Jordan, Hannah, Steph
As I am writing this, I am sitting in the Results Operation Centre for the Western Cape elections. It is nearly 1am, and it is the culmination of not only a week full of 11 hour days, but also of my internship here at the IEC. The mood has calmed down from the hectic activities of the last week, and most of what is left is to watch the results come in, and to see all of the work we have been doing play out.
Today two things happened that have really caused me to reflect on the journey that I, and all of the students, have been on since we have arrived.
The first is probably the more defining, today there were 7 American volunteers that are also here on a study abroad program, except that they have only arrived in the country 2 or 3 weeks ago, so I am seeing them at the end of their orientation weeks. The other is that I was part of a media tour around the metro area with media, foreign dignitaries, special guests, and, of course, the Americans.
We found out a few days ago that the Americans could be coming, and the general consensus around the office was that people were very excited for me to meet others of my kind. (Maybe one of them will be from Connecticut too!!) I was of course, more hesitant and from what I have come to see, it was with good reason. My initial reaction to the Americans was not positive, it essentially went something like this, “Good god, were WE this ignorant when we got here? That can’t be possible…”
Of course, I am not naive enough to pretend that I was as all knowing four months ago as I am now, but part of me doesn’t want to admit that I was ever in their shoes. I realize that most of my reflection on America is supposed to come after I get home, but sitting with my boss and talking to them, I couldn’t help but notice all the reasons that no one likes Americans. and so, I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out exactly when in the last semester I stopped being able to relate to foreigners here.
The other adventure of my day was the bus tour. There is a slow portion of the day here at the results centre which comes between the drama of opening the polling stations, and the drama of closing the polling stations to count votes. People are just voting, and there really isn’t much to do but wait. In order to fill the gap, we set up a bus tour with key people to drive around and visit some voting stations to give people a feel of the city and what the atmosphere of the day was. While of course, this was a work occasion and I had things to do, it was awesome to not only get a little break from the computer I’ve been staring at, but also to see in action all the things that my internship actually does.
We drove around mostly townships, we stopped in Langa, Joe Slovo, Crossroads, Khaylitsha, and Manenberg. At every stop we were invited to get off the bus, and to check things out. Some of the stations were temporary voting stations constructed with tents in small open areas, complete with a wandering goat or two, and then some were churches or schools. Everywhere we went, there were the a few common things, like party volunteers proudly displaying their shirts and signs. In Khaylitsha there were braai stands and other places there were speakers blasting music and no shortage of political party members dancing and singing the praises of their party. There were also hundreds and hundreds of very patient people standing in line to cast their vote. In short, it was a very South African experience.
The only thing that interrupted it was everyone from the bus making a point to note that things were going smoothly. People were standing patiently in lines that were literally going to take hours, and things were going just fine. But it was as if no one had expected that it would. I guess that is what happens when you only read media coverage of townships and don't actually see them for yourselves.
So I guess the general theme of what I learned on election day, as well as what I learned in general here in South Africa has something to do with looking a little deeper into things, giving the benefit of the doubt, and actually trying when it comes to getting to know other people, cultures, and any other kind of life experience.
