Katherine looking back on her Cape Town experience.
“I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in God because if God existed, Khayelitsha wouldn’t look like this.”
One of the employees at the Treatment Action Campaign, where I did my activist project, said this to me when we were discussing the current problems in South Africa. I was surprised to hear this statement, even though I have frequently wondered how much hope everyone in the townships really has. Being a realistic person, it is hard for me to grasp and understand why many of the people within Khayelitsha who I have interacted with are such optimistic and hopeful people when they have so little. I still don’t know how people have been forgiving and strong enough to “start over” since the 1990’s. While it is true that not everyone has turned over a new leaf, as I have heard many racial comments made, many people have accepted South Africa’s past. It amazes me that such a recent and devastating past is able to be dealt with so quickly.
Yet, with this forgiveness of the past, comes a need for reflection. People must learn from the past and not allow it to happen again. While apartheid is in the past, many strands of this diseased government still exist. The most obvious is the economical inequalities that are still very present. A few minutes after you leave the Cape Town International Airport you see the townships of Khayelitsha and Gugulethu as you drive toward the city. Although these housing areas were set up several decades ago, they still very much exist in an “apartheid free” state. I cannot completely relate to these people who live in shacks where unemployment rates are at 70%. I have never felt financially unstable or gone without meals. These people deserve so much more, their constitution even states that they do, but the government still has not be able to provide for them.
Many of my housemates and I have had trouble coming to terms with our role in South Africa. We are wealthy Americans coming into a developing country for a few months and then jetting home again. We live in a big house in Rondebosch when there are shanties right down the road. We came in with the idea of helping change people’s lives, yet our lives were the ones that changed the most. While we did help and contribute to our internships, activist projects and in other places, I think we got much more back then we gave. I have learned so much while I’ve been here and have internalized a lot that I’m sure I will not even realize I’ve learned/how I’ve changed until I return to the United States. The notion of race and racism has been covered up and not spoken or taught about in the United States as the way I have experienced race here. Race is openly talked about and acknowledged in South Africa.
Although there have been depressing, conflicting, and hard to grasp ideas that I have been faced with in South Africa, I have thoroughly enjoyed the past fourteen weeks in Cape Town. When we leave on May 2, I will miss the minibus rides into downtown. I will miss the Cape Town slang which includes words like “howzit?” “is it?” and “robots.” I will miss being able to see Table Mountain as I walk across the commons (the large meadow near our house). I will miss zipping down the N2 highway and being able to have the most amazing view of the Cape Town bay area, especially all lit up at night. I will miss the eclectic mix of people. While there are many things I am leaving behind here, I am extremely excited to return home after almost four months away, especially to see my dog, Sheba! I am extremely glad I chose to study abroad in a place that is not as westernized as a large portion of Europe and North America. I have been able to experience things that I could not have anticipated and am very grateful for it.
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