Tuesday, May 20, 2014

A day in Soweto

We started off the day by going to the South African History Archive. We met with the archivists working there and they told us about the work they do there. The Archive is currently working on actively recoding and cataloging histories of Apartheid through their different projects. They told us about their different projects, including a book about the struggle in Zimbabwe as well as work they do in the townships. It was a really incredible experience for us to be able to talk with South Africans about their lives and the impact of their work on their societies. 

After the archives, we visited the township of Soweto. Soweto stands for South Western Townships, and over 4 million people live there. This was a very shocking experience for all of us, seeing such extreme levels of poverty. We also met some amazing people there and saw such happiness in the people. While we were there, we visited Mandela's house as well as Desmond Tutu's; they surprisingly lived on the same street. We also visited the site of the Soweto Uprising. This was where 15,000 school children of Soweto protested the change to the Afrikaner language in the apartheid school system, and 600 were killed by police. There is a museum on the site of the uprising dedicated to Hector Pieterson, a 13 year old boy who died in the uprising and became a symbol of resistance. The museum was extremely powerful for all of us, because they were students willing to sacrifice their lives for their education. The day in Soweto was very powerful for everyone, and gave us a better picture of life in South Africa.



No comments:

Post a Comment