Are there White People in South Africa?

I was asked this question after telling someone I was going to study in South Africa for a year.

The answer is yes, there are white people in South Africa—and not just since I arrived!

But, that question made me realize that so much of what we do and do not know about people, places and things is based on what we often see portrayed in the media or the perceptions we are given.

So, while still back in Indiana, I tried something with my college class and asked them to say the first thing that came to their mind when I said South Africa or Africa in general.

Any ideas what they may have said?

Safaris, animals, lions, jungles, tribes, starving people, aids, desert, and women with no tops.

No one mentioned apartheid or Nelson Mandela.

Basically, what they knew of Africa they admitted learning from National Geographic or the Discovery Channel. Was I any different? Not really.

When I chose South Africa as my place to study, I was looking at the following criteria:

English speaking
Cultural diversity
Southern hemisphere
Water/Mountains
University options

And most of all—challenge. The challenge to learn about what I do not know; experience what I have not experienced and to learn from the people of South Africa.

I didn’t know much more than my students did about South Africa but I wanted to learn.

There are times I feel quite ignorant, but that’s why I am here—to change that. I didn’t arrive all knowing and I will not leave all knowing. I arrived ignorant, but will leave less ignorant and more informed, better educated, more experienced. Because that is what a journey is all about.

And though I sit in the classroom surrounded by students who have studied African history, African politics and African everything for years, I sometimes feel overwhelmed by their wealth of knowledge and my lack of, I learn. I take it in and try to process it as best I can. I read and re-read the material, trying to make sense of the often complicated literature in hopes that I will gain some insight into Africa’s past and present. And I find it’s all complicated, as much of life is. But I continue to learn and grasp the ideas, concepts, moments, feelings and thoughts that are discussed that are shared each week. I listen—I learn. Not always do I understand. But how does one “understand” such an atrocity as apartheid?