Apartheid Museum in South Africa~Fighting for Liberation and Freedom

This is the last stop of the trip to South Africa, the Apartheid Museum. I am glad that this stop was placed at the end of the journey. After visiting the museum, a long-lasting sense of oppression and fear lingered in my heart. It is hard to imagine the lives of those 'non-whites' under the absurd and inhumane apartheid system. Photography is not allowed inside the Apartheid Museum, so let me share a small story about a Chinese family. In the early 20th century, South Africa experienced a diamond rush. A Chinese man, filled with dreams of wealth, led his family to Johannesburg to mine diamonds. To his surprise, upon arrival, he discovered that Asians were not allowed to mine diamonds. The family's dreams were shattered before they even began, and they could not return to their homeland. They had no choice but to open a small grocery store to make a living. Although the business was small, it barely sustained them, and the family continued to live in South Africa for generations. The great-grandson of this Chinese man, who came with dreams of diamonds, donated some of the remaining items from the grocery store to the museum. This is one of the sad stories I 'heard' with my eyes in the museum, yet it is the only story that offers a glimpse of hope—a story about survival. The apartheid system was not abolished until the early 1990s, but the psychological trauma and aftermath it left on this troubled land still exist. When a race is broken down into real individuals, when each person has a face, a name, and a story, people can more clearly and empathetically see their own hearts and universal values. From the entrance of the museum, there is an uphill outdoor path displaying the backs of many people, representing the process of Johannesburg's construction, including some iconic figures. On the right-hand side, within the red walls, the commonality of humans is emphasized, starting from the Australopithecus in southern Africa. However, after the colonizers arrived, black people faced inhumane treatment, prompting reflection on apartheid.