Amanda Gross '11 Reflects on Her Trip to South Africa
I was never one to see conflicts strictly in black and white. I've been taught to explore the gray areas,
weigh the arguments. However, my trip to South Africa as part of Professor Dan Connell's Human
Rights in South Africa course pushed my mind straight past the gray areas and allowed me to clearly
analyze complicated issues in vibrant, living color.
Although I had read about South Africa in Professor Connell's African Government and Politics class the
previous semester, and had learned about the oppression and injustice of its past, there was nothing like
seeing the aftermath of that history first hand - and talking to South African people about how they feel
about their past, present and future.
Traveling to Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town gave the trip a well-rounded sampling of cultures, and thus
a wide array of cultural issues and conflicts for the ten traveling journalists to learn and write
about.
In Joburg we visited the highly symbolic Constitution Hill, which comprises a brand new and symbolic
courtroom where constitutional justice is dealt, next to the 100-year-old former prison where South African
liberation leaders (Nelson Mandela, for one) were jailed during the apartheid regime.
In Durban we learned how environmental issues are also social issues. In a tour of South Durban, we saw
first-hand how the oil refineries waft cancer and asthma-causing chemicals into the air where people of color
live. The white, rich owners of such plants, however, live far away where the pollution of their profits is
out of sight, out of mind.
Cape Town allowed us many writing opportunities; whether it was about the black township in which we spent
two nights; the tourist industry that shields the visitor's eyes from the messy race, class and gender issues
lying far away from the ritzy waterfront; the rich culture of the Cape Malay community; or the many projects
working to help impoverished people become self-sufficient through the arts.
This well-rounded array of issues gave the members of Professor Connell's class — all with different
interests and writing/communications styles — plenty to work with.
We were all very close — there was no shame in bouncing ideas off one another or taking risks with our
writing. Everyone supported everyone else's ideas, and plans, and was eager to help their fellow writers
develop a story or project. It was truly a community of writers in which I had no reservations in sharing my
information, ideas, and writing plans.
Of all the people we spoke to in South Africa and of all the messages they left with us — whether it
was a white professor of journalism at Joburg's Witswatersrand University or a Zulu woman struggling to raise
her four children -- I was particularly taken by the way people spoke of us and our responsibility. Many
South Africans told us to volunteer in our communities and help our country, one man saying, "your country
needs you." Another woman opened up the idea even further, saying that she believes all people are capable of
good -- that all people are capable of self-improvement. The ultimate question, she said, is "what can I do
to improve myself, black or white, and make myself a better person?"
That really hit home for me, because it recognizes the flaws in all people, and the capability of everyone to improve themselves and their surroundings or society. It was an idea that I can apply not only to my involvement in South Africa, but one that stuck with me and will continue to influence my day-to-day life. The most colorful thing I brought home with me, by far.
- Amanda Gross '11
Features Editor
The Simmons
Voice
Learn more about Simmons travel programs and study abroad opportunities
posted: September 10, 2009
