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Students Tell Stories of their Journey to South Africa

Students Tell Stories of their Journey to South Africa

Discussing the various journeys taken by migrant students through story-telling, was the concept behind the DUT Dialogue: Storytelling of Our African Journeys, at the Durban University of Technology Art Gallery at the Steve Biko Campus on Thursday (11 June 2015).

Facilitating the panel discussion was ICON’s (International Centre of Nonviolence) Director, Crispin Hemson, who said: “Storytelling is a great tradition that enables understanding. We have all been in journeys in Africa. Many of us are migrants or the children of migrants. Many journeys succeed, but the recent xenophobic violence shows how some journeys end in disaster. This event starts with a panel of people from DUT telling the stories of their journeys inside or beyond South Africa. It opens into a broader open discussion on how we live together as people,” he said.

Students from various countries such as Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Congo and Rwanda, came together to talk about their journeys they had made to South Africa, how it affected them and by sharing their stories with everyone it allowed them to be more open-minded and have a broader understanding and to be able to relate to other people, especially South African students at DUT.

Cresencia Nyathi from Zimbabwe is doing her Masters in Peacebuilding: Public Management. She spoke about the fact that she came to South Africa to learn more about the country.

“I enjoy South Africa and interacting with people from all backgrounds, and also learning about my roots and where I come from as I do have roots in South Africa. My only bad experience so far has been the crime as I don’t venture out too late in the night because I don’t want to be mugged, it is a challenge at times,” she said.

Gabriel Hertis from Ruwanda, also completing his Masters in Peacebuilding: Public Management, added that the drawbacks he has had in South Africa is the fact that he had taken very long to adjust and adapt to life in South Africa even though he has been living here for many years now.  “I still long to go back home, especially when there are situations that are not acceptable such as  xenophobia, it’s an environment that shows us that we don’t belong here in South Africa and it’s very sad to see that we are attacking one another,” he said.

The general consensus from many migrant and local students at the discussion were that there were issues many would face culturally, racially, politically as well as tribal differences and such a platform had allowed all the students to be more open-minded and have a broader understanding and to be able to relate to other people about their journeys inside South Africa.

– Waheeda Peters

Pictured: Students opening up about their journey into South Africa, at the DUT Dialogue.

 

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