU, I was helping out with a video for the mentoring program. The
video interviews the mentees on what they think about their community- Elsie’s
River- and how they can improve it. It’s a poor community and has their share
of violence. What surprised me most about the interviews was how these children
thought due to the environment they lived in. If we were to ask these questions
to American children, their responses would lack the substance these children
provided. For a kid living in my hometown in Connecticut, the only thing I
would’ve been able to suggest in order to improve my community is to fix the
sidewalks so I don’t fall off my bike. But these kids were giving answers
adults would give in analyzing the U.S. Faced with seeing and living through
police brutality, crime, and poverty, they don’t care about measly sidewalks.
One response was the challenge of ShopRite- because it’s too expensive to
afford. Another was the fear of going to the store because they might get
robbed on their way. One girl mentioned that God gives us everything but then
goes on to say that she’s afraid of the day when she realizes that God is
giving more to some people than others. I’m awful at predicting age, but this
girl was less than thirteen years old. I know at that age I barely knew
inequality existed. I also didn’t have much faith because I had everything I
needed. Faith really wasn’t a necessity for me to live in a sense. In many ways
these kids have more experience than I do in life. I don’t doubt that their
struggles right now will be greater than mine will ever be. It’s so hard to
digest that this is the way people live their lives- being the group that God
doesn’t give as much to.
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