00:00:23.240 --> 00:00:49.400
[Upbeat brass band music]

00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:58.920
- Come on people, line up on
the sides, part the waters!

00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:03.520
- (Tandiwe) So we've come
back for our 25th reunion.

00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:08.120
Being on campus with Nolwandle
is absolutely magical

00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:10.120
because this is where we met,

00:01:10.120 --> 00:01:16.000
and we've sustained a
friendship for 29 years now.

00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:37.240
[mellow jazz music]

00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:40.280
- (Desiree) My journey to
Smith was such a fluke.

00:01:40.320 --> 00:01:43.280
I went to church with my family
on Sunday,

00:01:43.320 --> 00:01:45.720
and we had a guest preacher.

00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.440
He was talking about, the
international community

00:01:48.520 --> 00:01:50.640
was really coming
together in different ways

00:01:50.720 --> 00:01:53.800
to support the anti-apartheid
movement.

00:01:53.800 --> 00:01:57.200
- (Heather) One of the
lecturers
at the university told me

00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:01.240
about this university in
the US that was accepting

00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:04.440
two Black South African women
per year,

00:02:04.440 --> 00:02:07.880
and that I should definitely
apply.

00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:09.480
- (Siphokazi) "Siphokazi
is going to America.

00:02:09.480 --> 00:02:11.480
I secured a place for
her at Smith College,

00:02:11.480 --> 00:02:13.280
she has passed matric very well.

00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:18.520
So she must be at the airport
on the 20th of January, 1986."

00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:21.160
- (Verna) We're
first-generation college goers.

00:02:21.160 --> 00:02:23.760
My parents were proud, they were
honored

00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:25.440
- (Vuyiswa) This is an
opportunity of a lifetime,

00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:30.160
and it's up to me to
make of it what I should.

00:02:30.200 --> 00:02:32.480
- (Tandiwe) I had a desire
to go to a women's college,

00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:36.640
and I think it's a
foundation that then empowers

00:02:36.640 --> 00:02:40.480
its graduates to believe in
themselves.

00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:42.120
- (Thembekile) I was driven.

00:02:42.160 --> 00:02:46.240
You're going to be finally on
equal footing with everyone.

00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:48.360
- (Thilo) I think I'm a strong
woman, but I really think

00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:52.480
that being at Smith
made me, really strong.

00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:56.560
- (Thandeka) I learned to
own my voice as a girl child,

00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.360
but also as a woman.

00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:02.600
- (Chuma) When this decision
from Smith came through,

00:03:02.640 --> 00:03:04.600
it was like a lifeline for me.

00:03:04.600 --> 00:03:07.000
So things were looking up
already.

00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:11.840
- (Kholeka) We had a fantastic
African students organization.

00:03:11.880 --> 00:03:14.720
We had a wonderful
international community.

00:03:14.760 --> 00:03:19.280
- (Meagan) The more I had
these positive, really positive

00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:22.120
exposure, the more you
realize inequity exists

00:03:22.160 --> 00:03:26.000
and what that means for someone
who doesn't get this access.

00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:27.920
- (Nolwandle) It changed
the narrative from a system

00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:30.760
that was meant to keep me,

00:03:30.760 --> 00:03:33.120
in a certain position and place

00:03:33.160 --> 00:03:36.000
to being the woman that I am
today.

00:03:36.040 --> 00:03:43.720
Smith is that place, where I
became.

00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:47.680
[gentle piano music]

00:03:47.720 --> 00:03:49.280
- (Tandiwe) So I wasn't
born when my parents

00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.880
decided to leave South Africa.

00:03:53.880 --> 00:03:57.360
But we had to leave
because, they were educators

00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:01.160
and they really believed in
empowering and developing

00:04:01.200 --> 00:04:03.200
young minds to be the
best that they could be,

00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:07.040
and they couldn't do that
under Bantu education.

00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:10.440
Not wanting to be part of a
system that used education

00:04:10.480 --> 00:04:13.800
to disempower rather than
empower.

00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:16.640
[gentle piano music continues]

00:04:16.640 --> 00:04:21.880
- (Makhosazana) There we
were, teaching these subjects.

00:04:21.880 --> 00:04:24.880
There were no science subjects.

00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:28.120
And somehow we discovered
that in this school,

00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:31.360
there was a room that was not
being used.

00:04:31.400 --> 00:04:33.200
And my husband discovered that
actually

00:04:33.280 --> 00:04:35.600
it had been the science
laboratory,

00:04:35.640 --> 00:04:38.040
but it was now locked up.

00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:41.800
So, we decided to open it

00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:45.800
and start teaching science
subjects.

00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:49.480
But the inspectors, you know,
got hold of this information,

00:04:49.520 --> 00:04:53.120
and he was told to stop
teaching those science subjects,

00:04:53.200 --> 00:04:55.960
but to teach the children
Afrikaans.

00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:58.320
I remember there was a
book which they recommended

00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:01.680
all the time, "Laat die Kinders
Praat."

00:05:01.720 --> 00:05:04.520
- (Dr.Ellsworth) Everyone had
to have separate textbooks.

00:05:04.520 --> 00:05:05.320
As if you were Black,

00:05:05.520 --> 00:05:07.160
you could only read that
sort of history.

00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:10.360
And if you were Colored you read
that sort of history.

00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:12.160
If we were Indian you read that
kind

00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:14.440
and if we were white you read
that kind,

00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:17.400
you won't believe it, but it is
true.

00:05:17.400 --> 00:05:25.280
[solemn jazz music]

00:05:25.320 --> 00:05:26.840
- (Dr. Mangaliso) There is a
link between

00:05:26.880 --> 00:05:29.680
private issues and public issues

00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:33.960
between what we consider
to be personal experiences

00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.080
and structural, you know,
variables.

00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:40.960
It's not random, you know,

00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:43.760
the patterns that produce
these institutions.

00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:45.960
And then there's the social
construction of these

00:05:45.960 --> 00:05:50.480
institutions, nothing drops from
the sky.

00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:53.400
The institutions systems,
they're created by human beings.

00:05:53.400 --> 00:05:56.040
If you're studying society,

00:05:56.080 --> 00:05:59.280
you're studying people.

00:05:59.320 --> 00:06:02.480
There will be patterns
that will emerge, right.

00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:04.080
And some of those patterns,

00:06:04.080 --> 00:06:06.280
they don't just happen
overnight,

00:06:06.280 --> 00:06:10.520
they evolve over time and
that's helpful to know,

00:06:10.520 --> 00:06:13.840
to see the evolution of
some of these patterns

00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:17.800
that end up being problematic.

00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:22.960
[gentle piano music]

00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:28.000
It becomes natural for
me to look at apartheid

00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:30.520
as beginning in 1948,

00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:35.080
when the Nationalist
Party gained ascendancy.

00:06:35.080 --> 00:06:39.360
But what the Nationalist
Party did was to take

00:06:39.440 --> 00:06:43.320
racial segregation to
its logical conclusion.

00:06:43.320 --> 00:06:46.560
Racial segregation was
already there when there was

00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:50.760
the Union of South Africa,
when the British ruled.

00:06:50.760 --> 00:06:54.200
- (Peter) When the Nationalist
Government took power in the

00:06:54.200 --> 00:06:58.280
19, late 1940s, they, they
formalized all of that.

00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:02.520
So there was the whole series of
acts,

00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:05.920
Immorality Acts, so no marriage,

00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.280
no sex between the different
races.

00:07:10.320 --> 00:07:12.640
There were passes that were
brought in.

00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.360
- (Dr. Mangaliso) You could be
stopped
by any police officer

00:07:15.400 --> 00:07:18.600
to validate your existence in
this area,

00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:20.560
which is part of your country.

00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:24.600
Women in everyday life, they
had to deal with the impact

00:07:24.640 --> 00:07:28.880
of apartheid and the
indignities
that came with that system.

00:07:28.960 --> 00:07:32.880
Individuals who did not even
have access to good education

00:07:32.960 --> 00:07:36.840
and good jobs, majority of
whom, especially African women,

00:07:36.840 --> 00:07:41.480
ended up taking jobs as maids.

00:07:41.520 --> 00:07:44.160
So you are looking at a
people who were affected

00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:47.560
economically, educationally
and politically

00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:51.760
impacted by apartheid
in the same way as men.

00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:55.720
Now, you have to think
about the whole system

00:07:55.760 --> 00:08:00.240
of contracting men to the mines,

00:08:00.320 --> 00:08:03.680
hyper exploited.

00:08:03.760 --> 00:08:05.480
You're looking at a significant
number,

00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:09.240
especially of African women
who, because of apartheid

00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:11.840
were left in the position where
they had to fend for their

00:08:11.880 --> 00:08:16.640
families on very meager incomes.

00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:21.160
- (Peter) You had to have
permits
to live in certain areas.

00:08:21.200 --> 00:08:25.520
Businesses were encouraged
to move their factories

00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:29.160
and things to be out
near where the boundaries

00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:32.360
of the Bantustans were
so that people could

00:08:32.400 --> 00:08:35.480
live in the Bantustans
and just come and work

00:08:35.560 --> 00:08:42.640
in the white-owned parts of the
country.

00:08:42.680 --> 00:08:46.040
Hendrik Verwoerd, he came up
with this

00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:49.880
philosophical system to justify,

00:08:49.880 --> 00:08:51.680
and it was called apartheid.

00:08:51.680 --> 00:08:55.520
It was called "separate
development."

00:08:55.560 --> 00:08:58.920
- (Dr. Mangaliso) The apartheid
regime
wanted to portray this image

00:08:58.920 --> 00:09:03.240
that for South Africa, actually
apartheid, was rational,

00:09:03.320 --> 00:09:06.960
because we are looking at a
society with so many different

00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:11.200
cultural groups, that they
actually needed to be separated.

00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:15.880
They saw that also as a very
good strategy for, you know,

00:09:15.920 --> 00:09:18.200
divide and rule.

00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:19.840
When that didn't work,

00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:22.360
the rest of the world would not
buy it,

00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:24.440
then tried various strategies.

00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:27.160
And one of those strategies
was the creation of

00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:29.120
Bantustans and Homelands.

00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:32.720
A Homeland or Bantustan for the
Xhosas

00:09:32.760 --> 00:09:35.600
for the Zulus, for the Sothos,

00:09:35.640 --> 00:09:38.200
for the Tswanas.

00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:42.840
- (Peter) So it became this
elaborate system of trying to

00:09:42.880 --> 00:09:47.080
allocate tribes, supposedly
the goal was they would be

00:09:47.160 --> 00:09:52.240
separate countries in a
sort of federal type system.

00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.560
You've got 87% of the population

00:09:55.640 --> 00:09:59.280
and you're squeezing them
into 13% of the country.

00:09:59.280 --> 00:10:01.720
Needless to say that 87% of the
country,

00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:04.400
didn't appreciate it very much.

00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:07.440
- (Makhosazana) It was also
at a time when Bantu education

00:10:07.520 --> 00:10:09.960
was being introduced.

00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:11.760
The syllabuses were changing.

00:10:11.800 --> 00:10:13.760
The system was changing

00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:18.440
and obviously the system
was aimed at reducing,

00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:24.640
shall I say, the level of
education among the Black
schools.

00:10:24.680 --> 00:10:29.080
And quite a lot of teachers
at secondary school level

00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:31.720
had actually left teaching

00:10:31.760 --> 00:10:35.520
and just take up a job
like being a bus conductor,

00:10:35.520 --> 00:10:39.120
but this was all out of
frustration, you see.

00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:42.960
- (Dr. Mangaliso)
Obviously any system where,

00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:47.160
the majority of the people
are oppressed, okay,

00:10:47.160 --> 00:10:51.640
that always sows the seed
of its own destruction.

00:10:51.680 --> 00:10:56.680
People never appreciate being
dominated and oppressed.

00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:59.280
[gentle piano music]

00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:04.080
So resistance movements had to
emerge.

00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:06.280
- (Makhosazana) My husband
had been an activist,

00:11:06.280 --> 00:11:09.080
a great activist of the ANC.

00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:12.720
So we decided to go to Zambia

00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:16.360
because we felt that we
would be closer to the ANC

00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:18.520
and would be able to work with
them.

00:11:18.560 --> 00:11:21.400
O.R. Tambo used to encourage
those of us

00:11:21.400 --> 00:11:24.000
who could get jobs, to get jobs

00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:31.600
so that we could be able to
assist the movement financially.

00:11:31.640 --> 00:11:35.880
We began to see, not only
adults,

00:11:35.920 --> 00:11:41.360
young people, coming to join the
struggle.

00:11:41.400 --> 00:11:47.120
The ANC felt, "No, young
children had to go to school."

00:11:47.160 --> 00:11:49.560
- (Tandiwe) Young people were
probably the most impacted

00:11:49.560 --> 00:11:52.560
because Bantu education
was specifically designed

00:11:52.560 --> 00:11:56.040
to disempower, kind of
the counterintuitive

00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:57.760
purpose of education.

00:11:57.800 --> 00:12:00.680
Resistance to Bantu
education really then brought

00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:03.480
young people to the fore.

00:12:03.520 --> 00:12:07.320
[gentle piano music]

00:12:07.400 --> 00:12:11.080
- (Desiree) I was a student at
the
University of Durban-Westville.

00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:14.720
It was a period of great

00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:19.000
intensity regarding violence
and anti-apartheid work

00:12:19.080 --> 00:12:22.840
in South Africa during
the mid and late eighties.

00:12:22.920 --> 00:12:24.960
And our lives as college
students

00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:29.200
were very embroiled in that.

00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:33.960
We were constantly told and
reminded, if not drilled,

00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:37.880
that education is the only
way to get out of apartheid.

00:12:37.920 --> 00:12:43.720
It was such a consuming,
pervasive, oppressive system,

00:12:43.760 --> 00:12:48.080
that the only way my parents
knew of

00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:51.920
having a better life or
having access to more

00:12:51.920 --> 00:12:55.120
was for us to get educated.

00:12:55.160 --> 00:12:58.160
[gentle piano music]

00:12:58.160 --> 00:13:03.400
I was 12 when we had the
first round of big boycotts.

00:13:03.400 --> 00:13:05.200
And so the police came,

00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.640
you know, they were trying to
chase us out of the school.

00:13:07.640 --> 00:13:13.240
And I remember hiding under our
desks, just being petrified.

00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:17.280
And that journey that we
experienced,

00:13:17.280 --> 00:13:20.560
I think really started since
the death of Hector Pieterson

00:13:20.640 --> 00:13:22.600
in 1976.

00:13:22.680 --> 00:13:27.120
When they chose to kill a child,

00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.560
that was when children and young
people

00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.960
really decided that we're
going to do what we can

00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:40.200
and we're going to join this
movement.

00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:44.280
- (Thandeka) We were living
during very important days

00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:46.840
in the history of South Africa.

00:13:46.880 --> 00:13:51.080
So we grew to have very
strong opinions, views,

00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:54.480
which sometimes differed
from the authority.

00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:55.920
- (Protester) An injury to one!

00:13:55.920 --> 00:13:57.320
- (Crowd) Is an injury to all!

00:13:57.320 --> 00:13:58.160
- (Protester) An injustice to
one!

00:13:58.200 --> 00:13:59.680
- (Crowd) Is an injustice to
all!

00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:00.800
- (Protester) A victory for one!

00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:02.320
- (Crowd) Is a victory for all!

00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:03.160
- (Protester) Freedom!

00:14:03.160 --> 00:14:03.960
- (Crowd) Now!

00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:04.760
- (Protester) Freedom!

00:14:04.800 --> 00:14:06.760
- (Crowd) Now!

00:14:06.800 --> 00:14:11.040
- (Thandeka) I was, very much
conscious,

00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:15.640
of the fact that, I come
from a war-torn country.

00:14:15.640 --> 00:14:20.200
There is a fight for liberation,

00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.440
a fight for independence.

00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:25.680
The value that my parents
had instilled in me was that

00:14:25.680 --> 00:14:29.200
we're giving you an education so
that

00:14:29.280 --> 00:14:33.080
you can be independent and
autonomous.

00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:37.800
So I had a whole community
that I held in my conscience

00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:40.520
to say, "I'm not only
doing this for myself,

00:14:40.560 --> 00:14:44.480
but I'm doing this for my
country and for my people."

00:14:44.560 --> 00:14:47.400
- (Vuyiswa) I'm a Soweto
girl, born and bred,

00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:52.040
born into a family of lots of
teachers.

00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:56.080
My mother often tells a story
that she had me on her back

00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.080
on that fateful day on the 16th
of June,

00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:01.120
when everything went down.

00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.320
So Soweto for me is home.

00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:05.720
When Soweto uprisings are spoken
about,

00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:08.400
I know a lot of the spots in the
areas

00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:12.440
where things happened,
that's where I was born.

00:15:12.520 --> 00:15:48.240
[choral music]

00:15:48.280 --> 00:15:51.240
And the Soweto uprisings,
really brought to the fore,

00:15:51.280 --> 00:15:54.880
the whole issue of youth
and youth being unsafe

00:15:54.920 --> 00:15:57.600
and youth being the ones that
have always

00:15:57.640 --> 00:16:02.080
pushed the envelope, that
change the course of history.

00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:06.680
- (Danny Dube) During the
Soweto uprisings in 1976,

00:16:06.680 --> 00:16:10.000
this was the only place open,

00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:13.920
Yet, this was the time when
all Black political parties

00:16:13.920 --> 00:16:17.520
were being barred and
some of their leaders

00:16:17.560 --> 00:16:19.720
were already in prison,

00:16:19.760 --> 00:16:23.400
but thereafter, the police
came to know about it.

00:16:23.400 --> 00:16:26.800
So that's why they used to come
and surround this church and

00:16:26.800 --> 00:16:29.480
tell the students with
megaphones to disperse

00:16:29.520 --> 00:16:32.400
within some few minutes.

00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:34.680
While if they didn't,
they started throwing in

00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:40.240
tear gas canisters, as well as
shooting,

00:16:40.280 --> 00:16:42.480
as well as from inside the
church,

00:16:42.520 --> 00:16:45.320
which means that they
did force their way in

00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:49.560
and moreover using, live
ammunition

00:16:49.560 --> 00:16:52.600
but nobody was killed in this
church.

00:16:52.640 --> 00:16:55.600
Of course, there were people got
hurt,

00:16:55.640 --> 00:16:59.480
as you very well know that
the first victim in Soweto,

00:16:59.560 --> 00:17:04.040
was this 13 year, Hector
Pieterson.

00:17:04.080 --> 00:17:08.640
But thereafter most of the
students who died is from '76

00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.280
until late 1987,

00:17:11.280 --> 00:17:13.720
which is a period of 11 years.

00:17:13.760 --> 00:17:18.160
Now, all their funeral
services were held here.

00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:22.360
So that's why we did sustain
some damages

00:17:22.360 --> 00:17:25.200
due to the police shootings.

00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:31.600
They say, "Regina Mundi is
a church of the people."

00:17:31.600 --> 00:17:34.200
- (Kholeka) I think during the
apartheid era, I was young,

00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:36.440
young enough to be naive
about what was happening

00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:38.040
in the country.

00:17:38.040 --> 00:17:40.040
I think you knew that
there were certain things

00:17:40.040 --> 00:17:42.680
that you couldn't do,
but also young enough

00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:45.240
to just not be bothered by it.

00:17:45.280 --> 00:17:49.000
Maybe, not bothered so much,
but just, you know, it's okay.

00:17:49.080 --> 00:17:53.120
This is how life was and you
accepted it for what it was.

00:17:53.120 --> 00:17:56.360
I think it was in 1986, '87,

00:17:56.360 --> 00:18:00.840
when it really hit me how,
different we were treated

00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:02.400
from white people.

00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:05.560
When we were told that we
couldn't go into a restaurant

00:18:05.600 --> 00:18:07.560
in KZN, that's when I started

00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:13.840
thinking about, about apartheid
and the effect it had on us.

00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:17.560
I grew up with both my parents.

00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:22.600
I say that because that
is rare for most people.

00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:24.280
And especially these days,

00:18:24.320 --> 00:18:27.960
you find kids who either live
with mom

00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.640
or live with dad, but mostly
you find single parents.

00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:34.800
To date I still live with them.

00:18:34.800 --> 00:18:38.800
All they really wanted
for myself and my siblings

00:18:38.800 --> 00:18:42.000
was for us to get an education,

00:18:42.040 --> 00:18:46.840
which is why when I left
Joburg or Johannesburg

00:18:46.840 --> 00:18:50.320
to go to boarding school in the
eighties,

00:18:50.360 --> 00:18:54.280
after a tear gas landed at my
feet, it,

00:18:54.320 --> 00:18:58.720
it was very hard for them,
it was hard for all of us.

00:18:58.760 --> 00:19:03.720
- (Alinah Mabuya) Then we tried
to apply for boarding school

00:19:03.760 --> 00:19:09.480
in Durban, she find a space
and she went to Durban.

00:19:09.560 --> 00:19:11.160
- (Kholeka) My mother called me
actually-

00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.200
- (Alinah Mabuya) I nearly
called everyday.

00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:15.800
[all laughing]

00:19:15.840 --> 00:19:20.240
- (Kholeka) And how did you
feel about me going overseas?

00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:23.480
- (Alinah Mabuya) I cried a lot.

00:19:23.520 --> 00:19:25.480
- (Kholeka) I didn't know that.

00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:30.960
Nah, I didn't know that, yeah.

00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:36.160
They spent the last penny that
they had to make sure that I,

00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:38.520
I went to boarding school.

00:19:38.560 --> 00:19:40.800
I went to Ohlange high school.

00:19:40.840 --> 00:19:44.760
The school was founded
by the first ANC leader.

00:19:44.800 --> 00:19:47.640
That was John Langalibalele
Dube.

00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:49.200
[gentle piano music]

00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:51.640
He was this man who,

00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:56.240
went overseas and raised
funds so that Black kids

00:19:56.280 --> 00:19:59.840
could have an education.

00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:04.720
And I went to that school that
he founded.

00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:08.760
Nelson Mandela cast his
vote in 1994, he went there,

00:20:08.760 --> 00:20:11.920
so there's the history.

00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:14.240
It really makes me proud to,

00:20:14.320 --> 00:20:17.880
just to have gone to that
school.

00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:20.040
- (Thilo) The system in
South Africa at that time

00:20:20.080 --> 00:20:22.200
was very much, the schools
was very segregated.

00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:25.440
So if you were Indian, you
went into a school system

00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:27.640
that just didn't have the
resources

00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:29.640
that other school systems had.

00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:30.920
Whether it was about sport,

00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:33.320
whether it was about
the facilities to study

00:20:33.360 --> 00:20:37.320
or computers, the teachers
were not paid as well.

00:20:37.360 --> 00:20:40.520
So all of those, made the school
system,

00:20:40.520 --> 00:20:42.960
the Indian school system,

00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:45.560
definitely less than
the white school system

00:20:45.560 --> 00:20:48.280
in South Africa.

00:20:48.360 --> 00:20:51.400
- (Meagan) Identity was
defined and constructed

00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:55.440
by the government, in
order to privilege the few.

00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:58.840
So at a younger age, you
recognize something's wrong.

00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:00.800
Then you get a little
bit older and you know

00:21:00.840 --> 00:21:03.520
it's not just that it's
wrong, but it's also unfair

00:21:03.560 --> 00:21:04.960
or inhumane.

00:21:05.040 --> 00:21:06.680
And then at a certain point,

00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:09.600
as you gain better knowledge
or hear more conversations

00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:11.120
and understand on deeper levels,

00:21:11.120 --> 00:21:13.800
what those conversations
mean, now, what I think

00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:17.640
it awakens awareness, because
you cannot

00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:20.920
destroy someone and treat
someone

00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:23.960
in a manner like that
without dehumanizing them.

00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:27.600
It did leave multiple
generations of people

00:21:27.600 --> 00:21:31.280
grabbing onto whatever made
them a little bit more human

00:21:31.320 --> 00:21:32.440
or better.

00:21:32.520 --> 00:21:35.160
So there are people in these
different racial categories,

00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:38.320
including my own, who would
look down on others, right.

00:21:38.360 --> 00:21:40.680
Well, we're just a little
bit better than you.

00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:41.720
We get treated better.

00:21:41.760 --> 00:21:43.600
We live differently.

00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:47.520
But what people like Steve
Biko and Nelson Mandela

00:21:47.520 --> 00:21:51.720
and the Tutu's of the world
do is they help you understand

00:21:51.760 --> 00:21:56.240
that's a strategy, that is a
way of keeping you in line.

00:21:56.280 --> 00:21:59.400
- (Dr. Mangaliso) So Steve Biko
started this, you know,

00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:02.400
sense of pride of being
Black and being African

00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:07.280
and unleashing the ability
to overthrow white dominance,

00:22:07.320 --> 00:22:12.160
you know, just by being
yourself, being an African.

00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:14.160
- (Meagan) When you have
a system where race is

00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:16.960
what separates you and
puts you into a hierarchy,

00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:19.520
one of the ways you combat
that is what you call

00:22:19.520 --> 00:22:21.080
sort of umbrella advocacy.

00:22:21.120 --> 00:22:24.440
So everybody, regardless
of where you may differ

00:22:24.520 --> 00:22:27.600
on the spectrum, you push
under the same umbrella

00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:30.160
to fight the bigger common
enemy.

00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:34.200
So there are to this day,
Indian South Africans,

00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:38.280
Colored South Africans,
African South Africans,

00:22:38.320 --> 00:22:40.400
I'm speaking in sort of
the apartheid lingo now

00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:42.160
when I'm using racial
classifications,

00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:44.280
who will tell you I'm Black.

00:22:44.280 --> 00:22:47.080
It was a political
statement to say we are Black,

00:22:47.080 --> 00:22:49.400
'cause that is our
declaration to the world

00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:51.280
that we do not believe in
apartheid.

00:22:51.320 --> 00:22:55.000
It is unfair, it is inhumane,

00:22:55.040 --> 00:22:58.960
it is a constructed reality for
us.

00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:01.800
It's not who we are as humans.

00:23:01.800 --> 00:23:04.880
[indistinct chatter]

00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:09.880
[Casspir, army truck revving]

00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:13.200
[gunshots booming]

00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:26.560
[screaming]

00:23:26.600 --> 00:23:28.720
[glass crashing]

00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:32.360
- (Heather) I grew up on one of
the
streets in, on the Cape Flats,

00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.600
in Athlone, where much of
the struggle took place.

00:23:36.600 --> 00:23:37.840
It was Klipfontein Road,

00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:39.600
Belgravia Road and Thornton
Road.

00:23:39.600 --> 00:23:42.120
And I grew up on Belgravia Road.

00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:45.720
I was born to a father who
believed that education

00:23:45.800 --> 00:23:47.640
was the most important thing.

00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:50.120
That was the way to freedom.

00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:51.960
Him and my mother put
their savings together

00:23:52.040 --> 00:23:55.560
and put out my brother
and I in a private school.

00:23:55.600 --> 00:24:01.560
This worked for a little
while, but not for long.

00:24:01.560 --> 00:24:05.760
Many of the school children
had decided liberation

00:24:05.760 --> 00:24:07.200
before education.

00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:10.600
My bus to school, we were
the subject of stone throwing

00:24:10.600 --> 00:24:13.240
by kids who I grew up with.

00:24:13.280 --> 00:24:16.240
It created for me a
bit of a schizophrenia,

00:24:16.280 --> 00:24:19.280
because I had to sort of travel
through the burning tires

00:24:19.320 --> 00:24:22.280
and the sight of the struggle.

00:24:22.320 --> 00:24:24.480
And then trees got greener.

00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:28.720
The plots got wider, and I
would arrive in Upper Wynberg.

00:24:28.760 --> 00:24:31.920
The school at the time
refused to have us talk about

00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:34.320
what was going on at home,

00:24:34.320 --> 00:24:38.520
because I think they believed
it was too political.

00:24:38.560 --> 00:24:41.160
So we never found a way, I feel,

00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:44.400
to bring all the fragments
of ourself into one place

00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:47.960
and be accepted for that
entire experience, which was,

00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:49.440
which was soul destroying.

00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:53.280
My father, who had been
watching this brew up in me,

00:24:53.320 --> 00:24:55.680
understood exactly what had
happened,

00:24:55.720 --> 00:24:58.880
decided to move me to a
government school,

00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:01.960
which was close to where I
lived and also on the Cape Flats

00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:05.720
and there I became very
politically active

00:25:05.720 --> 00:25:08.800
and lived out my life in that
way.

00:25:08.840 --> 00:25:12.640
It was, it was dangerous and
very scary,

00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:15.480
but I felt at least whole.

00:25:15.560 --> 00:25:17.560
(Marchers singing) Oh deep in my
heart

00:25:17.600 --> 00:25:19.760
I do believe

00:25:19.800 --> 00:25:28.560
That we shall overcome one day

00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:32.320
- (Thembekile) My peers
and people just ahead of us

00:25:32.360 --> 00:25:34.680
had finally just reached
the end of their rope,

00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:38.000
that it didn't matter to be
quiet anymore.

00:25:38.080 --> 00:25:43.160
The movements were something
that happened in Johannesburg

00:25:43.160 --> 00:25:44.800
or happened in Cape Town,

00:25:44.840 --> 00:25:48.640
that took quite a long time
to reach Pietermaritzburg,

00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:51.800
I was actually probably out of
high school

00:25:51.800 --> 00:25:53.800
by the time that,

00:25:53.800 --> 00:25:56.920
students
that is, felt brave enough to,

00:25:57.000 --> 00:25:59.200
to join the movement.

00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:01.440
I wasn't part of it.

00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:06.160
And, and most of that was,

00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:10.480
our parents were absolutely
adamant that you don't,

00:26:10.520 --> 00:26:13.480
you don't stick your neck
out there, you don't,

00:26:13.520 --> 00:26:15.960
because it just invites a lot
of,

00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:18.240
of everything that they were
scared of,

00:26:18.320 --> 00:26:19.960
that the South African
government could unleash.

00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:25.160
We often went quite hungry,
because there wasn't,

00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:27.800
there wasn't food and then
you just learn how to not

00:26:27.800 --> 00:26:30.880
complain about that.

00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:36.080
And so it could be very,
a very spare existence.

00:26:36.080 --> 00:26:40.280
So the books were really
entertainment.

00:26:40.280 --> 00:26:43.920
I just was so happy to,

00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:47.400
escape into a book.

00:26:47.480 --> 00:26:50.760
When I was in high school,
an American teacher

00:26:50.800 --> 00:26:52.760
came to teach English

00:26:52.800 --> 00:26:55.160
and was,

00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:59.080
unusual in giving us

00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:02.320
respect and a lot of freedom,

00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:05.040
unusual that he sat on
top of the teacher's desk,

00:27:05.040 --> 00:27:08.760
instead of like cross-legged,
instead of standing there

00:27:08.840 --> 00:27:11.680
with the, you know, stick.

00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:13.320
In those days,

00:27:13.360 --> 00:27:15.720
as a Black person who
lived in the townships,

00:27:15.760 --> 00:27:18.320
I could not use the library.

00:27:18.320 --> 00:27:23.000
But there I was working with
these kids, white and Indian

00:27:23.040 --> 00:27:26.840
and Colored, so I would
actually read along with them.

00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:30.600
I just need to get as much as
possible out of this sort of

00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:33.160
sideways education that I was
getting.

00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:35.320
Having an education that I
wasn't having

00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:38.800
in a Bantu education system.

00:27:38.840 --> 00:27:42.360
- (Thandeka) Is it education
first or freedom first?

00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:46.760
And I think more and more
young people were saying,

00:27:46.840 --> 00:27:50.880
"Freedom first" 'cause they
didn't want to be subjected

00:27:50.920 --> 00:27:53.760
to a meaningless education.

00:27:53.800 --> 00:27:56.920
And I grew up in
Vosloorus, east of Joburg.

00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:03.440
It was the hub of a lot of
unrest and political activity.

00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:08.280
And I think my parents
did value education.

00:28:08.360 --> 00:28:12.720
So, at that point, they
made a decision to take us

00:28:12.800 --> 00:28:17.160
to boarding schools, a little
bit far out from Johannesburg,

00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:20.440
where we could get some form of
education.

00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:23.680
- (Nolwandle) Politics were
not discussed in the forms of

00:28:23.720 --> 00:28:27.400
it had to be this robust
discussion because we were
living

00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:30.840
politics, the fact that you
were denied the basic rights,

00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:33.000
the fact that you were
actually treated differently,

00:28:33.040 --> 00:28:35.000
you were Black before
you were anything else.

00:28:35.040 --> 00:28:38.080
I attended rallies, funerals,

00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:40.080
people who were actually
not part, or seen marching

00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:42.880
were actually questioned

00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:48.400
as to whether you were
working for the system or not.

00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:50.880
I was born and raised in
Guguletu,

00:28:50.920 --> 00:28:53.280
a township outside of Cape Town.

00:28:53.280 --> 00:28:58.000
Born with uncles and aunts,
all living in the same roof.

00:28:58.080 --> 00:29:00.760
Family that actually was
really involved in the

00:29:00.800 --> 00:29:04.360
community from a spiritual
point of view as well.

00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:06.760
They had very limited education,

00:29:06.760 --> 00:29:09.960
but it was very clear
that they'd made the vow

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:13.400
that most African parents
at the time had made that

00:29:13.400 --> 00:29:17.000
despite the situation, they
will make sure that they put

00:29:17.040 --> 00:29:20.040
an effort in educating their
kids.

00:29:20.080 --> 00:29:22.880
What my parents, as well as
the teacher and the community

00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:25.440
at large emphasized that,

00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:29.720
our success will not
come from anything else

00:29:29.720 --> 00:29:32.520
at the time, but actually
liberating ourselves.

00:29:32.520 --> 00:29:33.920
That for me, was very important,

00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:36.160
even at elementary school level.

00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:38.560
At high school level, there
was the same expectation

00:29:38.560 --> 00:29:40.960
that you have to do well.

00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:42.480
- (Chuma) I think I
had an inner confidence

00:29:42.560 --> 00:29:46.200
that I just had to find
and kind of strengthen.

00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:48.640
I knew I could do whatever I
wanted.

00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:53.520
I, you know, the world be
damned, I'm gonna do what

00:29:53.600 --> 00:29:55.120
I need to do for myself.

00:29:55.160 --> 00:29:56.480
And I just needed the tools to
do it.

00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:58.280
So I started out at Inanda
Seminary,

00:29:58.320 --> 00:30:00.760
which was a community of
girls helping each other

00:30:00.840 --> 00:30:03.320
kind of grow up.

00:30:03.320 --> 00:30:06.120
Our head mistress basically
called us into her office

00:30:06.120 --> 00:30:08.320
and said, "I'm giving you an
assignment

00:30:08.360 --> 00:30:09.800
that you have to give in,

00:30:09.840 --> 00:30:12.240
here's your packet, here's your
packet, here's your packet,

00:30:12.320 --> 00:30:13.240
bring it to me."

00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:16.000
And I remember thinking,
"Oh boy, are we in trouble?

00:30:16.040 --> 00:30:17.200
This makes no sense to me,

00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:19.280
but I'm just gonna fill
out this application."

00:30:19.360 --> 00:30:21.440
And then I forgot all about it.

00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:23.840
And months later, my
father calls and said,

00:30:23.840 --> 00:30:27.840
"I got this telegram from
some school in America

00:30:27.840 --> 00:30:30.480
saying that you need to come to
school

00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:32.280
and you've been accepted."

00:30:32.320 --> 00:30:34.240
And I said, "What school?"

00:30:34.280 --> 00:30:37.600
I had no idea what had happened.

00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:46.560
[gentle piano music]

00:30:46.560 --> 00:30:49.200
- (Susan Bourque) I've been
fortunate to know and work with

00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:51.600
five presidents of Smith.

00:30:51.600 --> 00:30:54.400
I arrived on campus in 1970.

00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:58.120
Tom Mendenhall was the
president.

00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:03.160
We had never had a woman
as president until Jill

00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:05.560
and it set the campus on fire.

00:31:05.640 --> 00:31:08.720
It was like an electric
current had gone through it.

00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:11.680
When we first saw her
arrive and be part of

00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:13.520
the academic procession.

00:31:13.560 --> 00:31:17.560
For those of us who
were young and feminist,

00:31:17.560 --> 00:31:19.920
both men and women, we were
thrilled,

00:31:19.960 --> 00:31:23.000
but still thinking what
the college might become

00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:27.480
under this woman who came
in as a declared feminist,

00:31:27.560 --> 00:31:31.440
who said she wanted to make
sure that Smith's history

00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:36.360
and mission could fit the
college for the kind of
education

00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:39.080
that women would need.

00:31:39.080 --> 00:31:42.880
[gentle music]

00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:46.520
It was at the same time, a
challenging situation for

00:31:46.560 --> 00:31:48.760
a first timer, if you will,

00:31:48.760 --> 00:31:54.160
the first woman to lead
this institution that had

00:31:54.200 --> 00:31:58.080
traditionally had a small group
of men around the president

00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:00.600
who felt that they could call
the shots,

00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:02.120
a kind of kitchen cabinet.

00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:07.000
And so she met with a lot
of resistance to change.

00:32:07.040 --> 00:32:10.280
And of course her ideas
were very progressive.

00:32:10.280 --> 00:32:13.280
I mean, today it is not
unusual to hear people

00:32:13.320 --> 00:32:16.920
talk about the significance
of educating women

00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:19.600
for the social and political
development of a nation.

00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:25.600
But that simply was not the case
in 1975.

00:32:25.640 --> 00:32:29.560
It was a struggle to
get people to understand

00:32:29.600 --> 00:32:32.000
the importance of what this
might mean

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:36.640
in the overall well-being of a
nation.

00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:40.320
And it was Jill and Mary,

00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:44.640
who sowed the seeds that
we have come to appreciate

00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:48.440
in what we see in this
wonderful college today.

00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:52.480
Jill of course, was
instrumental in making sure that

00:32:52.520 --> 00:32:56.320
Jill and Peter de Villiers came
to Smith

00:32:56.360 --> 00:33:02.160
and of course, much valued
Peter's advice in all areas

00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:05.440
of Smith life, most
particularly athletics.

00:33:05.480 --> 00:33:07.000
He was a great mover and shaker

00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:09.640
in terms of the athletic
program.

00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:13.080
And of course his deep
engagement in South Africa

00:33:13.120 --> 00:33:16.680
was critical in the development
of what would become

00:33:16.680 --> 00:33:19.960
the scholarship program.

00:33:20.040 --> 00:33:22.480
- (Peter) I was the third child
of four.

00:33:22.520 --> 00:33:25.680
My father was a influential
Presbyterian church minister

00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:27.200
in Durban, had a big church.

00:33:27.280 --> 00:33:31.360
So I grew up as a preacher's
kid and all that that means.

00:33:31.400 --> 00:33:34.560
I was the designated
successor to my father,

00:33:34.560 --> 00:33:35.400
shall we say.

00:33:35.760 --> 00:33:38.680
So there was, something I
didn't question very much.

00:33:38.760 --> 00:33:43.240
I think growing up, my father
was an active white liberal.

00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:46.200
He didn't see himself
as preaching politics,

00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:48.880
but he was very involved
with Black churches,

00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:51.560
with Indian churches in the
region.

00:33:51.640 --> 00:33:54.880
I came to Smith in 1979 with
Jill.

00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:57.720
We were primarily
recruited by Jill Conway.

00:33:57.720 --> 00:34:01.520
So in the fall of the
first year I was here,

00:34:01.520 --> 00:34:05.160
I was put on an ad hoc group to
organize

00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:08.760
the recruitment and admission
of international students.

00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:10.000
And there were very small
numbers

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:11.680
of international students here.

00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:14.880
We established a faculty
committee on international

00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:17.240
students and as the
chair of that committee,

00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:19.720
I served on the board
of admission at Smith

00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:23.320
and Lorna Blake, who was
the director of admissions

00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:24.480
at that time,

00:34:24.520 --> 00:34:28.680
she and I read all of the
international applications.

00:34:28.680 --> 00:34:31.920
A number of American
universities and colleges

00:34:31.960 --> 00:34:35.200
established a South
African Scholarship Program

00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:37.960
and distributed Black
South African students

00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:41.440
who did not have access
to the white universities

00:34:41.520 --> 00:34:42.800
in South Africa.

00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:46.800
For two years, we were
a member of this group,

00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:48.600
but we didn't get any students.

00:34:48.640 --> 00:34:52.040
We looked at who it was
that got those scholarships

00:34:52.040 --> 00:34:56.840
and it was mostly
graduate students and men,

00:34:56.880 --> 00:35:00.760
in technical sciences,
computers, et cetera,

00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:03.680
and they were going to
the big universities.

00:35:03.720 --> 00:35:06.120
I went to Jill Conway.

00:35:06.120 --> 00:35:08.680
It was at a time when she was
negotiating

00:35:08.720 --> 00:35:11.640
with the board about
the issue of divestment.

00:35:11.720 --> 00:35:14.520
And I don't know what
her actual views were

00:35:14.560 --> 00:35:17.240
about divestment, but as the
president,

00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:20.000
she was negotiating between the
faculty

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:23.800
and the students with their
views and the trustees.

00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:25.640
Her pragmatic approach was,

00:35:25.680 --> 00:35:27.640
let's do something with the
money,

00:35:27.640 --> 00:35:30.480
at least until we make a
decision.

00:35:30.520 --> 00:35:33.880
She went to the board with
that and they decided to

00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:37.280
establish a South African
Scholarship

00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:40.720
that was a board of trustees
scholarship.

00:35:40.720 --> 00:35:43.160
They set aside an amount of
money,

00:35:43.160 --> 00:35:46.320
so Jill said to me,
"Okay, we've got to go,

00:35:46.360 --> 00:35:47.360
how do we recruit them?"

00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:50.200
And I said, "If you want
students right away,

00:35:50.200 --> 00:35:51.800
my dad can recruit them."

00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:55.000
Okay, so in the mid 1980s,

00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:00.520
he had left his church and
was working in the education

00:36:00.600 --> 00:36:05.280
department in the province of
Natal and so he had contacts

00:36:05.280 --> 00:36:06.080
in the schools.

00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:09.000
I wrote to my dad and said,
"Smith would like students

00:36:09.080 --> 00:36:11.160
and we can, we have the
scholarship established.

00:36:11.200 --> 00:36:14.320
We can take two students this
year."

00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:18.840
What it was deciding was
simply, can they do it?

00:36:18.920 --> 00:36:26.440
Are they gonna be able to make
it here?

00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:34.400
[upbeat music]

00:36:34.440 --> 00:36:38.560
- (Thembekile) I cannot tell
you how excited I was in the,

00:36:38.640 --> 00:36:43.400
in the days leading up to my
departure.

00:36:43.480 --> 00:36:45.280
- (Thilo) Thembekile and I were
the first

00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:48.320
South African students,
we had a lot of publicity.

00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:50.360
One of the things that my
dad said to me when I went to

00:36:50.360 --> 00:36:54.640
boarding school was, "You are
representative of the whole

00:36:54.720 --> 00:36:57.600
Indian community, whether
you like it or not."

00:36:57.600 --> 00:36:59.240
And that's what this felt like
too,

00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:03.400
representative of my family,
of the Indian community

00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:07.080
being given this an amazing
opportunity to excel,

00:37:07.120 --> 00:37:12.360
to succeed, to open doors
for new opportunities.

00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:16.720
- (Desiree) My parents were very
about even entertaining this

00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:21.200
thought and it also almost
sounded too good to be true.

00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:23.000
I was leaving to come to Smith,

00:37:23.040 --> 00:37:27.160
I'd said my goodbyes to
everyone and my dad ran after me

00:37:27.160 --> 00:37:30.800
and he grabbed me and he held
my face between his hands.

00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:34.080
And he said, "Are you sure? Are
you sure?"

00:37:34.160 --> 00:37:35.640
And I'm like, [imitates crying]
"Yeah",

00:37:35.640 --> 00:37:36.880
because I was so emotional,

00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:39.800
and he said, "I can't come
pick you up next week,

00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:43.240
So you have to be sure!"
[laughing]

00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:45.120
- (Verna) I was anxious about
flying.

00:37:45.160 --> 00:37:48.080
I was distraught over leaving my
parents,

00:37:48.080 --> 00:37:50.520
I had, you know, never
left my parents before

00:37:50.560 --> 00:37:52.320
and I was going to this new
country,

00:37:52.320 --> 00:37:54.360
but I had my sister sitting
in the seat next to me, which,

00:37:54.400 --> 00:37:56.440
which helped a lot.

00:37:56.520 --> 00:38:01.200
And I got physically ill, I
was passing out, dizzy spells.

00:38:01.240 --> 00:38:04.200
When I, when I landed in,
in Johannesburg the most,

00:38:04.240 --> 00:38:05.400
it was so embarrassing,

00:38:05.400 --> 00:38:06.600
but they actually had the EMT

00:38:06.640 --> 00:38:09.440
come and take me off the plane.

00:38:09.480 --> 00:38:12.120
- (Chuma) I was flying to Boston
and they said,

00:38:12.200 --> 00:38:14.240
"We have an announcement
there's a blizzard

00:38:14.280 --> 00:38:18.080
out on the East Coast, so we
cannot land."

00:38:18.080 --> 00:38:24.320
So we got rerouted to Toronto.

00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:27.720
- (Heather) As soon as I landed,
I was
fortunate enough that my uncle

00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:29.960
was there and he took me.

00:38:29.960 --> 00:38:32.160
I said, "I just need to go to a
place

00:38:32.200 --> 00:38:36.680
where I can find clothes
for cold weather."

00:38:36.760 --> 00:38:41.480
And I went and I dressed up
and I got ready for going out,

00:38:41.560 --> 00:38:44.840
out into this, into the
snow, to my classes that day,

00:38:44.840 --> 00:38:48.040
I got fully dressed up and
as I left all along campus,

00:38:48.040 --> 00:38:50.280
I just couldn't understand
'cause everyone was asking me,

00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:52.640
"Heather, are you going skiing
today?"

00:38:52.680 --> 00:38:54.840
[interviewer laughing]

00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:58.960
And I add the full ski
outfit on with goggles

00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:01.720
and the whole thing, because I
thought

00:39:01.720 --> 00:39:05.760
this is how you prepare for
very, very cold weather.

00:39:05.800 --> 00:39:08.440
- (Chuma) I didn't have a way to
contact anybody.

00:39:08.520 --> 00:39:11.760
And so I hoped that someone
would be there when I landed

00:39:11.800 --> 00:39:14.200
and Peter was there, so
that was very reassuring.

00:39:14.200 --> 00:39:16.280
I don't know how he found
out, I didn't even ask,

00:39:16.320 --> 00:39:18.880
I was just happy to see him
and they gave me a winter coat.

00:39:18.920 --> 00:39:20.480
And so that was really good.

00:39:20.520 --> 00:39:22.640
I felt welcome.

00:39:22.680 --> 00:39:25.320
It was scary, but it was over.

00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:27.160
I was ready to start.

00:39:27.240 --> 00:39:29.680
- (Vuyiswa) And my mother, I
remember when I left home,

00:39:29.720 --> 00:39:31.520
the one thing she said
to me at the airport,

00:39:31.520 --> 00:39:33.720
"You want this?

00:39:33.720 --> 00:39:36.360
When we get to the airport,
you're not gonna cry.

00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:37.560
There are no regrets.

00:39:37.560 --> 00:39:40.120
You know what you've been
taught in this household.

00:39:40.160 --> 00:39:44.600
So go there and make it happen."

00:39:44.600 --> 00:39:49.240
- (Desiree) The person who got
on the
plane and was in tears and,

00:39:49.240 --> 00:39:52.680
you know, reassuring my dad
that I'm sure about this.

00:39:52.720 --> 00:39:55.640
And then the person who got
off the plane in New York,

00:39:55.640 --> 00:39:58.280
I really believe were
almost two different people.

00:39:58.280 --> 00:40:04.320
Like I, I felt like I had to
do a lot of growing up and

00:40:04.360 --> 00:40:09.240
have this determination in me
that this was going to work

00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:13.960
out and I was gonna make it
happen.

00:40:13.960 --> 00:40:16.200
[soft jazz music]

00:40:16.240 --> 00:40:21.160
- (Thembekile) Having left South
Africa
when it was around 82°F Degrees

00:40:21.200 --> 00:40:28.040
and arriving at Bradley and it
was 15°F.

00:40:28.080 --> 00:40:33.080
And then it was absolutely
just real, that I'm here.

00:40:33.120 --> 00:40:47.520
[soft jazz music continues]

00:40:47.560 --> 00:40:49.600
- (Thilo) Walking from Washburn
House,

00:40:49.640 --> 00:40:51.960
the snow was way above my head,

00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:54.000
like, I couldn't see, I
couldn't see where I was going,

00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:57.440
it was just follow the path,
that was it.

00:40:57.480 --> 00:40:59.840
Washburn House was where
I stayed for four years.

00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:03.240
It really was my home away from
home.

00:41:03.280 --> 00:41:06.640
My safe haven, where I grew a
lot,

00:41:06.680 --> 00:41:09.960
where I became a young adult.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.480
I mean, I really came from a
household,

00:41:14.520 --> 00:41:15.520
[clears throat]

00:41:15.600 --> 00:41:21.520
where we had a maid, that
was always there really.

00:41:21.560 --> 00:41:22.960
I never made my bed.

00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:26.960
So the opportunity to be here
and learn

00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:28.680
like most other college
students,

00:41:28.760 --> 00:41:29.520
[laughs]

00:41:29.640 --> 00:41:30.840
how to make your bed and how to
cook.

00:41:30.840 --> 00:41:34.000
Being a part of a house like
Washburn,

00:41:34.040 --> 00:41:36.240
and the feeling that I had there

00:41:36.240 --> 00:41:37.640
was where it was my safe haven,

00:41:37.680 --> 00:41:41.480
where had amazing group of
people,

00:41:41.480 --> 00:41:44.520
a community that taught me a
lot.

00:41:44.520 --> 00:41:47.120
- So now I am, I'm
waking up in my own room

00:41:47.120 --> 00:41:51.040
and in an absolutely, you know,

00:41:51.120 --> 00:41:57.440
lovely space and, you know,
Jill would pack care packages

00:41:57.480 --> 00:42:02.360
for us, you know paperwhites
on the window sill.

00:42:02.400 --> 00:42:05.120
So there were, you know,
there was a lot of care.

00:42:05.200 --> 00:42:08.520
- (Desiree) Peter and Jill de
Villiers they would cook

00:42:08.600 --> 00:42:11.880
South African curries
for us and we got to know

00:42:11.880 --> 00:42:15.040
their children, they just,
they opened up their lives

00:42:15.080 --> 00:42:19.320
to us and we felt very
comfortable in their home.

00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:22.200
It was almost like a home away
from home.

00:42:22.280 --> 00:42:24.840
- (Thembekile) In those days,
they used
to call us foreign students.

00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:28.000
I didn't find that pejorative,
there was a lot of curiosity,

00:42:28.040 --> 00:42:30.800
about you know, "Who are
these people from, you know,

00:42:30.840 --> 00:42:31.760
South Africa."

00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:36.840
But it was sort of describing,
having to describe to,

00:42:36.880 --> 00:42:41.440
most Americans, both Black and
white,

00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:46.080
who we were and, you
know, someone asked Thilo,

00:42:46.080 --> 00:42:47.680
"Why do you sound different?"

00:42:47.680 --> 00:42:51.920
And we sound different because I
speak,

00:42:51.920 --> 00:42:55.760
English is my second language
and so on

00:42:55.800 --> 00:42:59.400
and we have, we had just huge
life,

00:42:59.440 --> 00:43:01.560
different life experiences.

00:43:01.560 --> 00:43:03.800
- (Chuma) I remember writing a
letter to my mother saying,

00:43:03.800 --> 00:43:05.960
"I have a roommate, she is
white."

00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:07.000
[laughing]

00:43:07.240 --> 00:43:10.440
And I know to a lot of people
doesn't seem like a big deal,

00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:14.040
but it kind of was, it was a
very,

00:43:14.080 --> 00:43:16.920
it was like an immersion
into something that I'd never

00:43:16.960 --> 00:43:18.640
imagined would happen.

00:43:18.680 --> 00:43:20.840
And she was very nice to me

00:43:20.880 --> 00:43:22.960
and we still keep in touch to
this day.

00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:25.320
Washburn House was a
very interesting house.

00:43:25.320 --> 00:43:27.480
There were a number of
international students there,

00:43:27.520 --> 00:43:29.960
so it felt kind of welcoming.

00:43:29.960 --> 00:43:33.640
Thilo Simadari, who was the
class of 89,

00:43:33.720 --> 00:43:35.160
was also at Washburn House,

00:43:35.160 --> 00:43:37.800
so I had a fellow South
African in the house.

00:43:37.800 --> 00:43:40.400
And I remember my second day at
Smith,

00:43:40.440 --> 00:43:43.000
Thembekile came through to visit

00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:46.600
and I remember thinking,
"Finally, I get to meet someone

00:43:46.640 --> 00:43:49.120
I can kind of relate to
and speak the same language

00:43:49.200 --> 00:43:54.120
and you know", it's, so that
felt like I wasn't on my own.

00:43:54.160 --> 00:43:58.000
And Thandi Mvakali was in the
same high school I came from.

00:43:58.080 --> 00:44:02.520
So I felt like I had a
built-in community already.

00:44:02.520 --> 00:44:07.720
[gentle piano music]

00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:10.160
- (Nolwandle) When I left, I
was
excited, I was only 18.

00:44:10.200 --> 00:44:12.000
I was quite determined.

00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:14.840
Interestingly, my mother
was probably the one

00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:17.400
who was in denial about
this whole thing that

00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:19.000
I had gotten a full scholarship,

00:44:19.040 --> 00:44:20.280
they didn't have to pay a dime.

00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:21.920
I just had to get on the plane.

00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:23.280
She asked a lot of questions,

00:44:23.280 --> 00:44:24.080
"What are you going to do?

00:44:24.160 --> 00:44:25.320
You're very young, you don't
know."

00:44:25.400 --> 00:44:28.080
I said, "Here's an opportunity,
it's a lifetime opportunity

00:44:28.120 --> 00:44:30.600
that I don't have, I
don't think you are able

00:44:30.680 --> 00:44:31.880
to provide for me."

00:44:31.920 --> 00:44:33.520
'Cause I mean, I wouldn't
have been able to afford

00:44:33.560 --> 00:44:34.760
to go to Varsity.

00:44:34.840 --> 00:44:37.960
The foundation and the
commitment
those teachers had on us

00:44:37.960 --> 00:44:40.600
enabled me to actually get a
full scholarship for four years

00:44:40.640 --> 00:44:42.200
at Smith College.

00:44:42.240 --> 00:44:44.440
And to an extent, what
was meant to be a curse

00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:46.880
was a blessing.

00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:51.120
And coming on campus in an
environment where for once

00:44:51.200 --> 00:44:53.840
I felt I was Nolwandle,

00:44:53.880 --> 00:44:56.960
a brilliant student and
someone with actually

00:44:57.040 --> 00:44:59.560
a prospect in the future.

00:44:59.640 --> 00:45:01.440
- (Tandiwe) When I came to
campus
it was important for me

00:45:01.480 --> 00:45:02.960
to seek out my community.

00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:05.200
See it wasn't as important
for me to seek out

00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:07.520
the South Africans as it
was for me to seek out

00:45:07.520 --> 00:45:10.160
the Africans and I think
that's just a factor of

00:45:10.200 --> 00:45:12.200
my experience having grown up in
exile

00:45:12.240 --> 00:45:15.040
and then having gone to
school in New Mexico.

00:45:15.120 --> 00:45:17.560
And then once I had
established myself there,

00:45:17.600 --> 00:45:20.640
I could then go out and
seek new relationships.

00:45:20.680 --> 00:45:24.440
I knew a lot of people but I
really found that the African

00:45:24.440 --> 00:45:28.920
students network was my, was
my support base and my home.

00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:31.080
- (Nolwandle) I just felt it was
actually effortless,

00:45:31.080 --> 00:45:33.320
whether we were coming from
exile,

00:45:33.360 --> 00:45:35.280
whether we're actually
coming from South Africa,

00:45:35.280 --> 00:45:37.520
whether we're coming from
other parts of Africa,

00:45:37.520 --> 00:45:40.120
there was a shared purpose
around,

00:45:40.120 --> 00:45:42.920
we are there to actually better
ourselves

00:45:42.960 --> 00:45:45.040
for the benefit of our
community.

00:45:45.120 --> 00:45:47.600
- (Tandiwe) So every year we'd
host
what we called, Africa Day,

00:45:47.640 --> 00:45:49.960
because we'd put on a cultural
show.

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:52.400
[African drum music]

00:45:52.440 --> 00:45:56.240
The African students at my
time were a very close knit,

00:45:56.280 --> 00:45:58.440
grouping of women and in my
other life

00:45:58.440 --> 00:46:00.000
I'd have been a performer on
stage,

00:46:00.040 --> 00:46:03.240
'cause I really love the
African cultural expression.

00:46:03.240 --> 00:46:08.240
[African drum music]

00:46:08.280 --> 00:46:12.680
We would spend hours and
hours practicing gumboot dance

00:46:12.720 --> 00:46:16.760
and practicing our songs
and practicing Indlamu,

00:46:16.760 --> 00:46:18.400
which is a traditional
South African dance.

00:46:18.440 --> 00:46:22.360
And those were the, some of
the greatest moments at Smith.

00:46:22.360 --> 00:46:24.800
I mean, there's never gonna
be a time in your life,

00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:28.280
as the four years in college.

00:46:28.360 --> 00:46:30.000
[gentle piano music]

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:33.640
- (Heather) I left sort of a
very
angry, disillusioned,

00:46:33.680 --> 00:46:36.160
still trying to gather myself
up.

00:46:36.240 --> 00:46:39.840
And when I arrived at Smith,
I was very much in that state.

00:46:39.880 --> 00:46:42.120
Still being surprised
that you could see

00:46:42.160 --> 00:46:47.520
Mandela's face without a
big, big bar across his eyes.

00:46:47.520 --> 00:46:52.160
It took me a day or so to
figure
out that I was one of many

00:46:52.160 --> 00:46:55.760
people for whom this was a new
experience.

00:46:55.800 --> 00:46:58.600
- (Kholeka) I met people from
all over the world

00:46:58.600 --> 00:47:02.680
and those were part of the
community that I belong to.

00:47:02.760 --> 00:47:06.280
- (Desiree) I clearly remember
during my period of

00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:10.880
intense homesickness,
I was on the PVTA bus

00:47:10.880 --> 00:47:14.040
and I saw a car with a
bumper sticker that said,

00:47:14.080 --> 00:47:15.880
"End apartheid!"

00:47:15.880 --> 00:47:19.360
And I almost felt like
something lifted off me

00:47:19.400 --> 00:47:23.160
because it was still
in my very early weeks.

00:47:23.160 --> 00:47:25.760
And I was still getting to
know the place and the people

00:47:25.800 --> 00:47:29.840
and you know, trying to
figure out how safe I am here.

00:47:29.880 --> 00:47:32.400
And I'd never been in,

00:47:32.400 --> 00:47:38.040
in this type of context with
being a minority, so to speak.

00:47:38.040 --> 00:47:41.520
I felt like, "Oh, you know,
people know,

00:47:41.600 --> 00:47:45.840
they know that that's
wrong, I'm in a safe place."

00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:48.240
[soft music]

00:47:48.280 --> 00:47:52.120
- (Peter) There were very
active
movements in the five colleges

00:47:52.160 --> 00:47:56.200
and they involved both
faculty and students.

00:47:56.240 --> 00:47:59.960
I was part of a faculty
group that were urging

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:02.560
the college to divest.

00:48:02.600 --> 00:48:05.240
We had meetings with the
trustees.

00:48:05.280 --> 00:48:08.240
We had information meetings with
students.

00:48:08.280 --> 00:48:11.040
We had a big rally in John M
Greene.

00:48:11.080 --> 00:48:13.600
But our meetings were typically
with the finance committee.

00:48:13.640 --> 00:48:15.720
So there were lots of issues
around

00:48:15.800 --> 00:48:17.560
fiduciary responsibility.

00:48:17.640 --> 00:48:20.240
I will remember that term
for the rest of my life,

00:48:20.280 --> 00:48:22.720
because those were what
the arguments were about.

00:48:22.760 --> 00:48:25.920
What it took it at Smith, was in
1986,

00:48:25.920 --> 00:48:32.040
there was a group of students
sat in on College Hall.

00:48:32.120 --> 00:48:35.560
- (Elizabeth) Growing up in
Kenya, we were very cognizant

00:48:35.560 --> 00:48:37.560
and I grew up in a mixed race
family,

00:48:37.600 --> 00:48:39.760
so we could never go to South
Africa.

00:48:39.800 --> 00:48:45.040
And so I don't think I
was very educated about
divestment

00:48:45.080 --> 00:48:46.640
Mary Maples Dunn was the
president,

00:48:46.640 --> 00:48:48.040
it was her first year as
president

00:48:48.080 --> 00:48:50.840
and she had made a lot of
time to have meetings with us

00:48:50.880 --> 00:48:53.480
and so on, but it really
came down to this meeting

00:48:53.480 --> 00:48:56.960
with the trustees and the
trustees did not divest.

00:48:57.000 --> 00:49:00.680
And we went into College
Hall and we just sat down

00:49:00.720 --> 00:49:02.360
and we didn't leave.

00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:04.760
- (Mona) I think I got very
caught up in the excitement

00:49:04.760 --> 00:49:06.920
of being a protester.

00:49:06.960 --> 00:49:10.640
I was invited to join by
friends who were mostly white

00:49:10.680 --> 00:49:13.440
because they wanted some
diversity in the protest.

00:49:13.480 --> 00:49:17.240
I joined because I just wanted
that feeling of solidarity.

00:49:17.240 --> 00:49:19.800
I wanted that feeling of
women supporting women

00:49:19.840 --> 00:49:21.200
in raising up a cause

00:49:21.240 --> 00:49:23.760
but we just got swept into it.

00:49:23.840 --> 00:49:26.640
- (Siphokazi) Yes, I did join
the march demonstrations,

00:49:26.680 --> 00:49:31.800
we sat in and I was asking the
questions before I even went,

00:49:31.880 --> 00:49:33.680
"Why are we going to sit in?"

00:49:33.720 --> 00:49:35.160
"Why is this important?"

00:49:35.200 --> 00:49:37.320
"What is divestment?"

00:49:37.360 --> 00:49:39.160
"Why do trustees have investment
there?"

00:49:39.160 --> 00:49:41.160
"How do we know they've
got investments there?"

00:49:41.160 --> 00:49:44.200
So I was like asking the basic
questions,

00:49:44.200 --> 00:49:46.600
why this was so important to
Americans?

00:49:46.640 --> 00:49:49.400
[gentle piano music]

00:49:49.400 --> 00:49:52.680
- (Siphokazi) Arriving in
America,
the height of apartheid.

00:49:52.720 --> 00:49:55.520
The international
community is very awakened

00:49:55.600 --> 00:49:57.480
to what's happening in South
Africa.

00:49:57.480 --> 00:50:00.480
They are supporting, they're
pushing for divestment.

00:50:00.480 --> 00:50:03.160
There's a lot of stuff
going on across the world

00:50:03.200 --> 00:50:05.520
to free Mandela.

00:50:05.520 --> 00:50:07.760
Being only 16, having
spent the past five years

00:50:07.800 --> 00:50:11.160
in a very sheltered all girls
school.

00:50:11.200 --> 00:50:13.160
And then I arrive in America

00:50:13.160 --> 00:50:15.440
and everyone is talking
about South Africa,

00:50:15.520 --> 00:50:19.200
asking me questions, "What
about this? What about that?"

00:50:19.240 --> 00:50:20.680
And I had grown up in a
Homeland.

00:50:20.760 --> 00:50:26.240
So Homeland was sort of a
separate development arrangement

00:50:26.240 --> 00:50:28.440
of an independent state,

00:50:28.480 --> 00:50:31.480
that the South African
government had set up.

00:50:31.480 --> 00:50:33.880
So this was supposed to
be all Black communities

00:50:33.880 --> 00:50:37.080
based on racial or ethnic
groups.

00:50:37.080 --> 00:50:41.920
[soft music]

00:50:41.920 --> 00:50:47.560
- (Siphokazi) So I grew up in
the Transkei.

00:50:47.560 --> 00:50:49.760
We had a Black president,

00:50:49.800 --> 00:50:52.800
Black cabinet, professors were
Black,

00:50:52.800 --> 00:50:54.760
university had Black
administrators.

00:50:54.800 --> 00:50:57.400
Then I went to a school where
we had a Black principal,

00:50:57.440 --> 00:51:00.240
very good school, very smart
Black kids.

00:51:00.240 --> 00:51:02.480
And then I went to America

00:51:02.520 --> 00:51:04.680
and I was being asked about all
of these.

00:51:04.680 --> 00:51:08.080
So I only learned about
apartheid really from America.

00:51:08.080 --> 00:51:11.920
'Cause then I had to understand
how people perceived,

00:51:11.960 --> 00:51:15.360
where I came from, which
was not how I perceived

00:51:15.400 --> 00:51:18.960
or how I had experienced
where I came from.

00:51:18.960 --> 00:51:20.840
So I had to learn very quickly
that

00:51:20.920 --> 00:51:23.200
this is how the world works.

00:51:23.240 --> 00:51:25.760
- (Heather) So, I had great
friends from India

00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:28.280
and Nepal and different
parts of our continent,

00:51:28.360 --> 00:51:32.040
but it was interesting that
our common experience of

00:51:32.040 --> 00:51:35.800
exclusion is what pulled us
together.

00:51:35.840 --> 00:51:38.280
We hardly spoke about it,

00:51:38.280 --> 00:51:40.840
but somehow there was that
connection.

00:51:40.880 --> 00:51:44.920
And those were the people that
we had become friends with.

00:51:44.920 --> 00:51:48.480
- (Thembekile) One of the
differences
that we found with

00:51:48.520 --> 00:51:52.200
people who had not grown up
under such an oppressive regime,

00:51:52.240 --> 00:51:57.040
they felt free to speak their
mind and,

00:51:57.080 --> 00:52:00.800
and they would just, it
would impress me and stun me.

00:52:00.800 --> 00:52:07.280
One of the women we befriended
was Florence Mwangi's

00:52:07.320 --> 00:52:11.480
daughter, she was the first
African to come to Smith

00:52:11.520 --> 00:52:14.920
and her daughter was this, this
firebrand,

00:52:14.960 --> 00:52:20.120
she just spoke her mind, in
Literature of the Commonwealth

00:52:20.160 --> 00:52:24.440
and just was critical of
"Heart Of Darkness" as a book

00:52:24.520 --> 00:52:26.960
that we would have to read and,

00:52:26.960 --> 00:52:29.960
and it was always very
inspiring
to have people like that

00:52:29.960 --> 00:52:32.560
because we know they were

00:52:32.600 --> 00:52:35.800
an example of how liberated you
can be.

00:52:35.800 --> 00:52:39.000
And that this is your opinion,
and this is your voice.

00:52:39.040 --> 00:52:42.920
And if you can, you know, stand
behind it,

00:52:43.000 --> 00:52:47.120
then that's really,
that's really powerful.

00:52:47.160 --> 00:52:50.800
- (Tandiwe) A woman's education
and
a woman's voice matters.

00:52:50.880 --> 00:52:54.320
And that a woman can be an
engineer, can be a doctor,

00:52:54.320 --> 00:52:56.800
can be a mathematician,
can be an economist.

00:52:56.840 --> 00:52:59.920
And to have been taught by the
caliber of professors that we

00:52:59.960 --> 00:53:02.560
were taught by and to
never have been doubted

00:53:02.560 --> 00:53:05.280
or second guessed, but been
allowed to,

00:53:05.360 --> 00:53:08.000
to aspire and to achieve.

00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:12.240
- (Nolwandle) And you can also
dream
bigger than who you are.

00:53:12.240 --> 00:53:15.000
The starting point is
not, you are a woman,

00:53:15.040 --> 00:53:19.240
but you are actually an equal
participant.

00:53:19.280 --> 00:53:20.880
[upbeat music]

00:53:20.880 --> 00:53:23.480
- (Heather) Smith attracts all
manner of women.

00:53:23.520 --> 00:53:26.280
I mean, I think every single
walk of life,

00:53:26.320 --> 00:53:29.120
I think every sexual
orientation,

00:53:29.120 --> 00:53:32.120
women who couldn't have an
education when they were
younger.

00:53:32.160 --> 00:53:35.120
for whatever reason and were
returning as older students.

00:53:35.160 --> 00:53:38.280
So when we socialized
and had this time, we,

00:53:38.360 --> 00:53:40.240
we got to know each other.

00:53:40.280 --> 00:53:42.200
- (Verna) See, I don't believe
there's
another place on this planet

00:53:42.200 --> 00:53:44.440
that looks and feels and tastes
and smells

00:53:44.440 --> 00:53:45.880
and it's a unique place.

00:53:45.920 --> 00:53:49.600
More than that, it's the
relationships that you build

00:53:49.640 --> 00:53:50.840
at Smith.

00:53:50.880 --> 00:53:56.480
- (Thembekile)You know, it made
me
sad at some point when

00:53:56.480 --> 00:54:03.160
there were random, blatant
acts of racism on campus

00:54:03.200 --> 00:54:06.520
and that I did not personally
experience,

00:54:06.560 --> 00:54:10.560
but it sort of started
to create a separation

00:54:10.560 --> 00:54:14.600
of the whole because now
everybody was suspicious

00:54:14.640 --> 00:54:20.920
or feeling that they might
be in a not safe house

00:54:21.000 --> 00:54:25.880
and some houses were more
famous than others for

00:54:25.880 --> 00:54:30.960
being exclusive, you know, or
cliquey.

00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:33.960
I did join the Black Students
Association,

00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:39.440
which advocated on different
aspects of

00:54:39.520 --> 00:54:42.960
Black culture, Black
scholars, I really relished

00:54:42.960 --> 00:54:45.880
being part of that Black
sisterhood, part of it as well

00:54:45.960 --> 00:54:50.520
because those women were
just fierce and confident.

00:54:50.600 --> 00:54:54.400
So that was a supportive
environment for me.

00:54:54.440 --> 00:54:57.320
You know, apartheid was
such a break, you know,

00:54:57.360 --> 00:55:00.480
when we broke away from that.

00:55:00.520 --> 00:55:03.960
I had let my shoulders relax
after I left South Africa

00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:07.560
and so I wasn't about to start,
you know,

00:55:07.600 --> 00:55:11.760
getting fearful about
my environment, again.

00:55:11.760 --> 00:55:14.360
- (Thandeka) So when I first
arrived at Smith,

00:55:14.360 --> 00:55:16.360
there was a Black Students
Association,

00:55:16.360 --> 00:55:19.600
which was a sort of
predominantly Afro-American.

00:55:19.600 --> 00:55:23.840
So myself and my other fellow
Africans,

00:55:23.840 --> 00:55:26.640
we kind of assumed that
we can be part of this

00:55:26.640 --> 00:55:28.720
because we Black, you know.

00:55:28.800 --> 00:55:33.480
But later on, I then learned
that there's a differentiation

00:55:33.480 --> 00:55:36.080
in identity.

00:55:36.080 --> 00:55:39.400
So there's Afro-American
and there's African,

00:55:39.480 --> 00:55:41.520
but we're all Black

00:55:41.520 --> 00:55:46.560
and our agendas and what
we're going for is different,

00:55:46.560 --> 00:55:48.320
you know?

00:55:48.360 --> 00:55:51.080
So I had to come to terms with
that.

00:55:51.160 --> 00:55:53.560
It came with a little bit of
pain,

00:55:53.600 --> 00:55:56.400
but I accepted it eventually.

00:55:56.440 --> 00:55:59.080
And I actually formed very good
relations

00:55:59.120 --> 00:56:02.720
with some of my Afro-American
sisters.

00:56:02.800 --> 00:56:06.680
- (Vuyiswa) I was attracted to
African-American studies because

00:56:06.720 --> 00:56:09.080
it was teaching us about the
struggle

00:56:09.120 --> 00:56:11.120
of Black people in America.

00:56:11.120 --> 00:56:15.720
And for me, it reminded me of
the struggle and apartheid.

00:56:15.720 --> 00:56:18.800
So it was almost a way of
connecting in that level and

00:56:18.840 --> 00:56:24.160
really gleaning some of the
similarities of, you know,

00:56:24.160 --> 00:56:27.000
the Civil Rights movement,
looking at apartheid

00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:30.920
and because a lot of the Civil
Rights movement leaders were

00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:35.040
very involved in the
freeing of South Africans.

00:56:35.080 --> 00:56:38.840
So I think for me, it was
almost that socialist in me

00:56:38.880 --> 00:56:41.440
that was saying, "I also wanna
understand

00:56:41.480 --> 00:56:43.600
the struggle of Black people in
America

00:56:43.680 --> 00:56:46.920
and learn from that and what
are the things we could do

00:56:46.960 --> 00:56:48.720
in South Africa and learn from."

00:56:48.720 --> 00:56:51.560
- (Desiree) With being outside
of
South Africa and being here

00:56:51.600 --> 00:56:57.480
at Smith, I had more of an
opportunity to,

00:56:57.560 --> 00:57:02.800
to learn more of the
complexity and the diversity

00:57:02.800 --> 00:57:05.040
of what it means to be Black.

00:57:05.040 --> 00:57:09.480
It was really a time of
self-discovery and
self-empowerment

00:57:09.520 --> 00:57:14.760
and the educational, as well
as the social experiences

00:57:14.840 --> 00:57:18.320
that I had at Smith really
prompted that,

00:57:18.360 --> 00:57:21.320
it stimulated that and it
challenged that.

00:57:21.320 --> 00:57:24.760
Being away from home within
me, kind of strengthened

00:57:24.800 --> 00:57:27.560
and solidified my identity
even more, it was like

00:57:27.560 --> 00:57:31.560
I wanted to hold on to it even
more 'cause I wasn't home.

00:57:31.600 --> 00:57:33.000
[upbeat music]

00:57:33.000 --> 00:57:34.000
- (Dr. Brenda Allen) So
Smith is a big family

00:57:34.000 --> 00:57:35.840
in and of itself.

00:57:35.880 --> 00:57:38.880
And then there are
families within the family.

00:57:38.920 --> 00:57:41.000
You know, the students from
South Africa

00:57:41.040 --> 00:57:42.440
are a little farther away from
home,

00:57:42.440 --> 00:57:45.880
And then, you know, a few of
them were psychology majors

00:57:45.880 --> 00:57:48.480
and so you begin to
develop the relationships

00:57:48.480 --> 00:57:50.280
with them in that way.

00:57:50.320 --> 00:57:52.560
I taught here... taught a course
called

00:57:52.600 --> 00:57:54.720
Psychology of the Black
Experience.

00:57:54.760 --> 00:57:56.960
I didn't live through Jim Crow.

00:57:57.000 --> 00:58:00.840
I grew up in the North, you
know, racism was there, but,

00:58:00.920 --> 00:58:04.400
you know, manifests differently
than what I studied when I,

00:58:04.400 --> 00:58:06.480
we talk about the South.

00:58:06.560 --> 00:58:08.960
But you know, those are examples
of,

00:58:09.000 --> 00:58:11.600
of things that we had to talk
about in my course

00:58:11.640 --> 00:58:15.880
Apartheid is really modeled
on racial segregation

00:58:15.920 --> 00:58:17.320
in the South.

00:58:17.360 --> 00:58:20.160
I especially learned
that from students who were

00:58:20.240 --> 00:58:23.360
a part of the group that came
from South Africa because they

00:58:23.440 --> 00:58:26.560
were coming, you know,
straight out of, you know,

00:58:26.600 --> 00:58:29.520
a country that was in
turmoil and in a fight.

00:58:29.560 --> 00:58:32.240
And they just had a different
way of being in the world

00:58:32.320 --> 00:58:37.080
about, um, truth and, and
equality and,

00:58:37.160 --> 00:58:41.000
and all the things that I think
because of where I skirted

00:58:41.000 --> 00:58:45.640
through in my era, sorta took
for granted.

00:58:45.640 --> 00:58:46.640
And, and I have to say,

00:58:46.640 --> 00:58:49.840
I no longer take any of that for
granted.

00:58:49.880 --> 00:59:12.760
[gentle piano music]

00:59:12.800 --> 00:59:16.040
- (Meagan) So my entry into
college was more American.

00:59:16.080 --> 00:59:18.440
but I had a sense of growing
up in both countries.

00:59:18.440 --> 00:59:20.920
So I grew up in South
Africa, my youth was there,

00:59:21.000 --> 00:59:24.160
then I came here also during
a formative part of my youth

00:59:24.240 --> 00:59:25.440
and grew up here.

00:59:25.480 --> 00:59:27.160
I had the American
experience, I went to an

00:59:27.240 --> 00:59:30.920
American high school, I knew,
you know, what the music was.

00:59:30.960 --> 00:59:34.720
So I fit in, in many places
because I can,

00:59:34.760 --> 00:59:36.960
I'll use the word code switch,
right.

00:59:37.000 --> 00:59:38.600
I can switch my accent.

00:59:38.640 --> 00:59:41.960
but just that sense of
fluidness to be able to do that

00:59:41.960 --> 00:59:46.240
is my unique experience having
grown up in both places.

00:59:46.280 --> 00:59:47.800
It's also isolating,

00:59:47.840 --> 00:59:53.040
because you have to then
become very conscious about,

00:59:53.040 --> 00:59:55.400
well, what is my identity then?

00:59:55.440 --> 01:00:00.840
So I can make this it,
I can fit in over there.

01:00:00.880 --> 01:00:03.080
So there's, that's part
A, of the struggle of

01:00:03.080 --> 01:00:04.320
where do I really fit in?

01:00:04.320 --> 01:00:07.760
But part B is then everything
else that other people project

01:00:07.800 --> 01:00:10.160
onto you and having to in
essence,

01:00:10.200 --> 01:00:12.160
survive in both places, right.

01:00:12.160 --> 01:00:16.160
And then come onto a Smith
College campus.

01:00:16.160 --> 01:00:17.000
[soft music]

01:00:17.240 --> 01:00:20.840
- (Heather) In certain classes,
there was a score

01:00:20.880 --> 01:00:23.280
for class participation.

01:00:23.360 --> 01:00:26.480
And that changed my life
entirely

01:00:26.520 --> 01:00:31.680
because I realized that you have
to speak.

01:00:31.680 --> 01:00:34.120
Whenever I put up my hand,
it was very carefully

01:00:34.160 --> 01:00:37.000
because I wanted to be sure
I had something to say.

01:00:37.080 --> 01:00:40.720
And then secondly, the minute
I got to my third word,

01:00:40.720 --> 01:00:43.960
the entire class would
stop and turn around

01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:46.000
to see who was speaking.

01:00:46.040 --> 01:00:49.360
And then I had to really steel
myself

01:00:49.400 --> 01:00:52.200
to make sure I made my point.

01:00:52.200 --> 01:00:53.000
- (Thembekile) I was taking
class,

01:00:53.160 --> 01:00:55.360
it was education and child
development,

01:00:55.400 --> 01:01:00.040
and I wasn't speaking in the
class because

01:01:00.080 --> 01:01:02.200
I had a terrible stutter.

01:01:02.240 --> 01:01:05.080
Got to the middle of the
semester and the professor said,

01:01:05.080 --> 01:01:07.480
"You know, if you don't speak,

01:01:07.480 --> 01:01:11.280
I'm going to have to give you a
C minus."

01:01:11.320 --> 01:01:16.120
I just did absolutely what
happens in "The King's Speech,"

01:01:16.120 --> 01:01:22.400
just went over things until
I was able to overcome.

01:01:22.440 --> 01:01:24.680
- (Desiree) In South Africa,
when
you are in high school,

01:01:24.760 --> 01:01:27.600
around the age of 14,
you choose your subjects

01:01:27.600 --> 01:01:30.800
that you study for the
next two to three years,

01:01:30.840 --> 01:01:33.240
and that's what, that's
your path for college

01:01:33.280 --> 01:01:34.720
and then your career.

01:01:34.800 --> 01:01:39.920
And here I was with this
liberal arts education,

01:01:39.960 --> 01:01:43.640
my mind and my life opened
up in ways I hadn't expected.

01:01:43.680 --> 01:01:44.600
- (Siphokazi) When I arrived at
Smith,

01:01:44.680 --> 01:01:47.600
I was preparing to be
a pre-medical student.

01:01:47.680 --> 01:01:53.200
I'd been studying physics, cell
biology, advanced calculus,

01:01:53.240 --> 01:01:54.640
organic chemistry.

01:01:54.720 --> 01:01:57.880
In my third year, a friend
invited me to go to a class

01:01:57.960 --> 01:02:00.600
with her, Thembekile.

01:02:00.640 --> 01:02:02.600
And just listening to this
Italian woman,

01:02:02.600 --> 01:02:06.600
talking about Black
literature, blew my mind,

01:02:06.640 --> 01:02:09.200
I was like, "What on earth is
this?"

01:02:09.240 --> 01:02:11.440
I'd always loved to
read, but I did not know

01:02:11.480 --> 01:02:12.920
you could actually study
literature,

01:02:12.960 --> 01:02:15.720
the discipline in class,
that you can sit in a class

01:02:15.760 --> 01:02:18.680
and discuss and analyze
books and talk about ideas.

01:02:18.720 --> 01:02:21.320
So this really excited me, it
opened up a whole new field

01:02:21.360 --> 01:02:25.560
and I changed my major
from Pre-med to literature,

01:02:25.600 --> 01:02:28.160
studying African-American
literature.

01:02:28.160 --> 01:02:29.360
- (Chuma) A woman professor

01:02:29.360 --> 01:02:32.200
in the geology department,
Connie Soja,

01:02:32.200 --> 01:02:33.680
I worked with her

01:02:33.760 --> 01:02:36.640
going to Alaska for about
seven weeks in the summer

01:02:36.680 --> 01:02:38.840
to do research and it was three
women

01:02:38.880 --> 01:02:41.680
out in the middle of nowhere,
Alaska.

01:02:41.720 --> 01:02:45.920
I had never done anything
that daring in my life.

01:02:45.960 --> 01:02:47.120
I learned to drive a boat.

01:02:47.160 --> 01:02:50.520
And the first time we had to
empty the RV,

01:02:50.520 --> 01:02:51.520
[laughs]

01:02:51.560 --> 01:02:56.360
and we unlatched the
thing for the bathrooms

01:02:56.400 --> 01:03:00.160
and everything just went out
and we all laughed and laughed,

01:03:00.160 --> 01:03:03.160
and I said, "The flood
gates of hell had opened."

01:03:03.200 --> 01:03:05.880
And we had such a great time
and,

01:03:05.960 --> 01:03:09.200
but it was one of those where
you think anything is possible

01:03:09.200 --> 01:03:12.040
after this, I can do anything.

01:03:12.040 --> 01:03:14.440
- (Heather) I think I really
became a feminist in,

01:03:14.440 --> 01:03:18.160
in the broadest sense of the
word that I really began to

01:03:18.240 --> 01:03:21.680
understand a woman's
equal place in the world.

01:03:21.720 --> 01:03:26.800
And that together with this
class participation score

01:03:26.880 --> 01:03:31.200
sort of forced me into some
articulation.

01:03:31.240 --> 01:03:35.200
And I think that idea
of expressing myself, I,

01:03:35.240 --> 01:03:38.840
I don't think I would
have gotten anywhere else.

01:03:38.880 --> 01:03:49.880
[soft jazz music]

01:03:49.920 --> 01:03:52.480
- (Vuyiswa) We were walking
around campus,

01:03:52.480 --> 01:03:56.480
I looked at this young
woman coming towards me.

01:03:56.520 --> 01:03:59.920
She looked like someone from
home.

01:03:59.920 --> 01:04:00.720
And I asked her, I said,

01:04:00.920 --> 01:04:03.400
"Are you by any chance from
South Africa?"

01:04:03.480 --> 01:04:05.560
And it so happened to be Dada.

01:04:05.560 --> 01:04:07.760
And she was very ecstatic and
said,

01:04:07.760 --> 01:04:08.760
"Yes, yes, yes, no I am."

01:04:08.760 --> 01:04:10.680
So I introduced myself.

01:04:10.760 --> 01:04:14.200
And from that day on, I
was Dada's big sister.

01:04:14.200 --> 01:04:19.240
What a bubbly and what a bunch
of energy.

01:04:19.240 --> 01:04:22.600
She knew about Smith because
her elder sister Siphokazi,

01:04:22.640 --> 01:04:25.480
had, was a graduate of Smith.

01:04:25.520 --> 01:04:27.080
- (Siphokazi) Dadawele was
extremely brilliant.

01:04:27.120 --> 01:04:29.280
She was really just a gifted
actor,

01:04:29.280 --> 01:04:30.720
but also a brilliant person.

01:04:30.720 --> 01:04:31.920
She was witty.

01:04:31.920 --> 01:04:33.320
She wrote poetry.

01:04:33.360 --> 01:04:34.360
She was just really sharp.

01:04:34.400 --> 01:04:36.080
Very, very quick.

01:04:36.120 --> 01:04:37.960
She came back to South Africa.

01:04:37.960 --> 01:04:41.000
She started working, acting
in the local soapies,

01:04:41.040 --> 01:04:44.400
She was in "Generations,"
she was in "The Lab."

01:04:44.440 --> 01:04:47.200
- (Vuyiswa) Dada and I were part
of a production

01:04:47.240 --> 01:04:50.000
about domestic workers in South
Africa,

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:53.720
really wanting to educate
the Americans about

01:04:53.800 --> 01:04:55.520
the realities of apartheid.

01:04:55.600 --> 01:04:59.360
Dada was a bunch of energy and
so vibrant

01:04:59.440 --> 01:05:03.480
and a voice. May her soul rest
in peace.

01:05:03.480 --> 01:05:13.040
And I think she's doing
great things wherever she is.

01:05:13.120 --> 01:05:16.520
- (Thembekile) When I was 19,

01:05:16.560 --> 01:05:21.200
I called home and my father
said,

01:05:21.240 --> 01:05:23.280
"Aren't you done with that
program yet?"

01:05:23.360 --> 01:05:24.240
[laughing]

01:05:24.280 --> 01:05:28.640
I was thinking I've only been
here for,

01:05:28.640 --> 01:05:31.280
less than 20 months.

01:05:31.280 --> 01:05:34.080
And then he said, "Oh, you
can get a very good job

01:05:34.080 --> 01:05:36.760
as a domestic worker here."

01:05:36.840 --> 01:05:41.120
And now imagine, am I going
to actually walk out of

01:05:41.160 --> 01:05:44.800
Smith College and take
my bags and go and work

01:05:44.840 --> 01:05:48.160
for some white family,
taking care of their babies

01:05:48.200 --> 01:05:51.000
and cleaning up their house?

01:05:51.040 --> 01:05:55.200
No, and, but I remember being so
upset

01:05:55.200 --> 01:06:01.240
that they didn't have this faith
that,

01:06:01.240 --> 01:06:05.280
you know, success would
come in a different form.

01:06:05.280 --> 01:06:08.680
My, my own voice was
getting a little stronger.

01:06:08.680 --> 01:06:13.320
I said, "Okay, this is it, I'm
not,

01:06:13.360 --> 01:06:16.920
I'm not falling for that."

01:06:16.920 --> 01:06:20.160
I felt a strong sense of
responsibility to

01:06:20.160 --> 01:06:26.280
contribute to my family's, you
know, situation financially,

01:06:26.360 --> 01:06:29.000
just would send money all the
time.

01:06:29.040 --> 01:06:35.320
And so that started to make
sense to them that I was

01:06:35.400 --> 01:06:37.320
an industrious person and I was,
you know,

01:06:37.360 --> 01:06:41.680
able to save money and I
was able to support them

01:06:41.680 --> 01:06:43.480
so that some of the things,

01:06:43.520 --> 01:06:48.960
the hardships that I
experienced growing up,

01:06:49.000 --> 01:06:53.160
were not so real anymore.

01:06:53.160 --> 01:06:58.600
[gentle piano music]

01:06:58.600 --> 01:07:01.680
- (Tandiwe) Sacrifice came in
many
different forms under apartheid,

01:07:01.760 --> 01:07:04.400
I think people in the
country sacrificed a lot

01:07:04.400 --> 01:07:06.320
from the stories that are very
well known,

01:07:06.400 --> 01:07:09.880
the Nelson Mandela's 27 years in
jail.

01:07:09.920 --> 01:07:15.680
Winnie Mandela, 491 days
in solitary confinement.

01:07:15.680 --> 01:07:18.920
One is just the sacrifice of
your comfort,

01:07:18.920 --> 01:07:22.200
the others, the sacrifice of
time away from your family,

01:07:22.280 --> 01:07:23.720
from your children.

01:07:23.760 --> 01:07:27.560
And I think the other sacrifice
is just being in those

01:07:27.600 --> 01:07:31.200
situations and not being able
to be a normal functioning

01:07:31.200 --> 01:07:34.080
citizen, that that makes
a contribution every day

01:07:34.160 --> 01:07:35.680
to society.

01:07:35.760 --> 01:07:38.240
For families, other
families, they sacrificed,

01:07:38.240 --> 01:07:41.080
they lost people, you
know, lost people in,

01:07:41.120 --> 01:07:44.120
in the war against apartheid
and my parents put their

01:07:44.160 --> 01:07:47.080
careers on hold and
they did full-time work

01:07:47.080 --> 01:07:49.080
with the ANC, as did many
people.

01:07:49.080 --> 01:07:51.320
They were working full
time for an organization

01:07:51.320 --> 01:07:55.480
that could only provide them
with subsistence living.

01:07:55.520 --> 01:07:58.200
Young people left the
country and came into exile,

01:07:58.240 --> 01:08:02.120
their families didn't know
where they were, you know,

01:08:02.160 --> 01:08:04.200
that was also a sacrifice for
the family.

01:08:04.240 --> 01:08:07.800
So, there's just so many layers
to it.

01:08:07.800 --> 01:08:10.760
And I think at the time
you don't really,

01:08:10.800 --> 01:08:12.640
you don't see it as sacrifice,

01:08:12.680 --> 01:08:15.640
but I think when you look
back and you just think of,

01:08:15.640 --> 01:08:21.160
of what people went through
and what became the norm.

01:08:21.240 --> 01:08:24.720
- (Freedom Park tour guide)
Okay, the section that
you see here represent

01:08:24.760 --> 01:08:28.400
political executions.

01:08:28.480 --> 01:08:35.960
163 people were executed
for political activism.

01:08:36.000 --> 01:08:39.440
- (Tandiwe) So I have four
siblings
and the sibling closest to me

01:08:39.480 --> 01:08:43.000
passed away in Angola in 1988,

01:08:43.000 --> 01:08:48.040
which is where the military
wing of the ANC was based.

01:08:48.040 --> 01:08:51.120
Okay, so these are all MK.

01:08:51.160 --> 01:08:54.520
So he said he wanted to have
a more meaningful impact

01:08:54.560 --> 01:08:56.840
on the fight against apartheid,

01:08:56.880 --> 01:08:58.880
which my parents found very
difficult

01:08:58.920 --> 01:09:02.160
because they had planned for all
of us to,

01:09:02.200 --> 01:09:05.920
pursue a tertiary education
after high school.

01:09:05.960 --> 01:09:10.600
The darker brick, so one,
two, three, four, five...

01:09:10.640 --> 01:09:13.560
I just found my brother's name
on the Wall of Remembrance.

01:09:13.600 --> 01:09:15.400
How do we get a photo?

01:09:15.400 --> 01:09:18.040
- Easy.
- (Tandiwe) Okay, come stand
here.

01:09:18.040 --> 01:09:20.280
- I've lost him.
- (Tandiwe) Oh, number 10,

01:09:20.320 --> 01:09:23.320
from this wall.

01:09:23.400 --> 01:09:24.320
- Okay.

01:09:24.680 --> 01:09:28.040
- (Tandiwe) It's 30, 40 years
since
he passed away in 1988

01:09:28.080 --> 01:09:31.680
in Angola, he was part of a,

01:09:31.720 --> 01:09:34.280
a MK mission to take food up to
one of the

01:09:34.320 --> 01:09:37.720
ANC camps there and they were
attacked by UNITA rebels.

01:09:37.720 --> 01:09:40.640
And he was in the front of
the convoy so he lost his life

01:09:40.720 --> 01:09:42.560
along with about eight others.

01:09:42.600 --> 01:09:46.840
They were buried in,
right there at the site.

01:09:46.880 --> 01:09:49.080
He was very young when
he went to MK, he was 18,

01:09:49.160 --> 01:09:50.920
and he died at 20.

01:09:51.000 --> 01:09:53.840
So it was pure conviction
and I'm just really glad that

01:09:53.880 --> 01:09:57.040
he's, his name is etched in our
history.

01:09:57.080 --> 01:09:59.240
This is really special.

01:09:59.280 --> 01:10:00.280
[camera clicks]
Oh, my parents

01:10:00.280 --> 01:10:01.520
would have been so happy.

01:10:01.560 --> 01:10:04.720
As he grows older, we'll be
able to put the pieces together

01:10:04.720 --> 01:10:07.520
for him so that he understands
exactly who his uncle was

01:10:07.560 --> 01:10:10.000
and what he, what he did, yeah,

01:10:10.080 --> 01:10:16.560
and what he stood for.

01:10:16.560 --> 01:10:19.400
- (Reporter) There's Mr.
Mandela, Mr. Nelson Mandela,

01:10:19.400 --> 01:10:25.840
a free man taking his first
steps into a new South Africa.

01:10:25.880 --> 01:10:27.120
- (Nelson Mandela) Amandla!

01:10:27.200 --> 01:10:29.280
- (Crowd) Awethu!

01:10:29.320 --> 01:10:30.960
- (Nelson Mandela) Amandla!

01:10:31.040 --> 01:10:32.680
- (Crowd) Awethu!

01:10:32.720 --> 01:10:37.240
- (Nelson Mandela) Your
tireless,

01:10:37.280 --> 01:10:41.360
and heroic sacrifices,

01:10:41.400 --> 01:10:46.400
have made it possible
for me to be here today.

01:10:46.440 --> 01:10:52.440
[upbeat music]

01:10:52.480 --> 01:10:56.000
- (Tandiwe) In 1990, after
the unbanning of the ANC,

01:10:56.000 --> 01:10:59.320
people started returning from
exile.

01:10:59.400 --> 01:11:01.640
My family was included in that.

01:11:01.680 --> 01:11:04.720
Once the repatriation of
exiles in South Africa

01:11:04.760 --> 01:11:07.080
was complete, there was
a regrouping of the ANC,

01:11:07.080 --> 01:11:10.480
and they started to position
themselves to govern.

01:11:10.520 --> 01:11:15.280
[upbeat music continues]

01:11:15.320 --> 01:11:19.000
And my mother and a number of
her colleagues from Lusaka,

01:11:19.040 --> 01:11:20.760
went into parliament

01:11:20.800 --> 01:11:24.000
and became part of the first
parliament.

01:11:24.040 --> 01:11:26.680
[upbeat music continues]

01:11:26.760 --> 01:11:28.400
- (Vuyiswa) The 1994 elections,

01:11:28.440 --> 01:11:30.560
which were the first democratic
elections

01:11:30.600 --> 01:11:32.800
of South Africa, happened.

01:11:32.840 --> 01:11:37.640
We participated and was
able to cast my vote

01:11:37.640 --> 01:11:40.680
and voted for Nelson Mandela to
be the

01:11:40.720 --> 01:11:44.320
first democratically elected
president of South Africa.

01:11:44.320 --> 01:11:46.720
A very proud moment for us.

01:11:46.720 --> 01:11:48.680
- (Nolwandle) Tandiwe was our
designated driver.

01:11:48.720 --> 01:11:51.720
And it was supported
from, and bless her soul,

01:11:51.720 --> 01:11:52.960
Mary Maples Dunn.

01:11:53.000 --> 01:11:57.440
The hope that our parents had,
the hope that we also had,

01:11:57.520 --> 01:11:59.200
even though we couldn't
actually physically

01:11:59.200 --> 01:12:02.400
be in the country, we
lived through that moment.

01:12:02.400 --> 01:12:04.480
- (Heather) Entering my final
year,

01:12:04.520 --> 01:12:08.320
my father was posted by Mandela
to be the

01:12:08.400 --> 01:12:11.040
South African Ambassador to the
US.

01:12:11.080 --> 01:12:13.880
He was the first South African
Ambassador

01:12:13.880 --> 01:12:15.840
as a free South Africa.

01:12:15.880 --> 01:12:19.000
The activists that I had
seen as I left South Africa,

01:12:19.080 --> 01:12:21.160
sort of with big beards and
liberation,

01:12:21.200 --> 01:12:24.800
struggle t-shirts, now
we're seeing them coming

01:12:24.840 --> 01:12:27.000
clean-shaven and in suits,

01:12:27.040 --> 01:12:28.760
and they were representing
various

01:12:28.760 --> 01:12:30.160
ministries of the country.

01:12:30.200 --> 01:12:33.400
So that shaped me also
in a significant way

01:12:33.440 --> 01:12:35.600
to know that there's work to be
done.

01:12:35.600 --> 01:12:38.000
- (Nolwandle) At the same time,
South Africa was actually

01:12:38.040 --> 01:12:40.040
taking such a significant step,

01:12:40.040 --> 01:12:42.920
we were also taking our own
personal significant step,

01:12:43.000 --> 01:12:46.280
it's the year of my graduation.

01:12:46.280 --> 01:12:58.560
[soft piano music]

01:12:58.600 --> 01:13:02.240
- (Desiree) The part of the hope
and the
goal of the program was for

01:13:02.320 --> 01:13:05.040
South African students to
return and to participate

01:13:05.080 --> 01:13:08.400
in community life there.

01:13:08.400 --> 01:13:11.280
There was no pressure.

01:13:11.320 --> 01:13:14.240
Peter and Jill and folks
were really like, you know,

01:13:14.240 --> 01:13:16.800
"So you have lots of options."

01:13:16.840 --> 01:13:20.480
It was exhilarating.

01:13:20.480 --> 01:13:21.840
- (Thembekile) South Africa was
changing,

01:13:21.880 --> 01:13:27.560
but not in a way that
would be sustaining to me

01:13:27.600 --> 01:13:32.360
and realizing that I may not
return there.

01:13:32.360 --> 01:13:35.760
- (Thandeka) It was a bit of a
tough
choice, you know, to say,

01:13:35.800 --> 01:13:39.800
"Do you stay and pursue
further studies in the US

01:13:39.840 --> 01:13:42.160
or do you go back to South
Africa?"

01:13:42.200 --> 01:13:45.920
'Cause now, actually I was
dating a guy who was in exile

01:13:46.000 --> 01:13:50.840
and he was now allowed to
go back into the country.

01:13:50.840 --> 01:13:55.280
I also didn't want to
miss the excitement of

01:13:55.320 --> 01:13:56.720
the transitioning.

01:13:56.760 --> 01:13:58.880
I wanted to be part of it.

01:13:58.920 --> 01:14:01.400
- (Verna) It was never our
intent
to stay in the US you know,

01:14:01.480 --> 01:14:03.320
the goal was really to go back
home.

01:14:03.320 --> 01:14:06.120
I went on and got a masters in
education.

01:14:06.160 --> 01:14:08.840
I was interested in change
efforts, so,

01:14:08.920 --> 01:14:11.480
curriculum reform and cultural
diversity

01:14:11.560 --> 01:14:14.400
was the focus of my masters
program.

01:14:14.440 --> 01:14:15.400
And then life happened.

01:14:15.760 --> 01:14:20.640
I met my husband, Sergio, who
is actually from West Africa,

01:14:20.640 --> 01:14:21.640
from Guinea-Bissau.

01:14:21.680 --> 01:14:23.200
You know, we were just
meant for each other.

01:14:23.240 --> 01:14:25.080
We've been married for many
years,

01:14:25.120 --> 01:14:27.280
and then kids came along and,
you know,

01:14:27.280 --> 01:14:28.680
when kids come along,

01:14:28.680 --> 01:14:32.520
that changes your trajectory
tremendously.

01:14:32.520 --> 01:14:35.920
- (Desiree) I was just very
grounded
in Smith and I think,

01:14:35.920 --> 01:14:38.960
I felt like I didn't
wanna leave home again.

01:14:38.960 --> 01:14:39.760
[laughs]

01:14:39.840 --> 01:14:41.160
So I stayed here, I did my
masters

01:14:41.160 --> 01:14:43.320
and then I worked here and,

01:14:43.360 --> 01:14:49.040
and then I left to do my
doctorate, but I didn't go far.

01:14:49.080 --> 01:14:51.280
I went to Amherst to UMass so,

01:14:51.320 --> 01:14:53.640
so I stayed in the area and
I fell in love with Smith,

01:14:53.640 --> 01:14:56.880
and I fell in love with
the area and the community

01:14:56.920 --> 01:15:00.080
that embraced me.

01:15:00.080 --> 01:15:04.280
- (Chuma) So I went to grad
school,
I got married, had kids,

01:15:04.280 --> 01:15:05.360
and here we are.

01:15:05.400 --> 01:15:09.680
I never did go back to
South Africa until 2003,

01:15:09.720 --> 01:15:11.520
when I got a job with De Beers.

01:15:11.560 --> 01:15:13.960
I was in Joburg for about five
years.

01:15:13.960 --> 01:15:16.640
My mother was always my big
supporter.

01:15:16.720 --> 01:15:18.880
She said, "You can do anything
you want."

01:15:18.960 --> 01:15:21.640
She didn't finish high school.

01:15:21.680 --> 01:15:24.000
She was a nurse, but
she was a tough woman.

01:15:24.000 --> 01:15:26.480
She, she went for what she
wanted

01:15:26.520 --> 01:15:28.640
and I think without really
meaning to,

01:15:28.640 --> 01:15:31.080
or without overtly doing it,

01:15:31.120 --> 01:15:33.680
she kinda gave me that sense of,

01:15:33.720 --> 01:15:36.240
"I can go get whatever I want."

01:15:36.280 --> 01:15:38.080
- (Heather) My dad always said
to us that, you know,

01:15:38.120 --> 01:15:40.120
"Some people are going to fight
now

01:15:40.120 --> 01:15:42.160
and others need to fight later,

01:15:42.200 --> 01:15:45.240
maybe you need to be part of
the crowd that fight later."

01:15:45.320 --> 01:15:50.360
Everything that I did outside
of the country was to gather

01:15:50.360 --> 01:15:54.400
the skills and experience
as to what I would need

01:15:54.440 --> 01:15:56.680
when I went back.

01:15:56.760 --> 01:16:00.680
- (Meagan) I've moved between
industries seamlessly

01:16:00.720 --> 01:16:02.520
and I've had successes in all of
them.

01:16:02.600 --> 01:16:04.880
Now I work for New York City
Government.

01:16:04.880 --> 01:16:07.480
I wanted to eventually go back
to South African Government

01:16:07.480 --> 01:16:10.240
as well, but I felt that New
York City,

01:16:10.280 --> 01:16:13.120
as a training ground, as a
practice ground would be
amazing.

01:16:13.120 --> 01:16:16.720
I can have lengthy
conversations about what's wrong

01:16:16.720 --> 01:16:19.560
in the US right, or how
US society has changed,

01:16:19.600 --> 01:16:22.440
how the political process
is a mess and a disaster,

01:16:22.520 --> 01:16:24.880
but, I still defend it.

01:16:24.960 --> 01:16:31.000
I still think it is a
beacon of decent democracy.

01:16:31.000 --> 01:16:35.120
Government service is
really also about service.

01:16:35.200 --> 01:16:39.640
- (Verna) At heart we still
consider
ourselves South African and

01:16:39.680 --> 01:16:43.320
find ways to make sure that
the work that I'm doing right

01:16:43.360 --> 01:16:46.280
now really just contributes
to society, you know,

01:16:46.320 --> 01:16:49.320
regardless of where that society
is.

01:16:49.320 --> 01:16:54.760
[gentle piano music]

01:16:54.760 --> 01:16:57.840
- (Tandiwe) I think education
has given us choice,

01:16:57.920 --> 01:17:00.840
and that's really what's
been able to drive

01:17:00.880 --> 01:17:02.800
our ability to grow and develop.

01:17:02.800 --> 01:17:04.840
And that goes across all the
beneficiaries

01:17:04.880 --> 01:17:05.840
of the scholarship.

01:17:06.040 --> 01:17:09.040
I think education was the
base and the foundation

01:17:09.040 --> 01:17:11.240
that gave you options.

01:17:11.280 --> 01:17:12.840
- (Nolwandle) You wonder how our
parents did it,

01:17:12.880 --> 01:17:15.160
because they worked longer
hours,

01:17:15.240 --> 01:17:17.080
they traveled to far
destinations.

01:17:17.080 --> 01:17:20.680
They never had an opportunity
to do homework with us.

01:17:20.720 --> 01:17:24.160
And I look at the privileges
that through education

01:17:24.200 --> 01:17:27.040
afforded me, to be able to be a
mother,

01:17:27.120 --> 01:17:30.960
but also being supported
through that process

01:17:31.000 --> 01:17:35.200
in a different way than
my mothers will have had.

01:17:35.200 --> 01:17:38.400
I've been very fortunate
in my working life

01:17:38.400 --> 01:17:41.720
to have actually had mentors and
leaders,

01:17:41.800 --> 01:17:46.320
male leaders, who understood
the importance of creating

01:17:46.360 --> 01:17:47.840
an opportunity.

01:17:47.880 --> 01:17:50.680
Gave me an opportunity
to realize my potential.

01:17:50.680 --> 01:17:52.920
We need more of that in a
consistent way.

01:17:52.920 --> 01:17:56.120
- (Vuyiswa) Am I raising a
feminist in my son?

01:17:56.120 --> 01:17:57.800
Absolutely.

01:17:57.880 --> 01:18:00.560
It will only make him a better
person.

01:18:00.600 --> 01:18:03.760
And they see us as those
mothers that are really

01:18:03.760 --> 01:18:05.800
doing it every day.

01:18:05.800 --> 01:18:08.080
They must understand the journey
of women

01:18:08.160 --> 01:18:11.200
and how it impacts everybody in
the world.

01:18:11.240 --> 01:18:13.840
-(Kholeka) I studied biology at
school.

01:18:13.840 --> 01:18:17.040
I am currently in the finance
industry.

01:18:17.040 --> 01:18:20.280
But Smith taught you that you
don't have to be stuck in a

01:18:20.280 --> 01:18:23.080
certain lane, you know,
you can do different things

01:18:23.080 --> 01:18:25.920
with your life.

01:18:25.920 --> 01:18:28.320
- (Thandeka) In the main South
Africa is still a very

01:18:28.320 --> 01:18:30.400
patriarchal society.

01:18:30.480 --> 01:18:34.760
More and more women, are
making different choices.

01:18:34.800 --> 01:18:39.200
And those choices are
around setting up their own
businesses

01:18:39.200 --> 01:18:43.240
So I think I'm also one of
those that exited corporate

01:18:43.280 --> 01:18:46.800
at executive level and then
set up my own business.

01:18:46.840 --> 01:18:49.840
So I've been running my own
consultancy for almost 20 years.

01:18:49.880 --> 01:18:52.280
- (Siphokazi) I started doing
research independently,

01:18:52.280 --> 01:18:54.640
which stems from my interest in
academia,

01:18:54.680 --> 01:18:56.440
but now it was independent
research,

01:18:56.480 --> 01:18:58.280
which allowed me also as a
mother

01:18:58.320 --> 01:19:00.200
to have more time with my
children,

01:19:00.280 --> 01:19:03.360
but also be able to run
a company successfully,

01:19:03.400 --> 01:19:06.760
doing research, which I love.

01:19:06.760 --> 01:19:10.960
- (Thandeka) Apartheid is still
buried in the institutions,

01:19:11.000 --> 01:19:14.240
whether it's corporate or even
our own government, you know,

01:19:14.280 --> 01:19:16.800
there's still a lot of
barriers within that.

01:19:16.840 --> 01:19:21.000
The biggest damage that
the apartheid system caused

01:19:21.040 --> 01:19:23.840
was on the psyche.

01:19:23.840 --> 01:19:27.480
- (Vuyiswa) We have been
profiled
as a country that is

01:19:27.480 --> 01:19:30.040
most violent against women.

01:19:30.080 --> 01:19:35.320
Because where you have
such high unemployment,

01:19:35.320 --> 01:19:37.600
and a lot of the time when
the men who's supposed to be

01:19:37.680 --> 01:19:41.160
the head of the family
cannot even provide,

01:19:41.200 --> 01:19:42.000
what do they do?

01:19:42.400 --> 01:19:45.000
They will now be lashing out
at the next person that they

01:19:45.040 --> 01:19:48.360
supposed to be loving, because
they've failed themselves.

01:19:48.400 --> 01:19:50.400
And there's no system that then
says,

01:19:50.440 --> 01:19:51.920
"How are we gonna help you?"

01:19:52.000 --> 01:19:55.040
So as a society we continue to
fail women.

01:19:55.040 --> 01:19:57.280
And it is just about the sense
of security

01:19:57.320 --> 01:20:01.640
that is not there and it must be
fixed.

01:20:01.680 --> 01:20:14.560
[traditional South African hymn]

01:20:14.560 --> 01:20:16.320
- (Tandiwe) It's a country that
is beautiful,

01:20:16.360 --> 01:20:18.640
it's a country that has a
great diversity of people,

01:20:18.680 --> 01:20:21.000
but I think it's also a
country that's really facing

01:20:21.040 --> 01:20:23.560
probably one of the most complex
times

01:20:23.600 --> 01:20:26.040
in the post-apartheid era.

01:20:26.040 --> 01:20:29.640
- (Nolwandle) At the core is
actually
the psyche of the people,

01:20:29.640 --> 01:20:31.440
the psyche of violence in the
country,

01:20:31.480 --> 01:20:34.360
in terms of what people
have been exposed to,

01:20:34.440 --> 01:20:37.560
what they actually consider a
norm.

01:20:37.640 --> 01:20:41.120
How people cope with
victimization.

01:20:41.120 --> 01:20:43.520
Allow people to deal with the,

01:20:43.560 --> 01:20:47.960
the sense of hurt in a way
that prevents that from

01:20:47.960 --> 01:20:51.160
actually being perpetuated
onwards.

01:20:51.200 --> 01:20:55.400
- (Thandeka) People still don't
have
a lot of self-belief.

01:20:55.440 --> 01:20:57.400
So as a psychologist,

01:20:57.400 --> 01:21:01.640
that's what I'm working
with, with shifting that,

01:21:01.680 --> 01:21:04.040
the conscious to say, you're
capable.

01:21:04.040 --> 01:21:08.280
You can do it, and you can.
You are created in God's image

01:21:08.280 --> 01:21:16.000
and you're so capable, and go
for it.

01:21:16.080 --> 01:21:18.600
- (Heather) If we asked what are
the
qualities of that leader?

01:21:18.640 --> 01:21:22.200
I think first and fore mostly,
it's heart.

01:21:22.240 --> 01:21:24.760
You really have to have heart.

01:21:24.760 --> 01:21:27.400
So I think it's also
about being courageous.

01:21:27.400 --> 01:21:29.800
And then I think it's about
your willingness to get

01:21:29.800 --> 01:21:32.600
uncomfortable and really to say,

01:21:32.640 --> 01:21:35.840
"I'm prepared to lose everything
I have,

01:21:35.880 --> 01:21:39.440
because I believe so firmly
that walking this path

01:21:39.480 --> 01:21:41.880
is gonna make it better for more
people."

01:21:41.920 --> 01:21:44.280
And I think, you know,
that's what we all want.

01:21:44.280 --> 01:21:46.560
And that's, it's not a
South African problem.

01:21:46.600 --> 01:21:49.920
If you, if you read the
reports on inequality globally,

01:21:49.920 --> 01:21:51.480
it's a global problem.

01:21:51.520 --> 01:21:54.800
And the opportunity that
South Africa presents is that

01:21:54.840 --> 01:21:58.600
it's a microcosm to be able to
test some of these business,

01:21:58.600 --> 01:22:03.600
financial ideas, which
have application globally.

01:22:03.600 --> 01:22:06.640
I'm orientating my life in that
direction

01:22:06.640 --> 01:22:10.440
because I'm a child of
Mandela, as we all are.

01:22:10.480 --> 01:22:15.720
It's something that I'll die
trying.

01:22:15.760 --> 01:22:19.320
- (Tandiwe) Home is South
Africa,
I think just because

01:22:19.320 --> 01:22:22.520
I want to protect that part of
my life

01:22:22.520 --> 01:22:25.960
that I didn't have for so many
years.

01:22:25.960 --> 01:22:27.160
[upbeat music]

01:22:27.160 --> 01:22:29.160
- (Kholeka) I met some of the
people that

01:22:29.160 --> 01:22:32.160
I love dearly at Smith

01:22:32.200 --> 01:22:35.640
because of the history that we
share

01:22:35.680 --> 01:22:41.120
and how Smith empowered
us, to think broadly.

01:22:41.200 --> 01:22:42.640
- (Thilo) And to have an amazing
amount of people

01:22:42.680 --> 01:22:45.280
standing behind us,
that's when the tears come

01:22:45.280 --> 01:22:47.520
to my eyes and I think, "Oh my
gosh,

01:22:47.560 --> 01:22:49.520
it's amazing what people did for
us."

01:22:49.560 --> 01:22:50.920
Oh my gosh!

01:22:50.960 --> 01:22:53.920
Thembekile you look so good!

01:22:53.920 --> 01:22:56.760
- Oh! Thank you.

01:22:56.800 --> 01:22:59.320
- (Thembekile) Now we're,
giving back in various ways

01:22:59.360 --> 01:23:03.160
to Smith and our environments,

01:23:03.200 --> 01:23:09.000
because we realize just
how fortunate this was.

01:23:09.000 --> 01:23:13.200
- (Chuma) My longest held
friendships,

01:23:13.240 --> 01:23:15.400
came from my high school in
South Africa

01:23:15.440 --> 01:23:17.640
and my time at Smith.

01:23:17.680 --> 01:23:20.720
And those are the ones I hold
dearest.

01:23:20.760 --> 01:23:31.960
[upbeat music]

01:23:31.960 --> 01:23:35.160
- (Tandiwe) The network
is just impenetrable.

01:23:35.200 --> 01:23:38.800
It's solid, it is genuine, it's
authentic.

01:23:38.840 --> 01:23:41.680
That that network is very, very
strong.

01:23:41.760 --> 01:23:44.400
- (Nolwandle) The investment in
the
education of a girl child,

01:23:44.400 --> 01:23:46.040
remains a very critical part.

01:23:46.080 --> 01:23:49.200
I do feel as a woman leader,

01:23:49.240 --> 01:23:53.280
I've got a responsibility
to lift others as I climb.

01:23:53.280 --> 01:23:56.680
To ensure that I also create
the same opportunities

01:23:56.720 --> 01:23:58.720
that were availed to me.

01:23:58.760 --> 01:24:00.360
To ensure there's many of us.

01:24:00.400 --> 01:24:03.880
We can never be comfortable
only having two of us

01:24:03.920 --> 01:24:06.400
in the room and think that's
okay,

01:24:06.440 --> 01:24:09.360
because when you educate a
woman, you educate the society.