Saturday, 13/6/09- Pretoria, family connections, and learning!

Today, we traveled to Pretoria, which is one of South Africa’s three capital cities. There, we toured The Voortrekker Monument. From the top of the building, it felt like you could see forever, even through the foggy winter air. Inside the Monument, the walls were lined with sculptures depicting the story of the fight between the Dutch and the Zulus. The story, according to the Afrikaans, states that the Dutch fled the Cape Colony in order to flee British rule and were faced by the Zulus on the other side of the mountain. There, they signed a peace treaty which the Zulus did not acknowledge and violence quickly ensued. After all our discussions about the Apartheid and racism against indigenous Africans, it was interesting to see a monument erected in the point of view of the Afrikaans about their struggle against the Zulus.

Later on in the day, our group travelled to Church Square, which is in the center Pretoria. We wandered around looking at various monuments and statues that honor South African pioneers. One aspect of the day that was especially interesting for our group was that one of our group members, Samantha Battline, is the distant descendant of Paul Kruger, who was a prominent figure in South African history.

After our trip to Pretoria, our group separated into different group: some went off to explore Johannesburg, while others went to the market. Our day in Pretoria, however, was an eye-opening experience because it was interesting to obtain the point of view of the colonization of South Africa from the opposing perspective of “white pioneers.”

As our trip slowly comes to an end, it has become an experience we will never forget. There has been such a variety of positive and troubling experiences for the group. Over the last two weeks we have learned so much about South Africa, too much about each other and even more about ourselves. This has been a positive growing experience for us all. We look forward to sharing this experience back at Marist College.