The first time I visited Durban – I absolutely loved it. This time around, however, was a different story. It was a gorgeous day out, so me and four of the other girls from MSU decided to venture out to the Durban beach for the day. Our mode of transport was the Khombi. Khombi’s are South Africa’s form of public transportation. They aren’t owned by any company – basically whoever wants to operate one, can. Most of the vans are painted some funky color, or have odd slogans across them. My two favorites slogans of the day were: “Making Love Slowly” and “We promise to get you to your destination alive” painted boldly across the sliding doors. It was a very confusing ride, and took us nearly 3 hours to get there (Durban is only 45 minutes away). We did have a tremendous amount of help along the way though. It’s a very heartwarming feeling when so many people go out of their way just to help you out. Every person we’d ask for directions didn’t just tell us where to go, but they actually walked with us to our destination. One guy walked with us about half a mile before turning around.
We had intended on going to “North Beach”, but somehow ended up at “South Beach”. No big deal, right? Wrong. Apparently, as a result from the apartheid, the beaches have split up into an “all black” beach and the other an “all white” beach. We ended up at the “all black” beach. As we were lying there, I couldn’t help but feel like some sort of spectacle. People would just stop and stare at us. We even had some people taking pictures of us. I felt horribly uncomfortable, but decided to stick it out anyways.
Even though it was slightly awkward being there, it’s still a great feeling to break the barriers of apartheid, and do stuff not following the norm. For example, in our dorm, we MSU students are the only white people living there (the residences are split up according to race). I feel like we’re doing something good, and making a positive difference – even if it is very small.
All the girls went in the water except for me and Kelly. We were laying there in the sun, when this guy sits down next to us. He was extremely friendly, and chatting about what a beautiful day it was. Just at that moment though, I happened to turn my head and notice two men rooting through Amanda’s purse. When they saw I noticed them, they booked it and went running down the beach. So that guy just being friendly so his friends could try to steal our stuff. I hate when this sort of thing happens. It makes you really lose faith in the good of people. It’s hard to get angry about it though. When you think about all these people had to go through – the abuse and discrimination by white men, it’s no wonder people turn to crime. I guess it just makes me sad, is all.
After that incident, we got pizza and ice cream, and returned to PMB. There’s definitely a reason why Pietermaritzburg is called the “Sleepy Hollow” of South Africa. Compared to the hustle and bustle of Durban, it’s like living in Traverse City again.
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