FEMINISM!!!!!!!

Stellenbosch Seminary

I went to a workshop called Winter School in Stellenbosch on Tuesday.  On the drive up, I had a fantastic South African history lesson.  My father will be proud to know that I absorbed every word and am now an expert on South African history.  Seriously, except the expert part.

Dr Rhoda Kadalie - South African Feminist

The lesson was actually enormously helpful because the keynote speaker at the workshop gave a diatribe about the treatment of women in post-Apartheid South Africa.  I was able to keep up with her rant because I had some really good background information.  Most of the jokes she made were in Afrikaans (as was the case all day, I didn’t laugh unless it was my own joke because everyone made the jokes in another language), so it stayed pretty serious for me.  Interestingly, her main point was that the oppressed (women) must not become the oppressors.  That was when I kind of tuned out.  I totally agree with that sentiment, but it was when I started to feel like she wasn’t legit.  As the pastor and I discussed it further, we both commented on how her rhetoric wasn’t outrageous enough.  I am of the opinion that there are two types of people who fight on the liberation front: the agitators and the negotiators.  The agitators are the ones with vitriolic speech, who seem to be angry just because they like to be angry.  They stir the pot (a lot) and don’t want compromise, but want a full reversal of roles (whereby they become the oppressor).  The negotiators are the ones who work within the given power system to bring about gradual and palatable change.  The agitators almost never turn into negotiators and vice versa.  This woman was both and neither.  I wanted to jump on her feminist bandwagon, but it neither went far enough with to get people really fired up, nor was it measured enough to get the powers that be to work with her.  It was just kind of meh.  On the plus side, my pastor was impressed with my evaluation of her.

At the end of her address, several people stood to ask questions.  One man, with a bald head, announced that he is a 29-year-old pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church and is seriously concerned about the lack of young people in the church.  Can you imagine how excited I got over this whole scenario???  If you don’t know, I feel very strongly that my calling is to young people, to evangelism.  So bells and whistles started going off in my head and I decided I needed to meet this person.  During the tea break, I spotted him across the passage (hallway, for all you Americans) and made a beeline for him (seriously, you CAN imagine me doing this).  I introduced myself and said I was actually pleased with the number of young people in the conference, because it was probably about double what we would see in the States.  He simply couldn’t believe it, wanted to know more, and invited me to lunch.  So I went with him and four other young (young, young, young) folks to lunch.  We didn’t wind up talking about young people in the church, but it was fun to be around people my age (and much younger) who are passionate about church.  Also, they liked my jokes.  I’m seriously very funny here.  I don’t even think they were giving me pity laughs.

The desserts are unbelievable.

That night we had a spit brie (brie: long “i”, and it’s a barbeque).  I plopped myself down with three random men, and as soon as I asked if I could join them they stopped their conversation and asked me if I speak Afrikaans.  I, of course, do not, and asked them how they could tell.  Again, funniest thing all night.  South Africans really get me.  We had a lovely meal, one of them asked for my email so he could show me around his part of the country.  Then they forced me to eat dessert, after forcing me to clean my plate.  I swear, by the time I get back I’m going to look like the Michelin Man (fat, and white, white, white because it’s WINTER here). 

It was a lovely day where I learned a lot about the South African church and who its people are.  I expected more about feminism, given the keynote address, but I was impressed to find any feminism here at all, to be quite honest.  I think it’s something I’ll dig into on my own.

Love and burbujas (bubbles, not in Afrikaans, in Spanish)!!