A New Look at South Africa

Apartheid Museum -  I walked around a corner in the middle of the museum and before my eyes was a room containing 103 rope nooses hanging from the ceiling. Each noose represented a life of a young person taken for participating in the student uprising in 1976. I went numb. WHY?! Why would one group of people treat another group so horribly based on racial differences? How could they? Immediately following this room was a short documentary filled with images of young people getting beat up and shot, I cried at some of the sights. Later I saw the Hector Pieterson memorial, he was only 13 years old but he was one of the first victims of the violent response to the student protests. His memorial stands today as a reminder to South Africa of its past, the flowing water is a symbol of the tears the country shed. My emotions were so mixed up the whole day but now I have a new perspective on every day life here and the people I interact with. 

Community - This weekend I had the privilege of staying in Mohlakeng township with KT, one of the students on the Word of Life property. Township life is very different from what I have experienced so far. I felt a very strong sense of community as KT and I walked around and visited many of her relatives and friends, just stopping by and greeting people. Her granny was very welcoming and hospitable. I felt very comfortable and at home and the food was delicious.

 Ubuntu means "a person is who they are because of other people." What happens to one person affects other people, how one person acts reflects on other people in the community.

 (p.s. - sorry this is late, I did not bring my laptop to the township with me)

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