Day Three In Beautiful South Africa!

          Orientation started today, at 9 am, meaning 2 am our time. It was an extremely long day, but it was fun and worth it.

          We walked from our hostel down to a little café. We had these great things called Chocochinos. It is a mixture of Whip Cream, espresso, and chocolate. YES! It was the perfect thing for the morning after having no sleep.

          After that we all jammed into the back of our ISA representatives car and drove to campus.

          One of the girls, Kelsie, is addicted to Pepsi. South Africa is a major coke seller. We finally found Pepsi in one of the cafeterias at the college. During lunch we got onto some great conversations and were joking that “What happens in Africa, stays in Africa.”

          After lunch we went to the Slave Lodge. It was a huge museum dedicated to showing life as a slave in South Africa. It showed the slave trade routes and the boats that the slaves would be taken to Africa on. Slaves were not allowed to walk the streets unless they had a pass and even when they had passes, they were not allowed to sing, whistle, or stop on the streets to talk to another slave.

          One of the quotes said, “We are, because of them.” This was their acknowledgment that without slaves, the country wouldn’t have grown and flourished as it did. Slaves were often artists, cleaned, cooked, farmed, and other hard labor.

          There was also a civil rights portion about Oliver Tambo, who was exiled and fought for the rights of Africans.

          The slave lodge was very interesting. It was very real as far as what actually happened instead of just hiding and forgetting like the United States often tries to do with slavery.

          I also came to the realization that in the United States, in public primary schools, we actually learn very very little about the world around us. We continually “learn” American history, over and over again, but many people in the United States can’t even tell you what year the Declaration of Independence was signed.

          The slavery honestly surprised me because the United States often focuses on Africans being slaves. I was close minded to think that Africa didn’t have a slave problem, but they did. It was quite possibly worse than the United States, but they dedicated this building to their mind.

          Day 3 and I have already had that “Wow, I am American”  moment that they talk about when you talk about studying abroad. Don’t get me wrong, I love America, but I am often blinded to American problems only. This trip has already opened my eyes to the world around me. Not just South Africa, but wondering what else in history I don’t know about.

          After the slave lounge, we went to the waterfront mall, which was beautiful. There was a mall there and we ate supper on the waterfront.

          Now we are closing up day three with some time emailing home and finishing up the day and heading to bed!

          Another exciting day tomorrow working with the Amy Biehl Foundation!

We sat down at supper, Dr. Curry asked us to come up with one word every day to describe our experience in South Africa. 

Our words for the day were:

Amy: Beautiful

Mirvet: Fresh

Kelsie: Diverse

Deb: Left

Dr. Curry: Majestic

Mine: Historical