District 6

I've been waiting on this post to try and acquire some photos from random cameras, but no luck so far. So you'll just have to use your imagination (and whatever pictures I can find on the internet!) A few weeks ago I had the opportunity of joining in on a SAEP field trip for our gap year students (recent high school grads) to the District 6 Museum in downtown Cape Town. The museum commemorates a part of Cape Town known as District 6 that was dismantled during the apartheid era by the government. The museum:

Many similarly unfair actions took place during the apartheid era, but District 6 stands out as an intriguing story because it was a thriving, fully-integrated community before its destruction. And not even solely on racial lines. District 6 was a happy home to multiple races, religions and cultures, all living together in harmony. This uncommon solidarity was the reason the community was targeted by the apartheid governments, as it was a direct slap in the face to those pushing that races must be divided and that certain races were inferior human beings.

District 6 was ordered to become a "whites only" community in the 1960's, and all other races were forced to leave their homes. Most were relocated into Cape Town's townships on the outskirts of the city. After much of District 6 remained vacant for many years, most of the homes and buildings were eventually bulldozed to leave a giant flat patch of dirt where so much joy once lived.

Above: Original District 6 Sign
Below: District 6 today

Since the fall of apartheid, a pledge to bring District 6 back has been made and has (very slowly) begun to be carried out. Houses are being rebuilt, and original residents are being given priority on returning. However, as you can tell from the photo above, much of District 6 is still flat.

An interesting story on its own, but I especially enjoyed taking all of this in with our students. All of them live in the townships where District 6 residents were relocated, and some had stories of people they know that were original District 6 residents. You could tell though, that the powerful meanings of these stories and the implication of what these people had gone through had not really set in for the students until coming to this museum.

For a much more detailed description of District 6, check this out: Wikipedia: District 6