About Cycling, Funerals and Apartheid

As some time passed since I wrote my last post there are some news to share with you. At work there isn’t happening a lot of new stuff anymore - we got used to our daily routine, accepted that our tasks mostly aren’t very exciting and we quickly got attached to the babies. But on the weekends there is still a lot of new stuff to discover for us!

The weekend of the 16^th we had quite a lot of work to do. The graduation certificates for the Early Learning Groups and the Baby Gym had to be finished and there was a big event: the Momentum 94.7 Cycling Challenge. For a donation of 1000 Rand (approximately 70€) cyclists could compete for Cotlands. In exchange they would get a Cotlands Jersey and a Goody Bag with energy bars, cosmetic products, vouchers and much more. On Friday we already helped at the Momentum Expo where all the organisations that cyclists could race for had the chance to present themselves. The cycling challenge itself was on Sunday and our job should be the cheerleading.  Our boss had asked us to bring some volunteer friends and as the challenge started very early and we also had to schedule some extra time because many roads were blocked our whole tired volunteer cheering group started at five am to go to the race. But as soon as we arrived our tiredness was overcome and dressed with our orange Cotlands shirts and caps we gave everything to motivate the cyclists especially those driving for Cotlands. Even though we had a lot of fun we were quite relieved when the race was finished because cheerleading was much more exhausting than expected!

Last weekend it was time for real South African experiences again. On Friday we had a really nice Braai and on Saturday we went to a funeral – but don’t worry it was no one that we actually knew. It was the funeral of an aunt of another volunteers host family. They knew that we would like to see what funeral ceremonies are like in South Africa so they invited us. In Germany that would maybe be a little bit strange but here funerals and weddings aren’t only celebrated with the close family – everyone can come. It is not important that you really knew the person it is much more about showing your solicitousness with the relatives.

The funeral started quite early at seven in the morning with a church service that lasted about two hours and took place in a big tent near the family’s house in Soweto. There was a lot of singing but unfortunately everything was in Tswana so that we couldn’t understand a word. After that the whole funeral party drove to the cemetery in a big procession. Everyone put on the car’s hazard flasher and then we started the chaotic procession consisting of about 300 funeral guests that partially had to be transported in big buses. Arriving at the cemetery we were very happy to have arrived without an accident because driving in Soweto is always very adventurous and the funeral procession didn’t really make it easier. The cemetery was very big and thousands of graves were lined up in rows as far as the eye could reach. Then the burial took place accompanied by a lot of singing again. After that we went back to the family’s place for lunch. A cow had been slaughtered for that and in addition we had other typical food. What was most surprising about the funeral for us is that we didn’t see anyone crying – the atmosphere was rather cheerful.

The day after the weather was very bad, so we thought that we could directly go on with our cultural experiences and went to the Apartheid Museum. This exhibition depicts the South African history beginning with the slow raise of Apartheid in the beginning of the 20^th century to its legal anchoring from 1948 to 1994 and post-Apartheid time of reconciliation until today. Even though we already knew a lot about Apartheid from school the museum was very interesting and served as a reminder that Apartheid is not so long ago and though aftermath is still recognizable in daily life it is impressive how fast a country could overcome such a shaping period.

Besides these new experiences these last weeks we were planning our Christmas holidays together with three other volunteers. We are leaving on 11^th of December and planning to do the Garden Route, an approximately 750 kilometre long route along the southern coast of South Africa with beautiful nature, beaches, national parks, pretty coastal towns and a lot of action offers. On Christmas Eve the five of us will arrive in Cape Town and celebrate Christmas and also New Year. On the 4^th of January we are coming back to Joburg.

For the moment we already try to get into the Christmas spirit and decorated our room as good as we could what isn’t that easy with our improvised decoration.  Furthermore it’s not that simple to get in the mood if it’s about 30°C outside. Anyway we are very much looking forward to our vacation!