My Thoughts: District Six Museum, Slave Lodge, and Robben Island

The past few days have been filled with so much fun but also a lot of learning. We have had the opportunity to meet with the most amazing and passionate tour guides who helped really shape our experience and impression of Cape Town's dynamic history. The people we've met so far are amazing! They are so enthusiastic and most of all loving. Here, no question is too personal because this history is dying to be shared. It's wonderful because we get to learn so much and also I'm becoming so excited to learn more. Which is always a great thing!

District Six Museum 

Our first educational tour was at the District Six Museum. We had the privileged of listening to Joe share his experiences being relocated from District Six during the Apartheid. It was remarkable and captivating to hear his story and to learn the history in such a visual and interactive way. Ben (our RA) later explained that we can relate well to people our age in Cape Town because their parents grew up in segregation as did ours and while we are living in the new world and race is still a big issue. Often people in our country (especially the North) brush it off and instead do not speak of it at all. Ben is from the South and his perspective is that race is a hot issue and people do speak about it similar to here. People discuss race often because this history encourages people to identify as a certain way and with that comes invisible privilege, struggle, hurt, and hope. I was excited to read the stories and personal accounts of people displaced from the diversity of District Six to the Cape Flats. It was beautiful to see how this dispersed community came together to rebuild and reconnect after so many years through this old church which is now a museum. I still have a lot to learn but this introduction really got me thinking and it shed a lot of light on why Cape Town is still pretty segregated. Later this week, we'll be going on a township tour and I hope to meet many people and hear their stories too.

Then, we went back even further in Cape Town's history to learn about the slave history of this area. We met Lucy who is a great story teller and researcher. She is most likely the most knowledgeable person in Cape Town regarding the history of slavery. She explained that slaves were transported from central and eastern Africa as well as India, Indonesia, and other locations to serve the Dutch settlers because law prohibited them from enslaving the native people. Lucy spoke to us about the impact of slavery even today and the changes that Cape Town went through during Dutch rule but also after. Something interesting is that the building used to house the slaves, the slave lodge, was also a library and court house on other occasions. Lucy explained that sometimes the history of Cape Town is buried and that many native "Cape Tonians" when asked about slaves in Cape Town would admit they have no idea what happened. We took a chance to look at the present day layout of the city and compare it to the layout during slave time. Part of the reason nobody is aware of this history is because everything has been changed, it's as if people are trying to rewrite history in a way. It was difficult to hear about this but again we were able to compare it to American history and that was a bit scary. These parallels got me thinking and I realize now how history  most definitely does repeat itself just not always in the same place.

Nelson Mandela's Cell at Robben Island

And, as if our brains were not full enough of information that made us wonder, today we traveled to Robben Island where political prisoners and criminals were held. We had an in depth tour which helped us to understand how the facility functioned and also the changes that were made to make this imprisonment equal for people from all backgrounds. What was interesting was that there was only one white prisoner the entire time the island was running. White prisoners were separate and inside the prison walls all people were separated by the assigned color of their skin. This included separate uniforms, reduced diets and other inequalities. After we toured the grounds, we heard from a guide who had been a prisoner from 1986-1991. He showed us the maximum security prison and also shared about his experiences. It was emotional to hear from his and listen to his story. What was even harder was seeing the cells of prisoners and hearing about their lifestyles. We were all shocked when we saw the cell that Nelson Mandela had lived in. The accommodations were as bare as could be and it felt almost rude to be photographing this scene because it is such a sensitive topic. The area was run down and the information shared with us was shocking. Our guide felt embarrassed about his past and defeated because he could not entirely regain his freedom ever since he was so badly hurt and compromised during his 5 year sentence. The entire experience was eye opening.

As I learn more and more about Cape Town I find it hard not to relate this history to my own. I know each experience is individual and each circumstance is unique but somehow this feels quite similar and familiar. I can't wait to learn more and experience Cape Town. I hope to talk to people and hear their stories. Where there is opportunity for change, conversations can be the spark!