Last weekend was one that was filled
with new adventures for me. On Saturday,
a group of my fellow co-educators and I were able to go down to Green Point to
march in the gay pride parade. The
parade was an amazing experience, and so much fun. While homophobia is still an issue in South
Africa, particularly now with the problem of “corrective rape.” South Africa’s
constitution states that it is illegal to discriminate based on sexual
orientation, and in 2005 South Africa became the fifth nation on Earth to
legalize same-sex marriages. The
atmosphere was one of acceptance and openness, something I have not seen enough
of back home in the United States.
From there we went back into
downtown to the Holi One festival, a festival of color and music. The atmosphere was similar to one of the
parade; very fun and energetic, a nonstop party from beginning to end. At the top of each hour different colored
powders are thrown up into the air, truly a spectacle from both the inside and
the outside of the festival.
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| Andrea, Carolyn, Ethan, JR & Ainsley at the Holi One Festival 3 March 2013 |
Sunday
I donated my time to the Firefighters’ soccer tournament in Khayelitsha. I kept score for several games, as well as
handed out food, drinks, etc to participants and fans. I very much enjoyed just being able to sit
and enjoy several soccer games. The
weekend also allowed thinking on the universality of certain areas of the trip. For instance, the presence of sport,
particularly soccer both here and in other parts of the world is something that
can connect people all around the world.
Watching the games on Sunday I thought about how the fields weren’t the
nicest I had ever seen, but the play was beautiful. Soccer is called “The Beautiful Game”, and I
think at least for me, it’s because it does not matter one’s background or
social status, anybody can kick the ball around, it’s accessibility is what
makes it beautiful. The same for me goes
with music. The old quote is that,
“Where words fail, music speaks.” We
have been dealing with language barriers at times while we have been here, but
anybody can hear a piece of music and enjoy it, no matter where they are
from. The accessibility and
universality, particularly of these two ideas, brought me closer to home this
weekend than I had
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