Today, I began a three-day shadowing of a principal at a secondary school in one of the colored townships around Cape Town. The school is unusual in that, even during Apartheid, the school, built in 1983, has accepted all students. As such, the student body, while mostly colored, has a significant minority of Xhosa (Koza) students from the township of Khayelitsha and diversity programming has hence been a priority. The languages of instruction are Afrikaans and English eventhough some students speak Xhosa as a first language. The vast remainder speak Afrikaans as a first language. There are a few students of Indian descent but these students are also of mixed ancestry. Surnames of those of colored ancestry could have originally been Dutch, Indian, English, French and/or of other origin. As my time at the school continues, I will continue to post.
The Colored community in the Cape Town region plays a significant role in the area being the majority population. As the Dutch became the world sea power and trader of spices from Indonesia (Batavia), in the early 1600s, they began to depend on slaves. Some Indonesian slaves were thus transported to the Cape in South Africa which the Dutch established as a resupply depot in between the Netherlands and Asia. (As an aside, the British agreed to give up any claims in Indonesia for the handover of control from the Dutch over New Amsterdam - i.e. New York City). In time, these slaves mixed with whites and Indians to eventually create a "colored" community. The coloreds also suffered under Apartheid being forced to move from areas around Cape Town, such as Constancia and Simon's Town, which had become desirable areas south of Cape Town designated for white settlement. These are some of the most spectacularly beautiful places I have ever seen! The coloreds were then forced to move to the less-than-desirable Cape Flats and colored designated townships such as Mitchell's Plain. Today, if those removed owned property in areas from which they were evicted and those properties were destroyed, individuals can apply for restitution.
The Bo-Kaap area within the Center City was also largely colored and they too were also expected to move under the Group Resettlement Act. This community, however, refused and Bo-Kaap remains largely colored today. There are several museums and tours of Bo-Kaap now commemorating the contributions of this community to the growth of South Africa. The community itself is also diverse in that some colored South Africans are Muslim while others are Christian and/or non-affiliated.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
BIRTH OF A LANGUAGE: AFRIKAANS
THE BIRTH OF A LANGUAGE: AFRIKAANS
From his home in Oudtshoorn, Arbeidsgenot (House of Work and Pleasure), C.J. Langenhoven (1873-1932) co-authored the South African Anthem, “Die Stem”. Langenhoven was, however, much more than the legacy of this one work. Arbeidsgenot was donated to the country following the death of Langenhoven’s wife in the 1950s. Langenhoven and his wife, a widow ten years his senior, have been re-interned on the property after vandalism damaged the original family cemetery. The house, complete with its original furnishings, is open on weekdays for tours.
Born into an Afrikaans-speaking farming family, Langenhoven was educated as a lawyer and became a distinguished Afrikaans author of stories for children ages 2 to 100. When asked about studying in Europe, Langenhoven replied that there was more than enough to occupy his time in South Africa. Langenhoven’s most noted works, all written in Afrikaans, include “Christmas Kinder”, the Trouble with Neighbors, and Harrie the Elephant. Noted for his sense of humor, Langenhoven was also committed to the adoption of Afrikaans as an official language of South Africa as he was opposed to having just English and/or “high Dutch” used in schools, and the government. Langenhoven felt that both Dutch and English were dominating education and the courts, and that full meanings and subtleties of words were being lost in translations of legal precedence. Langenhoven was successful in having Afrikaans, as opposed to Dutch, adopted in public schools, by 1914, and after becoming a senator in the 1920s, was also able to have Afrikaans adopted as an official language of the courts and country by 1927.
Of course, this was to have far reaching implications as the adoption of Afrikaans in the townships, during the Apartheid era and at the expense of English and native languages, was to lead, in part, to the Soweto Uprising in the 1970s. This is the subject of the Hector Pietersen Museum in Soweto and the Apartheid Museum as discussed in previous posts.
Afrikaans, according to Peter – the manager of Arbeidsgenot, is “a language of Africa” and is constantly changing to reflect the diversity of the country as a whole. Indeed, as I travel through the country, it appears that Afrikaans is the language of communication between ethnic groups with English as a second. Although, it is not uncommon to hear words in English, Zulu, and/or Hindi/Urdu thrown in for good measure. Having originally developed from Dutch, after the Dutch originally settled the Cape of Good Hope in the 1600s (as a refueling station for its ships heading to the spice islands in Asia), it is the direct result of how local Blacks and Coloreds tried to make sense of the Dutch language and then how the Whites themselves took control over the development of the language.
Afrikaaners today are descended from these original Dutch settlers as well as from Germans and French Protestants who fled Catholic France in the wake of religious persecution. Common Afrikaaner names include, but are not limited to, Van De Berg, Van de Mewre (sp?), Du Plessy, Joubert, Le Roux, and De Marais. It is also from this Afrikaaner group that some individuals, those unhappy with growing British domination as Dutch maritime power waned and British power increased, left the Cape colonies moving east and north - eventually to establish the Free State and to settle the areas that would become Johannesburg and Pretoria. Coloureds are descended from the mixing of white, black, and Malays/Asians brought into the country as cheap labor by the European controlling powers. While rare during the Apartheid era, South Africans are mixing much more openly today.
Often referred to as “pigeon Dutch”, Afrikaans was originally looked down upon because indeed it includes fewer words than in High Dutch. Nonetheless, Dutch, Flemish (Belgian form of Dutch), and Afrikaans speakers can communicate with one another to this day if with occasional difficulty over pronunciation differences.
From his home in Oudtshoorn, Arbeidsgenot (House of Work and Pleasure), C.J. Langenhoven (1873-1932) co-authored the South African Anthem, “Die Stem”. Langenhoven was, however, much more than the legacy of this one work. Arbeidsgenot was donated to the country following the death of Langenhoven’s wife in the 1950s. Langenhoven and his wife, a widow ten years his senior, have been re-interned on the property after vandalism damaged the original family cemetery. The house, complete with its original furnishings, is open on weekdays for tours.
Born into an Afrikaans-speaking farming family, Langenhoven was educated as a lawyer and became a distinguished Afrikaans author of stories for children ages 2 to 100. When asked about studying in Europe, Langenhoven replied that there was more than enough to occupy his time in South Africa. Langenhoven’s most noted works, all written in Afrikaans, include “Christmas Kinder”, the Trouble with Neighbors, and Harrie the Elephant. Noted for his sense of humor, Langenhoven was also committed to the adoption of Afrikaans as an official language of South Africa as he was opposed to having just English and/or “high Dutch” used in schools, and the government. Langenhoven felt that both Dutch and English were dominating education and the courts, and that full meanings and subtleties of words were being lost in translations of legal precedence. Langenhoven was successful in having Afrikaans, as opposed to Dutch, adopted in public schools, by 1914, and after becoming a senator in the 1920s, was also able to have Afrikaans adopted as an official language of the courts and country by 1927.
Of course, this was to have far reaching implications as the adoption of Afrikaans in the townships, during the Apartheid era and at the expense of English and native languages, was to lead, in part, to the Soweto Uprising in the 1970s. This is the subject of the Hector Pietersen Museum in Soweto and the Apartheid Museum as discussed in previous posts.
Afrikaans, according to Peter – the manager of Arbeidsgenot, is “a language of Africa” and is constantly changing to reflect the diversity of the country as a whole. Indeed, as I travel through the country, it appears that Afrikaans is the language of communication between ethnic groups with English as a second. Although, it is not uncommon to hear words in English, Zulu, and/or Hindi/Urdu thrown in for good measure. Having originally developed from Dutch, after the Dutch originally settled the Cape of Good Hope in the 1600s (as a refueling station for its ships heading to the spice islands in Asia), it is the direct result of how local Blacks and Coloreds tried to make sense of the Dutch language and then how the Whites themselves took control over the development of the language.
Afrikaaners today are descended from these original Dutch settlers as well as from Germans and French Protestants who fled Catholic France in the wake of religious persecution. Common Afrikaaner names include, but are not limited to, Van De Berg, Van de Mewre (sp?), Du Plessy, Joubert, Le Roux, and De Marais. It is also from this Afrikaaner group that some individuals, those unhappy with growing British domination as Dutch maritime power waned and British power increased, left the Cape colonies moving east and north - eventually to establish the Free State and to settle the areas that would become Johannesburg and Pretoria. Coloureds are descended from the mixing of white, black, and Malays/Asians brought into the country as cheap labor by the European controlling powers. While rare during the Apartheid era, South Africans are mixing much more openly today.
Often referred to as “pigeon Dutch”, Afrikaans was originally looked down upon because indeed it includes fewer words than in High Dutch. Nonetheless, Dutch, Flemish (Belgian form of Dutch), and Afrikaans speakers can communicate with one another to this day if with occasional difficulty over pronunciation differences.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
The Ostrich Capital and the Role of the South African Jewish Community
THE OSTRICH CAPITAL OF THE WORLD AND THE EMERGENCE OF A JEWISH SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNITY
Having had a few free days in my schedule, I decided to go to “The Little Karoo”, a dry area in the Eastern Cape in between two mountain ranges - one being the Swartberg Mountain Chain (Black Mountains). The dry and warm area conditions are ideal for the breeding of ostriches. As such, the area around Oudtshoorn - the unofficial small town capital of this region – is dotted with game reserves, Victorian stone masonry cottages, curio shops with anything/everything ostrich, and touristy/non-touristy ostrich farms. The feel is most assuredly “Afrikaner” and English is a mere secondary language of means with tourists.
As the day started, I went to Chandelier Game Reserve to take a tour of their ostrich operation and nearly killed myself on a three-wheeler riding around the reserve with a guide. I was truly impressed with the myriad of ways that farmers take advantage of this bird. While, at the turn of the Twentieth Century, ostrich feathers were worth more than gold as the demand for such feathers in the fashion industry was of paramount importance and many grew rich on this awkward looking avian creature, the outbreak of World War One in Europe put an end to the feather boom. Yet, in modern times, the industry is again lucrative but in the most diverse of ways. Ostrich farms raise funds entertaining tourists and selling ostrich related curios, including the stuffing of unborn chicks for interested tourists. Ostrich meat is sold throughout the world and its leathery skin fetches a high price. Non-fertile and abnormal eggs are either ground-down to provide calcium to females within breeding pairs or sold to craftsmen who hollow out the eggs and apply decoupage to create lamps, tea kettles, and an as sundry of egg curios. The manure is used to create paper. Eggs are collected from breeding pairs and given to breeders to incubate thus inspiring females in pairs to lay even more eggs. Some of these chicks will be selected for breeding, if large, while the majority will be sold to slaughter houses for the production and curing of meat. It is far from unusual to find ostrich, Kudu (deer) or Springbok (deer) on local menus.
In the early years of the Twentieth Century, many farmers of ostrich were Afrikaners. Yet, at the same time, many Jewish South Africans were also involved in the trade of ostrich-related products on the world market. Having originally fled Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia and other areas of Central/Eastern Europe because of anti-Semitic pogroms, the Jewish community around Oudtshoorn soon numbered in the thousands and led to the creation of two major synagogues. At one point, this was the largest concentrations of Jewish South Africans even larger than those people who congregated in the Johannesburg and Kimberley areas because of the trade in gold and diamonds. One of these synagogues, originally built in the 1890s, can now be seen intact within the town’s C.P. Nel Museum as the building itself was torn down after the Jewish community began to dissipate following the bust of the feather market after World War One. Much of this community relocated to Johannesburg, Cape Town, and/or overseas. Today, there are only five or six Jewish families living in the area and rabbis must come from the populated cities of South Africa to service the religious needs of these families. In Cape Town, I also plan on visiting the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Centre.
Having had a few free days in my schedule, I decided to go to “The Little Karoo”, a dry area in the Eastern Cape in between two mountain ranges - one being the Swartberg Mountain Chain (Black Mountains). The dry and warm area conditions are ideal for the breeding of ostriches. As such, the area around Oudtshoorn - the unofficial small town capital of this region – is dotted with game reserves, Victorian stone masonry cottages, curio shops with anything/everything ostrich, and touristy/non-touristy ostrich farms. The feel is most assuredly “Afrikaner” and English is a mere secondary language of means with tourists.
As the day started, I went to Chandelier Game Reserve to take a tour of their ostrich operation and nearly killed myself on a three-wheeler riding around the reserve with a guide. I was truly impressed with the myriad of ways that farmers take advantage of this bird. While, at the turn of the Twentieth Century, ostrich feathers were worth more than gold as the demand for such feathers in the fashion industry was of paramount importance and many grew rich on this awkward looking avian creature, the outbreak of World War One in Europe put an end to the feather boom. Yet, in modern times, the industry is again lucrative but in the most diverse of ways. Ostrich farms raise funds entertaining tourists and selling ostrich related curios, including the stuffing of unborn chicks for interested tourists. Ostrich meat is sold throughout the world and its leathery skin fetches a high price. Non-fertile and abnormal eggs are either ground-down to provide calcium to females within breeding pairs or sold to craftsmen who hollow out the eggs and apply decoupage to create lamps, tea kettles, and an as sundry of egg curios. The manure is used to create paper. Eggs are collected from breeding pairs and given to breeders to incubate thus inspiring females in pairs to lay even more eggs. Some of these chicks will be selected for breeding, if large, while the majority will be sold to slaughter houses for the production and curing of meat. It is far from unusual to find ostrich, Kudu (deer) or Springbok (deer) on local menus.
In the early years of the Twentieth Century, many farmers of ostrich were Afrikaners. Yet, at the same time, many Jewish South Africans were also involved in the trade of ostrich-related products on the world market. Having originally fled Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia and other areas of Central/Eastern Europe because of anti-Semitic pogroms, the Jewish community around Oudtshoorn soon numbered in the thousands and led to the creation of two major synagogues. At one point, this was the largest concentrations of Jewish South Africans even larger than those people who congregated in the Johannesburg and Kimberley areas because of the trade in gold and diamonds. One of these synagogues, originally built in the 1890s, can now be seen intact within the town’s C.P. Nel Museum as the building itself was torn down after the Jewish community began to dissipate following the bust of the feather market after World War One. Much of this community relocated to Johannesburg, Cape Town, and/or overseas. Today, there are only five or six Jewish families living in the area and rabbis must come from the populated cities of South Africa to service the religious needs of these families. In Cape Town, I also plan on visiting the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Centre.
A Visit to an Indian Township School
On July 13th, Satyagraha set up a visit to one of the Indian townships for me to talk with a principal of a largely Indian school although mixed with some black students from the nearby black townships. This was an extremely informative visit and I also had the opportunity to “teach” a class. While, normally, students are not in school on a Saturday, all schools in South Africa need to make up time lost during the recent national strike that also included educators. Contrary to American unions, the South African Teachers Union also includes administrators which, I believe, engenders a slightly more collegial environment. The principal of the school is also heavily involved in the union.
The topic of my lesson was migration. Drawing on my own family’s immigrant roots, the students and I discussed the Indian migration to South Africa as well as rural to urban immigration of the indigenous population. Comparisons were drawn between the US and South Africa and to the reasons why people migrate. The students were very engaged asking questions ranging from how I liked South Africa to crime in America. I was also very impressed that the students could ascertain the various conditions affecting migration patterns that range from finding better employment to the desire to be free of political oppression.
The principal and I discussed many things. As a relatively new principal, I was interested in learning more about the mentorship process of administrators. While South Africa has yet to get a formal process off the ground, other than to have administrative certification coursework requirements, the principal in question has spearheaded a local principal consultancy/roundtable, on a monthly basis, with other principals in the Indian townships. In addition to administrative duties, many principals are also expected to teach one/two classes often without the aid of a vice-principal, especially in primary schools with less than 400 students. While the school in question had had a vice-principal, this person had been reassigned by the time of my interview. In the meantime, different teachers have volunteered to assume various department head duties although none of these positions are official.
From my discussion, it was clear that some administrators in South Africa feel that democracy and equality is not coming soon enough. My interview subject, as a former student leader in the ANC during the struggle to end Apartheid who had been jailed, is becoming particularly disillusioned. The national strike echoes some of their concerns. Indeed, having now seen schools in the Black, and Indian townships, as well as former white/Model C schools, it is clear that infrastructure inequities still exist as the Black schools often had no sports fields, the Indian schools had fields of varying quality, and the former model C schools – such as Durban High School – had Olympic size swimming pools and other playing fields often supported with private endowments. It is a tough problem as the SA Department of Education must maintain equal funding to former model C schools which often still receive alumni endowments, rather than instituting a sort-of reverse Apartheid system, while also helping to upgrade school facilities in the townships to an acceptable level. The principal, with whom I spoke, hopes that upgrades will include the integration of technology as it is still often unheard of in township schools. As of now, even with broadband, local phone charges are assessed in South Africa. The school that I visited must make due with an annual budget of only $20,000 US as well as on some yearly subsidies. The school, however, has had academic success which the principal credits to the implementation of a school culture that stresses academic excellence based, in part, on a commitment to values education.
As with American schools, the principal and I shared our concerns and methods by which to foster parent involvement in the school community. Indeed, this has been an “informal” challenge in the school that I visited as the principal must make Black parents feel welcome in a formerly but still largely Indian school and to highlight cultural similarities rather than differences to both students and parents. Principals must also help educate parents, in formerly oppressed communities under the Apartheid regime, to develop leadership capabilities and increase parental self-esteem. There has been some resistance to this because boundaries are no longer understood as they were under Apartheid. The principal also shared with me that it is his desire that the teaching staff also be further integrated. At this point, the teaching staff is completely of Indian descent. We also discussed the possibility of teacher/student exchanges as well as the possibility of his students contacting mine with any questions on America that they might have.
The topic of my lesson was migration. Drawing on my own family’s immigrant roots, the students and I discussed the Indian migration to South Africa as well as rural to urban immigration of the indigenous population. Comparisons were drawn between the US and South Africa and to the reasons why people migrate. The students were very engaged asking questions ranging from how I liked South Africa to crime in America. I was also very impressed that the students could ascertain the various conditions affecting migration patterns that range from finding better employment to the desire to be free of political oppression.
The principal and I discussed many things. As a relatively new principal, I was interested in learning more about the mentorship process of administrators. While South Africa has yet to get a formal process off the ground, other than to have administrative certification coursework requirements, the principal in question has spearheaded a local principal consultancy/roundtable, on a monthly basis, with other principals in the Indian townships. In addition to administrative duties, many principals are also expected to teach one/two classes often without the aid of a vice-principal, especially in primary schools with less than 400 students. While the school in question had had a vice-principal, this person had been reassigned by the time of my interview. In the meantime, different teachers have volunteered to assume various department head duties although none of these positions are official.
From my discussion, it was clear that some administrators in South Africa feel that democracy and equality is not coming soon enough. My interview subject, as a former student leader in the ANC during the struggle to end Apartheid who had been jailed, is becoming particularly disillusioned. The national strike echoes some of their concerns. Indeed, having now seen schools in the Black, and Indian townships, as well as former white/Model C schools, it is clear that infrastructure inequities still exist as the Black schools often had no sports fields, the Indian schools had fields of varying quality, and the former model C schools – such as Durban High School – had Olympic size swimming pools and other playing fields often supported with private endowments. It is a tough problem as the SA Department of Education must maintain equal funding to former model C schools which often still receive alumni endowments, rather than instituting a sort-of reverse Apartheid system, while also helping to upgrade school facilities in the townships to an acceptable level. The principal, with whom I spoke, hopes that upgrades will include the integration of technology as it is still often unheard of in township schools. As of now, even with broadband, local phone charges are assessed in South Africa. The school that I visited must make due with an annual budget of only $20,000 US as well as on some yearly subsidies. The school, however, has had academic success which the principal credits to the implementation of a school culture that stresses academic excellence based, in part, on a commitment to values education.
As with American schools, the principal and I shared our concerns and methods by which to foster parent involvement in the school community. Indeed, this has been an “informal” challenge in the school that I visited as the principal must make Black parents feel welcome in a formerly but still largely Indian school and to highlight cultural similarities rather than differences to both students and parents. Principals must also help educate parents, in formerly oppressed communities under the Apartheid regime, to develop leadership capabilities and increase parental self-esteem. There has been some resistance to this because boundaries are no longer understood as they were under Apartheid. The principal also shared with me that it is his desire that the teaching staff also be further integrated. At this point, the teaching staff is completely of Indian descent. We also discussed the possibility of teacher/student exchanges as well as the possibility of his students contacting mine with any questions on America that they might have.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Sugar and Durban: The Growth of the Indian Community
Sugar and South Africa: The Growth of the Indian South African Community
On July 13, 2007, having been in Durban City (Kwazulu-Natal Province), I visited with both Satyagraha, an organization dedicated to promoting the values of Mohatma Gandhi and his principles of non-violence, and the Indian Cultural and Documentation Center.
While South Africans of Indian descent can be found throughout South Africa, many in this community can be found in the Durban area and in the nearby former Indian townships of Chatsworth and Phoenix. Those of South Asian descent were also segregated during the Apartheid era.
During Dutch colonial times, there is some record of Bengal slaves being traded between Batavia (Indonesia) and the Cape Colony (South Africa). However, in the 1800s, the Indian community really began to take hold. Local Zulu inhabitants refused to work on sugar plantations in the area; the key commercial product produced in this sub-tropical region of South Africa. As a result, on November 16, 1860, the first Indian indentured servants, who were expected to serve a five year term on local sugar plantations to pay off transport, arrived from India on the SS Truro. This landing was followed by many others, and, at the end of their service, Indian indentured servants could be transported home to India or could opt to stay in South Africa. Given the poverty in India, many chose to remain in-country - a country that recruiters in India portrayed as “a land of milk and honey”. Indeed, while many Indian South Africans are now prospering in the post Apartheid environment, the history of this community was far from easy or unified.
Indentured servants were treated poorly on plantations often only being given one day to build their first makeshift homes before being expected to work from sunup to sunrise thereafter. Sanitary conditions were also poor. In the1870s, Indian indentured servants were joined by the first passenger Indian immigrants – those able to afford their own passage and who often started their own businesses. While many indentured were of Tamil ancestry, with the arrival of passenger immigrants, the South African Indian community would soon consist of all castes, Hindus and Muslims, and those from the northern regions of India. One of the most famous immigrants to come to South Africa was Mohatma Gandhi.
Having arrived, unknown to the world, in 1893, lawyer Mohatma Gandhi came to represent a legal client in a local dispute. He stayed for over twenty years, and, following an eviction from the train in Pietermaritzburg for being in a “white” train car, Gandhi became politically active in the struggle for racial equality and peaceful resistance in a movement that he called “Satyagraha”. In 1904, Gandhi started his first ashram, or community based on his values and religious contemplation, in Phoenix. This community consisted of a publishing house, a school, and his house. It was from here that Gandhi published the journal “Indian Opinion”, an initial action of protest that would see Gandhi in/out of prison on political charges for many years. It was after this that Gandhi returned to India to lead it towards independence from British rule.
Having visited the remains of the Phoenix settlement, yesterday, I did feel a certain sense of peace as strange as this may seem. While visitors can tour the small reconstructed house, as the first was burned down during Apartheid violence in the 1980s, and the Printing House, there are plans to upgrade the site further to renovate the original school site and to include a museum. A few objects from Gandhi’s time in South Africa, however, can be seen at the Indian Documentation and Cultural Centre in Durban. The staff at the Centre was very helpful in providing the information for this posting and hopes that the Centre will eventually be funded by the national historical commission.
The Satyagraha organization, with whom I also met, was founded by Gandhi’s granddaughter Ela Gandhi, her father having remained in South Africa upon Mohatma Gandhi’s return to India. While the organization remains committed to promoting principles of non-violence, it is finding itself increasingly involved in assisting the Indian community to come to terms with their new democratic freedoms since the fall of Apartheid. It has also become engaged in tolerance education in schools having sponsored essay/writing contests on the importance of democratic principles today. Tomorrow, I am scheduled to meet with a principal of a mostly Indian public school in Phoenix and, following this, I will be meeting with Satyagraha representative Clive Pillay for a tour of the Chatsworth community.
On July 13, 2007, having been in Durban City (Kwazulu-Natal Province), I visited with both Satyagraha, an organization dedicated to promoting the values of Mohatma Gandhi and his principles of non-violence, and the Indian Cultural and Documentation Center.
While South Africans of Indian descent can be found throughout South Africa, many in this community can be found in the Durban area and in the nearby former Indian townships of Chatsworth and Phoenix. Those of South Asian descent were also segregated during the Apartheid era.
During Dutch colonial times, there is some record of Bengal slaves being traded between Batavia (Indonesia) and the Cape Colony (South Africa). However, in the 1800s, the Indian community really began to take hold. Local Zulu inhabitants refused to work on sugar plantations in the area; the key commercial product produced in this sub-tropical region of South Africa. As a result, on November 16, 1860, the first Indian indentured servants, who were expected to serve a five year term on local sugar plantations to pay off transport, arrived from India on the SS Truro. This landing was followed by many others, and, at the end of their service, Indian indentured servants could be transported home to India or could opt to stay in South Africa. Given the poverty in India, many chose to remain in-country - a country that recruiters in India portrayed as “a land of milk and honey”. Indeed, while many Indian South Africans are now prospering in the post Apartheid environment, the history of this community was far from easy or unified.
Indentured servants were treated poorly on plantations often only being given one day to build their first makeshift homes before being expected to work from sunup to sunrise thereafter. Sanitary conditions were also poor. In the1870s, Indian indentured servants were joined by the first passenger Indian immigrants – those able to afford their own passage and who often started their own businesses. While many indentured were of Tamil ancestry, with the arrival of passenger immigrants, the South African Indian community would soon consist of all castes, Hindus and Muslims, and those from the northern regions of India. One of the most famous immigrants to come to South Africa was Mohatma Gandhi.
Having arrived, unknown to the world, in 1893, lawyer Mohatma Gandhi came to represent a legal client in a local dispute. He stayed for over twenty years, and, following an eviction from the train in Pietermaritzburg for being in a “white” train car, Gandhi became politically active in the struggle for racial equality and peaceful resistance in a movement that he called “Satyagraha”. In 1904, Gandhi started his first ashram, or community based on his values and religious contemplation, in Phoenix. This community consisted of a publishing house, a school, and his house. It was from here that Gandhi published the journal “Indian Opinion”, an initial action of protest that would see Gandhi in/out of prison on political charges for many years. It was after this that Gandhi returned to India to lead it towards independence from British rule.
Having visited the remains of the Phoenix settlement, yesterday, I did feel a certain sense of peace as strange as this may seem. While visitors can tour the small reconstructed house, as the first was burned down during Apartheid violence in the 1980s, and the Printing House, there are plans to upgrade the site further to renovate the original school site and to include a museum. A few objects from Gandhi’s time in South Africa, however, can be seen at the Indian Documentation and Cultural Centre in Durban. The staff at the Centre was very helpful in providing the information for this posting and hopes that the Centre will eventually be funded by the national historical commission.
The Satyagraha organization, with whom I also met, was founded by Gandhi’s granddaughter Ela Gandhi, her father having remained in South Africa upon Mohatma Gandhi’s return to India. While the organization remains committed to promoting principles of non-violence, it is finding itself increasingly involved in assisting the Indian community to come to terms with their new democratic freedoms since the fall of Apartheid. It has also become engaged in tolerance education in schools having sponsored essay/writing contests on the importance of democratic principles today. Tomorrow, I am scheduled to meet with a principal of a mostly Indian public school in Phoenix and, following this, I will be meeting with Satyagraha representative Clive Pillay for a tour of the Chatsworth community.
Apartheid in Durban
THE APARTHEID SYSTEM IN DURBAN: EFFECTS ARE LONG-LASTING
On July 12, 2007, Innocent Charmaine, education director of the KwaMuhle Museum in Durban, was kind enough to show me sites related to the Apartheid era in Durban and the Black townships of KwaMasha and Inanda. While the KwaMuhle museum is officially closed for renovations, Mr. Charmaine and I had a good conversation on how museums of tolerance disseminate their message to students and the possibility of future collaboration involving SA/US educators and students on an Apartheid tour.
The KwaMuhle Museum building itself is an appropriate setting for a museum dedicated to the racial pass system in Durban when, during Apartheid, all races were expected to carry identity cards dictating where they could live/work. Mr. Charmaine himself remembers having to stand in line during a documents identification search of his family as government officials would visit the Black townships and arrest those without the proper paperwork as undocumented Blacks from the rural areas, especially women, were unwanted, in Durban, by the white community. Indeed, the building, although now beautiful and serene, was the site where Black males, new to Durban and looking for employment, were expected to report for medical examination (prior to 1918, Black women were not allowed in Durban). The examination of male genitalia was carried out in public on the main street in front of the building. There is a statue in the museum courtyard memorializing this demoralizing experience.
Mr. Charmaine then showed me the area of Durban from where Blacks were forcibly removed in the early 1960s as the white community wished to create a buffer zone between them and the Black community. Although the land was not developed by the Apartheid regime, the area is now again home to the Black community but in the form of informal settlements as also seen in parts of Soweto, Johannesburg. In the township of KwaMashu, section 14, where women from rural areas were allowed, by permit, to reside with their husbands for two weeks for conjugal visitations was seen as were two room and four room “houses”. Two-room houses in KwaMashu were reserved for Blacks who agreed to marry partners as dictated by the Apartheid regime while four-room houses were for two families/couples already in existence at the time of KwaMashu’s establishment in the early 1960s. I also saw newer housing/apartment units (“hostels”), originally designed for single males but then integrated to include families as a means by which to reduce the level of violence occurring within them. Some members of the extended Zulu royal family, as Blacks in this area are from the Zulu tribe, live in these units. Mr. Charmaine also introduced me to his wife who is a teacher at one of the primary schools in the township. Mr. Charmaine was also a high school language teacher, having taught in both a township secondary school and then Durban High School which is a school for Durban’s elite of all races.
In Inanda, I was fortunate enough to be shown the Ohlange Institution which was founded by Dr. John Dube (first president of the ANC) in 1901. The Ohlange Institution, the first Black school founded by Blacks in South Africa, was based on the institutional model of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, USA. Luckily, Dr. Dube’s grandson was on hand at the original home of Dr. Dube, behind the school, which is now a museum, to answer my questions. Nelson Mandela cast his first vote, in 1980, at the site of the school. Dr. Dube is buried on the hill just behind his home/school. After this, I went to the Phoenix Settlement to see Mohatma Gandhi’s first established ashram.
On July 12, 2007, Innocent Charmaine, education director of the KwaMuhle Museum in Durban, was kind enough to show me sites related to the Apartheid era in Durban and the Black townships of KwaMasha and Inanda. While the KwaMuhle museum is officially closed for renovations, Mr. Charmaine and I had a good conversation on how museums of tolerance disseminate their message to students and the possibility of future collaboration involving SA/US educators and students on an Apartheid tour.
The KwaMuhle Museum building itself is an appropriate setting for a museum dedicated to the racial pass system in Durban when, during Apartheid, all races were expected to carry identity cards dictating where they could live/work. Mr. Charmaine himself remembers having to stand in line during a documents identification search of his family as government officials would visit the Black townships and arrest those without the proper paperwork as undocumented Blacks from the rural areas, especially women, were unwanted, in Durban, by the white community. Indeed, the building, although now beautiful and serene, was the site where Black males, new to Durban and looking for employment, were expected to report for medical examination (prior to 1918, Black women were not allowed in Durban). The examination of male genitalia was carried out in public on the main street in front of the building. There is a statue in the museum courtyard memorializing this demoralizing experience.
Mr. Charmaine then showed me the area of Durban from where Blacks were forcibly removed in the early 1960s as the white community wished to create a buffer zone between them and the Black community. Although the land was not developed by the Apartheid regime, the area is now again home to the Black community but in the form of informal settlements as also seen in parts of Soweto, Johannesburg. In the township of KwaMashu, section 14, where women from rural areas were allowed, by permit, to reside with their husbands for two weeks for conjugal visitations was seen as were two room and four room “houses”. Two-room houses in KwaMashu were reserved for Blacks who agreed to marry partners as dictated by the Apartheid regime while four-room houses were for two families/couples already in existence at the time of KwaMashu’s establishment in the early 1960s. I also saw newer housing/apartment units (“hostels”), originally designed for single males but then integrated to include families as a means by which to reduce the level of violence occurring within them. Some members of the extended Zulu royal family, as Blacks in this area are from the Zulu tribe, live in these units. Mr. Charmaine also introduced me to his wife who is a teacher at one of the primary schools in the township. Mr. Charmaine was also a high school language teacher, having taught in both a township secondary school and then Durban High School which is a school for Durban’s elite of all races.
In Inanda, I was fortunate enough to be shown the Ohlange Institution which was founded by Dr. John Dube (first president of the ANC) in 1901. The Ohlange Institution, the first Black school founded by Blacks in South Africa, was based on the institutional model of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, USA. Luckily, Dr. Dube’s grandson was on hand at the original home of Dr. Dube, behind the school, which is now a museum, to answer my questions. Nelson Mandela cast his first vote, in 1980, at the site of the school. Dr. Dube is buried on the hill just behind his home/school. After this, I went to the Phoenix Settlement to see Mohatma Gandhi’s first established ashram.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
RESPONSE TO EARLIER BLOG QUESTION ON CONSTITUTION HILL PRISON
I'm having difficulty accessing the Internet at my current hotel. When I can, I'll add pictures to Love Life post and post a blog on today's activities in Durban, South Africa where I met with representatives from the KwaMuhle Museum (about Apartheid and the race passes required in the Durban area), the building of the first black school by blacks for blacks (Dr. Dube), the Black townships of KwaMusha and Inanda, the area in Durban from where blacks were forcibly evicted - Cooperstown (sp?), the process of delousing of black male workers coming into Durban, the affluent mixed Durban High School, and the Ashram started by Mohatma Gandhi, when he lived in South Africa, called the Phoenix Settlement.
The question, however, centers around the prisin in Jo'bg on Constitution Hill. No, since the end of Apartheid, 1993-1994, prison conditions involving human rights have improved to the point where prisoners are not forced to strip in an open courtyard in public. Also, prisons are now integrated. After Apartheid, some of the prisoners at Constitution Hill were released if they had been interned because of political reasons. If they had committed crimes, they were relocated to other working prisons. The Constitution Hill Prison is now just a museum.
The question, however, centers around the prisin in Jo'bg on Constitution Hill. No, since the end of Apartheid, 1993-1994, prison conditions involving human rights have improved to the point where prisoners are not forced to strip in an open courtyard in public. Also, prisons are now integrated. After Apartheid, some of the prisoners at Constitution Hill were released if they had been interned because of political reasons. If they had committed crimes, they were relocated to other working prisons. The Constitution Hill Prison is now just a museum.
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