Apartheid Museum

This weekend, my exchange Rodina attended choir camp with her schoolmates. Her mother Gladys kindly made sure I continued exploring every wonderful thing South Africa has to offer. Along with LCC’s Adam Vandenbussche ’17 and two of my friends, Lorna and Alluwande, we took on special sights and Soweto!

Apartheid Museum

Our first stop: The Apartheid Museum, which provides a special exhibit of the 20^th century history of South Africa. I was impressed how the entrance to the exhibit represented the country’s past battle with Apartheid. When entering, we were given a card, which either said “Whites” or “Non-Whites.” Depending on what card you got, you would take the tour through one of the two areas.  At the end of our tour, we got to choose a stick and place it anywhere we wanted around the Museum in order to “follow in Nelson Mandela’s footsteps.”

Gold Reef City

At Gold Reef City, an amusement park in Johannesburg, I had an experience like none other! After what felt like several painful hours of waiting in line, we were finally able to enjoy the rides. Numerous flips and swirls later, we decided to go on the swing ride. Suddenly, a dark cloud invaded our sun-filled sky; this heavy cloud was filled with as much rain as Homer Simpson is with donuts. Within seconds, the thousands of tourists, including us, fought for shelter; we quickly regretted our choice of bringing SPF 100 rather than an umbrella. In the end, we had the best time ever just by running in the rain, fighting for a table in a restaurant and drying our drenched clothes.

Zulu Word of the Week: Imvula: which means rain!

Soweto

Once it stopped raining, we made our way to Soweto! We were privileged to visit the Mandela House; we were allowed to go inside Nelson Mandela’s house, see all of his awards and go into his backyard. After that, we went to the Hector Pieterson Museum. The Museum taught us all about Soweto’s uprising; on June 16, 1976, Soweto students ran a protest in response to the mandatory teachings of Afrikaans. The police killed several students, including Hector Pieterson. His photo is a symbol of what happened. What was very interesting was the fact that the Museum stood right where the protest happened and where Hector died. There are symbolic objects outside the Museum such as the grass line that indicates exactly where it happened as well as the fountain, which represents the tears shed by the parents who lost their children that day.

Culinary Adventures

This weekend, I had the chance to experience some of the more typical African foods. I am now completely addicted to “Melktert”, a custard-like tart made with milk, sprinkled with cinnamon lying on a thin, brown sugar crust. It is absolutely delicious! The Ayayas are making sure I can eat it daily when I come home from school! I also discovered “Mieliepap”. Pap is similar to porridge. It is made from a corn grain which, when cooked, inflates into a white ball that makes for an excellent side dish.

Next Week

Again, this weekend was as jam-packed as a Triple-Patty-Special-Sauce-Burger-Delight! Next weekend, I will be putting on my Safari hat and will be hitting The Bush!  –  Abby Shine ’17, Exchange Student at St Stithians Girls’ College