We have already started classes at UCT (finally!). I'm taking Xhosa and Social Research Methods. I absolutely love Xhosa, but it is so hard. It has several different clicks and it's very hard to say them. I'm learning a lot and I'm trying my best which makes me feel motivated to learn. I have also started at Equal Education but it has been rather slow since only a few days have gone by since I started. I have been assigned the task to develop an "academic program" which would, on the one hand, help students learn about their possibilities to go to college or technical institutes after high school. On the other hand, it would ideally set up students in high schools with extra lessons to improve their Math and English skills which are crucial for their academic curriculum.
This past weekend, as a part of the "Understanding Cape Town" class we take, we visited a couple of historical places in the city. We went to the District 6 Museum which was amazing (http://www.districtsix.co.za/). During Apartheid around 60,000 or more people were removed from the district under the Group Areas Act. Originally established as a mixed community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, labourers and immigrants, District Six was a vibrant centre with close links to the city and the port. By the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the history of removals and marginalisation had begun. The first to be 'resettled' were black South Africans, forcibly displaced from the District in 1901. As the more prosperous moved away to the suburbs, the area became the neglected ward of Cape Town. In 1966, it was declared a white area under the Group areas Act of 1950, and by 1982, the life of the community was over. 60 000 people were forcibly removed to barren outlying areas aptly known as the Cape Flats, and their houses in District Six were flattened by bulldozers.
The museum presents the history of District 6 and it's population very creatively and artisticly which makes it very enjoyable. They had some amazing pictures that really showed the diversity of the people in the region. Had it not been destroyed by the apartheid regime it would today be one of the most beautiful and colorful places of the whole world. Very impacting. Although the rebuilding of District Six has been a priority for the new government, the process has been slow. Moreover, in spite of the efforts to build new houses in the area there will always be a limit because of the Cape Technikon that has been built there.
Here is a picture of the museum (the main floor is covered by a big map of the district in which people that were forced to move wrote down their house numbers, last names, street names, etc..):
Then we went to the Castle of Good Hope (http://www.castleofgoodhope.co.za/) which has a pentagonal structure and was built in the 17th century. It was built s a replenishment station for ships passing the treacherous coast around the Cape on long voyages between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. The most impressive aspects were the prisons where they tortured and kept criminals and/or slaves (I'm not sure). Here are two pictures: one shows the main entrance and the other one shows the view of one of the allies in the back section of the castle:
After this we went to the Slave Lodge (http://www.iziko.org.za/slavelodge/index.html) - out of all the activities so far I think this museum has impressed me the most. It is so well done that you get absolutely immersed in the horrible story that is told. The building itself is interesting as it is one of the oldest buildings in Cape Town. The many names of the building over three centuries – Slave Lodge, Government Offices Building, Old Supreme Court, and SA Cultural History Museum – reflect this.A little bit of history: The Slave Lodge was built in 1679 as the slave lodge of the Dutch East India Company. It is believed that up to 9000 slaves, convicts and the mentally ill lived in the building between 1679 and 1811. In 1810 the building was modified to serve as government offices. Various governmental offices were housed in the building during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for example, the Governor’s Advisory Council, the upper house of the first parliament, The Cape Supreme Court, the first library, the first post office, Deeds Office, and the Women’s Auxiliary Services of the South African Defence Force. The building was restored in 1960 for use as a cultural history museum.
It is an amazingly well done museum. It also has a huge section on the history of black movements and particularly of Steven Biko and it was very interesting to learn more about him and his life. Stephen Bantu Biko was a anti-apartheid activist during the 60s and 70s. He founded the Black Consciousness Movement which empowered and mobilized much of the urban black population. His death in police detention in 1977 led to his being hailed as a martyr of the anti-Apartheid struggle. The museum had several of his quotes such as:
The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.
We didn't spend all that much time there so I'm definitely going back there. Well, I think this is it. I apologize if I am not writing more about my personal impressions/feelings/thoughts and so on, but I don't think a blog is the best way to express some rather complex thoughts. I'm more than willing to share some of them with you, so just tell me and we can skype!
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