Getting the chance to visit South Africa truely was a once and life time oppurtunity. Being able to learn in depth about the countries history was an eye opening experience. Before my visit to South Africa I was familiar with the countries history and apartheid, but visiting the country made everything so much clearer and real. Seeing how the students were so passsionate and connected to their countries history was really astonishing to me. No matter what tribe they were from or what their religion was they were deeply rooted. After talking to the students in Soweto, it was so interesting getting to know their views on politics and the United States. What really shocked me was how they presieved Americans to be greedy and to only participate in global affairs when benificial to their self interest. It was shocking, to hear such, and it really made me think. The students were so globally conscious and were concerned about matters that didnt even effect them. At times I felt ignorant because I was only aware of matters thats affected me. This trip opened my eyes to so much it taught me to appreciate the importance of global awareness, and it also strengthened my conviction to help my fellow man.
One thing that really stood out for me was the pride the South Africans had when they sang their National Anthem. Inspite of everything they have endured, they were so proud to be South African. With South Africa being a melting pot with so many religions and cultures, it can be rather difficult sharing one common identitiy. When speaking to a "colored", South Africans refer to biracial individuals as such, she took pride in her identity and was offended when called black. However, not because black is a derogatory term, but because that was not her identifier. In South Africa there were so many identifiers, in some cases it was your gender, while other times it was your language or location. My question is can a country that has so many factors that help form your identity, really come together and be one?
~Kenya
One thing that really stood out for me was the pride the South Africans had when they sang their National Anthem. Inspite of everything they have endured, they were so proud to be South African. With South Africa being a melting pot with so many religions and cultures, it can be rather difficult sharing one common identitiy. When speaking to a "colored", South Africans refer to biracial individuals as such, she took pride in her identity and was offended when called black. However, not because black is a derogatory term, but because that was not her identifier. In South Africa there were so many identifiers, in some cases it was your gender, while other times it was your language or location. My question is can a country that has so many factors that help form your identity, really come together and be one?
~Kenya
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