“When I came back from overseas, the road I had grown up on had been changed to Robert Sobukwe drive. That is all I knew of him.”
One of the comments after the Robert Sobukwe documentary 60 to 80 of us watched together last night in a cafe called Jou Ma Se Kombuis situated on the edge of Manenberg.
i was not oblivious to the fact that the majority of people in the room [although there was a decent mix] were white people. i imagine it was the first time a lot of them had ventured into Manenberg. That feels so so important and great and relevant and significant in itself. No, it is not signifying the end of apartheid – it was 40 people in a room – but the revolution starts somewhere.
As we’ve spoken about these race/reconciliation things more and more the one thing that comes up so often is the idea that SINCE Apartheid was so Geographically brought into being [separate areas, relocations] it would make sense that we will need to make some Significant Geographical shifts to redress the imbalance. So venturing into each others spaces and homes. Connecting in each others living rooms and around dinner tables. And most importantly relocating into areas where people do not all look like us.
i’ve mentioned before how that is one of the priorities for tbV and i finding a place to stay at the moment, right at the top of the list. There are groups like Eden Project who are doing it on a bit more of a larger scale with a number of families moving into an area where they wouldn’t necessarily choose to live. It becomes particularly tricky when we start considering aspects like Gentrification which can stem from well-meaning people moving into a lower economic area and ultimately pushing up prices so that the local people can’t afford to stay there any more. That is a tragedy and so these moves really have to be done wisely. But still, finding and creatingspaces where we connect and build relationship and grow in diverse community is going to be a huge step forward for us as South Africans.
JOU MA SE KOMBUIS
My friend Jonathan Jansen [no relation] and the Fusion team are responsible for Jou Ma Se Kombuis which is a work space and coffee shop in Manenberg looking to help create a positive space in what is a fairly unsettled environment. With great coffee and amazing Manenburgers, they are hoping to create a space that attracts people from far and wide to work and engage and just be together in a place.
Last night’s Robert Sobukwe documentary was just their first in a series of monthly viewings of story-telling events that are going to help regular South Africans from all walks of life come together and discover their history with each other. As African American activist Cornel West says at one point in the movie last night, he had an encounter with Nelson Mandela where he asked him, “How come you are so well known whereas he [Robert Sobukwe] is not known at all?” So Jonathan and his team will be facilitating the stories of South Africa’s unsung heroes [what an amazing opportunity to learn].
Jou ma se Kombuis – where strangers become friends and friends become family.
THE WAREHOUSE
Another place that is taking great strides in terms of bringing people together and facilitating education and engagement as well as asking and wrestling with the hard questions and trying to figure out collectively what moves can and need to be made is The Warehouse in Wetton. This weekend they are hosting an event called Waging Peace:
The R50 cover charge no longer applies so it is FREE but you are requested to bring your own lunch. But if you have or can make time on Saturday then i highly encourage you to be there. It is a long ask, but the quality of the people involved and i imagine the kinds of conversations they will be hosting makes it a worthwhile priority.
If you are one of those people asking the question, “Well what can I do?” then these are the sorts of opportunities you need to be grabbing with both hands. It was so exciting for tbV and myself to see maybe ten or more of the young adults from the CCK Young Adult camp we spoke at on the weekend [and ran a South Africa: Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp! workshop for] attending last night and we are very excited about engaging with them further.
There may be no clear and straightforward and one-size-fits-all answers at the moment, but there is no excuse not to engage. South Africa needs people from all walks of life and cultures and races and economic classes and backgrounds to be walking towards each other like never before. It is so exciting when you start to see it happening. It is when issues become people and we really care about people and so they become a lot harder to dismiss or disengage from than issues. This is where the true change lies.
What does your stepping towards look like? Please feel free to share other stories of events or activities or meals or anything else where you have seen this or been a part of this. These are the stories that will spark the revolution that awaits…
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