Every day that we have in
Johannesburg is different and exciting. When my alarm goes off every morning at
the crack of dawn and get ready to go, I get excited to see what the day brings
us. Even though we have an idea of what we are doing for the day, it is almost
always never what I expect.
We
all meet for breakfast in our guest house in the suburbs of Melville, talking
about what everyone did the night before and the different experiences we all
had. Our guide, Sebu, arrives and we all scramble to get on the bus for the day
as most of us are not morning people.
The
bus is our classroom; it is also a place where we all bond together in our long
days and sometimes squeeze in a short nap when we can. There is so much to see
in Jo’burg with not enough time to do it.
We
learn through readings, guest lectures, discussions, talks on the bus, seeing
sites of discussion and through each other. When we get on the bus each day I
expect a small background lecture on what we will be seeing and the past and
current issues that surround the topic or place that we are going to. Having
good background knowledge is important for getting the most out of our short
day trips. Reading about a place or topic, then actually going out in the city
to see these issues on a first account it an amazing way to learn. I have never
learned so much in my life in such a short amount of time, it makes me very
excited for the rest of our trip.
The
current issues in the city that we have mainly studied so far such as housing,
the post-apartheid system, social justice, inequality, spatial segregation and
so many other things that I could talk on and on about after only being here
for a little more than a week. My favorite day thus far was our visit to the
township, Soweto, the largest township in Johannesburg. It is a place that has
so many different classes of wealth all in one area. I got to see the sense of
what they call “Ubuntu” or togetherness, only after being there one day. They
all help out one another, they say “Your neighbors problem is also your
problem.” They live like a close family, and then I thought about how I have
not even met a lot of my neighbors back home. I was extremely envious of this,
as people do not feel that way in the United States. Even not being from here I
felt so welcome. Even people from a far will wave at our bus to welcome us.
After
a long day of seeing things first hand our day usually ends in a group
discussion so people can reflect on the day. Not being a sociology major, and
having never learned about any of the things we talk about in my life, this is
one of my favorite parts as I get to hear from my peers and what they thought
about the day. Never being exposed to these topics before definitely brings me
outside my comfort zone, which does make me a little shy in discussions, but I
find that I learn so much from everyone. Hearing from all different
perspectives usually completely changes mine by the end, as I find that people
perceive all sorts of things very differently. Sometimes the things we see each
day are heavy and emotional, therefore I think talking about them and
reflecting on them is important to process what we see.
The
day ends by us having a little bit of free time to get dinner somewhere in the
city. This tends to be my favorite part of everyday but not because it is the
time that we are not formally learning, but because it is the time that I meet
so many amazing people in this city. My favorite part of this city is the
people that live in it. I have never seen so many people be so incredibly kind.
I feel welcome wherever I go and hearing different stories from different
people, and you find that you have complete strangers looking out for you. I
find that I learn from them as well. I even ask them sometimes on their
perspectives on some of the things we do day to day, gaining knowledge from
people who lived through the things we are studying just tops of the day in a
nice way. Even just learning more about South African culture from them makes
me feel like I am learning so much so quickly, and I could not being enjoying
every second of it more.
One night we went
to 7th street in Melville which tends to be a very fun street to
spend time on, we were approached by a man who noticed we were not from here. I
was so taken back that a random person would come up and talk to us as that
would rarely ever happen back home. He said he just wanted to come over and
welcome us to South Africa and hoped that we have had a good stay thus far and
would continue to. Once he left another man who we got to know as Chile also
came over and said that he was so sorry that his friend came to welcome us and
did not even offer to buy us drinks. Chile bought us all a classic South
African drink and proceeded to have a long conversation with us about what he
thought were the best parts and places in Johannesburg. One thing that he said
that really stuck with me was, “If I ever came to the United States, I would
hope of just as warm of a welcome.” I felt bad because we all knew that people
do not just normally do things like that in the United States. It is much
harder to meet people and much harder to create conversations with random
strangers. However, getting such a warm welcome to Joburg from locals was a
great start to an amazing trip.
Learning
in such a unique way and much different than what we are used to I believe is
so much more effective than a traditional classroom. I could not be more
thankful to get to learn by actually seeing the things that we are learning
about in a real life setting. It can be tough and challenging at times, but it
makes it so you are constantly thinking. Even after the formal learning ends
each day I continue to learn new things all the time on this trip.
Chloe DiMare
Comments
Post a Comment