Surfing South Africa

Last week classes went really well. We had a guest speaker come in for our Senior Seminar class and talk about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We had talked about it a bit also in our Politics class the previous week. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established under Nelson Mandela after he became president in 1994. There have been many commissions set up by other governments to bring out the truth such as the Nuremberg trial after the Holocaust. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa was different though. In their case, there was no winner or loser. Instead, both sides had negotiated and come to an agreement. Therefore under this commission the blacks could not just bring the whites to court for all the atrocities they committed under the Apartheid. The commission’s main goal was to bring out the truth of the past and hopefully provide healing through that so in the future the blacks and whites could live together in forgiveness under the new government established. One committee under the commission was the Human Rights Committee. It was under this committee that people could come and tell their story of what had happened to them. Thousands of people came to speak and the testimonies were broadcast on television and radio. Many received healing through this by just being able to tell their story. The Amnesty committee was another committee. This committee looked as gross violations committed for political reasons from 1960 to 1994. If you fit all of those qualifications and gave a full disclosure of the crime you committed you could be granted amnesty on an individual basis. This is where many of the stories came out. I’m reading Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s book on it because he was the co-chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. In his book he gives some of the testimonies of the gross violations. They were absolutely horrible. I would read one and then have to set the book down before I moved on again. Although remorse was not required to be shown for the crimes they committed, many of the people apologized to their victims. It’s incredible how much forgiveness was shown during this reconciliation period. During class we read through a few of the cases from the report of the commission and those were interesting too. Even though some people would have been granted amnesty if they had given a full disclosure of their crimes, a few still lied and since the holes were recognized in their testimony, amnesty was not granted. Sadly, a lot of high government officials did not come to testify either.

Later on in the week we had speakers from COPE come to talk to us for our Politics class. COPE is another political party down here called the Congress of the People. One of the leading men came and talked to us and many of COPE members used to be ANC members, but through changes that they saw in the party they decided to break off and form COPE. We had a really interesting discussion with them, but I am still definitely learning more about each party, so I don't have a whole lot to tell you here. They are a very small party though and the ANC is projected to win the upcoming election. They did set the date for the election and it will be April 22nd. I think I told you about the man running for the ANC. His name is Jacob Zuma and he has many charges brought against him. Many of them deal with finances, but he was also the one who raped a young HIV infected girl. Then in his trial he said he took a shower because he thought it would help him not get infected. Even though he is a very corrupt leader, many will still vote for him because they like what the ANC stands for, but it is sad that it could be him who might rule the country. We went to a Rugby came on Monday which was a ton of fun, but what was interesting is that some students walked into the stands with ANC t-shirts on and they got booed. We’re assuming this campus does not support the ANC, although we’re not really sure what party majority of them side with.

On Thursday, 13 of us headed out after class for another short weekend trip. We headed up the coast an hour to Jeffery’s Bay. Our hostel is called Island Vibe and is totally a chill out place for surfers. The hostel is right on the Indian Ocean and provides a 270 degree view. The first night we hung out outside and looked at the sky. You can see tons of stars here, maybe a few more than I can see at home in the country in Duluth. Sadly, we can’t recognize any of the constellations here except Orion. I guess Orion is a bi-hemisphere constellation because it’s so low on the horizon. The next day we woke up and had a fabulous breakfast of fruit filled pancakes (which are really crepes down here) and then we ran into down quick to the Billabong Outlet store. We got back about 10am- perfect timing to sign up and get suited up for surfing lessons. Our instructor was this guy named Matt who is from the UK and also works as the bar tender at our hostel. He gave pretty good lesson because I was able to stand up a few times within the two hours. Holy cow though! It was hard work! It’s super hard to get out to the waves with your board when all the waves crash against you. Then it’s super hard just to boost yourself up to standing position. I can see why surfers are so in shape. After that we had lunch and hung out for the afternoon. We caught a taxi back at 6pm because we had to be back for some Human Rights Day activities on Saturday.

On Saturday we headed out to a sort of political rally put on by the ANC for Human Rights Day. One of the speakers was supposed to be Winnie Mandela. Right before we hopped on the bus Gary came downstairs to tell us not to bring anything valuable with us. He said we would pretty much be the only whites there and we would be good targets to be stolen from. I left everything behind, but decided to bring my camera along because I knew it probably be a good thing to document. It was about a 30-40 minute drive to Uitenhage where we started to see people lined up along the streets. Many were wearing COPE and ANC t-shirts. A lot of people cheered as we drove by. Apparently we were in a ANC parade, but as we got closer to the stadium we talked to some police about where to go. We were informed that the ANC and COPE had booked the stadium for the occasion, but at 2 am that morning the courts declared the stadium belonged to COPE. The ANC had to reorganize in a field near by. We ended up heading over there and getting out. We were allowed to get out and roam around to check everything out. It was announced that Winnie Mandela was no longer coming and we weren’t sure what we would get to see speaker-wise because they had to set up new microphones and a stage. We wandered around and ran into a lot of singing and dancing and joined in. The last one that we were watching was kind of in a circle, but one by one they pulled us all in. We were all dancing together and I’m sure it was quite a sight. Gary was right- we were the only white people there except for the reporters, but they all loved us. We were all taking pictures of each other, but they all wanted to take pictures with us too. Eventually, there was a prayer and a few speakers, but we left soon after that because it was nearing lunchtime and it was super hot and we had no food or water. On our way out one woman asked me how I was and then continued to tell our group that she loved us. Something that we noticed is that when they see us they immediately think we are Afrikaners, which is of course a legitimate assumption. We can tell because one guy said “buya donkey” to me which is “thank you” in Afrikaans. I had just been reading the Desmond Tutu book about the Truth and Reconciliation committee and these blacks have every right to still hate any whites after all the oppression they faced for decades. Instead they love us and like this one woman expressed they are fast to tell us they love us too. They are so incredible for the forgiveness they have shown to the people in this country who oppressed them for so many years. Later that night we went to a guitar concert which was kind of jazzy. There was an electric guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums. They have been my favorite music act that I’ve seen so far down here. They were just really chill and relaxed, but they played really good music. It was also good that all the songs didn’t blend together because that’s when I get bored. We even had a little strip tease show…just kidding. The guitar player and keyboard player were just dancing around and at one point took off their shirts. It was pretty funny though-especially the reaction on our director’s face. We left at the break, since we had already been there for two hours and they still had a second set. I had to get to bed early so I could wake up early for Scuba certification on Sunday.

Sunday morning we started Scuba certification bright and early at 8 am. We watched five videos, had lunch, and then headed down to the pool to do all of our confined dives. It was really weird to be able to completely depend on the air tank for breathing. We completed all of our skills though! I can attach all of my own equipment and suit myself up, buddy system breathe, take off my mask, put it back on and clear the whole thing from water, and take off my pack and weight belt under water. Next weekend we’re going to finish up our quizzes and then do our open water dives on Saturday and Sunday. That night we went to Mass on campus again. We once again we were only white students. The music is really good there. There’s no choir or anything-all of us just sing, but there’s a lot of harmony going on.

Monday we had another day of volunteering. It’s been going pretty well lately, but Monday was kind of an off day. We didn’t really do much teaching; instead we made her time tables for the tenth time. I try to remember that we don’t just have to teach to be helping out. At recess I seemed to have developed my own fan club of little boys to like to holds my hands and arms and walk with me around the yard. They’re pretty cute. I did almost get peed on though. One kid I walked passed was just peeing on the ground! What the heck! That night we had a field trip for our music class. We went over into the township to a man named Dudley Tito’s house. He has a small room/shack in the back where he and his band play jazz. We mostly stood outside and listened to the music because only about two of us could fit inside at once. The band played two songs that a well known African woman sings that we know and really like. Then a guy from our group Andrew, who records at home, sang some blues with them. It was really great! Andrew kind of has a voice like Michael Buble and we always try to get him to sing, so we were really happy to finally hear him sing. A lot of little kids were wandering around and we started to play with them, including dancing with the little girls. They were so cute. One of the girls in the house was about our age and a girl on the trip, Shannon, was talking to her. The girl told her that her dream one day is to have a white friend. That was really unique to hear.

This morning volunteering was a little crazy again. I had to copy down class lists that were written in bad cursive and there are names I have never seen before like Sipho and Xhaphase. Yikes! My little boy fan club came back at break time again to hold my hands. They are so cute and I want to play with them, but they’re second or third grade and can’t speak much English yet, so I just hold their hands and we walk around together. I usually get some good smiles out of them though. Currently, I’m using all my time to try and write a Politics paper that I have to turn in before we leave next week for Cape Town. We’re spending about five days in Cape Town and then we have Spring Break. I’m traveling with a group of girls into Losotho, a country completely surrounded by South Africa. It’s supposed to be absolutely beautiful and through our backpackers we’re taking a two day trip on horses into the country. Whoop whoop. Thanks for reading and following along. I do love it down here, but I also can’t wait to be back at home with family and friends. God Bless.