University
of Witwatersrand, where I studied, has been racially mixed for some time.
I believe that Nelson Mandela studied law there when he was young. The education
is all in English, while most of the other universities teach in Afrikaans.
Afrikaans is most of all an old Dutch dialect, which used to be spoken in
Holland and Belgium. Even though Wits is racially mixed the department of
Fine Arts is mostly white, I believe that there were less than ten black
students out of about one hundred. Our exhibition, This Is not How It (Usually)
Is, was shown at the Market Theatre Gallery during two weeks in May. The
Market Theatre has been supported by SIDA-contributions from Sweden for
a very long time. |
The braids that I have on this picture took three days for one single
hair-dresser to make. She braught me lunch for one of them; worms as the
entré and liver, so now I know what
worms taste like. I would not call them a delicacy, but neither are they
disgusting... While having the braids a lot of black people gave me loads
of possitive attention calling 'hey sister!' , giving me compliments
and inviting me out . Otherwise I am a bit surprised that I experienced
the Southafricans as so pending. The high criminality has certainly made
people suspicious and the segregation complicates trust to unknown even
more, I would guess. On the contrary to when I was an exchange-student
in the US and my experiences from the European continent I acctually did
not feel that welcome to Southafrica, I must admit. The braids that I
have on this picture took three days for one single hair-dresser to make.
She braught me lunch for one of them; worms as the entre and liver, so
now I know what worms taste like. I would not call them a delicacy, but
neither are they disgusting... While having the braids a lot of black
people gave me loads of possitive attention calling 'hey sister!' , giving
me compliments and inviting me out . Otherwise I am a bit surprised that
I experienced the Southafricans as so pending. The high criminality has
certainly made people suspicious and the
segregation complicates trust to unknown even more, I would guess. On
the contrary to when I was an exchange-student in the US and my experiences
from the European continent I acctually did not feel that welcome to Southafrica,
I must admit. Johannesburg, was built more than 2500 metres above the
sea-level, where gold was found by the Witwatersrand. This means that
there are no forests or live water. I got some wild-life, when I was on
a safari in the Krüger park. Safari does not mean that you live in
a tent, which I thought, but in small comfortable bungalows in an enclosed
lodge with a pool, and of course enclosed by walls, right outside of Krüger.
We went by car , which means that you have the chance to see more animals,
since they don't get scared off by the human smell. It is also safer to
get close to where the predator s are. To go on a safari during the Winter
is the best, since you get to see a lot of animals that would otherwise
be hid by e g leaves.The Big Five; lion, elephant, African buffaloo, leopard
and rhinosaurus, is what people hope for seeing, We managed to spot them
all except for the leopard.
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