Before our group left for DukeEngage, I tried to prepare myself for what I was to experience. To be honest, I had a relatively rudimentary knowledge of South Africa. I had studied its Constitution a bit in one of my classes, and had tried to skim its newspapers online every few weeks. Throughout my research, I kept coming across the mention of racial groups - mostly white, black, and coloured. This didn't usually trigger any discomfort on my end; I knew about South Africa's painful history with apartheid, but did not know much about South Africa post-apartheid. I assumed that these racial groups still existed in South Africa, but since the new South Africa is frequently referred to as a "rainbow nation," those groups coexist and blend together, much like they do in the United States.
I was wrong.
Being in South Africa has been eye-opening on my levels, but I have by far been shocked the most about topics related to race. Even though apartheid ended almost two decades ago, its legacy lives on. We quickly learned that different areas are still associated with the racial groups that were assigned to them many years ago. Coloureds (the multiracial group consisting of black, white, and Indian relatives) live in Wentworth, where we are spending our summer. Indians live in nearby Chatsworth. And I am still told by the kids at my worksite that it makes sense that my homestay is in Bluff, because that is known as a white area.
I have been working at the Wentworth Organization for Women (known as the WOW Center) for the past few weeks. I do a variety of tasks, but end up spending a lot of time with an afterschool program of 20 to 30 coloured children doing anything from playing soccer to chatting about their schooldays. Last week, my worksite director Myrtle told me that these kids almost never interact with white people, and if they do, it is probably a negative experience. She said one of the reasons she is most happy I am working at the WOW Center is to show this group of coloured kids that "some white people actually care about them."
We hear about and witness racism almost daily. One day, the woman I was living with, Tina, and I took her car to the carwash. We watched as the black (African) employee meticulously vacuumed out the trunk of a fellow black's SUV while playfully speaking to him in Zulu, and then saw the same employee refuse to open Tina's trunk even though she had paid for a full car cleaning. Tina was angry and refused to tip, but said it is commonplace for blacks to mistreat coloureds.
I still have a lot to learn, but one thing I know so far after one month in Wentworth is this: South Africa may be a rainbow nation, but those different-colored stripes don't always like to blend with each other.
I was wrong.
Being in South Africa has been eye-opening on my levels, but I have by far been shocked the most about topics related to race. Even though apartheid ended almost two decades ago, its legacy lives on. We quickly learned that different areas are still associated with the racial groups that were assigned to them many years ago. Coloureds (the multiracial group consisting of black, white, and Indian relatives) live in Wentworth, where we are spending our summer. Indians live in nearby Chatsworth. And I am still told by the kids at my worksite that it makes sense that my homestay is in Bluff, because that is known as a white area.
I have been working at the Wentworth Organization for Women (known as the WOW Center) for the past few weeks. I do a variety of tasks, but end up spending a lot of time with an afterschool program of 20 to 30 coloured children doing anything from playing soccer to chatting about their schooldays. Last week, my worksite director Myrtle told me that these kids almost never interact with white people, and if they do, it is probably a negative experience. She said one of the reasons she is most happy I am working at the WOW Center is to show this group of coloured kids that "some white people actually care about them."
We hear about and witness racism almost daily. One day, the woman I was living with, Tina, and I took her car to the carwash. We watched as the black (African) employee meticulously vacuumed out the trunk of a fellow black's SUV while playfully speaking to him in Zulu, and then saw the same employee refuse to open Tina's trunk even though she had paid for a full car cleaning. Tina was angry and refused to tip, but said it is commonplace for blacks to mistreat coloureds.
I still have a lot to learn, but one thing I know so far after one month in Wentworth is this: South Africa may be a rainbow nation, but those different-colored stripes don't always like to blend with each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment