Soweto: A Home of Heroes

To gain a better understanding of apartheid and the leaders who fought to end the injustice, our students visited Soweto, a township in Johannesburg.  A focus of this trip is to guide students in their understanding of qualities of leadership and how they are manifested according to the needs of their communities.  During the tour of the township, our tour guide focused on 3 names associated with the fall of apartheid: Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Hector Pieterson.  Max, a rising senior from California, talks about his experience visiting the homes of two Nobel Peace Prize recipients:

"Mandela’s home wasn’t large, consisting of a kitchen, bedroom, restroom, and office. However, it was full of history, and it was interesting to learn more about Mandela’s life, especially after coming from the Apartheid Museum the day before. Soon after, we walked down the road to the home of Desmond Tutu, another anti-Apartheid activist who worked closely with Nelson Mandela. He was also awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, and the road where both Mandela and him live on is the only road in the world to be home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners. As Tutu is still alive, his home was not open, and was surrounded by a tall wall, in effort to ensure the peaceful life that he wished."

The feeling of standing inside of Mandela's home is indescrible.  With each step, I could feel the power of his words.  As I looked around at his modest home, I could hear the whispers of the conversations which took place in each room, conversations that inspired and mobilized an entire country.  The smiles of the young South African students who were visiting his home with us radiated with proof that Mandela's legacy still lives on, that his leadership still guides a new generation.  The experience set the tone for our visit to the Hector Pieterson Memorial.  Our guide explained that in 1976, the students of Soweto took to the streets in protest of Afrikaans being used as the instructional language in their schools.  As the police open fired on the young protestors, Hector Pieterson was one of the students who lost his life.  As we stood at the reflection pool and listened to the story of the uprising, we were reminded of the price for freedom and democracy.