An impressing talk with Ashanti

Hey You,

today was the fourth day of my internship and I start to love this place. We had the same routine like day two. First we made the breakfast, accompanied the kids to school, helped in the lessons, made the lunch, offered a workshop for the afternoon, made the dinner and put the kids to bed. Just a "normal" day.

But after my workshop I had a really nice and interesting talk with Ashanti, one of the old and experienced employee. She told me a lot of their childhood and her life in the township in Soweto. The apartheid influenced her life in many ways.

1910 the  union of Southafrica was established and with this act the racial segregation started. The white goverment issued new laws against the black colored population, for exaple the "Mines and Works Act" (1911) which obliged black people to work in mines or do non respected and bad jobs. In this time four million white people oppressed and discriminated the majority of 41 million black people.

Ashanti  told me that the life was unbearably. Her family hadn't had enough to eat and her parents had bad jobs. Her husband was a mine worker and had to work the whole day for an unjust pay. In the 1940s her husband joined a resistance movement the ACN Youth League. This movement was formed by Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu and fought against the oppression of black people.

http://www.planet-wissen.de/kultur/afrika/
geschichte_suedafrikas/pwieapartheid100.html

But the white government defended all resistances. In 1948 the racial segregation became publicy identify  and was kept by massive police operation. Ashantis husband was send to jail because he was a member of the movement.

Then Ashanti told me that the 16.06.1976 was the most horrible part of the whole apartheid-time. The class of Ashantis daughter Neyla and other pupil protested peaceful for 'Afrikaans' as language in class instead of English. But this protest escalated and the police shoot at the pupil. 600 persons were killed at this unbelievable act. Also Neyla and the whole class were killed.

All black people and also different countries protested against the regime of the white population. The government got under pressure and in the 1990s the time has come to free Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela took a strong political position and managed to bring the black population in the government. With the first free elections 1994 the racial segregation was over.

Wow... The african people had to bear a lot. Ashanti's story was really impressing for me. But I'm so happy that today South Africa develops to such a great country. If you want to read more about thr apartheid please check out the following link:

http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa

Thanks for reading

-Alicia

Sources:

http://www.planet-wissen.de/kultur/afrika/geschichte_suedafrikas/pwieapartheid100.html

http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa

was(27.05.17)