It’s not every day that you get an opportunity to travel the world and live with a family of people that you do not know for an extended period of time. Living in someone else’s space? Eating at another family’s table? Speaking through potential language barriers? Fighting through no heaters or running hot water for showers?
Many people couldn’t imagine taking on that experience. However, our Fearless Fourteen Eastern Men of Excellence signed up for the challenge. We left behind Naturena and museums and walking tours and BGR and a birthday celebration, all in JoBurg, to travel to Cape Town to begin our 4 day/3 night immersion with homestay families in a town of Tambo, South Africa, just on the outskirts of Gugulethu. The experience was rich and diverse; challenging and inspiring; meaningful and absolutely necessary.
In our town of Tambo, we did not have access to wifi, so our reflections have been delayed. However, this did not stop us from recording our thoughts and having some pretty revealing discussions about race, language, lifestyles, and truth and reconciliation. Below is a recap of some of the major events and experiences we encountered while away at our homestays. Yes, this reflection is long, but we are talking about 4 days, so I apologize in advance for having so much to share!
I hope that if you could only take away one thing from the next 3 days, you are able to see from the diversity of experiences below, how vital the homestay experience is for students (and adults) studying abroad. I believe it is at the top of the list in terms of experiential learning and that it leaves each individual with a better sense of who they are and how they can relate to others. Please read through until the very end to capture a special blog post addition from one of our EME scholars, Deverrick, on the topic of language and communicating during his homestay, but more largely, throughout South Africa.
Site Visits
From the moment we landed in Cape Town from JoBurg, we hit the ground running. Our guys were troopers as we headed straight to the Langa district for a quick tour of the Dompass Museum, followed by a walking tour through the streets of Gugulethu. The Dompass Museum offered us yet another reminder of the indignities that black people had to endure, as the pass was the official document that black people had to carry with them to prove their identity and also determined, by law, where they were eligible to work and to live. When translated, the meaning of dompass: the dumb or “stupid” pass. Our walking tour through Gugulethu brought us through the streets of a former township where many were still living severely impoverished and in need of assistance. I was impressed by the level of attentiveness our students showed with one recording our tour guide’s thoughts and many others taking detailed notes. Shout out to our young men for taking history seriously.
While in Cape Town and during our homestays, we took time out to visit Robben Island and the District 6 museum. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t expect this day to be heavy. Boy, was I wrong. I can get emotional, more than I care to admit, but what struck me this time around on this particular day of travel, was how some of our students took in these visits. We started Saturday, July 1st, with a tour of Robben Island, where so many prisoners were held during the apartheid era because of their political beliefs and opposition to the illegitimate government. Seeing the jail cell where Nelson Mandela was held was captivating, but the real goosebumps came from our tour guide who was a former prisoner on the island himself. His first-hand account left many of us speechless and retreating into ourselves to reflect on what life must have been life for so many victims of the apartheid regime. I was also deeply moved by seeing our young men walking through a former prison. Our young men, walking through jail cells. It was chilling to see because it reminded me of our own complicated history in America and the current racial hostilities surrounding the black community and our interactions with law enforcement. I could also see in real time, some of our students re-living their own personal stories of pain and heartache associated with close family members and friends that have been or are currently in prison. Painful, but necessary reminder of how we are all touched by history and are living history in different ways.
The District 6 Museum was mind-blowing as well. The systematic, wholesale removal of an entire population of black and colored people from rich and fertile ground in Cape Town, just to make room for a “white group” area? The divisions of areas into townships with substandard living; roads, bridges and waterways reconstructed to divide the new “races”? Wow. The District 6 Museum tour guide was equally powerful in re-telling his story as the former prisoner on Robben Island. “Uncle Joe” passionately spoke about the racial divisions in South Africa and how it felt on a personal level to be removed by the government to make way for others. Families, friends, and communities were torn apart and divided to live along color lines. We could all hear the anger and bitterness from our tour guide, particularly with people who still refer to the towns and communities of today with the racially created language of the past. Uncle Joe only refers to himself as “South African” and refuses to even be called by his given colored classification. Uncle Joe also rejects the notion of “townships” and prefers the use of suburbs, communities, neighborhoods, and villages. I wholeheartedly agree.
Table Top Mountain–We visited Table Top Mountain on Sunday and climbed up to the top (check out our google photo link)!!! While it took some of us up to 2 hours to make it up the ladder (my old self!), some of our crew made it up in 1 hourand 19 minutes! Bravo!!! Visiting one of the 7 Modern Wonders of the World was no small task for some of us who had to overcome fears of heights, falling, and of giving up. Impressive indeed.
Homestay Living
The homestays were real. There is almost too much to say, but I will sum it up by noting that our students were present, engaged, patient, attentive and flexible. In total, we had 8 host mamas that took in up to 3 students for 4 days and 3 nights. Our mamas were not rich, but they were soooo giving. The love that they showed us was infectious. Many of our guys talked about how the mamas would not stop making them food. Mamas also stood up and talked, along with other members of the family (brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles), for hours about their favorite TV shows, music videos, dance moves, etc. There was no wifi, so our students were forced to interact without technological interference (a much needed skill for this generation, if you ask me!). I looked forward to each morning to meet at our head mama’s house to get to hear how all of our young men were doing, what they ate for dinner, and what they were looking forward to for the day.
While the homestays worked out well, I do not want to leave the impression that homestay life is perfect. These were real South African homes in the Tamba village. Some homes had hot water, some did not. Some had showers, others had baths. Homes had no central heaters/air conditioners (it is winter now). Many of our modern day conveniences that are often taken for granted, were not present. This is tough. It is not for everyone. Yet, our students endured and enjoyed. Every day I reached out to students for their perspectives and overall they enjoyed their experiences, in spite of any limitations they may have encountered. We loved our mamas (some of our guys were even bragging about whose mama was the best! lol). We loved our families. We loved our house debates on language, fashion, and yes, even Donald Trump…The experiences, however challenging, were meaningful and necessary because it gave us an opportunity to have an uninterrupted natural connection with real South Africans in their own environments and comfort zones–their home. If anything, one recommendation for future LearnServe programs is to spend even more time with homestays and interacting with their famies.
Church Day
Sunday was a day in church. We attended the Khanyisa Church Centre, a community church located in Tambo village, right up the street from our homestays. We chose to attend church not as an act of religious affiliation–many of our students are non-church/denomination/God affiliated–but as a sign of respect for our homestay families, many of whom see their church playing a vital role in their community. In the end, our church day was a great success.
The day started with the church service. It was quite the experience for many of us, attending a multi-racial church in Tambo where multiple languages were spoken. The ambiance screened of diversity–country flags displayed throughout the church from around the world; welcomes and program being extended in various languages; and the faces of each of our parishioners: black, white, and mixed/colored. For some, it was difficult to get past the program and message being delivered in two languages throughout–Xhosa and English–but for others like myself, I quite enjoyed seeing the relative ease through which both languages were able to be communicated throughout the service. It was beautiful to see, actually. I was also inspired by the message which was on leadership. Here are a few points The pastor spoke of being immediate and intentional with our actions:
- if you are called to do something…don’t delay; just go do it!
- many of us do not look at ourselves as leaders and being called into leadership.
- for leadership, you do not need “charisma”
- Good leaders are good stewards/followers.
- all accountable to someone.
- Good leaders are good managers.
In that very same church we also had a discussion later that evening led by a facilitator on the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC). Our students rose to the occasion again as they watched videos and participated in interactive activities concerning whether South Africa made the right or wrong decision in focusing on restorative justice vs. retributive justice in the aftermath of apartheid. The debate continues and I am pleased that our students could engage in such a complicated issue.
Race and Language
Our period at the homestays found us all continuing to grapple with the complicated role that race and language plays in South African society. Our tours of towns and suburbs (vs. language of “townships”) of Cape Town (more on the “language” a bit later) revealed that although apartheid has ended, the divisions and classifications largely remain as people go to their respective homes. Our tour guide in the District 6 museum (“Uncle Joe”), a colored man, was passionate in his disgust for how people still have a divided mindset and how many can’t even see themselves living out of their once mandated, restricted spaces. Even the continual use of words such as “township” to refer to the towns where blacks and coloreds were forcibly removed to seems perverse considering the apartheid history of the nation.
Our students have been struck by the importance of language and the ongoing debate among the people of South Africa on how to move on from the racist past of the apartheid era. While the answer is not simple, it is worth noting, and celebrating, that our students are up the task of pushing themselves to deal with their own complicated notion of race, language, culture and identity. I would like to leave you with the following piece, written by one of our Eastern Men of Excellence students, Deverrick McAllister. As I tell Deverrick often, he has a beautiful mind and I celebrate his willingness to think critically about issues. He has remained engaged and present throughout the trip and his reflections on language and identity really struck me. His blog posting is up on the LearnServe website – please check it out here. This is what experiential learning and application looks like. Enjoy!