Day 5 Jo-burg and The Apartheid Museum
It was hard to leave Cape Town and our wonderful guide Ryan, but we headed to the airport and made the 2-hour flight to Jo-burg. Great weather seems to bless us each day. The roads into Jo-burg are lined with the remains of the gold mining sludge. Mountains of yellow earth are now being re-mined to get the tiniest bit of gold that still remains. Johannesburg started as a gold mining town, with the mines on the south side, and the miners living on the north side. Elevation is 6000ft. The new highways are a byproduct of the FIFA World Cup and everywhere it is evident that they were ready to accept the world into their town. Along the side of the highway is a huge field of yellow hands giving a “thumb’s up” sign that they were ready for visitors. A new bus terminal, new rail system was also built just for the WC. The city is quite different from Cape Town. It’s very industrial, with a downtown area that touts the highest concrete skyscraper of 50 stories tall. Nelson Mandela lives here, and has his Children’s Foundation, which we could see by the highway. There are lots of trees, but our new city Guide, Johann, says that this is a total man-made forest as no trees are indigenous to the area.
(Side note: the word “native” is extremely offensive – its SA’s “n” word – however the word “coloured” is perfectly acceptable to use to describe the non-white person who is of any racial mix. Afrikaans is the white descendant of the Dutch settlers, which were the first peoples to collect slaves and bring them to Africa to aid in their farming.)
The history of South Africa is a history of Apartheid. To understand this, our students went to the Apartheid Museum. Casino developers built this building as part of the agreement with the government for being allowed to build the casino. In addition to the casino and museum, the developers also created a miniature Disney-World-like theme amusement park that sits right next to the museum. It’s an interesting combination of land-use and architecture.
We were not permitted to take photos in the museum, so cameras stayed on the bus. We first dined in the lovely restaurants outside the museum, and then went in to see the exhibits. A special exhibit on Mandela is currently housed adjacent to the permanent exhibit. We watched a short movie that gave the history of the country up to 1948 the beginning of the rule of the National Party and the start the anti-apartheid movement. Afterwards the students spent time looking at the extensive displays with pictures, videos, memorabilia that lead to the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela and the rule by the ANC.
In Cape Town we toured the townships, met with the students in the townships and saw the shanties that millions of Africans live in today. Now, at the museum, we comprehend the history of the creation of these townships; see pictures of the poverty and deplorable treatment of the non-white Africans learn about the 138 different legislative acts that forced segregation. But we also see and comprehend the victory and reconciliation that came after the freedom fighters sacrificed their lives, suffered in prisons and fought determinedly so that all men would have equal representation in the government. The last 15 yrs of South Africa history is a remarkable story. We are blessed to feel connected to this country and be here to witness the strength of their collective hope and pride.
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