As we had a few days to spend in Johannesburg we were keen to catch a few highlights including the Apartheid Museum. It would be a tough learning experience for the kids (and adults too) but necessary when there are places in the world that still practice apartheid like habits. No pictures were allowed in the museum. https://www.apartheidmuseum.org/
It was very intense. You learned a lot about how colour determined everything. As with many situations students played a big part so the girls could see what some kids there age went thru. They heard of Hector Pietersen, a 13 year old boy shot and killed in the 1976 Soweto uprising. The current president was in these uprisings. The girls knew of Mandela but not about some other big names: Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, the elder Mbeki, Stephen Biko etc. The kids also knew that countries like the US had Mandela on their terror watch list until 2008 ( any surprise there?). There was a lot of video which engages kids. My kids were shaken by it all. How did (and how do) people treat each other like that? As adults we do not fully comprehend so as kids I would think it must be totally overwhelming.
Modern Johannesburg
The city of gold was very diverse at its outset as people of all colours and nationalities came to dig for gold. Later with religious and Nazi influences came the Apartheid regime we all know. When we left the opulent, modern cities of the Middle East the girls thought we were going to a traditional African type city and were not very excited about thatch houses made of mud and dung. We tried to explain South Africa was a bit different than the towns they had seen in Tanzania but to no avail….until we arrived! Seeing the skyline of Joburg made them fully realise that parts of South Africa were pretty much first world.
