The importance of Listening-Reflections from Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Port Elizabeth is a city of about a million people in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. After a 28 hour flight and a stop in Frankfurt, I made it to Port Elizabeth, or PE as the locals call it. I stayed in a place called Summerstrand which was 10 minutes from the beach and about 10 minutes from Nelson Mandela University where I would work for the next 4 months.

What surprised me when I arrived in South Africa was the diverse mix of people and the friendliness of people. During my time in PE, I had the opportunity to interact with people who were considered “colored”, white Afrikaans, Black Afrikaans and white English speaking South Africans and Xhosa. As well, I befriended a couple of girls from Zimbabwe. It truly is a diverse country.

Despite the dangerous reputation that South Africa has and the high level of violence, I did not encounter any problems when I was there or potentially dangerous situations. I had been in PE for a couple of weeks when I arrived to see students gathered around and some holding signs. I asked a student what was going on and he told me the students were protesting because they did not have money to register and there was not enough accommodation for students.

The students had barricaded the roads with twigs and benches and staff and teachers were not able to get into the university. I learned that these protests were not uncommon and had happened before. As I listened to the student who told me why they were protesting, I realized the importance of listening to both sides of the story and giving people the chance to voice their concerns, their opinions and their victories.

While it was quick to assume that these students were complaining and causing problems, I realized if we take the time to talk to someone and listen to them, we put aside our assumptions and truly look at the situation from their perspective.