District Six and the Memories Left Behind

After spending the morning touring the city, Kate, Jenna and I decided to tour the District 6 Museum. District six was an area named in 1867 as the sixth municipal district of Cape Town. The former inner-city residential area in Cape Town is best kown for the forced removal of over 60,000 inhabitants during the 1970s by the apartheid regime. 

On 11 February 1966, the government declared District Six as a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, with the removals starting in 1968. By 1982, more than 60,000 people had been relocated.

Map of District Six. 

Street signs 

Lydia Williams is the symbol to remember the unidentified slaves who lived and died at the Cape. 

This ties in to the South African concept of ubuntu. Ubuntu means "i am because we are"-- its the idea of living in community with everyone and that you are yourself because of the community and people who raised you. 

Apartheid rule was a way of legally oppressing everyone who was not white. This included "blacks", "coloreds", and "indians". 

As we were leaving, I noticed one of the workers at the museum signing an book. I turned to Jenna and asked her if she knew who he was. Luckily she did and very excitedly told me that his name was Noor Ebrahim. Mr. Ebrahim lived in District 6 and decided to tell his story. He has written a few books and is one of the founders of the museum. After introducing ourselves, Mr. Ebrahim pulled us aside and started telling us his story. He pulled out pictures of all the people who have come to visit the museum. He showed us pictures of him and Nelson Mandela, Michelle Obama & her daughters, and various other celebrities. Unfortunately due to the museum closing we did not get much time to talk to Mr. Ebrahim but I do officially have a copy of his book! So needless to say it was a very exciting day. 

This is a youtube video of Sarah Kay who is a well-known slam poet. Sarah decided to use her gift to share Mr. Ebrahim's story. It was because of this video that Jenna was able to let me know who Mr. Ebrahim was. 

Tshotsholoza (of Shosholoza depending on where you are in the county) is a song that became popular during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. The World Cup happened just a year after the Apartheid regime was put to rest. The song was a unifying song that represented the nation coming together after many years of legally being separated.