Sunday, August 25, 2013

Black is the New White...

August 25, 2013



When it comes to skin color and race, I have been in the majority my whole life. Living in Birmingham, in a wealthy suburb, I was just another white girl. No one looked twice at me for being different in any way. Since living in South Africa, I now know what it feels like to be in the minority. I know what it feels like to be distinctly different from everyone else, everywhere I go. I get stared at wherever I go (except my school, they are used to my difference). In church I stick out like a sore thumb, being the only white person a congregation of Africans and colored people. When I am walking through the grocery store or a shopping mall, people stare and even make comments to me. Don't get me wrong, I in no way take it offensively or personally. Most of the time no one is being ugly or intentionally rude. It’s just hard for them not to notice that I'm different.

 

Being in the minority has been quite humbling. It's not easy sticking out like a sore thumb, all the time. You don't get used to people always staring at you. But I have learned to respect their social norms and to try my best to participate and fit into their community so that I become part of the whole, not just the eye sore.

Puzzle

August 25, 2013


I think I’ve got it figured out. South Africa, that is. I have spent lots of time talking with different people living in South Africa. I have gotten many different perspectives and lessons on South African culture and history. It’s been like a puzzle that I have had to piece together. After spending this weekend out and about with Sr. Giovanna, finally, I think I have completed the puzzle…

This weekend 2 new volunteers came from Italy. To introduce a little bit of SA to the new folks, Sr. G took us out all weekend. I think she wanted to show them the good before the ugly because we spent the whole weekend shopping and eating out (which I have yet to do here so it was a treat for me!!). While traveling to the markets and shops, Sister made sure to give us a little background information on each. We went to the farmer’s market in Walkerville, which is where all of the white, country people live. Then we went to the Trade Route Mall in Lenasia South, which is where all of the Indian and Muslim people live. Ennerdale (my town) is where all of the colored people (born from a white parent and a black parent) live. Finetown and Mountain View is where all of the black people live. Lastly, there is the heart of Joburg and its surrounding northern suburbs like Sandton City. These areas are where all of the wealthy, white people and some African people live. We went to all of these places this weekend. All of these places are in Joburg, even Ennerdale and Finetown which are 30 minutes away. Joburg is a large, spread out city.

I say I have figured out the South African puzzle because all of her descriptions of each of those places have helped me to more fully understand the DNA of this country…

It’s the Rainbow Nation and that name fits well as there is so much diversity that makes up the South African population. To start off there were Africans of Zulu and Shoto (and others I can’t spell) cultures. Then came the Dutch explorers, also known as the whites. Then, like any other growing country, many immigrants came to settle. Some of these immigrants were Indian and Muslim and many others. That makes for a heavily diverse country. The aphartide government (the white government) decided to separate all of these groups (sound familiar?). They wanted them to live in separate places within the country and definitely separate in Joburg. They moved all of the blacks 30 minutes far out to Ennerdale area. They moved the Muslims and Indians to Lenasia South area. Some of the whites moved to Walkerville. Also some white people stayed in close to the city and its close surrounding suburbs and cities like Sandton City and Pretoria. Each culture grew within their area building schools, shops and other needs specific to their culture. No mixing though. Separate.

During that time, the whites in mid Joburg area were building the city and the economy. With the gold and mining, Joburg began to grow and become wealthy. With that wealth, the industrial city began to grow more and more modern. To me, it became more worldly. You can see American brands and companies. You see expensive European cars and other luxuries. Then Mandela comes along and becomes president. He ends the aparhtide so blacks and whites and other cultures could join together to unify South Africa. With this idea and a booming Joburg, many people from the smaller surrounding countries such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique, saw the attractiveness and started to move in. They thought they could get work and live a better life. But they don’t move into the industrial Joburg. They move in to where the other African or black people are which is Ennerdale and other close areas. They set up squatter camps with little shack houses. However, Ennerdale is not like mid-Joburg. There is no work here. There are no shops or companies. There is hardly work for the people who already live here. Most drive into the Joburg city for work every day. That’s where the problem occurs. These black people have moved here, soon to find out that Ennerdale is not where the work is. Now they are jobless and living in these squatter communities that they have thrown together. But the government doesn’t like the squatter camps. I mean after all those camps are not homes for families. They are filthy, disease-filled shacks. The government’s solution was to build government housing for these families in hopes that they would move out of the shacks and into the new homes. BUT that didn’t happen. Well, some did. Just most did not. They stayed in their squatter neighborhoods because after all, why leave? They’ve got the set up there. They don’t have to work because they don’t have to pay property taxes (or any taxes at all), electricity, water or any bills at all really. If they move to the government houses they would have to start paying those bills which means they would have to GET A JOB. They don’t get jobs (they don’t want to travel to work) or they can’t get jobs or they are too sick to get jobs. So they stay in the filthy slums and become basically a community of poverty that they all accept and participate in. That’s where I come in…

The Salesians all across South Africa work for the poorest of the poor. That’s why they have a community in Ennerdale. In Ennerdale is Finetown and Mt. View. Both of which I have mentioned many times. These are the 2 largest squatter or slum communities. The sister’s schools and projects serve to help the children and young adults in these communities. That’s why I am here, too. I and many others originally thought that the conditions I would be living and working in wouldn’t be that bad. After all Johannesburg is the largest and wealthiest city in South Africa! However, that wasn’t the case. Joburg and the rest of South Africa is a culturally divided place where you can find the world poorest children inside the country’s wealthiest city.

Puzzle Solved. I think. Please, anyone reading this from or currently living in South Africa, let me know if I am incorrect or have misinterpreted anything. I love learning about this country and I want to be accurate with my representation. But that is really all this post is. It’s MY OWN representation based on what I have learned in the past 3 months. So please forgive me if I am way off.  

Saturday, August 17, 2013

A New Time, A New Place


17 August 2013
 

Other than my work (that’s for another post, another day) the most challenging thing about living here has been adjusting to the different lifestyles of the different volunteers that I live with. I am here until January. The other volunteers that have come have only stayed a month or two. I see them come and go. They are each different in their own wonderful way and each time they come it’s a bit of adjustment for me…

When the Czech girls were here, they liked to sit around the small kitchen table and talk and eat and laugh. Then spent lots of time in their rooms; they were cliquey. They didn’t understand me. They would often look at me like I was stupid. They definitely were not open to the American way. Shortly after they left, the Irish volunteers came for a month. They liked to be out and about during the day. We took walks, spent lots of time outside and we even went to Cape Town for a week. They spoke English well so it was easiest to communicate with them. At night, one person would cook dinner and we would eat in the living room on the couch while watching a “film” as they would call it. We would watch films until late at night. The next day we would go to work and do it all over again. I really enjoyed living with and getting to know them. After a month, they left and it was just Chrissy and I for 2 weeks (Chrissy was here when I got here in June). That was an adjustment too. She was busy with school work and projects for the sisters so she spent lots of time in her room. She didn’t cook, so I had to cook our meals each night and we often ate separately. That was when I got really sick with bronchitis. I spent 3 days in bed. It was very quiet and dreary in our house those 2 weeks. Now the Italians are here! I had been looking forward to their arrival. They are an interesting group. They like to do things their way. They are very particular about how they wash their clothes, what they wear, what they eat (pasta always) and how it is cooked. We all chip in and cook dinner together every night. But I have to approve what I’m cooking first to make sure they would eat it. We sit around the dining room table and eat a huge meal family style. Then when were done, we stay there and talk forever. We would do dishes and then play card games or board games or share pictures from our work that day. The two boys speak some English and the girl speaks no English at all. Lots of times they have conversations with each other and I’m in the dark. After a head nod and look of confusion, one of the boys would jump in to translate for me. I learned some key words thought that would help me communicate with them. That brings me to now.


Now I am looking back on my crazy past 2 weeks since Chrissy left and they arrived. Sister G wanted to show them around town both the weekend they got here and the weekend after. So we spent the first weekend going shopping at the malls and markets and eating out. Then we worked the next week and spent the following weekend on Safari and more shopping and eating out. I think I did too much too soon and didn’t fully recover from the Bronchitis because this Monday I got sick again. This time it’s sinus/cold like symptoms with fevers and headaches. I tried to work but couldn’t. I stayed in bed and slept from Tuesday until Friday. The sisters were really worried and took me to a doctor on Friday afternoon. The doctor wasn’t real clear on a diagnosis but he said infections and pneumonia and he gave me LOTS of medication to help. Now it’s Saturday and I’ve been taking the meds for a day but I already feel better. I have the energy to write this post and most importantly, say hello to TWO MORE Italian volunteers that got here last night. Yes, last night we were a large Italian family of 7 (including Sister Giovanna). We ate a huge pot of pasta and drank wine (well not me thanks to all my medications, wine, cortisone and tranquilizers don’t mix very well). We were also celebrating one of the girl’s birthdays. It was a wild time. Then this morning I had to kiss them all goodbye for a week. They are going to Cape Town for a vacation. When they leave Cape Town, the two newest Italians will be coming back to work and the old 3 will be leaving straight for Italy. So it’ll be a house full of Italians until they leave mid-September. To be honest, I am glad they are gone for the week. That will give me quite time to rest my body, my stomach and my ears (they talked a lot and very fast, I could never keep up). I need to recover fully this time. I have been sick more days then I have been well.

Amidst all of the going and coming and the sickness, I’ve hardly had time to think about the fact that this time, for the past 4 years, I have been preparing my classroom, sitting through meetings and enjoying the start of a new school year. Because I have been so busy here and have had so much going on, I haven’t spent much time thinking about my old life. Now I can reflect on it, though. I thought I would be sad during this time. I thought I’d be wishing I was home doing that stuff as usual. I thought I would start questioning myself and why I chose to leave the job I love to come to South Africa. But it hasn’t been like any of that. My lifestyle, my routine, my health, everything has been so different and I have been totally embracing it. I haven’t been dwelling on the past and my past routine and lifestyle. I do know, though, that one day I will be back to that routine again, just not now. I know that I am meant to be in education. I know that I will always be in a classroom, in a school, with children. But for now, it’s just a different time and place. At home it’s the end of summer, the start to a new school year. Here, it’s the end of winter and the three quarters of the way through the school year. So I have to look at it like that: same teacher just in a different time and in a different place.

Lastly, I have gotten many cards and packages from friends and family at home. Because of all of the craziness, I haven’t had internet access leaving me unable to contact those people to properly say thank you. But I mean it from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. The cards I have received from previous students and their families, cards from my sweet grandmother, packages from my friends and family and even a fundraiser to support my mission, all mean so much to me. Those things make me feel close to home when I am so far away. There are days when I want and need to feel close to home. The first two months here were like a honeymoon period where everything was smooth, for the most part. Now, I’ve adjusted to the lifestyle and gotten into the meat of my mission and its getting hard to keep going day to day (that’s also for another post another day). I am also praying about what to do after January 4th. I have been asked a few times to stay here in South Africa and work at the schools thought June 2014. Some days I can’t imagine myself being anywhere else and then other days the thought of being here any long sounds insane. I am praying hard about it though. I dedicated this year of my life to mission work. I want God to show me where he wants me to spend February through June whether it’s in South Africa or somewhere else. God’s answers and plan are just not always that clear. It was clear for me last January when I decided to go on mission but I have a feeling this time it’s not going to be that clear. I just have to keep praying and be patient.

Love from Africa!!