Women's Day and District 6
Yesterday, August 9, was Women's Day in South Africa. Women's Day is a national holiday in South Africa, so everyone gets out of work or school in order to celebrate females. I, of course, think this is a fabulous idea. In addition to the joy of having a day free of classes, I also received a free flower from the grocery store when I went to get bread. I celebrated being female by cooking a meal and sharing it with a male friend of mine. Ah, well, so much for full emancipation. It was, however, better than eating toast. Happy (Belated) Women's Day!
I spent this afternoon going to visit the District 6 Museum in downtown Cape Town. The museum is dedicated to a neighborhood that was a mixed-race neighborhood, largely housing "black and coloured" families, until the 1940's, when the Apartheid government named it a "white only area" and started a program of forced removals and bulldozing that cleared the area of blacks by 1968. The museum is an attempt to recognize and remember the community feeling of the area and provide a place for the former residents and their families to be remembered.
The museum features not only historical writings and quotes, but tons of photographs, artifacts, and lots of art and poetry by people who lived in the area. The main floor of the museum is covered in a canvas with a map of District 6 painted on it, on which former District 6 residents have marked their homes and the businesses they recall. There are mosaics throughout the museum that are a tribute to the broken community and broken possessions from the destruction of the buildings. There was also a mural being painted on one wall that showed people and things that District 6 represented. My favorite piece in the museum, however, was a sort of book that one former resident had put together that featured pieces of fabric with texts from the Bible printed on them, onto which shapes and words like "justice", "wisdom", and "love" had been sewn.
The museum, as well as the area it commemorated, reminded me oddly of FARC. (FARC, for the uninitiated, is the Fine Arts Residential Community where I lived for my first 3 years of college.) The sense of community that was present in District 6 is the same sort of feeling that pervades the FARC. The noise, different smells, and mixes of people and goods also reminded me of the diversity and unceasing activity of FARC. Most of all, the art and poetry used in the museum to capture the community feeling and the brokenness of District 6 struck me as similar to the forms of expression FARCers prefer. While I would never belittle the experiences of the District 6 residents by comparing their experiences to a college dorm, the similarities were fascinating.
I spent this afternoon going to visit the District 6 Museum in downtown Cape Town. The museum is dedicated to a neighborhood that was a mixed-race neighborhood, largely housing "black and coloured" families, until the 1940's, when the Apartheid government named it a "white only area" and started a program of forced removals and bulldozing that cleared the area of blacks by 1968. The museum is an attempt to recognize and remember the community feeling of the area and provide a place for the former residents and their families to be remembered.
The museum features not only historical writings and quotes, but tons of photographs, artifacts, and lots of art and poetry by people who lived in the area. The main floor of the museum is covered in a canvas with a map of District 6 painted on it, on which former District 6 residents have marked their homes and the businesses they recall. There are mosaics throughout the museum that are a tribute to the broken community and broken possessions from the destruction of the buildings. There was also a mural being painted on one wall that showed people and things that District 6 represented. My favorite piece in the museum, however, was a sort of book that one former resident had put together that featured pieces of fabric with texts from the Bible printed on them, onto which shapes and words like "justice", "wisdom", and "love" had been sewn.
The museum, as well as the area it commemorated, reminded me oddly of FARC. (FARC, for the uninitiated, is the Fine Arts Residential Community where I lived for my first 3 years of college.) The sense of community that was present in District 6 is the same sort of feeling that pervades the FARC. The noise, different smells, and mixes of people and goods also reminded me of the diversity and unceasing activity of FARC. Most of all, the art and poetry used in the museum to capture the community feeling and the brokenness of District 6 struck me as similar to the forms of expression FARCers prefer. While I would never belittle the experiences of the District 6 residents by comparing their experiences to a college dorm, the similarities were fascinating.
posted by Lauren at
8:10 AM
5 Comments:
Did you know about this holiday before leaving? And naturally I assume you'll celebrate it everyday from here on out.
From the outsider bumpkin's perspective I don't think relating FARC to District 6 is belittling anything. They're two entities in the same vein. Happy Women's Day. - Chadwick.
By
Solon, at 11:30 AM
Oh, no fair! You've never cooked anything for me :-P. See if I keep making things for you, when you come home! (Of course, I will... I'm no good at this indignant thing, am I?)
By
Anonymous, at 12:55 PM
Why do I get the feeling that our family just acquired another holiday, like some of the saint's days that I have brought to the table? Interestingly, August 9 is the feast of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). Edith was born of Jewish parents and was an influential philosopher and writer before becoming Catholic and joining the discalced (shoeless) Carmelite order of nuns. She was gassed at Auschwitz in 1942. St. Teresa is one of the three patron saints of Europe, along with Catherine of Siena and Bridget of Sweden. I think that St. Teresa fits well with both Women's Day and District 6.
By
Anonymous, at 5:36 AM
Janet is right, it must be a mother thing, because the first thing I wondered was what you had cooked. What kind of foods have you seen there that we do not have? I would enjoy experimenting with different ingredients.
The museum sounded very interesting. Your description reminds me of when Daniel described the Holocaust Museum in Germany. I think both would be very interesting to see. The things humans do to other humans is disturbing.
I grew up in Texas during the civil rights movement, but as a child didn't pay any attention. I remember as an adult asking my Mother about what it was like in Texas then. She said yes, there were separate bathrooms and water fountains. The blacks also sat in the backs of buses. I guess I didn't remember any of that, in part, because I was always taught to believe we were all the same. My only struggle with racial diffences was between my Jr & Sr year of high school at the county fair. There were race problems that year and a friend and I were attacked by a group of blacks. It was scarry, but could just as well have been whites doing the same thing. That incident all seemed to be behind me until I took my Mother, in a wheel chair, to the fair near the end of her life. The memory came back as I walked near the place it happened and I realized how vulnerable she was and knew I couldn't protect her. Oddly enough, I had been at the fair years before, as an adult, with my brother, sisters and their families and was not reminded of that time at all. I can't imagine being forced from my home as the South Africans were and the memories they have. I imagine the museum is a place of healing as well as a reminder of what occurred in hopes it will never occur again.
It had been so long since you had written, I wondered if you there was a more widespread power outage. I do so enjoy reading your experiences. It is great so many of us have the opportunity to "travel" to Africa with you.
Have a great day! - Wanda
By
Anonymous, at 8:12 AM
All right! I think our family could do with a Women's Day holiday -- a nice companion to Niece's Day that is coming upon us soon.
I, too, am thrilled to hear you actually cooked and ate somethings other than toast. It wasn't so bad, was it? I'm holding out hope for your culinary skills, which I think we should tap over the Christmas holidays!
Your description of the museum was really interesting. It always amazes me how men can treat other men. I have a colleague who lives on the only unpaved street in Atlanta. The street is in a neighborhood that started out as an African American neighborhood and, of course, none of those streets were paved. Urban renewal has turned the area into a mixed race neighborhood, and as that transition occurred the streets were paved. The residents on this one street, however, have refused via petition to allow the city to pave their street as a means of honoring the neighborhood's history. I think your District 6 Museum may be fulfilling the same goal in a much more effective manner.
Looking forward to hearing more of your adventures. Belated Happy Women's Day!
By
Anonymous, at 1:15 PM
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