| South Africa |
| 15/08/2006 |
| In June I was part if a delegation that went to South Africa. South Africa has only been a democracy for the last 12 years and has abolished Apartied in the 14 years. It is amazing to see that although apartied is no longer the law people are still living their lives segregated. The segregation was reinforced by the erection of infrastructure. We took a tour around so key areas that were important during the struggle for freedom, our guide showed us the power stations and roads which was iconic in separating ‘Blacks’, ‘Coloureds’ and ‘Whites’. At first I fount it really hard to comprehend that lives are still being lived in this way. I thought long about the fact that South African history surely is being taught in schools and that the fact that Apartied was a terrible thing but when the children in these schools look around them they have a segregated classroom looking straight back at them how does this aid in the ‘reformation’ process? I came to the conclusion and said to myself; they have lived their lives like this for a very long time, this is what they know. They can’t be expected to jump up and move out of the homes that they have been living in and leave their friends that they have had for years. It’s a slow process and it’s not a job that will be done in 12 years, it will take much longer to get integration that is needed in South Africa. There were many inspirational moments on the trip visiting Robben Island was just one. We boarded the ‘Susan Kruger’ to Robben Island; this was one of the boats that transported the political prisoners including Nelson Mandela to the island.
The tour guides on the island were ex-political prisoners who made the experience that we had on the island personal. We all left the island hearing the experiences that they had on the island and the way that they lived, the injustices that only they faced on the island but the injustices that the guards that were ‘Black’ or ‘Coloured’ faced. Mind games played, punishments faced by them all, measures that the prisoners were reduced to in order to ‘survive’ on the island.
This may look like a picture of a dying/dead tree but this is where Nelson Mandela kept the draft of his book ‘Long walk to freedom’. ONE WATER While on the trip we met a man named Trevor Field. Trevor Field has invented a pump called ‘Play pump’ which generates clean water for a local village. The concept is described in the picture below. The kids play on the round about and generate water which is stored in a tank above it generates up to 1400 litres an hour. The water from the tank can then be accessed by a tap situated in the area. There is a band of water that is sold in the UK and the profits from this water go to funding play pumps in Southern Africa. The water is called ‘One’ and 22,000 bottles sold funds one play pump. Stephen Brown and I took a motion to NEC to start the ball rolling to work with NUSSL to have Unions sell this water in their shops.
A lot of what I want to say about our visit to South Africa has been covered by Stephen, Sam and Steven in their blogs: I think what I can reiterate is that the people that we met on the trip were some of the most inspirational people that I have met in my life. People of District Six in Cape Town who had their entire neighbourhood taken away from them (see footnote) because it was a mixed community which showed the Apartide government that their draconian methodology of segregating people was ALL WRONG! The people of Swaziland who don’t want the western world to feel sorry for them because they have HIV/AIDS, they are living life positively and determined not to be brought down by this disease! The trip was amazing, emotional and inspirational. We took so much from the trip and have already started to implement and get Africa back on the agenda of NUS.
Pic: Stephen Brown and Mel Whitter feeding the children of Swaziland. Ama x Footnote: Originally established as a mixed community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, laborers and immigrants, District Six was a vibrant centre with close links to the city and the port. 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.
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