Drawing Parallels between South Africa and the United States of America.
Part of my journey before Washington DC’s arrival was to learn, understand and analyze the different cultures as well as to compare and find similarities in some of the challenges we are facing in both countries, the US and South Africa.
I find myself sharing South Africa and telling my South African story to the strangers I meet every day. I cannot begin to describe the wonder, the curiosity and the “YOHHH” moment in their eyes. There’s just so much beauty and pride sharing South Africa and its history to those who only see a beautiful rainbow painted picture
This is to all the strangers I have met in the metro, during my walks around DC, networking and socializing spaces who were so curious to finally “meet South Africa” through me.
Before drawing parallels and similarities between both countries, I will give a summary of my country.
South Africa is a country in the southern region of Africa. About fifty-five million people live there. South Africa is next to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland.
The biggest city in South Africa is Johannesburg. The country has three capitals for different purposes. They are Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein. This is because the government is based in Pretoria, the parliament is in Cape Town and the Supreme Court is in Bloemfontein.
There are 11 national languages. They are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Xhosa, Zulu, Swati, Setswana, Sesotho, Sesotho sa Leboa, Venda, and Tsonga. They are also known as National Lexicography Units (NLUs). Because of all the languages, the country has an official name in each language.One of South Africa’s most well-known people is Nelson Mandela. He was its president from 1994 until 1999. He died in 2013. The current president is Jacob Zuma.
South Africa went through a political and social system called the Apartheid. This was when it was under white minority rule. This was in use in the 20th century, from 1948 to 1994.Racial segregation had been used for centuries but the new policy started in 1948 was stricter and more systematic.In the system, the people of South Africa were divided by their race and the races were forced to live apart from each other. There were laws that kept up the racial separation. The system of apartheid in South Africa was banned in 1994. The last president under apartheid was Frederik Willem de Klerk. After this, Nelson Mandela became the first black president. Both were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. Today, the term apartheid is sometimes used to speak about similar systems in other countries.
I carry South Africa and its history within me, it is quite interesting when reading the American history and having to listen to the Americans tell their stories, how we share some sentiments. I found it interesting on how both countries are still challenged with racism, discrimination, gender and sexual inequality and how we are still discussing civil rights.
Something interesting I also learned was the different educational systems between the two countries. We find traditional schools, non-traditional schools, charter schools, and private schools in the US. These schools have different curriculums. The systems (traditional and non-traditional) have separated students with special needs and those with learning disabilities with those who learn in a conventional way. While back in South Africa, we are working on putting all students in the same classroom and not separating the students, but rather teaching in a way that will accommodate all students.
The journey of learning more about my history and getting to learn the history of the US is indeed a great one!
Sources include Wikipedia and the Freedom Park museum. Many apologies to anyone who knows the South African history in greater depth – this is an amateur’s quick compilation as I try to grasp the context of the country in which I am living.