Johannes Hui: Youth Day

Happy Youth Day! On this day the people of South Africa celebrate their protest of the Bantu Education Act to obtain the right to a decent basic education. We began our day at the South African Natural History Museum where we learned the story of both the native people and the wildlife through exhibits like a blue whale skeleton. Immediately after, we drove through the rain to arrive at Green Market Square where we bought our souvenirs for the trip. Most of us picked up a few canvas prints and stone or wood animals. Hungry after an hour of honing our feeble bargaining skills, we then headed to the Eastern Food Bizarre. The majority of us chose to have a delicious Indian meal or rather disappointing Chinese food. Returning to the hotel, about half of us chose to go see the game between Angola and South Africa at the nearby World Cup stadium. We walked over to the stadium and Mr. Moreno asked about buying tickets as we arrived, upon which we were presented by the security guards with free tickets to the game! Although we could onto stay for the entire game, we were elated to be able to step foot inside the stadium we had seen on TV so many times. To end. The day, we met with Mr. Jacques Du Preez to learn about some of major issues in South Africa including corruption, dissatisfactory public service providers, and a decline in the quality of education. As we listened to him, were shown another side of the story of South Africa, one that was almost the opposite of the optimistic picture we had been shown as they emerged from the end of apartheid. 

For us, today felt like the beginning of the conclusion of our trip as we both had a chance to be tourists in a new city and gain a fuller picture of what South Africa really was like. We had originally planned to go to Table Moutain had the weather permitted, but despite the change in plans, we still had a packed and enjoyable time. In fact, we wished we had even more time as we had to leave the soccer game early for our meeting with Mr. Du Preez. Speaking with him was probably the most meaningful part of the day. We were struck by his constant praise of America as a leader and ideal country. It made us grateful, but more importantly, the contrasting picture he gave us of South Africa to the hopeful country after apartheid we had learned about warned us that doing something right in the past does not guarantee a perfect future. Even though the same party, the ANC, had remained in power, their reliance on their successful past was not enough to keep the country going in the right direction. The events of the 1990s were unable to solve the problems people faced today. All in all, today was a good way to begin winding down our trip as we came to understand the complexity if the people and the government in this country 10,000 miles away form home.