South Africa with Eitan Schlessinger
Pixel Journal: Where do you live?
Eitan Schlessinger: I live, and have always lived, in South Africa.
PJ: Is there a dominant religion in South Africa? How, if at all, do you interact with it?
ES: I would say that Christianity is the major religion of South Africa. I do not interact with Christians any differently than with other people. The Jewish community and some of the Christian communities have fantastic relationships, united in their Zionism.
PJ: Does the time zone difference between PST and your local time have a big impact in your life?
ES: Actually, the PST has less impact than I suspected. My classes are at more or less reasonable times, although SOM ends at either 10:30 pm or 11:30pm depending on daylight savings time. It does make a shot of difference when it comes to participating in clubs, though, because I cannot attend clubs which end their meetings later than about 9am PST, owing to a combination of religious observance of Shabbat and the 9-10 hour one difference.
PJ: How does the cultural environment differ between South Africa and America as you see it?
ES: As for the cultural differences, there is nothing particularly pronounced except for the ideas on race of South Africans as opposed to Americans. In South Africa, any person of colour can be assumed to be previously disadvantaged (as a part of the Apartheid era) or one generation down the line from being previously disadvantaged. People of colour are generally stereotyped to be less educated, less wealthy and just generally to have a lower socioeconomic status. This is not nearly as significant in America as it is in South Africa. That divide between races is simply a constant factor in everyday life, even if it is a far narrower gap than it was during apartheid.
PJ: What will the integration be like from OHS to a university in your country?
ES: I am a part time student at the OHS, and a full time student at my b&m school, so my transition into university will not be overly different from other South African students. The one difference is that I may have covered more university material than is usual by the time I finish high school.
PJ: Are there certain past times, foods, hobbies, etc. unique to South Africa?
ES: Some things are traditional, like what we call a braai which is a barbecue (but better), and biltong (which is beef jerky, but better) and camping and stuff. nothing unique as such.
PJ: Much of modern South African culture is shaped by the residual impacts of apartheid. Especially in light of current American politics, racial tensions are a source of frequent conversation. Do you find that this comes into your OHS classes at all? How has growing up in post-apartheid South Africa shaped your views on these issues?
ES: I have never really discussed racial tensions with anyone at the OHS; it has not been a topic of discussion in any of my classes.
For me, growing up in the post-apartheid era in South Africa has made me feel love and respect for people of colour. I grew up in the generation of: "We (whites) treated the black people cruelly and harshly. We must correct that." and "Nelson Mandela is our country's hero, as the man who forgave the whites. He promoted love and friendship between all races." These are the messages that I have grown up with, so I have been raised with a very positive attitude towards people of colour. There are still realities in South Africa; many of the people of colour who walk the streets are criminals, and so many of my peers still have a negative attitude towards people of colour, but even then they will have no problem sitting down with a black person, being friends with one etc. as long as they know that that person is not dangerous.
Another factor in this is the fact that many people have live-in domestic help, poor black people who clean, cook, etc. Many South Africans, me included, have been raised in part by these people. They have made our food and scolded us when we did something naughty and helped us with many of our problems. Because of this, many of us have had fantastic relationships with black people at very young ages, helping us to see black people as human beings, as smart, funny and kind. To me it is astonishing that full-fledged racism still exists in the world, but not at all surprising that casual racism exists, the racism that makes you sit next to the white person on the bus instead of the black person. That kind of racism is something I have seen from my older family members, although my siblings and I would not necessarily understand that. For the kind of brutality towards blacks that I have heard about on the news to exist, is something I just don't understand.