We took the opportunity to walk the route of the student marches through Soweto along Vilakazi St. James definitely gets the award for bravery today!
After our school visit we went to the Hector Pieterson museum, which I found really interesting. The displays showed the severity of the shooting and seeing footages and photos really effected me. There was one display that showed Hector Pieterson’s sisters account of what happened and this moved me a lot because she was talking about how a grown adult could ever harm a young child in this way. Also in another of her displays she was talking about how no one cared about him when he was alive but once he died everyone seemed to care a lot more. This sparked a large amount of publicity worldwide and highlighted the struggles in Soweto. This needed to happen a long time ago so Apartheid could have stopped sooner. This made a few people realise the harsh reality of society at that time. Even in videos shown at the museum, it showed the cruel reality of what happened. This made me feel emotional. As well as this we got to see the memorial tiles. It shocked me how many tiles were there that was dedicated to unknown people. This just portrayed the seriousness of what happened. In summary, the Hector Pieterson museum widened my knowledge of the massacre. Holly Standish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Pieterson Today we did one of the most interesting and informative activities since we've been in Soweto. Us Culcheth High school students and members of the Matseliso Debate team all came together in the school library and sat in a huge circle, all of us mixed together, I was sat next a student named Precious. Mrs Lakin did an introduction and then we started off the conversation by introducing the topic of how people may face discrimination in our own society at home. This progressed and the Matseliso students shared with us how even in their very accepting society, students may be subject to name-calling or abuse if they have really dark skin, and the lighter skin learners may be more accepted. Next, we asked the students what message they want us to take home with us , and their responses were so enlightening and emotional, it was really amazing. Every single one spoke of how we need to realise that being individual and different is so important that we need to accept ourselves and others for who they are. The way the students spoke really resonated with me because it made me realise that I need to judge people less and be more confident in myself. We next moved through different topics such as abortion, divorce, marriage and relationships, it was really interesting to learn their opinions. We learned how divorce was also common among parents here in South Africa; and also how that marriage can be common at 16 years old and even culturally at 12. It was truly inspirational to speak to the students and learn about the challenges they have overcome ,also how similar our struggles are, but the thing I will take away with me is the positive outlook they have an life and that how proud I should be of who I am. Caitlin Thomas My name is Ntendeni Hilda Livi and I am 17 years old and I am doing my 10th year in Matseliso Secondary School. My duties in my school are:
I am a young South African girl who is proud of her country and people who live in it. My body and brain are always aiming to learn new things. My experience with the learners and teachers from the United Kingdom has been very lovely; I have learnt that people may be a different colour but they still find a perfect way to love each other and learn from each other, most importantly respect each other and putting their differences aside. Today Frankson and his dad visited us all in our hotel. This wasn't a planned visit and I didn't have a clue about the visit until it happened. I am extremely grateful to himself and his dad to make the effort to visit us - all of us appreciated it. Also, I am grateful that i was able to host such an amazing person. Last year Frankson stayed with myself and my family when he visited the UK. Himself and his family are genuinely brilliant people and have lots of useful and helpful information to pass on.
Furthermore, we keep in touch through Facebook messenger chats and help each other with certain issues to do with school and we have extremely similar interests (for example: supporting Manchester United and enjoying the same English foods. Lastly, I have genuinely made a lifelong friend with a brilliant personality and a loving family - one of the best things I have done, and it has all come from the Culcheth-2-Soweto project. Dan Hunter Once we had finished at the school and circled around the Apartheid Museum, we visited Southgate shopping Centre with the South Africans that visited Culcheth in 2014. Our first stop in the mall was at KFC, which we had all been looking forward to throughout the day, and the South Africans took great advantage of that. They ordered 21 pieces of chicken, two large chips from the chippy, 2 huge loafs of bread and 2 large bottles of fizzy pop. They all chipped in with their own money (that they had raised themselves through car washing etc) and shared the food around with each other.
Once we had finished in KFC we all headed towards the arcade and got involved in some pretty competitive games. Me and Godfrey had a game of pool,I won! It was a close game to be fair to him. After we had finished our game, Godfrey and I went for a walk around the mall and we got into conversation. He asked me the question of ‘what is your mother and father’s job’ so i told him and returned the question were he answered “ oh, i don’t know my father, but i don’t need him, i look after myself and my mother and siblings.” Coming from a 17 year old, who lives at home with his mother and 6 siblings, looking after them all, and for him to be so open and strong about his situation just genuinely shocked me- but more importantly impressed me. Finn Shuff School dinners are provided free each day for all students; largely due to the fact that this will be there main meal of the day. Today they were serving mash potato and a drink of milk. All cooked and served here in the facilities you can see below. It is important to note that there are more students at Matseliso than there are at Culcheth HS.
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October 2019
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