So the weekend has come and nearly gone, and what an interesting weekend it has been. Though before I get into that, you may be wondering what happened to Friday...?
Well, Friday was a bit of a non-event. I departed my guesthouse at the usual time of 07:00, arrived at school around 07:40, and about 10 minutes before the end of my first lesson (about 08:20) my classroom suddenly erupted into a chorus of cheers. School is closed for the day. Apparently it was too cold. I know you may be thinking “how can it ever be too cold in South Africa?” It is currently winter here, morning temperatures between 2 and 5’c, so it is admittedly a bit chilly. What makes it worse is the wind, hitting you like an iced dagger through the heart; it was not what I had expected. What compounds the misery is that almost all of my teaching is on the top floor of the block, and the classrooms seldom have glass in the windows, so the wind whips right through them. For those of you that know me well, you will know I’ve not worn (or indeed owned) a jumper since 2003. My last jumper became somebody else’s pj’s. Well I now own a new jumper, and I wear it almost every day.
So back to this weekend; and my true welcome to South Africa. Saturday morning was spent at Constitution Hill, which is now the location of the High Court, but was previously a prison where, amongst others, anti-apartheid political prisoners were kept. Mandela and Ghandi were 2 of the more notable guests. This was quite an informative morning, though if I’m honest it was pretty hard to really get a feel for the suffering or the anti-apartheid cause Mandela was fighting. It did not have the impact of Auschwitz in Poland, or the Killing Fields of Cambodia, but it was still worth a visit.
It was Saturday afternoon that will always be the most memorable, an afternoon spent at Soccer City to watch a fiercely contested local derby between the Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates (yes, these are both South African football teams!). I suppose it was the equivalent of Chairty Shield in England, a one-off game of which there had to be a winner. So, equipped with my South African football shirt (I had to stay neutral), and a vuvuzela, I was ready for the action!!
The atmosphere was amazing! I can only imagine how awesome it would have been to watch the world cup here, the vuvuzela’s didn’t sound as annoying as on the tv (and are fairly hard to play!). Opposing fans were all mixed together in a melting pot of orange shirts, black shirts, white smiles, and crazy dance moves, and it all created a most memorable experience.
It is a shame the same cannot be said about the actual football... it was a fairly dire 0-0 draw, with only a disallowed goal for a Maradonna-esque handball from the Chiefs and an offside flag denying the Pirates (the ref got both decisions correct). Other than those 2 incidents, I counted maybe only one other shot on target from the Chiefs and a blazing miss over the bar from about 3 yards from the Pirates. As this game had to have a winner, it went straight to penalties. The Pirates winning 4-3, with the Chiefs goalie blazing over their 5th penalty. A worse pen than Baggio in USA 94? You decide.
Ultimately the result didn’t matter, the opposing players still hugged each other after missing a penalty, everyone was still smiling, and opposing fans still walked out the stadium arm in arm. It was just a great afternoon of entertainment.
Sunday was a completely different story, as this was spent at the Apartheid Museum in Jo’burg. Possibly one of the best museum’s I have been to, which really painted a very detailed picture of what Apartheid was all about, the social context in which it was spawned, and the struggle spearheaded by Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) to bring freedom to all of South Africa.
If I’m honest, I didn’t really know much about what happened in South Africa during Apartheid until I was prompted to read Nelson Mandela’s memoirs “A Long Walk to Freedom” (thank you Suzi B) a few years ago. I was only 5 when Mandela was released from Prison on Robben island after nearly 30 years in captivity, and growing up I assumed he must have been a criminal if he was in prison... the notion of a political prisoner was a concept I had never really thought about until I was much older.
So Apartheid was fundamentally a political system that promoted complete segregation between whites and blacks, with whites reigning superior over their black counterparts. I won’t lecture you on the details, but it was appalling the way the black people of South Africa were treated. This was the political system that Mandela dedicated his life to overcome, and after much suffering by himself and the nation of blacks, he eventually succeeded. He became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, with 63% of the vote. A far cry from our hung parliament!
I spent 4 hours in this museum, and could probably have spent longer. It really isn’t possible to absorb all of the information given, but when it was supported by vivid videos of the violence and protests that occurred, the message was really hammered home. Understanding what happened in South Africa over the last 70 years really helps put into context the problems my pupils are facing in the black townships of Jo’burg. These segregated townships still exist, but at least now the residents have equal rights to everyone else. They have their political freedom, but now they need their freedom from poverty, and this is an altogether different struggle.
Back to school tomorrow...!
Jx
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