Students at Sinclair now have a chance to sign up for a recently announced trip to South Africa next year through the college’s International Office. Unveiled during a presentation in the Logia, the 2025 educational sojourn will center on the life of Nelson Mandela and the Rainbow Nation’s multi-ethnic democracy.
In an interview with The Clarion, Dawn Haddon, head of the Durban-based Diversity Trading and one of the trip’s organizers, described the itinerary as community-oriented. As opposed to just looking at landmarks as tourists would, students are going to be given an opportunity to see the real South Africa.
“They don’t stay in hotels, they stay in community BnB’s. Students engage with the community and people who prepare their suppers every evening. In the past we have had some students even get invited into neighborhood homes and have a day learning what the lives of people in the community are really like,” Haddon said.
She continues to say, “(I want them to see) we have the same roads, we don’t run around naked or have lions everywhere. We have advanced infrastructure and loads of culture. We are a very young democracy and how we manage that really sucks them in. Many say ‘wow, we could be anywhere in America right now.’ That’s been some of the comments that we have received.”
As explained by Haddon, the trip will start in the Eastern Cape city of Durban where students will arrive on June 1 and head to the neighborhood of Sydenham. Their experience is tailored to offering a fully authentic dive into local life and customs. In part, this is to show what the country is really like beyond the many headlines that focus on crime or politics.
Their road trip begins at the Mandela Capture Site, where South Africa’s revered leader was arrested in 1962 for resisting apartheid, the system of white supremacy in South Africa. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Bloemfontein, the country’s famous City of Roses, is next on Sinclair’s itinerary followed by Cape Town and the infamous Robben Island prison. Nelson Mandela was jailed there for 18 years. Students will make a stop at the other prison that held him for the rest of his sentence.
The trip back to Durban will encompass the scenic Garden Route. Stops are scheduled in Port Elizabeth and the village of Mvezo, where Mandela was born.
“As South Africans, through the apartheid era we grew up with the American dream. We lived all through the sneakers, jackets, clothing-everything was about America. So now, especially older folks, have a chance to interact with real American people. They are not just singers or in the tourist groups,” Haddon said about how South Africans might benefit from meeting Sinclair students.
Given the fraught and turbulent phase America’s democracy is experiencing, Haddon also felt there were key things South Africa to teach her visitors.
“(After apartheid) we did things like the truth and reconciliation committee. Political crimes were addressed and people apologized to families with loved ones they killed. There was healing. One thing I’ve found is a lot of deep-seated hatred in the American people, at least in the places I’ve been to. This is a much older democracy than ours,” Haddon stated.
She hopes that by seeing South Africa’s many positive changes firsthand, students might return with some much-needed perspective that could help Americans find peace.
Haddon said, “The current generation in South Africa don’t have that kind of hate that we grew up with in the 60s and 70s. They don’t even understand apartheid. The hate is there in some places, but we worked through so much of that and that’s what many American people take away when they come over.”
While a long way from grappling with the racial inequities that continue to hurt the country, there is plenty American students can learn from Nelson Mandela and his decades-long struggle.
Haddon has organized tours to South Africa for over 10 years and believes reconciliation is the greatest lesson her country has to offer. Students interested in learning from the Rainbow Nation firsthand are advised to contact the Director of Sinclair’s International Education Office Deborah Gavlik or Study Abroad Coordinator Monika Daubnerova.
Ismael David Mujahid, Executive Editor