"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
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
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
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.
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