They traveled 7000 miles and will spend two years away from family and friends to study engineering and electronics at Northampton Community College . As their first year in Bethlehem comes to a close, they have learned a lot about engineering, about electronics, about American culture, about themselves, and about each other.

On May 6 the six South African students who have come to the United States through a program funded by the U.S. Department of State and coordinated by Community Colleges for International Development, Inc. took on the role of teachers, inviting NCC students, faculty and staff to join them in celebrating South Africa’s Independence Day through a carefully prepared power point presentation that was rich in information about the history and culture of a country where freedom has been hard won.

“We are living proof of the progress that has been made,” observed Lazarus Morudi (at right below), the student who served as emcee for the presentation. “Previously opportunities to study abroad would only go to whites.”

Morudi's classmate and friend Thuli Khumalo told the standing-room-only crowd that the natives of South Africa had experienced white domination since the 1600s when the English and the Dutch began competing for control of the country’s treasure trove of diamonds and gold. Despite an active resistance movement that worked to improve living conditions for blacks, in 1948 a policy of Apartheid was put into effect “to maintain white domination while extending racial separation.”

Two years later, Khumalo said, the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be classified into one of three categories (white, black, and colored – of mixed descent). “All blacks were required to carry ‘pass books’ containing their fingerprints, photos, and information on access to non-black areas.” Blacks were required to address white men as “Bass,” the Afrikaans name for “Sir.” Other race laws dictated where blacks could live, what jobs they could hold, and whom they could (or couldn’t) marry.

It was students who ultimately led the revolt that resulted in the adoption of a new constitution and the first democratic election in South African history. Many lives were lost in the Soweto Uprising of 1976 and the riots that followed, but the liberation struggle gained momentum. In 1993, Khumalo said, a new constitution was adopted, establishing South Africa as a democratic republic affirming the dignity and human rights of citizens of all races. It is the date that constitution took effect: April 27, 1994, that South Africans celebrate as their Independence Day.

Because April 27 fell on a weekend this year, the South African students at NCC chose to postpone their observation until a weekday when they could share their heritage with their American friends. Their pride in their country was evident in their presentation. Isaac Mhlongo said that South Africa is called “The Rainbow Nation,” because it is home to one of the most diverse populations in the world. The country has 11 official languages. American students were awestruck to learn that some of the South African students attending NCC speak 8 or 9 of them. Lazarus Morudi elicited a laugh when he quipped, “If you’re in trouble, you want to know how to scream in that language.”

Describing the design of the South African coat of arms, Gilbert Maloma noted that the nation’s motto is “Diverse people unite.” It is appropriate, he said, that the South African flag incorporates six different colors.

Motale Refiloe Moropa described some of the country’s heroes and heroines from Steve Biko who made sure the fight against apartheid continued even when Nelson Mandela and other resistance leaders were in prison, to Oliver Tambo who advocated civil disobedience and other forms of non-violent resistance, to Archbishop Desmond Tuto who continues to work for a democratic and just society through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to Walter Sisulu, Ruth First and others who fought for equal rights and “who made the black people realize that not all white people are racists.”

Moropa and other speakers thanked the audience for coming. “Our goal was to show you a different side to South Africa he said, and to give you a fuller view than you get in the media,” Morundi said. Moropa added, “[Your being here] shows that you really are interested in knowing more about us, and we really appreciate that.”

In the quest for “a peaceful world, free from oppression, hatred, bitterness and wars,” Moropa believes citizens of all nations could learn much from South Africa’s “experiences on the road to democracy.” It shows, she said, “that nothing is impossible.”

The following is an original poem that Max Sello shared during the Independence Day Celebration:

Black Child

Black child, black child tell me what you hear     
after all these years. I hear the sound of                                     
democracy, yet it’s so far to really understand it,
for everywhere I turn the doors are slammed
on my face. Cursed because of the color of my
skin.
Black child, black child tell me what you feel. I feel
like a wingless bird. I want to fly free like an eagle,
but I’m held back by barriers unknown. Demons from
the past and the present with chains designed to keep me
in check lest I try to discover who I really am.
Black child, black child tell me what you see after all
these years. I see poverty the frail black faces, looking
at the rich with hands outstretched to lend me a helping
hand, though some say that lightning doesn’t strike
twice at the same place, but it strikes daily at the black
child.
Black child, black child tell me what you want for
yourself. I want the opportunities that have been
eluding me for centuries, democracy
that I only hear about and freedom to be black
and never made to feel ashamed
Black child, black child the winds of change are
brewing like a thunder from a distance. Hold
your head high and smile because your blackness
is your pride, your time has come.