7/28 Amy Biehl Foundation

This is our last day in South Africa. We went to the Amy Biehl Foundation. Amy Biehl was an activist based from the United States. She moved to South Africa on a scholarship and she was fighting against apartheid.  

On August 25, 1993, while Amy was driving three black colleagues back to Cape Town's Guguletu Township, a group of youths pelted her car with stones and forced it to stop. Dozens of young men then surrounded the car repeating the militant Pan Africanist Congress chant, "One settler [white person], one bullet!" Amy was then pulled from the car, struck in the head with a brick as she tried to flee, and then beaten and stabbed in the heart while she lay on the ground. During the attack, Amy's black friends yelled that she was a "comrade" and friend of black South Africa to no avail. Amy was carried back to the car after the attack by her friends who then drove her to the nearest police station where she died. Amy was 26 years old.- RJGEIB website

Originally the people were charged with her murder. Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Biehl's family was able to forgive the murders and they were released from prison. In exchange, the men were to join the Biehl family and advocate to other people about the effects of Apartheid.

Looking form the outside in, I'm not too sure if I would able to forgive the murders of a love one; let alone consider them as family. I wouldn't consider that as being "strong" or "bold". I would just consider it a different way of dealing with death. Better her than me. I'm not too sure if I could justify the pain that I would deal with due to their disadvantaged backgrounds. Outside of this situation, I battle with sympathizing with disenfranchised backgrounds with condemning their behaviors. I do believe in reward/ consequences system especially when taking personal responsibility. This battle extends in teaching, from a sociology group- viewing a group of people commit crimes against people and use their backgrounds as an excuse. Whether they are Black, Women, Caribbean or other diverse backgrounds. I definitely battle when people commit acts against me and "forgiving" them. Only for a possibility for them to commit the behavior again.

We went to one school site where ABF is located. It's an after school program where children are learning dance, literacy and sports. This program to decrease the chances of students being involved in gangs and being susceptible to drugs and alcohol. The talent the the children exuded were speechless and amazing. Whether it was seeing children playing sports and instrument, learning how to deal with societal pressures or seeing young boys engage in "Boot Dancing". This observation reinforced the importance of supplemental programs within at-risk communities. When funding is removed, the people that are affected the most are the children as they fall prey to the societal trap pressures.

7/25 District 6 Museum and Robben Island

District Six was named the Sixth Municipal District of Cape Town in 1867. 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 process of removals and marginalisation had begun.
The first to be forced out were black South Africans who were displaced from the District in 1901. As the more prosperous moved away to the suburbs, the area became a neglected ward of the city.

On 11 February 1966 it was declared a white area under the Group Areas Act of 1950, and by 1982, the life of the community was over. More than 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 District Six Museum, established in December 1994, works with the memories of the 
District Six experience and with that of forced removals more generally.- (District Six Museum website )

 

 

We visited the District 6 Museum where our tour guide witnessed and was impacted by the eviction. The government would force the Blacks and Coloreds to move out of the cities and created townships for them to live. Often times these townships lacked in schools, markets, jobs and other necessities that people were used to in their former city.

She was mixed. Her father was Black and her mother was White. Her father died right before the removal of people from District 6. Her mother refused to leave District 6 because she considered it home. Consequently, the government made her apartment complex unlivable by disconnecting her electricity and water. Eventually her family convinced the mother to move into the new home against the mother's wishes. The mother declared "This will never be home".  The next day her mother died of heart failure.Throughout the museum, there were photos, documents and testimonies of people who were impacted by the forced eviction.

Afterwards we boarded the ship and headed to Robben Island to where former South African president Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. We took a tour of the prison. Our guide who was a former prisoner, explained living conditions of the prison and we were able to see Nelson Mandela's cell. It was located in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The water was so clean and blue. Randomly, I saw penguins and reindeer on the prison island.

Later on a few of us went to to a District 6 jazz night where one of the workers performed. His voice was soulful. It was a pleasant night.

7/24 Aquila Safari

My theory is that you cannot visit Africa without going to a safari. So a few of us decided to go to the Aquila Safari in Sea Point. It's 2 hours outside of Cape Town.  Although it cost us R2490 (approx $177), it was worth it. The scenic views were breathtaking. The food was AMAZING! and the added bonus of seeing wildlife animals in their natural habitat were priceless. As an added bonus, we were within close range of seeing Lions. The trip was worth it.

7/23 Johnathan Jansen and Cape Town

Prior to us leaving UFS to head to Cape Town, we met with Jonathan Jansen. He is the president of UFS and also is the author of "Knowledge in the Blood". The book outlines the history of South Africa and how he encouraged the students to be integrated. He answered questions about race relations, his opinions about USA and why he decided to step down as president of UFS. It felt good connecting the dots of the knowledge that we obtained regarding South Africa with his story. This allowed me to deepen my comprehension of his book and South Africa.

Afterwards we flew to  Cape Town and we were sleeping at a hotel named "An African villa". Cape Town is beautiful. The views of the mountains were speechless. Cape Town seems like it is built within the mountains. In addition, we visited the Green Market Square. Professor Clarke informed us that this is the place to bargain for South African goods. I was ready! For the first go-round, I was able to purchase jewelry, souvenirs and wooden art.

7/22 Princess Gabo Foundation

We went to Albert Moroka High School where they implemented the baby dolls project. The school is partnered up with the Princess Gabo Foundation. They were advocating to the students the consequences of teenage pregnancy. Instead of having the responsibility of babies at an early age, they encouraged students to pursue higher education and travel the world. The students' discipline and mannerisms were on point. Not only that they showed us respect, the students' showed Princess Gabo the utmost respect. 

Afterwards Princess Gabo guided us to the Chief Moroka Memorial Site as she described her lineage and how she became the Princess of Thaba' Nchu. At the memorial site, we encountered some of her family members. The ladies informed us on the issues that women of the community were encountering such as poverty, inadequate job skills, lack of education and single parent homes.  They decided to be proactive by educating the women through home economics so it could empower women and children to become self sufficient.

7/21 UFS and South African War Museum

UFS

This is my first time attending a university campus outside of USA. UFS's campus looks very similar to USA campuses. We had to attend a workshop that discussed the UFS history. Originally college lectures were in English. Then it changed to Afrikaans. In addition, the student body were predominately white and did not admit Black Students. SA higher education coincided with the history of South Africa. SA went through 3 phases. The first phase was British colonization. The British originally invaded South Africa. While the British were invading SA, the Dutch invaded South Africa. Once the Dutch defeated the English, the start of the Apartheid movement began-Afrikaner Nationalist Party. Apartheid was determined to prevent Blacks and Colored people to be considered equal to Whites. This impacted admitting people of color to universities. 

Eventually, UFS became a majority black population and incorporated a multilingual studies or and became an integrated school. The transition from segregated to integrated institution was not easy. The president of the University, Johnathan Jansen spearheaded the integration movement at the university.

South African War

After UFS, we visited the South African War Museum where we learned in more detail about the "Anglo-Boer War" between the British and the Boers. Through the museum it depicted Boers and Africans placed in concentration camps. The pictures of malnourished children was disheartening. Through the museum, we learned that Africans played a role with the war. Since they were indigenous people, they were able to inform the British/ Boers about the land,environment and best routes to defeat their opponents. We also learned that through the Anglo-Boer war, the African Nationalist Congress was formed.


The Anglo-Boer War name was changed to the South African War. One of the presenters by the name of Dr. Twala said "You cannot have a war in South African soil without the black people being involved and not call it a South African war". He said it with so much passion. After the museum, we went to one of the founder members of the ANC house name Thomas Mtobi Mapikela and learned about how he influenced people in the township to stand up against apartheid.
 
After the tour, we came back to UFS and learned that we are going to be split up in two groups. One group was going to visit the homeless shelter and another group will visit a high school discussing teen pregnancy.  I decided to join the group that focused on teen pregnancy.

7/20/2016 Bloemfontein

Today was our last day in Johannesburg. We had to travel to Bloemfontein, South Africa  through the airplanes. If we would have  drove from JNB to Bloemfontein, it would have taken us about 8 hours. However the plane ride was about an hour plane ride. Also too, I was able to get good sleep on it. 

For the next three days, we are staying in the University of the Free States hotel named Kovsie Inn. We also have a guest ID. The rooms looks very similar to dorms. The campus is beautiful. After we put our luggages in our rooms, we went to a restaurant named "Long Horn Steak House". In JNB, the predominate race are Black South Africans. Besides the men creepily staring at me, the hospitality was nice where people did not mind opening the doors for you. In Bloemfontein outside of UFS, the population is predominately Afrikaans and let's just say we had an interesting encounter.

There was a liquor store in the same plaza as Longhorn Steak House. I went to purchase an Amarula bottle for R130 ($9.00). When I purchased the bottle, I asked the cashier "How do you say thank you in Afrikaans?" She said "Dankie". To me, it sounds like the word "Donkey" :P. After she asked me where I am from, she gave me a free bottle of "Melktertjies". It tastes like melted Milk Dudes mixed with Vodka. It tastes really good. Afterwards, I headed to LHSH." One person was holding the door for us and said "I am tired of holding this s*** someone else needs to hold the door and lets go of the door. " I sarcastically said " Well Thank you too then".

We got to meet Karen and some of her guests and we ate some food. This was the time to get to know one another and learn about people's POV on their countries and other world wide issues. 

7/19/2016

Today was day two of learning about the South African history. This time, it was told from the victor's side; the Afrikaners side. We went to Voortrekker to learn about how the Dutch invaded South Africa. They had two major battles with two groups. First they battled with the Zulu group. Once they defeated the Zulu group, then they had a battle against the British. Eventually they won the battle against the British and wanted to conquer South Africa. The tour guide was interesting. She used certain terms to describe certain groups of people that people could find offensive. She used the term "Red Indians" to talk about the Native Americans in the United States. In addition, she downplayed the negotiation process between the Zulus and the Dutch. Lastly she described the Zulus as hostile. If I was a Zulu, I would be hostile too if people invaded my country. I think I felt like this because yesterday, we went to the Apartheid Museum and learned about how Apartheid negatively impacted Black South Africans. Nonetheless, the architecture was beautiful.


After the museum we visited a cohort from NYU and met with them in Pretoria. They an activist as guest speaker. She advocates for women and children who are affected by violence and for the LGBT communities by combining empowerment through the arts. She discussed her background about her experiences during Apartheid. During apartheid, blacks were not allowed to be together. As a cover up, Blacks would meet up in secret locations such as: churches, theaters and soccer fields. She informed us that Apartheid created poverty and lack of education within the Black communities. The education system was used to oppress black South Africans. In addition, she had personal trials with her mother being mental challenged. She had to overcome obstacles with family and sexually abused & raped at the age of 14.






Later on that event, a few of the group mates met up with one of the NYU members. We visited two bars. Thank goodness for UBER being available in South Africa cause I felt more secure and safer. Visiting South Africa is not safe and there has been incidents of tourists getting stabbed and robbed especially when using "Taxis". Uber is a car services that has a flat rate.

7/18/16 Nkosi's Haven.

Today we headed to Nkosi's haven in conjunction with Infinite Families; helps students that are either infected or affected with HIV/AIDS. It was founded by 12 year old Nkosi Johnson who was born HIV positive. He envisioned a safehaven for children who are affected or impacted by the disease can go to receive love, care and support.  Founded in 2006, Infinite Family is a global mentoring organization dedicated to using technology to allow adults around the world to step in where there are not enough local role models. Our volunteer mentors teach, discuss, challenge, encourage, befriend and love their Net Buddy mentees – they are agents of self-reliance. By providing such key resources and support networks, Infinite Family inspires and motivates teens and pre-teens to develop the confidence, skills and global worldview to build a better life. (Infinite Families website)

Our meetings were split in two sessions. The first session was about the issues the staff encounters when dealing with the children. Some of those issues are:
• Retention
• Engagement/ commitment
• Communication/ language barrier
• Disrespecting adults to impress friends
• Family issues/ physical & sexual abuse
• Pregnancy due to poverty and "ends to a means"
• Parental support

It was an honor that they felt as if we could possibly provide them solutions to challenges that they face with their youth. The staff were jotting down the notes vigorously. I wish we are able to follow up with them to see their feed back and the results of them implementing the suggestions.

For the second session, we were broken into groups. One of the my group members, Taylor and I had to tackle the topic of racism. Students were discussing inter and intra racism,  encountering racism in real life, how Nelson Mandela encountered and dealt with racism and opinions about America. During the discussions, one of the boys said I had nice teeth. The students put me on the spot and wanted to know about what gives me strength, my views on racisim, how have I overcome racism and I provided them background info regarding what motivates me.   
Those kids were very bright and provided an inside scoop about the racism they observed in their schools. For example, certain white teachers favor the white children more than the colored and black children. They also described the intra-racism between skin colors among the black people. That was a tough subject to tackle. We also got to know their future goals. I think the children appreciate people wanting to get to know them. One girl said that I remind her of her. Cause I am outspoken like her.

7/17/2016

Today I went to Nelson Mandela Square. The shopping plaza is modernized with many modern american and foreign stores. Prices were way too expensive so the main thing that I did was window shopping. 

After Nelson Mandela Square. We headed to the Apartheid museum. My first major reaction was that they were so many connections between SA and USA colonialist and black history. Similarities such as the "Separate but Unequal" facilities, Black SA's properties being removed from them, hearing people who sacrificed their lives in order for Black SA's to have a livable and equal lifestyle. Another characteristics that Black USA and Black SA had in common was that we were colonized by both British and Dutch settlers. I found it amazing how these settlers decided to implement the same techniques to conquer a land and they did not have social media to tweet out their ideas. This museum reiterated that although overt racism has decreased, the impact of apartheid/segregation/Willie Lynch still lingers today and it has psychologically damaged many people of color. Words cannot fully describe what I witnessed so hopefully pictures can outline the tragedies that occurred during that time period.

After Apartheid museum, we went to Pretoria to Dr. Darren Clarke's friend house. He's the Executive Director of the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria. His house is beautiful to the point that his house could easily have been featured in "House Hunters International" T.V. series. In addition, his chefs made some AMAZING FOOD. In other words the food was the bomb.com. 

7/16/16 Teboho Trust and Hector Peterson Museum

One of the components of Rutgers University's South African Initiative is to connect with Non Govermental Organizations (Non-Profit organizations). Not only we tour historical monuments, we also do community service. One of the NGO's that RU has a connection with is called Teboho's Trust. 

"Teboho trust was informally started in Soweto (Johannesburg), South Africa in February 2001 with ten Aids orphans/ vulnerable adolescents. The trust started by offering educational and life skills resources, programmes and services to a dramatically growing population of HIV/AIDS orphan/vulnerable adolescents.

Teboho Trust focuses on developing:
• Self esteem
• Life skills
• Dreams of a better future
• A road map for a brighter future. We equip each learner with the necessary materials to create a mindset of learning. Teboho Trust also addresses basic educational needs, conduct diagnostic tests to asses each learner's academic strengths and weaknesses" (Teboho Trust Website). In addition to servicing children who are affected from HIV/AIDS, they service the students of the community who are impacted by poverty. They provide extra-curricular activities to expose them to new skills and provide them good such as food and clothes.

When we were arrived, the students were gathered outside for their morning rituals. The rituals consisted of singing, prayer and a motivational speech. One of the main characteristics that I noticed about the South African girls was that the majority of them had natural hair. That was surprising for me because I had preconceived notions that most of the girls had their hair chemically processed. The group was broken up into groups. I was responsible for picking up trash that was around the school. We collaborated with the University of Johannesburg interns and some of the Teboho Trust's children.  I had all girls in the group and collected about 7 bags of trash. I also named the group "Girl Power" because it was majority girls and I wanted to empower girls that they are strong too.

When we were running low on bags, I met a girl name "Gift". I called her based from her South African meaning. I was not able to pronounce her first name without practicing it a few times. She was helping me look for more plastic bags. The girls were proud of their work and hated when other groups tried to steal their bags to win the prize. I told them that "winners never cheat and cheaters never win".  

One of my goals is to connect with people that are within my age group. I  was able to connect with the JNB interns. They explained their interactions between the Afrikaners and the Blacks Africans. One of the interns mentioned that one of the problems that is occurring at the university is with the Afrikaner and other ethnic groups professors, their accents are hard to understand. This misunderstanding prevents them from connecting with the students. 
With the Afrikaner students, they would smile in your face but would talk behind your back. In addition we talked about race relations and the current events between US and SA. Through the conversations, I was able to exchange social media contacts in order to keep in touch. 

After collecting the trash, there was down time prior to lunch. I noticed four girls playing a hand game. The hand game was very similar to - played hand game with 4 girls with our American version of "Tweet Baby". I did not know the words of the song but I was able to play the game with them. One of the workers was shocked that I knew the handgame. That interaction reinforced a lesson; which is "We are a lot more alike than we are different". That quote was getting reinforced repeatedly throughout the trip. For example for lunch we were served rice, chicken cooked in sauce, and potatoes. It reminded me of Haitian food.


After lunch, we were assigned to work  with the teenagers to talk about leadership and were basing the discussion from the movie "Captain America". We were trying to inform the leader that it's hard to connect Captain America to leadership because he's not the person that Americans consider a leader. However, she insisted that we watch it and create a conversation. 

As predicted, majority of the students became talkative. Attempts were made to redirect their focus. Eventually that idea wasn't effective. As an alternative, we decided to interact with the teens. I met twins and a cousin named "Love 1&2" and "Flower". Twins lost their parents and as a result, they live with their cousin. Through the discussion, we spoke on various topics such as leadership, goals, perceived notions on America, their love for South Africa. Love 1 wants to be a Soccer player, Love 2 wants to become a Netball coach and Flower wants to be a pediatrician. At the conclusion of our conversation, we took photos and left them with words of encouragement. 


After Teboho's Trust, we went to the Hector Peterson museum. The Museum displayed the history of apartheid and the youth were involved during the Anti-Apartheid movements. 


He became the iconic image of the 1976 Soweto uprising in apartheid South Africa when a newspaper photograph by Sam Nzima; of the dying Hector being carried by a fellow student, was published around the world. Hector was one of the first casualties of the 1976 uprising against the sole use of the Afrikaans language in schools. He was 12 at the time of his death (South African History Online). 

There were various feelings that I felt during the museum. The first feeling was a sense of anger towards the Afrikaners' techniques of forcing their view onto the Africans. In addition, I felt angry towards the police as they were killing unarmed children during this time. This particularly resonated with me due to the recent killings of unarmed black men in U.S.A in the hands of Police Officers. I also had a moment of Black Pride because I saw a section of the museum to where Africans demonstrated "Black is Beautiful". By touring the museum, I notice that between the tragedies, revolts, organizations, challenges and success that occurred during the Anti-Apartheid movement, it reminded me of the Civil Rights Era that happened within the United States.

He became the iconic image of the 1976 Soweto uprising in apartheid South Africa when a newspaper photograph by Sam Nzima - of the dying Hector being carried by a fellow student - was published around the world.
Hector was one of the first casualties of the 1976 uprising against the sole use of the Afrikaans language in schools. He was 12 at the time of his death. A postmortem revealed that Pieterson was killed by a shot fired directly at him and not by a bullet 'ricocheting off the ground' as police claimed.
- See more at: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/hector-pieterson#sthash.BZJS5bJK.dpuf

He became the iconic image of the 1976 Soweto uprising in apartheid South Africa when a newspaper photograph by Sam Nzima - of the dying Hector being carried by a fellow student - was published around the world.
Hector was one of the first casualties of the 1976 uprising against the sole use of the Afrikaans language in schools. He was 12 at the time of his death. A postmortem revealed that Pieterson was killed by a shot fired directly at him and not by a bullet 'ricocheting off the ground' as police claimed.
- See more at: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/hector-pieterson#sthash.BZJS5bJK.dpuf

He became the iconic image of the 1976 Soweto uprising in apartheid South Africa when a newspaper photograph by Sam Nzima - of the dying Hector being carried by a fellow student - was published around the world.
Hector was one of the first casualties of the 1976 uprising against the sole use of the Afrikaans language in schools. He was 12 at the time of his death. A postmortem revealed that Pieterson was killed by a shot fired directly at him and not by a bullet 'ricocheting off the ground' as police claimed.
- See more at: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/hector-pieterson#sthash.BZJS5bJK.dpuf

As we were heading home, we passed through Nelson Mandela museum. The museum was his house that was converted into a museum. 

7/15/2016 Officially in South Africa

Officially Landed in South Africa

I landed in South Africa at 4:30PM SAST. I decided to wait for some of my groupmates: Mohammed, Katherine, Silver and Kareen. Their plane was delayed so after about 2 hours I met up. We exchanged our money and brought our gold card to go on the Gautrain. You cannot eat on the train or you will pay a fine. Silver and I was about to eat our food but the passengers warned us. Their I can see why the people were enforcing the rules. The train station was clean. It took forever for the Hilton shuttle train to come. We arrived at the hotel with the rest of the members. We ate food and talked about the plans for the week. The elevator (lifts) stopped working so we had to walk up all the way up to the 6th floor. The showers here feels amazing and they had bath robes and a gym. 

Pictures from the Gautrain: We are were very tired but nonetheless anxious to head to the hotel

One American Dollar equals approximately 14 Rand 

 Gautrain Ticket

7/14/2016

NYC to DOHA

Today is the day that I leave USA for South Africa. Due to the fact that I invested money into the program, I wanted to make sure that I left with ample time and not be late. I did not want to encounter any long lines or delays that will cause me to miss my flight. Therefore I left my home by 5:00 A.M and took the train from New Jersey into New York Penn Station. From there, I boarded the train from New York Penn Station towards Jamaica Station in order to go on JFK airport.

My flight to South Africa was split into two flights, one flight from NYC to Doha and from Doha to Johannesburg, South Africa. Both flights were through Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways staff has nice uniforms. One area of improvement I would suggest QA is for some of the staff needs to work on their customer service. Their customer service did not open until 7:00 A.M. People had early and were waiting in line but they did not inform the customers.

One thing that I noticed is that the boarding process takes a while. I noticed that Americans are used to things starting on the time that's posted. Not this company, they boarded about 15 minutes after the time that was posted. However they would leave on time. One of the benefits of traveling with T-Mobile is that I can use my data and text messaging plan for free in Qatar and South Africa. However I cannot have no phone calls. I was not able to use my Chase debit card because in South Africa, there's a higher chance of identity theft. As a result, I had to withdraw money and use cash.

Even though it was my first time traveling through Qatar Airways, Qatar planes are really nice and I felt fancy even in economy class. However, the flight is for 12.5 hours . The flight consisted of a diverse crowd. I seen many Middle Eastern/ Indian women wearing their hijab. The flight had a strong Muslim community. In addition few Africans would board this flight to head to Africa or other countries. Their airport food was good and had vegetarian options. There was occasional technology issues; however that was not my main issue with the flight.

I was in front of a lady that was heading to Sudan that had 6 children, five boys and one girl. My goodness they were loud and kept kicking my seat . One cute moment though was when I let my hand rest on the top of my seat, one of the boys name Karim kept playing with my hand. I think he went underneath my seat too . Only reason I know his name is cause his mother kept telling him to hush . He was excited to have the window view and he made sure everyone heard. I give her credit in having 6 children on the plane. But that I'll wait to have children.

Flying over Amsterdam

Flying over Makkah.
It looks pretty sandy down there.
9:44 pm EST, 4:47am their time

Doha to South Africa

Doha airport was nice and emphasized the importance of being modern and providing technology. We had to get on the bus to go towards the airplane. Once I stepped outside I realized that Qatar was HOT and HUMID, it was was 95 degrees.


As we were flying to South Africa, the water and the sky is so blue as we were crossing the gulf of Aden. Their version of pancakes is our version of sweet corn bread. I started talking to a South African native lady about the history of South Africa and the impact of Nelson Mandela. During our conversation, she became emotional. I had a Nelson Mandela book to where whenever I was reading, she would provide background knowledge on the tribes and meaning of words. "Amandla" means "Power". "Ngawethu" means "we have it". She also explained to me that Johannesburg has provinces that contains many cities similar to how USA has states. I also discussed about how USA and SA histories are very similar.

More airplane pictures

13 days until my departure

Count down is official!!! 13 more days until I leave for South Africa. I am so excited because one of my goals in life is to travel to various places to learn more about what our planet has to offer and the various lifestyles of people in different continents. One of the places I wanted to visit was Africa. When I was presented with the opportunity to go to South Africa through Rutgers University (RU), I was excited. 

To be quite honest, I really did not have an opinion about South Africa because I didn't know anything about it :(. My knowledge of South Africa is limited. One of the first facts that I found about South Africa is "Apartheid". A former Social Worker in Paterson Public Schools showed me an article regarding Apartheid in U.S. schools. In addition, when I was working the 2013 Circle of Sisters' event, I viewed a movie about Nelson Mandela played by Idris Elba. Lastly, I heard of Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu but I didn't have an in depth knowledge about. 

Prior to going to South Africa, I had to attend orientation at RU to deepen my knowledge on SA. Through the readings, videos and discussions, I learned how South Africa was impacted by invasion and apartheid. I noticed there were strong similarities between segregation in the United States and Apartheid in South Africa. I learned that the Blacks in both countries often times endured "Separate but Unequal" education and the fight to integrate the countries were met with resistance. One of the difference is how we categories groups of people. From my understandings "Afrikaans" is people from Dutch descents. Prior to that, I thought Afrikaans was referred to the indigenous people. In addition "Colored" people are referred to as people of both Black and White descents while in U.S.A, they are referred to as mixed, mulatto, or even black if you follow the one-drop rule. 

I did not want to go to SA being completely ignorant so I found a video online that depicted life post-Apartheid. One word that I learned that is an insult to Black South Africans is "Kaffir", it has the same meaning as the "N" word in U.S.A. Through watching the video, it further confirmed that the U.S and S.A share similar backgrounds. 

I almost wasn't able to go to South Africa. When I was having a doctor filling out my medical forms, he noticed that I had hypothyroidism, pre-diabetic, and low iron. He refused to sign off on my papers until I visit an Endocrinologist ( a doctor who specializes in thyroids). My thyroid results came back fine and another doctor permitted me to travel abroad. I'm sorry I have this travel bug and no one will stop me. But it was a good thing that I noticed that I was pre-diabetic. I do not want to have Type-2 Diabetes at 28 years old. I have overcame many struggles and I do not want to overcome health disparities while I am approaching my 30's. So I am monitoring my sugar and carb intake. I should be fine.  

Lastly, I reached out to one of my friends name Iyesha, who I met when I did study abroad in London. A friend of hers is originally from South Africa and she connected us through Facebook. She shown me the good and the bad of SA and she gave me a heads up on safety and avoiding to "fall in love with the locals". I am excited. I am curious to see if the poverty that I will be seeing in South Africa will be similar to the poverty in Belize and in Haiti.