"Our words. Our stories."

"What I love about South Africa is that everyone gets equal rights and everyone gets to be heard when they talk. During apartheid people were not allowed to work with whites, now these days we can. What I hate about South Africa now is some people are overdosing the freedom. They want too much freedom. People want more from the government than what the government is giving. I don’t think this is fair."
- Chumisa Sizani



"I want to talk about South Africa’s history. When the white South Africans and the black South Africans were separated there was a lot of fighting. Black people were arrested because they were fighting for their rights (i.e Soweto, Sharpesville). After the 1994 elections white South Africans and black South Africans were reunited and government made equal rights for everyone. I think that this is better. I am glad to have equal rights because everyone is equal now, just like black Americans and white Americans."
- Sibusiso Mathomana



"Before 1994 life was exactly the same because people were discriminated against for the colour of their skin and their beliefs. After 1994 life became much easier because we had a chance to go to school and our parents did not have that chance and we take our education very seriously so to compare Freedom Writers with our school they a’int alike. There are some similarities but not exactly. In our schools you can mix difference races in one class. They don’t discriminate against each other, they stay as brothers and sisters. So in that movie other races were discriminated against."
- Mangaliso Mqubuli



"In my school we are all blacks. We don’t have whites because they think our school is a disadvantaged school. I have been told this. I think this is wrong. My school is an advantage school. We respect teachers and listen to them when they give us instructions about life. So in my school there is not a lot of discrimination because we don’t discriminate against others because we come from different backgrounds. We trust, love and understand one another. In my school we love our teachers and listen when they are talking and do work that they give us. Nyaluza is a star school and I’m proud about my school!"
- Nopinki Jodwana



"Here in South Africa most of the cultures are different and we respect our cultures differently. When someone dies we go and bury that person and we come back and do a ceremony for that person. Our schools are different from U.S. schools because in our schools we respect the teachers and respect what they are saying to us. From what I saw in Freedom Writers they don’t respect other races and they discriminate against each other and they do not respect the teachers. Our personal lives are also a little bit different from theirs because other children in South Africa grow up in poverty, while others grow up in rich families. I think that there is a racial difference between these. In the U.S. there are a lot of rich people. I think everyone, any race, can be rich. In the U.S. there’s a lot of crime and here in South Africa we don’t have big crime. We have crime but it’s not that huge."
- Nokulunga Mlenze



"I am making a little journal about the movie that Jason showed us, Freedom Writers. I have seen many similarities to South Africa in that movie. When that girl watches her mother beaten by her father that also happened to me. And that child who has a fight with his mother, at the end of the film he goes back to his mother and apologizes. That happens here, too."
- Nomaxabiso V.



"Here in South Africa we have different transportation in our infrastructure. There are some differences in our animals and our transportation of cars because we use donkey as our transport. They help us to do many things, like take us many places and move our things. They also function as robots (stoplights) here in Grahamstown. They help with traffic, because they’re slow. My neighbors have a donkey. I like donkeys a lot."
- Akhona Heshu



"What I saw in the move is that children like to fight each other. In my school there are boys that like to fight with girls every time, that is very wrong to me because I came to school to learn, not to feel uncomfortable. They things that I saw in the movie are not right at all. Some of those children are very rude and they don’t have respect. They can say whatever they want to say to their teachers."
- Anathi Jama



"The beauty of South Africa. Here in Grahamstown, South Africa we’ve got heritage sites, our beautiful cathedral, library, museums and also we’ve got locations and townships, as well. In our environment we’ve got donkey carts, cows and chickens. When we are doing our traditional Xhosa ceremony we slaughter a cow and that is our culture. We also do umqombothi (African beer) and that is our way to praise and believe that our ancestors are still alive. We really like our culture as Xhosas. We got our way to dance. We dance very traditionally. This is the beauty of South Africa."
- Sanele Ntshingana





"I was shooting [taking pictures of the] monument and the monument created in 1953 by the 1820 Memorial Settlers Association of South Africa and was unveiled by Nuei Hamish Gilfillan National chairman of that association designed by Iran Mitford-Baberiow, A.B.C.A. It replaced and perpetuates a memorial to the British settlers of 1820, which was erected here in their honor a century ago.

After their landing this monument, many people find it interesting to go to Grahamstown because this monument, especially science projects and other things like science and technology is available in this monument. It helps students a lot of things and even if you’re doing projects you’ll find help in that monument. Ever our teachers at our school, we go to the monument at different seasons. Other people come during March because the SciFest starts in this month and other countries come to Grahamstown to see this heritage site because they want information about what happens in SciFest Festival."
- Asanda Singata



"I am a 14 year old who loves spending time with friends. My friend calls me “Miss Big Ego,” because she says that I’ve got more confidence than her. I don’t mind that. When I finish my studies I want to be a psychologist.

When I was round about 12 years old my mother told me about riots. She told me that black people were toyi-toying (marching) for their right. They said that the other black people should not buy food from the shops because they are making an income for the white people. If you were seen carrying plastics bags from the food stores they would ask you to take everything you bought and eat it, whether it was food or not. It was a very bad thing because some people died because maybe they bought washing powder, oil, raw food and you were forced to eat all of that. If you refused, they’d kill you.

Sometimes when I hear how white people think of blacks I feel like I could kill all the whites. There was a story, not so long ago, maybe in 2000, where a white man got on a bus, a bus where there were only blacks. When he got there he shot every black person and made sure they were dead. When was asked by the magistrate why he did that, he said he doesn’t like black people, they are not human beings and the animals are better than black people. This made me realize that there are still some people that want apartheid, and to be honest, sometimes I hate white people. They think blacks are criminals, dumb and animals."
- Nobenguni M.



"Culture is a beautiful thing in South Africa, because we have many different traditional events, namely Gumboots dance, a traditional dance. When we do our cultural activities we have to slaughter a goat and sometimes even a cow. These animals remind us of our elderly who have past away. We honour them by those kinds of things."
- Mbewu Bathini