Christina's whirlwind week

This past week has been a whirlwind of activities that have flown by just as quickly as the past three months. We recently came back from our excursion to Johannesburg and the Kruger.  After flying into Jo'burg, we settled into our nice wifi-working hotel to relax a bit after the trip in. That evening we went to an awesome Mediterranean restaurant called Pappas where we ate good food with great company. We even got a little risqué and tried some escargot… not my favorite. The next day was the real start of the Johannesburg portion. We went to many museums and historical places over the course of the week including, the Apartheid Museum, Nelson Mandela’s house, Constitution Hill, Sharpeville, the Hector Peterson museum in Soweto, and Freedom Square in addition to a fun day spent at the boys and girls club.

The Apartheid Museum was very interesting and eye opening. As soon as we arrived we each received an entry ticket like any other museum except on our tickets was a pre-decided fate that classified you as either “white” or “non-white.” We entered through two different doorways and walked through a room with identification cards which basically constituted your life at that point in time. And although we have learned all this information before and you can hear it time after time again, it doesn’t compare to the pictures and stories of real accounts when you are in the place where it all happened.

Another place we travelled to was Sharpeville where the burning of the passbooks took place led by Robert Sobukwe, also the leader of the PAC. This was a very monumental event in South Africa’s history because what started as a peaceful demonstration turned into a massacre with 69 known deaths, two of them being children ages as low as 12. With nothing to defend themselves but rocks, police shot and killed protestors as they were running away. Walking along those same sidewalks where blood was shed, seeing the graves where innocent souls lay to rest, it was all so bone chilling experiencing the history, picturing the events as they happened where I stood.

Out of all the places we visited while in Johannesburg I have to say that I liked going to Soweto the best. Once there we went to the Hector Peterson Museum. Hector Peterson was the first person shot and killed at the Soweto Uprising. Children refused to go to school and learn under Afrikaans and peacefully protested in the streets until the police open fired on young children. The museum included pictures, recordings, and many testimonies of what happened that day. Reading the memories and stories of those who were actually there was terrifying. Children even warned their own parents to not go to work that day because they knew what was to come. Friends and family members saw one another get shot and killed. The brutality that took place during those events are ones that should of never happened and should never be repeated. Young children standing up in what they believe in only to literally get shot down is so frustrating and saddening and a number of different emotions all at once. It’s hard to even know what to truly feel because it’s hard to fathom all of this really happening.

One of our days was spent entirely at the Boys and Girls Club, which is also in Soweto. I have a friend back at home that is very involved with her local Boys and Girls club and absolutely loves it and now I can see why. The kids are all so helpful and loving it’s hard to picture them living in such poor situations or involved with the local crime and gang violence. But that’s why the Boys and Girls club is so important. It’s a safe haven for these children where they can be just that. Kids being kids enjoying each other and playing outside with the older ones looking after the younger ones. It was a fun experience I will cherish forever.

 We also went to the  Theatre on the Square to see the play Hinderland about Cecil John Rhodes, a very important man that contributed greatly to the University of Cape Town (UCT), but was a bit of a racist at the same time. There has actually been a huge debate back on campus if the Rhodes statue should be knocked down or not because of his racial discrimination. As it turns out it was taken down and has since been removed from campus. Anyways the show was very well done and Johannesburg was quite fun but the Kruger was what made me most excited for the trip.

The last time I went to South Africa I stayed in a place called Djuma Game Reserve where one of our borders was shared with the Kruger so I have seen it, but have never been in it. This time I was lucky enough to stay deep inside and get a real sense of what the Kruger was all about. Our first game drive was almost surreal bringing back many fond memories from the previous summer. Species’ names rushed back to me along with random facts about the plants and animal’s behaviors. I was in my element. We saw elephants and immediately I reflected on a spectacular sighting I had with a herd. But the major difference between this experience and my last was I no longer felt the need or obligation to take pictures. This time around I sat back and just enjoyed the beauty around me. As dark covered the land and the spot lights were flicked on, within the first five minutes of holding a flashlight I spotted three lions laying in the grass. We veered off the road into the bush to get a better look. It never gets old being so close to a wild animal so big and majestic, capable of such power and ferocity. The next morning we woke up at 4:30 to be ready for another game drive at 5. Early and tired we set out to see what we could find. After a rather slow morning we stumbled upon a herd of at least 300 Cape Buffalo with two lions scoping out the scene. In the frenzy to see not only buffalo but lions too Jill somehow managed to drop her phone.  In a setting like that where going out of the vehicle could really be a matter of life and death it was hard to not find the comic relief in it all. Thankfully a car was passing us by and stopped to create a sort of alley between the cars to shield a man who got out to retrieve it from the lions just across the road. It was an unexpected event in an unforgettable setting. The rest of the time at Kruger was awesome, including us driving close enough to the Mozambique boarder to see the other African country. 

It brought back some nostalgic feelings of my great times in the bush last summer but I have to admit that getting out of the city life and into the bush was a nice change of pace but had me longing for home, Cape Town.