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Apartheid Museum
Located in Johannesburg, the Apartheid Museum gives the visitor a history of injustice in South Africa, starting with the annihilation of indigenous peoples, then moving through slavery and segregation into apartheid, its primary focus. Through video clips, interviews, photographs and exhibits, the museum details all sides of apartheid including justifications given for it’s implementation, the legislative process that brought increasing restrictions over time, the effects of apartheid on all groups within South Africa, the struggle against apartheid and its final demise. Visiting this museum is an incredibly moving experience, from the moment one enters with their pass (either White or Nonwhite) through the pictures of the enormous lines of people waiting to vote in the first democratic elections in 1994. Students only had one complaint about the Apartheid Museum—that we didn’t have more time to spend there.
Castle of Good Hope
The oldest building in South Africa, this 5 pointed stone castle was built in the late 1600’s by the Dutch. The castle is in downtown Cape Town and was a good place to start learning about the colonization of South Africa, having been a military post for both the Dutch and the British. On the tour, the most unnerving experience was when our tour guide led us into a dark, windowless cellar where slaves had been kept for as much as 12 hours a day. Then he closed the door…
Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill is the new home of the South African Constitutional Court and also the site of the Old Fort Prison Complex (often called Number Four). Overlooking Johannesburg, this notorious prison held many famous people, including Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. At Constitution Hill one sees the old and the new South Africa side by side; after touring the cells and hearing about the brutal (and largely hidden) treatment of prisoners, we went next door to the Constitutional Court which was constructed with bricks from the prison and built so that all citizens could look in.
District Six Museum
District Six was once a vibrant area of Cape Town, where people of all cultures resided together in peace. In the 1960’s, residents were forcibly removed from their homes by the apartheid government and sent to areas designated for their group (black, coloured, Indian, white). The area was then bulldozed; plans for building a whites-only development there were made but never executed. Our tour guide, Ibrahim, and his family were among the first to be removed; he showed us both where they had lived in District Six and where they were forced to move in Cape Flats. After viewing the still desolate, demolished area that had been District Six, we visited the museum, which was started by former residents to remember their forced removal as well as their District Six—the bustling community that existed prior to the government’s intervention. One of the moving aspects of the museum is the ability to speak directly with former residents, who, like Ibrahim, experienced life in and removal from District Six firsthand.
Hector Pieterson Museum
Hector Pieterson was the first child killed in the Soweto Uprisings, a 1976 protest that ended in the deaths of approximately 600 children. The picture of his lifeless body, carried by teenager Mbuyisa Makhubo and accompanied by a wailing Antoinette Sithole (Hector’s teenaged sister), became the iconic image of this children’s protest. Fearing additional unrest, the government would only allow one symbolic funeral to mark all of the deaths; Hector Pieterson received that funeral. The museum that details the background of the uprising, the protest and its aftermath is also named after Hector; it is located in Soweto, within sight of the location at which Hector was shot.
Langa hostel
Langa is the oldest township in the Cape Town area; we visited Langa on our first full day in South Africa. Ibrahim, our tour guide, gave the class an orientation to township life that culminated in visiting a hostel. The hostel system was initiated by the former government to house men who were needed to work in the city, but not allowed to live there. Now the hostel in Langa is providing temporary shelter for people who are awaiting government houses. A young man was kind enough to invite us into the small room he shared with 6 other people (3 families in all) and to discuss issues of life and death there. Afterwards, we played with the mass of neighborhood children who had gathered to see us.
Malay Quarter/Bo-Kaap
The brightly colored houses of Bo-Kaap are located on Signal Hill, and mark this predominantly Muslim area of Cape Town. Originally brought to South Africa by the Dutch as slaves, the first residents of the Malay Quarter are said to have painted their houses bright colors to symbolize their independence when they were freed. Many of the residents of this area are descendents of those former slaves.
Regina Mundi Catholic church
The largest Catholic church in Soweto, Regina Mundi played a pivotal role in the struggle against apartheid; the most famous incident came in the 1976 Soweto uprisings, when students fled for sanctuary to Regina Mundi after the police attacked. With buckets of water at the ready, they doused the teargas canisters thrown into the church by police; afterwards, the police stormed the church, firing live ammunition. To this day, there are bullet holes in the ceiling and a portion of the marble altar is broken because of that police raid. In the post apartheid era, Truth and Reconciliation hearings periodically were held in Regina Mundi from 1995 to 1998.
Robben Island
Situated approximately 8 miles from Cape Town, one can see Robben Island from any elevated part of the city. After a short boat ride, visitors take a bus tour of the island, including the limestone quarry where political prisoners were forced to work and the house where Robert Sobukwe (founding president of the Pan African Congress) was detained. Afterwards, one tours the maximum security prison, learning about the conditions under which prisoners were held and visiting the individual cell of Nelson Mandela. Tours are especially enlightening because they are given by former political prisoners. Both our bus driver and our guide through the prison had been incarcerated on Robben Island. As we toured the prison, our guide told us about his work with Umkhonto we Sizwe (the armed wing of the ANC), his detention and torture, and his years on Robben Island.
Sangoma and muthi market
In Langa, we visited a sangoma (a traditional healer), who told us about throwing the bones, the process he uses in determining how to help his clients. He allowed us to look around his shop at the various ingredients he uses for healing, including: herbs, roots, bones, and all types of animal skins. Later, in Johannesburg, we visited a market where sangomas buy their ingredients; a number of sangomas have also set up businesses there.
While there are no exact figures, there is an estimate that at least 80% of the indigenous population of South Africa visits sangomas a few times a year, after or instead of going to a western medical doctor.
Vicky’s B&B & Khayelitsha daycare centers
Vicky Ntozini is the owner of the first township bed and breakfast in Khayelitsha. When she began, few thought this would be a successful enterprise, but now people from all over the world who want to experience township life visit and stay there. With the success of her B&B, Vicky has worked to improve the living conditions of her neighbors in Site C, including helping many to start their own businesses; she is a dynamic and well respected community leader. We first went to Vicky’s to learn about her community, including Xhosa funeral and mourning practices. We returned a second time to tour local daycare centers that she had helped found. One of the daycare centers we visited marked a community milestone; despite the stigma of AIDS, ½ of the children were known to be HIV+.