For
our last group free day, we went wine-tasting on Northeastern’s dime, and it
was one of the top 5 days of our trip. It started with an open air market where
we were all able to buy a few last minute souvenirs and get a quick bite to eat
before a long day of sipping on wine and snacking on cheese. What followed was
a rapid onslaught of wine-tasting after wine-tasting with a surprise one during
our scheduled lunch. Needless to say, everyone on the bus was giddy to the
point where our professor remarked that this was the happiest she had seen us
on the trip. If only she knew earlier that a little wine was all we needed to
get the scowls off of our faces.
Had this trip been toward the
beginning of our journey my reflections might have ended there. Thanks Northeastern
for giving my friends and me free alcohol for a fun and frivolous day. But
despite our grins and giggles on the bus traveling from winery to winery, there
was a veil of guilt. Gazing out the window it is impossible to miss the poverty
that exists between the tourist attractions that society would rather you
ignore while you guzzle wine. But this dialogue was about seeking out what is swept under the rug. We
sought to eradicate the single story that society paints of townships and “no-go”
areas. Once you venture outside the realm of comfort and wealth it is
impossible to ignore what you have learned. Without this trip, I would have
never have learned anything about the truth and heart of cities of South Africa.
It’s not to say that there is
anything inherently bad about having a frivolous day on a trip fully saturated
with experiential learning. My point here is that by being on this Right to the
City dialogue my entire viewpoint has changed. The wine tasting was when I
realized how different I have become since that first 12-hour flight to Dubai
over a month ago. Nothing is ever black and white or all good or all bad. I’ve
learned to question everything I see and to never let one experience in a place
or with a person determine my entire perception. Some of the best days on this
trip have been in townships or informal settlements where I never would have
dared to venture without the guidance and support of Liza and Jeff. Becoming so
immersed in the complexities of South Africa has pushed me to examine my own implicit
biases and always think critically about every situation presented to me. I
make my own judgements based on first-hand experience and refuse to accept the
easy or comfortable answer.
About two weeks after I return from
this trip I will be flying to Florida to go on a cruise vacation with my
immediate family and my cousins. I don’t think that I will be able to be a
complacent boarder of that boat knowing what I know. Going to a poverty-stricken
country and experiencing only the manicured, tourist-intended excursions and
avoiding the uncomfortable and the dirty seems to be against everything I have
gathered from my trip. But I know that everything is done in moderation, but
with an open-consciousness comes critical thinking.
Does this make life harder? Will I question
things that I once took at face value? Will my family probably be very
irritated with me as I point out how exclusionary the spaces we enter are? I
know the answer to at least the last question is a definite yes. But I am so
grateful for the knowledge and the new world view that this experience has
granted me, and I cannot wait to be a new me in my old setting.
Ava Gallo
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