Red Location Museum & "The Mamas"

On Thursday, we visited The Red Location Museum. The museum is named after the corrugated iron barracks and shacks that the majority of Port Elizabeth's "Blacks, Coloured, Indians and Chinese" were forcefully moved to in the early 1900s. The shacks eventually rusted a bright red.

Also called "The Anti-Apartheid Museum," it is hard to take it all in. One series of photographs shows the shooting of unarmed protestors by the state police, including a chilling arial view of their caskets being carried down the street. The accompanying songs - and sounds of crying - leave you feeling haunted. Another room has replicas of the actual case files the police had open on people. The files reach from floor to ceiling.

After that museum, we needed some lighter fare. Bradley took us to a small township cafe which several older "mamas" run to earn some money for their families. In the townships, the term "mama" is reserved for older women, and is used as a greeting of respect. Bradley asked the Mamas to tell some of their life stories.

As students listened intently, one woman told of her dad who was shot, another of a child who didn't come home one day. Another spoke of being imprisoned - at Christmas - for not carrying her "pass" saying she could be in a certain area of town. How could they not carry a belly of bitterness???

Here are all the Mamas, plus one.