Human Rights Day

Saturday March 21st was Human Rights Day, a holiday in South Africa to commemorate a number of the atrocities that took place during the struggle against Apartheid, including the Sharpeville Massacre in 1961 and the Soweto uprising in 1976. So, to celebrate this day, numerous public celebrations take place around South Africa and a few happened in PE. As a group, we attended the official celebration in PE put on by the government. Now, it was very different from something that might happen in the US, especially since it is an election year here. You would think that an official government celebration like this would be free of politics or else there would be a lot of anger from those who thought it would disturb the desired mood of the day, but it was not so with this celebration.
It took place at a park/cattle grazing pasture in the middle of Uitenhage, an extremely poverty ridden township outside of PE, about a half an hour drive from Langerry. We left around 8:00 am and after getting lost, arrived at 9:00 and found what, instead of a multi-partisan event, was basically and African National Congress (ANC, the ruling party) political rally of about 3,000 people. And with the racial divide that still exists in South Africa, we were the only white people there except for a reporter and a photographer, and the people seemed to love it that we were there. It seemed like everyone we walked by gave us a smile and a friendly hello, and a number of people approached us to talk to us. There were speakers scheduled to start around 11:00 including Winnie Mandela, the x-wife of Nelson Mandela, and Julius Malema, president of the ANC youth league. However, due to some last minute scheduling conflicts they were not able to come, so they arranged for some other speakers. Before the speakers were scheduled to start, though, was probably the most interesting part of the day. Smaller groups of people formed and everyone in these groups would chant ANC sayings, sing songs, and dance around. Most people were sporting their ANC t-shirts and a number of those who weren’t were in traditional Xhosa dress. So, of course we all got in there and sang and danced with them, which definitely made me feel connected with them. Something I will never forget was when Zach, with an ANC shirt that someone he met there gave him, was in the middle of a big circle of people singing, dancing, and doing the ANC fist pump, all while the media photographer was snapping pictures of him! We all predicted that he would be on the front page of every newspaper in the country the next morning! It was a cultural experience like no other!
We ended up taking off around 1:00 and came back to the flats, which seemed like an entirely different world after that experience. It definitely makes me grateful for all that I have. Until next time.
Kirby