Cape Town Museums: Slave Lodge and District Six

While visiting the museums of Cape Town, we were embraced by stories left by the souls memorialized there. In the slave lodge, you feel the sunlight cascading upon your face through the windows, but during the time of enslavement, there were no windows for sunlight to come through and touch those who lived there. They were left in the dark, to ponder in silence with thoughts that could only have been horrific. The museums were stark, perhaps representing the barrenness of the life that slaves had to endure. 

When walking through Cape Town's famous District Six, you can feel the melancholy of a community not allowed to "live" like a community. Our tour guide pulled back layers of vulnerability to share the sad stories of displacement in South Africa. We felt the mixture of tragic themes that is part of the complex experiences of the people of South Africa. We felt the mixture of tragic themes that is part of the complex experiences of the people of South Africa, and throughout the continent. Ultimately, repeated stories of captivity and pain did lead to voices being heard and lives being freed.

 Lexi A

07/14/2022