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.