Flight to Cape Town - Alicia
Today was an early morning. Everyone was packed up, checked out, and on the bus by six. We got to the airport very quickly and said goodbye to Soso, who was our van driver. Everyone got through check-in very quickly and at breakfast at a restaurant named Wimpy’s. From there we went to our gate and boarded our flight to Cape Town. It was a very quick flight and before we knew it, we all had our own seats on a massive bus. Our tour guide, James, taught us a lot about the area on the way to the fruit farm. The divisional manager, Mr. Vemeulen, took us to an area of apple trees where we learned a lot about the farm and how it operates. Questions about grafting, soil quality, pesticide usages, employees, and more were asked. Mr. Vemeulen was very informative and helpful. I think everyone learned a lot. Harold Porter Garden-Lunch – Sarah For lunch today we got to visit the Harold Porter Botanical Garden. When we got there we were seated at The Red Disa restaurant and ordered our drinks. Our drinks and food took longer than expected, but we used the time to walk around the garden and take a group picture in front of the pond. Our tour guide, James, also challenged us to find the plant named after Nelson Mandela to pass the time. None of us were successful in locating it. Once our food started to arrive, Mr. Sawatzke told us we needed to hurry and eat since we were close to closing time at the penguin colony. My food was very hot so that was hard to do. I am not sure it was worth the two hour wait, but it was really good food. As we ate, the views and flowers were absolutely gorgeous. After we all ate really fast we then ran out to the coach bus we are now using and went to go visit the penguins. Betty's Bay, Penguins, and Fun Facts- Jacqui Today we went to Betty's Bay to admire the scenery. When we got there we went on a boardwalk where we could see miles and miles of the atlantic/Indian ocean. Right below the board walk there were penguins waddling around. We took lots of pictures because there were thousands and thousands of penguins everywhere. From where we were we could see the waves crashing against the rocks. On our way there James (Tour Guide) asked us multiple questions about the animals in South Africa for example we learned about the "Big 5" which are the Lion, Buffalo, Leapord, Elephant, and the Rhino. When we were at the boardwalk we also learned that the National fish is the Galjoen, National bird is the Blue Crane, national flower is the King Protea, national animal is the Springbok, and that the national tree is the Yellow wood So far the final days to the trip of a life time are almost over.
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Daniel Cheetah Park-Addo National Elephant Park - Estera
Today was the day that we think everyone was looking forward to, the Daniel Cheetah Park and Addo National Elephant Park. The day started off early, when most of us got up to watch the sunrise over the ocean again. After a quick breakfast, we hopped on the bus and drove about an hour and a half to Daniel Cheetah Park. Upon arrival we got out of the van and browsed the gift shop, but did not buy anything. After a few minutes of browsing we sat down at a picnic table and were given a paper to read. We all read about the dangers of entering the area and we basically signed our lives away. When we walked in to the enclosure we sprayed our hands and shoes with disinfectant to help stop the spread of disease. As a group we tried our best to stay quiet. We got to see a variety of animals at the project. First we saw the meerkats, the mom was brought in by a family who was trying to keep her as a pet. However meerkats are very aggressive and was attacking the family, so they brought her in to make sure she could live out her life in a safe environment. The enclosure was very secure for them and looked like their natural habitat, they came right up and looked at us with curiosity. Then we saw two female cheetahs, and learned about the breeding program they have. We saw a Serval, which is an endangered animal that was very shy. We moved on to learn about the leopards and the lions breeding programs they had. Then came the part we were all waiting for, the time we could pet the cheetah named Gia. Before we were allowed into her pen, we were all warned to be quiet and to make no sudden movements. We were also alerted that Gia had a tendency to get playful (much like a regular housecat), and that if she were to become too playful that we would need to leave. After we walked all the way to the back of the pen, we found her lounging around in the tall grass. Our tour guide had us all form a lazy half-circle around her and started to pet Gia and make sure that she was relaxed and in a good mood. As she was doing this she was telling us a little more about cheetahs and how they were eventually classified as being in the feline family after much debate and confusion, considering how many doglike properties they have. Once Gia was purring and calm we were allowed to go up and pet her on the head a little bit, one at a time. After a few people got to pet her she started to get a little feisty and was nibbling on our guide’s fingers and batting around a little bit. She meant us no harm; it was only her playing, but even so we were asked to back away a little bit while our guide calmed her again. A few more people were allowed to pet her before she suddenly jumped up and raced to the other side of the pen – she heard a four-wheeler driving by and decided to chase after it. She quickly came back to us and it became apparent that she was in the mood to play around so we all had to leave the pen. Even though not everyone got the chance to actually pet Gia, I’m sure that everyone present will agree that being that close to a cheetah and seeing her act just like a cat would was equally as fun. August 12, 2015
Sunrise Ocean Walk – Chris This morning we had a short walk from our hotel and got to experience the sunrise over the Indian Ocean. This may have been some peoples’ first and only time being able to see the sunrise at the Ocean, let alone the Indian Ocean! As the sun came up it was a beautiful red/orange color and it was huge. It rose very quickly once it came over the horizon. We also got to see many snails and sea urchins on the beach. Overall this was a good thing for us to experience. We are going to do it again tomorrow. BKB Mohair and Cape Wools – Hinterveld Wool Processing – Emily After a beautiful walk on the beach we visited BKB. This is a wool and Mohair facility. Here, we were able to see the whole process for auctioning, buying, and selling wool. South Africa is the world’s second leading producer in wool, only behind Australia. They also produce 55% of the world’s Mohair supply. Mohair is made from Angora goats. At this plant, they purchase wool and Mohair from a variety of farmer all over South Africa and Lesotho. An interesting this in South Africa is that in order to sell wool you have to have a license. After BKB buys the wool, they have people sorting it and classing it. In the middle of August, that start their auctions. These go to buyers from all over the world who are doing a large variety of things. There are many things that can be made out of Mohair and wool. Some of the items include clothing, curtains, carpets, rugs, sound installation equipment and even lotions and body creams. It’s really fascinating what all can be done with it. After BKB, we went to a facility called Hinterveld. There, they cleaned and processed wool and Mohair and spun it into thread. After that, they dye some of it and make it into different kinds of materials for different companies. These are all made on large looms. The neatest thing was that they make their own blankets and scarves and sell them in a store on the site. Us students, and even the teachers, loved this part. The blankets were all so very warm and soft to feel. Seeing this whole process really made us think about what our clothes were made of. It was really neat and interesting to see it all. Shopping and Dinner – Estera We finished our tours a little early today so the group decided to stop at a local mall. The mall was large and even had an ice skating rink. It was the only one in Port Elizabeth. The mall was not very busy. It turned out that it did not have good souvenirs so only a few of us bought some items. We hope to find some tomorrow at Addo Elephant Park and when we get to Cape Town. For supper, we went to an area that was a Casino inside, but shops, restaurants, and a boardwalk outside. We have been eating rice, squash, spinach, bean, and chicken with every meal. It has been wonderful, but it was refreshing to finally eat something different. I had a delicious plate of pasta and many of the others had pizza. Our group was very happy to have American food! I think the variety in the meals made everyone’s day. Fort Cox College: Sarah Munson
We visited Fort Cox college for agriculture. Fort Cox wasestablished in 1930 and hasaround 200 students curently attending. The first place we visited at Fort Cox was the piggery. The two breeds in the piggery are large white and landrace which are also fairly common in the United States. The main difference is that in the U.S. the litter sizes are bigger and the pis are smaller in size compared to the ones at Fort Cox. Next we visited the Feed Lot where they usually have 25-40 cattle per time. They also had a few dairy cows that were going to be slaughtered. In a separated building they had Moreno sheep which are a dual-purpose breed and Boer goats that are bottle fed. They had 500 Silver Brown layer hens that produce an average of one egg per 24 hours and once they are out of production, which is usually only a year, they go to slaughter. The hens were in a good condition and had the right amount of space needed and the barn was very clean and smell free. They also had broilers, a variety of crops that were planted in fields on the campus and a workshop for fixing machinery and welding. I think we all can agree and say that we thought the animals were all adorable (especially the piglets, lambs and goat kids) and were kept in good conditions that met their needs. The school uses a methane digester which was built in 2010 and uses 50 percent manure and 50 percent water. Fort Cox also does a good job using their resources to feed the students and using all the land. Today I was supposed to write about the visit to King Sandile's grave but we ran out of sunlight for that, so instead I am going to write about what I have taken out of the trip and how being "unplugged" has been for myself and others. We are now half way through our journey and we have been through many eye-opening experiences that have changed our perspective on agriculture, livelyhod, and living itself. The children here have touched many hearts and the people are so warm and inviting. The church service was personally my favorite because although we did not speak the same language we were able to connect through our faith. As for being unplugged, it has helped me feel more connected to South Africa's traditions and culture. I can see how they live their live not through the lens of my camera but through my own eyes. Being unplugged has allowed me to focus more on what I am doing here and less on trying to keep up with the Kardashians. We've also been able to try new things and new foods, such as pop (not soda), sheep head, and cow stomach, known as tripe (some are braver than others). I've been able to see so many great things that just wouldn't have been the same had it not been for the lack of technology. For the actual experiences, I have learned so much more than I ever would have if I was learning from wikipedia. The trip has shown me that experience is truly the best ways of learning and that in order to fully understand something you have to see what you're doing from multiple perspectives. The great Henry Miller said "One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things" and now seeing what I have, I know that that is very true. - Alicia The main event that took place today was our visit to a town called Qunu. It was a long drive, but it was a good chance to look at South Africa's beautiful scenery. Qunu has historical significance because it is the town where Nelson Mandela grew up. We saw the place where Mandela's school used to stand, his house and grave from a distance, and we also saw the Mandela Museum. It was interesting to learn about how he grew up in a poor community and eventually became the first black president of South Africa. After touring the museum, our group was led down a steep hill to the place where the sliding stone lay. When Mandela was young, he used to come here to play by slidiig down the stone. We could still see a smooth black streak on it where he would slide. Our tour guide told us that we should slide down so we decided to give it a try. I was surprised how slippery the stone was; The ride was actually more fun the I expected. When we climbed back up the hill, were got the chance to watch a group sing and preform a traditional dance. Overall, it was a fun experience and I learned some things that I did not learn in other museums we visited. -Estera For dinner today we went to Abby's house and had a braai, or barbecue. When we had first arrived there was a bonfire going and chairs surrounding it so we all took a seat around th fire until dinner. Dinner consisted of several salads, meats, vegetables, and bread. Some of my personal favorites were the grilled chicken and the potato salad. Even if you took a small portion of food, Abby made sure to add more to your plate and tried to convince us all to get seconds. After we had finished eating we went to dancing. A small speaker system and a DJ were set up along Abby's yard, and a dance party was waiting to happen. At first all of the music was rather slow traditional African music, but after a little suggestion dance music was filing the speakers. We formed a circle and watched everyone show off their moves (especially Lela who was killing it). The end of the night unfortunately came rather quickly and soon we had to leave the scene of our dancing teachers and good friends and head back to Hogsback with full bellies and amazing memories. -Melissa After attending church and eating a delicious lunch and Nando`s, we traveled a short distance to the King`s Willams Town`s Childrens Home. Although it was a very short visit, I found it to be one of the most impactful parts of the trip so far. When we fist drove thorugh the gates and walked through the doors I noticed it was a very nice facility, no where near the quality I havd imagened, and I know some other people had a similar image. So it was very uplifiting to see that the kids had everything they needed to live happy lives within the childrens home, and that was all by just looking at the buildings and staff around the kids. As a group we each piched in less than 45 dollars to help get supplies for the childrens home, this also helped us get the grant for the Queen to get into the childrens home. Most of the supplies were various tolitry idems. After carrying in the supplies, We were sat down in a building about the size of a classroom, with tables and chairs. One of the workers came in to talk to us about the home, we learned that she had been there for over 20 years.
The home itsef was over 100 years old and was estblished 1871. The childrens home can hold up to 104 children at one time, and the government pays them for those 104 children, each gets 1074 U.S. dollars each month. They have taken more in than 104 children, but that gets tricky because the home does not get payed for any "extra" kids they get, and it becomes a balancing game. SOmetimes they have to turn away a lot of kids due to not being able to care for that many. When we visited the home, they had 98 kids. The staff consisted of about 40 people. We learned about the housing for kids and chors they had to preform. We heard about some of the typical situations that kids have to stay at the home. I would have never had expected the work the home does with the parents to make sure the kids can go back home. It was very impactful. Then was the part we where all waiting for, the kids! THey came in and snag for us, and I was supprised at how good they were and how much they loved singing. We got to interact with them for a short time, handing out candy and penciles. One little girl came right up to me and gave me her hand and just walked around wth me for a while. We only got about 10 minuets with the kids, and when we were told to leave it took us a long time. Although we had only a short time, I think it was the most impactful part of the trip. ~Spencer At King Sandile's Palace, we first had an audience with the Queen. We were brought into the dinner hall, and when she came in the men stood up while the girls stayed sitting, and we all greeted her with the words 'Ah Noloweso' three times. The queen sat in the middle between two of her advidors, one of which did the talking. We were told a little of the history of her kingdom, and how grateful they were to have us here where their 42 chiefs would meet every so often to go over the affairs of their kingdom. It was a fairly short greeting before she left to go about her day. Then we were entertained by some of the children (girls and boys ages sixteen and under) performing their traditioal African dance. Origionally we were supposed to view it outside, but considering how litte the kids were wearing and how cold it was outside we decided to view them inside in the gym. It took a little away from the experience, in that the sound of the drums didn't resonate quite how tey would have outside, and we didn't get the one-of-a-kind view of the village in the background that really would have added to the experience. Over all I believe that we have all enjoyed our stay here so far, and are definately looking forward to what's next in store for us. ~Kaedee Kay Winterberg High School – Jacqui
Today we traveled to Winterberg High School, which is located in Winterberg. This is an agric high school which is a secondary school that specializes in agriculture. When we arrived we met with a “tour guide”, who showed us around their agriculture facilities. Winterberg HS had been an all-white school, but today it is mixed. They have around 233 students total and about 100-150 attend agriculture classes. Each class has up to 20 students. In their facility they have about 200 free range chickens and every other month they get new ones. They also have 140 sheep that they shave every year and then they sell their wool for money which goes back into their program. They also have milking stations where students milk cows from 3-4 p.m. From the cows they get about 730 liters of milk per day. They also have electrical fences to keep their sheep controlled. Everything they make from selling, milk, meat, and wool, they give back to the school. The man who gave us the tour said they are there to teach and not to make a profit. Being at this school was a great experience to see how it differs with our high school back in Minnesota. I met a lot of nice students there. Our own Chris Kisner was swamped by a whole bunch of teenage girls. But I am sure he didn’t mind ☺ So far this trip has taught me so much more than what I could ever ask for! Nguni Cattle – Sarah We got to visit the Nguni Cattle Project. This is a project in cooperation with Fort Hare University. Nguni cattle are native to South Africa. The goal of the project is to keep the breed as natural as possible and purebred. Nguni cattle are beef animals that are great for the climate of South Africa because they don’t need to have a lot of water in order to survive and can actually last three days without any water. The major disadvantage of this breed is that they are small. They looked a lot like cattle in America except for being on the smaller side and the fact that they had their horns in an attempt to make them as natural as possible. The cattle were also very docile and would let us fairly close to them. In order to expand the breed they have been using natural breeding and using them as projects for local community members to raise and keep the Nguni cattle going. Host Dinner – Lela’s Experience I went to my host dinner with Mr. Sawatzke, Alicia, and Sarah. I wasn’t sure what to expect. When we got in Voster Mucheje’s house there was MTV on the television. It was kind of loud, but not overbearing. There were actually music videos playing. It was 6 p.m. We were greeted by Angela, his wife. We talked to her for a few minutes and then she went back to the kitchen to cook. We were left alone for about 15 minutes. She got us some South African chips and Cheetos. She also went by each of us with a pitcher of hot soapy water and a bowl. She poured the water over our hands instead of us washing them. Then she talked to us a little bit. She introduced us to her kids and their friends and then they left. We were left alone with Nicki Minaj on MTV for about 20 minutes. Next, the dad, Voster, came in. We shook hands and talked for a bit. He got some wine and offered it to Mr. Sawatzke, but he said “no”. Voster drank it by himself. The conversation was always kind of forced and awkward. His little two year old boy came in. He was so cute. He kind of moved around and didn’t say much. Voster fed his wine to the kid and then he laughed. The kid left, then came back and had some more wine. After a while the food was ready and we went to the table to eat it. I thought we’d eat with the whole family there. Nope! The table was set for six and there was only five of us. The food included pap, rice, a spinach-like vegetable, beef stew, potato salad, and chicken wings. I was all really good. The potato salad was kind of weird because it was served warm and I am used to it being cold. There was also mango juice to drink. It was good. The whole meal was pretty awkward. The little boy came in and sat in an empty chair and started talking/yelling. All of us were relieved to have a break from trying to converse. He kept that up for a couple of minutes while his dad took videos and pictures. I asked what he was saying and the dad said that he was just babbling. He left and we got dessert which was chocolate cake and warm pudding. It was good, but I was really full by then. We had a little more awkward conversation while he kept on drinking his wine. The boy came back in the room and started talking again. Halfway through Voster laughed and said that the boy said “beat you up” and he wondered how he learned that. He suggested we go back to the living room because the chairs are more comfy. We went back there with MTV still on. He got the remote so I figured he was going to turn it down so we could talk. Well he turned it up even louder so we had to talk over it. Then he went on his phone for like five minutes while we just sat there. It was so awkward! So I asked him if MTV was a popular channel in South Africa. He said the kids put it on and he likes CNN or the news. So he switched it to CNN. Right as he switched a story of Cecil the Lion came on. An American news anchor talked about how a Minnesotan killed Cecil and about how horrible it was. He then asked a Zimbabwean for his opinion. The Zimbabwean said his initial reaction was happiness. As a boy in a village they were happy when lions were killed because it meant fewer lion attacks. The American was all confused because lions are majestic animals and need to be protected. Voster started laughing. Thankfully, Abby showed up. Instead of us leaving, he sat down to watch it. He started laughing to then. We were trying to play it safe because we weren’t sure how they stood on the subject so we kept neutral. When we found out that Americans, we basically the only ones outraged by the and Africans either didn’t care or were happy about this incident we relaxed more. What would have been the most awkward part of the night was actually the least awkward part. Students started off the day by travelling to a seed cooperative. They got the chance to tour the nursery, the fields, and the processing plant. The tour of the nursery started with learning how seed trays are filled. A dibble tray is used to make holes in the soil. The holes are filled with one seed each, using a vacuum tray. The vacuum is turned on and each needle on the vacuum tray picks up one seed and drops it into the soil once the vacuum is turned off. After the trays are filled, they go into a dark room to germinate for 3-4 days in temperatures between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius. The nursery has a total of 5,000 trays that they fill throughout the year. The seeds stay in the trays for 4-6 weeks before being transplanted into the fields. The primary plant grown in the fields is cabbage; it is grown in both the summer and the winter. They must plant several trays of the same vegetable to ensure that they will have enough produce, because typically only 80% of the plants in the trays survive. The fields are watered each day by an underground irrigation system for 3 minutes, twice a day in the winter and four times a day in the summer. The intense African weather can sometimes cause a drought. In the event that a drought occurs, the irrigation system in the fields is able to supply the plants with water for up to six months. The interesting thing about the cooperative is that they only harvest from the fields what they need at the time and leave the rest to be harvested later. After vegetables are harvested, they are taken to the processing plant or sold to local residents .
On average, the processing plant receives 500-1000 kg of produce in a single day. Once the food arrives, it is inspected for quality. Those that are of quality are taken to the cleaning room; some vegetables are cleaned up to 6 times! After being cleaned, the produce is chopped and steamed to stop the enzymes from performing photosynthesis and the food from spoiling. The vegetables remain in the steamer for 10 minutes at 100 degrees Celsius. Only one type of vegetable is processed each day to prevent cross-contamination. The processing plant tries to process the produce the day it shows up to ensure that it is as fresh as possible. The next step is drying; there are two methods for drying the steamed produce. Some vegetables go into the drying room for 4-9 hours, depending on the vegetable. Large amounts of electricity are used to run heaters that dry the food. The second method is natural drying. Sunlight and warm air are combined to dry the foods. This process takes 24 hours, much longer than the drying room, but uses 1/10 to 1/100 of the electricity. Once all of the vegetables are dried, they are ground into powders and mixed into soups or drinks. Most of the processed items have an average shelf-life of 8 months. The processing plant has been open for 9 years and the farm for 20 years. The farm has 4-6 people working at all times, whereas the processing plant has 14 workers and various volunteers. The students found it interesting that the processing plant provides vegetable drinks to the surrounding schools. Hunger is a huge problem worldwide; school meals are often the only food a child will get in a day. It was pleasing to know that the plant provides vegetables drinks to roughly 2,000 students. What a great way to give back! -Lydia Meredith Seeing East London in day light reminded a lot of us of the classic image of San Francisco. The green hills were covered with palm trees and tropical-like architecture which made for a beautiful morning drive, and that was only in town. When we got out of the city we started venturing up even steeper hills which then turned to mountains and, oh my, what a site! I don't think any of us could have imagined how beautiful the view from the tops of the mountains were going to be. Noma (one of the trip organizers) informed us that we were driving through the Amathole Mountain range. Sprawled across the side of the mountains were communities that consisted of smaller housing and farm animals that roam as they please. Hitch-hikers were as common of a site as bikers traveling through downtown Minneapolis, both are some-what common means of travel. Garbage was also a common site along the side of the road but it could not take away from the breathtaking views of South Africa. After exploring the campus, we had to the drive up the mountain to Hogsback. Personally, I was very tired and slept through part of the drive up but my friends were nice enough to wake me up so that I could enjoy the amazing views with them. I awoke to a vast view of the country side and saw other sides of mountains. I was very surprised at how steep the side of the mountain was and how close we were driving to it. It was a windy road with a mix of clear view and forest-like areas. As we approached the town of Hogsback some of us were able to see monkeys in the trees. The town was tourist based and reminded me of driving in the mountains of North Carolina. We were surrounded by resorts, restaurants, tall trees, and lots of greenery. We approached the Arminel resort and enjoyed the views from the top of the mountain. Alicia Johnson For our last trip of the day, we traveled to the Fort Hare Dairy Trust. The Dairy Trust was established in 2007, since then they have grown to 900 heads. When we arrived at the Trust it was right when milking was starting, and I noticed a few key features. They had a carousel parlor for milking, with an electric system that tracked each individual cow's milk production. The system communicated with a fitted ankle bracelet on the cow. The ankle bracelet acted as an ear tag in a way. Later we learned that not only was the bracelet used for tracking steps, pregnancy, calving, and sickness on each individual cow, this is a very efficient system to have all that information at the manager's finger tips. I noticed the tails were not docked, we figured this was because of the pasture setting and they cannot control flies. As they started to milk we could see the milkers being dipped into a chlorine bath to disinfect them before being placed on the cow. They did not do pre-disinfectant dip, this can cause unwanted bacteria to get into the milk. However, as a group we discussed that because they use Ultra High Temperature (UHT) for pasteurizing their milk along with a high viscous dip applied after the milker was removed they may not actually need to pre-dip. These are just a few things I observed during the milking process. After watching and observing for a while the farm manager Jared, came to talk to us about the operation. We learned that the Dairy Trust encourages students and the younger workers to get involved in farming. They have 13 permanent staff and then several student workers that come and go. This offers them real life experience. Jared told us of a girl who worked for them for a short time, gained real life experience, and now manages a farm of her own which currently has 650 head. We also learned that the Dairy Trust produces 5 million liters in a year. He talked about their production, where they were and where they have come since 2007. Their production and goals are very different from what is done in the USA of high milk production vs environmental requirements. We also learned about calf production, and got to see where they kept the calves. We noticed immediately when we walked up that the calves were kept very close together and were fed from the same milking bottle. When we asked about it, Jared said they have had troubles with spread of diseases and such, which makes sense if they are keeping the calves too close together and reusing bottles without washing them. Over all it was a good day and a great experience learning about South African Dairy production. ~Spencer Flood On day two, our adventure brought us to Soweto (Southwest Township), which is basically a shanty town. The people lived in very small houses with multiple families in them, some had over 20 people in a single house. It was interesting how the town of Soweto was just across the street from a four-star hotel. There wasn't a lot of room for them to raise their own chickens or to plant their own food, and while the rest of South Africa typically cares more about not wasting water, Soweto doesn't seem to worry about wasting water. The people living there don't actually pay for their water like the rest of the country does, which likely is the reason why they don't really care about their usage.
It was also surprising that many of the buildings in this town had satellites for a toilet and electricity. Many of the homes had music streaming from them as we passed through, and the house that we visited seemed to perpetually have their tv on. While it isn't very expensive for them to pay for this access every month, I personally believe that it would be more productive to save the money for something more worthwhile, like possibly getting out of Soweto. There seems to be a sense of community amongst those living there, and while they don't have much to spare and there is a possibility of a drug problem, the residents tend to refrain from wronging one another such as stealing. This may have something to do with the fact that there honestly wouldn't really be much to take in the first place, and that they practice mob justice. We also got the opportunity to visit Nelson Mandela's house. He lived in this 2 bedroom house with his second wife after he was released from prison but before he was president. This type of house was called a matchbox house because of the small size. The houses have two bedrooms, a family room, and a kitchen. There were bullet holes and blackened bricks in the house from the conflicts in the past during the protesting of Apartheid. It is also quite interesting that fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu lived just one block away. That has to be the closest the two Peace Prize winners have ever lived to one another before winning the prize! -Chris Nearby Mandela's house, we were able to go to the Hector Pieterson Museum. This museum recognizes the student uprisings that took place during Apartheid. This was really eye opening for me; it was a time where students who were around the age of 16 revolted against the government in order to stop Apartheid. Hector Pieterson was a boy who got shot while the students were doing the revolts. They were unarmed children and the police started firing at them. These students risked alot in order to receive social justice and freedom in their country. We weren't there long, but the museum was interesting, and they had a very nice memorial for the event. |
AuthorWe are the Dassel-Cokato FFA South Africa Agricultural Ambassadors! Our travels to South Africa in August 2015 are documented here. ArchivesCategories |