Establishing Our Base - Cape Town

Arriving in Cape Town was like arriving in another country- we were most definitely still in Africa, but the amount of wealth around us in the city center and the number of whites that we began seeing increased dramatically. Cape Town has a different feel that Soweto, obviously- but I’m not sure yet if I like it quite as much as Soweto or not. I feel much more guarded than I did in Soweto, where by the end of our stay I felt quite comfortable talking to anyone that greeted me on the street. It seems to be an issue of a genuine welcome versus a deceptive façade- the many hellos and handshakes of the Zulu versus the whistling and obnoxious honking of taxis zooming by in Cape Town.

One of the discussions we’ve held here that I found very interesting was about how American youth do not feel passionately about causes- that we lack a direction of sorts in the way in which we show our support for the greater good. I found this very interesting, and embodied just hours later while waiting for the bus with the group. Our bus to Forest Hill was late, but not necessarily by an extensive amount- we waited perhaps 20 minutes. As we were waiting and the frustration level on the platform grew, a young African man next to us started raving to his friend. I’m assuming that the man was not a student at UCT, but at a different university. He stated something along the lines of, “Yeah, well [they’re late because] you guys have never protested! Throw rocks at the buses, then they will be on time!” This amazed me. In the States, CU students complain about the buff bus ALL the time, including myself, but I would never consider doing more than writing an angry but polite letter to Transportation Services. I think our generation has, to some extent, “missed out” on learning how to hold demonstrations like this- We did not see the civil rights movement, or anti-Vietnam war protests, or any major national movement for change that we could model local campaigns off of. South African society is one of social justice and change coming from the people- and it’s an attitude that’s evident even in the injustice of a bus being a few minutes late. I’m going to have to consider that next time I see CU students waiting for the buff bus with headphones in, probably sending a text of complaint about the service to a friend.

Shifting gears a bit, I also wanted to tackle our discussion about forgiveness. So far in the trip, this discussion was the one that was most challenging for me in terms of understanding the behavior of the black community in South Africa post-Apartheid, and covered something that I had been marveling over the entire time in Soweto: Why did these people seem so happy and accepting of white South Africans? Why had they, from my perspective, forgiven so easily? We discussed the way Africans have forgiven, but not forgotten- an oxymoron, but one that is actually successful as far as I can see. The huge number of museums and memorials, just in the Johannesburg area and particularly in Soweto, are all well created, designed with significance, and ensure that the lives of the people who fought for freedom and suffered for it are not forgotten. AK mentioned that its partially a cultural method of thinking that contrasts with our capitalist and individualistic mindset- which is an explanation that I appreciate hearing because the reasons I would have for South Africans not offering forth forgiveness are all reasons that involve me and my personal feelings about an issue, not to the greater good of the community. It’s hard for me to understand individual sacrifice for the greater good when it is challenging to see the differences that that sacrifice has made. The black South Africans probably won’t see the real impact of their actions for a long time yet to come, but it will be interesting to see how the efforts put into dealing with Apartheid by many members of society will affect the country down the road- in 20, 50, or 100 years. It emphasizes for me the importance of also considering the long term benefits and effects of forgiveness, and how its effects or lack thereof, will change the way that I view the world or live my life down the road. Before doing so, I will have to transcend the negative feelings associated with past wrongs, which in our culture do not often get addressed.