Plane Ride through Africa

Yesterday, we left for Kenya! I was sad to go Thulani. It was my favorite place in South Africa.  

The airport in Hoedspruit was super small, and you could take liquids through security! The plane was not too small, but it was not huge either. The aircraft from Hoedspruit to Johannesburg was not long. When we got to Johannesburg, the sun was setting. We had to go out and come back to security because we were switching airlines. We went through, and dad found us a place to eat dinner.

As we were walking to the dinner place, we passed a bookstore! An actual bookstore, full of books! Mom said we could go back there when we had ordered our food. The restaurant was huge and empty, except for the birds and the sushi. I got salmon and tuna nigiri. I later found out they were out of tuna, so I got rolls instead. I asked my siblings if they wanted to go back to the bookstore, and they said yes. 

The bookstore was sadly not as good as we thought. There were all the nature books about cheetahs and things. There were kids’ books in the back, but only ones like, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and we were not going to spend money on those.

I didn’t get any books, and when I returned to the restaurant, the food had arrived. I ate my sushi very happily, the salmon was good but not as good as Seattle salmon and tuna.  

After dinner, we worked on blogs and other things. When we got on the plane, it was a pretty good-sized plane. Me and Emmy (my sister) were in one row together with me on the aisle and Emmy on the window. A guy was in between us, and while we were in the air, I discovered a whole open row in the front of the economy cabin. Emmy and I moved up there, and we were much more comfortable. 

The flight went late into the night, and I only slept in the last bit. The airport in Nairobi was crowded. We had to get our bags and then go through customs. The line to customs was short, but it took over an hour! Going into Mexico is way easier! When we finally got to the front of the line, we had to go through it individually.   The airport was super hot! After we got through security, we had to have our bags scanned.   After that, we finally got outside.

The outside was not boiling. Thankfully, it was the perfect temperature. We did not have a ride to our hotel, so we got one. But before we could leave, we had to get sim cards. This took about an hour. It was late at night, and we were all tired. We had to wait for the guy to install every sim card on each phone. It took so long. By the time we got in the car, it was 2 am. When we got to the hotel, nobody was there. Except for the security guard. We had to wait in the lobby for someone to check us in. It took us a while to get to bed.   

Apartheid Museum of South Africa in Johannesburg

Today we went to the Apartheid museum.  It was probably the most interesting thing in Johannesburg we did.  For those of you who do not know what Apartheid is, I will explain.

What was Apartheid?

Apartheid was a system that oppressed all non-whites. It was used in South Africa to ensure that the minority white population was dominant in everything. There were black political parties but black people were not allowed to vote so none of the black political parties would ever win. Apartheid was a horrendous and terrible way of controlling people and redistricting their rights. 

My Individual Thoughts from Inside the Museum

These are some notes I made inside the museum.  I put them in separate paragraphs because I like to think of them as individual thoughts.

Predicting the Future or the Future, Predicted

Here is a quote made by Nelson Mandela in 1952, I find it funny and inspiring.  Nelson Mandela said ”One day I will be the first black president of South Africa”

This is my reflection on the quote.

I like to think that instead of him “predicting the future” he was saying “one day I will be president” and he meant it like “I will work hard to become president and it will happen.”

Escaping the Danger by Becoming the Danger

I read a story in the museum about a black man who was constantly being brutally harassed by the police.  He wanted it to stop so he decided to become a policeman himself.  I was a little shocked by this because why would a black man become a policeman? He would probably be sent to hurt his own people.  I think it was because they felt like they needed to escape the danger by becoming the danger.  It made me sad to think of this, but some people I think are softer than others and succumb to the enemy.

I Did Not Know about All the Others

I realized, while I was looking through the Museum shop, that before coming to Africa and listening to A Long Walk To Freedom, I only vaguely knew about Nelson Mandela and I did not know at all about Apartheid or Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Winnie Mandela, or Mandela’s children. Joe Slovo, Albertina Sisulu, George Bizos, Govan Mbeki, Ahamed Kathrada (also known as Kathy), Andrew Mlangeni, Raymond Mhlaba, Dennise Goldberg, and Bram Fisher.  These were all people who were in Mandela’s life and helped him become the man he was. 

I Look Up to Nelson Mandela Very Much

I was so Awed at how Mandela always knew what to say, his words were just full of wisdom and it’s like he just knew what to say to make everybody feel confident or sad or whatever emotion he is going for.  He knew what will calm or please or rile up the crowd.  He carried himself with such confidence and poise and dignity. He is definitely someone I look up to.  When I see him in a video or picture I think of leadership, pride, prowess, calm, and reassurance.  

History Everybody Needs to Learn

The Apartheid Museum was a very good place for us to visit. Even though I read Long Walk to Freedom, I never imagined police brutality was so bad. It was even worse than America. In Nelson Mandela’s Book, he talks about how bad the police were but in the videos at the museum, it showed the police being more violent than anyone could imagine. Even though the museum is sad and it has a painful history, I think it is all history that everybody needs to learn.  Everybody in the world.       

Dinner at Saint Restaurant in Johannesburg

Dinner at Saint was so amazing!  The bathrooms were super awesome!  I got pizza but the home-cooked kind.  It was plain cheese but it was so good.  The service was amazing!  For dessert, I got a milkshake and it came in a silver goblet.  The goblet was not real silver but the color was silver.  I would very highly recommend this restaurant. Five Stars!!!!!

Soweto Township Walking Tour in Johannesburg, South Africa

apartheid museum statue

Soweto Walking Tour

After Constitution Hill, we did a walking tour of Soweto. Our tour guide’s name was Tobago. We started by walking by the Hector Pieterson Memorial. Hector Peterson was a 12-year-old boy that was shot and killed in Soweto. He was walking home from school and crossed paths with a massive group of school kids that were marching to the capital building and a group of police officers that were trying to shut down the peaceful protests. The police started open firing on the children, and many were shot. Hector was thought to be the youngest one to be killed, but it was later found out that there was an eight-year-old girl who was killed. Hector was famous because of a photo of him being carried to a clinic where he was pronounced dead.

Visiting the Mandela House Museum

Next, we went to Nelson Mandela’s house, which had been turned into a museum. His house was surprisingly small. It had three rooms, and in the front, it had bullet holes in the brick from when the police would shoot at the house for no reason. The police probably would come up with ridiculous reasons for shooting at the home, but I think they were trying to invoke fear.

After Mandela’s house, we went to Desmond Tutu’s house, but it was not a museum. Then we went to Winnie Mandela’s huge Soweto house, which was also not a museum. After the place, we went to a brewery, and dad tried some beers.

Up the Soweto Towers

Then we learned how to signal a public taxi bus to take us to the Soweto Towers. At the towers, some of us, not me, were going to do a free fall, but Bardez could not do it because his back and Emmy and Zeb were too chicken. I won’t say I was chicken because I was turkey. No, I just do not do those kinds of things. We ended up just riding up to the top of the towers, which was scary enough for me.

South Africa Military Museum

We went to the Military Museum of South Africa which I would not recommend.  The buildings were super creepy and dark.  The only good part would be when we found two tanks and an airplane that you could go in.  The boys played in the tanks for about 30 minutes then we had to go.  I would give this place a two star review because they organized the museum not by war or year but by type of machinery.  There were also a lot of mannequins that were insanely creepy.  I would not recommend it unless you are into reading about the mechanics of destructive machines.