Ngizokubona Maduze (see you soon), South Africa

My first connection to South Africa came through Nelson Mandela. In the US, every Black History Month, teachers read excerpts from Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. It even has a special place on our family dining room table.

But I have a confession to make. Though I’d seen Mandela’s name many times, my knowledge of apartheid and South Africa was limited. I could blame it on the intentional framing of history in Western schools, but that wouldn’t be entirely fair. After all, I had a piece of South African history right in my home.

My connection didn’t end there; three of my cousins travelled to South Africa during their undergraduate years. Living vicariously through their safaris and skydives, I wanted to visit the country one day. Four years later, I would arrive at Hout Bay, photographing penguins, documenting my own version of South Africa.

Before starting my master’s programme in magazine, news and digital journalism at Syracuse University, I dreamed of studying abroad. I’d never travelled internationally as an undergrad and I wanted exposure to a new culture.

After being connected with Professor Harper, graduate director of multimedia, photography and design at the university, he led me to the iKapa Impact mutual benefit volunteer experience founded by South African Humphrey Fellow Dee Moskoff.

Moskoff’s internship allows students interested in travelling to South Africa to create a proposal of their interests to work on a personalised project through her diverse network. I left the meeting with Harper, ready to reach out to Moskoff!

During our first virtual meeting last December, I learnt a bit about the intentional South African connection builder. Before our call ended, she told me to do some research on South Africa before formally applying.

I shared my interests with her, such as food, culture and community engagement, including the magazine I founded at the university, FUSION, to represent the narratives of the Black, Caribbean and African diaspora. In exchange, I was given the contacts of students who travelled to South Africa from Syracuse and even the name of the publication that I would eventually write for, Daily Maverick.

Eager, I spent the rest of the day researching before settling on my proposed topic, Diasporic Dinner Dialogues, where I would highlight diversity in the culinary industry in South Africa.

Before my arrival, Moskoff wanted to ensure that I was prepared for my travel, from safety to even publication logistics. Week by week, I was given a new update, one being that I’d be Tony Jackman’s intern.

I would spend time reading the seasoned food critic and journalist’s writing. Meeting Tony virtually, I was met with warmth too large for the small screen, he is truly an angel.

The connections didn’t stop there. Moskoff introduced me to my site supervisors at CoCreate Hub, Sonya Olivier and Susan Yallop, who played such an integral part in my life beyond my internship experience.

I even met the sweet Mama Madiba and her niece, Piko Mpemnyama, who would become more than my host family. My study-abroad experience was truly coming together and as if that weren’t enough, I would be able to extend my time in South Africa as a recipient of one of the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Awards, allowing me to report on a case that claimed the lives of six children in the Naledi township in Johannesburg.

Everything was falling into place. To celebrate I booked my flight to Cape Town – on my birthday.

It is hard to forget your first day in a new environment. From Moskoff greeting me at the airport, to dining at Amazink, and having my first time of many meals of pap and chakalaka, I think fondly of those first few hours.

Shortly after eating, I went to Karen and Jan Viviers’ home, where I spent a weekend before I went down the road to Mama Madiba’s home, where I would live for a month. Toby Zwart, the son of missionaries, was also spending the weekend at the Viviers’ until his parents returned from Namibia.

Karen and Moskoff's years-long friendship made the weekend stay possible at the Viviers. Moskoff designed the host experience to include the couple’s home, a white family who moved into the township after apartheid. While the act was uncommon, their decision helped to break down the barriers between the two races while also forming a new type of community built on trust, culture and resistance.

The Viviers treated me like I was their own and it felt like I had been friends with Zwart for years. I experienced authentic South African food at their household, including one of my favourites, potato stacks. Jan, a lawyer by profession but chef at heart, loves to cook, and would dish out traditional dishes during the quick weekend. The couple loves people and in their home they have a beautiful collage of their blood relatives and people close to them, the “Rainbow Nation” displayed on their wall.

That weekend, the couple took Zwart and me to their beach home for one weekend where I saw a different part of South Africa – tourist luxury contrasting sharply with Kayamandi’s informal settlements, deepening my understanding of the country.

After returning to Kayamandi, I packed my bags to head over to Mama Madiba’s home for the first time, meeting family members like Mpemnyama and Onako Belebesi in person. Come to think of it, my first day at her home was a day of many firsts – visiting the CoCreate Hub and ordering an Uber in South Africa.

Any nerves were shaken after meeting Moskoff at Aunty Sophie se Kombuis in Stellenbosch, my favourite place for a quick bite of jam and roosterkoek. Moskoff then dropped me off at the Hub where we had our first in-person meeting with my internship supervisors, Olivier and Yallop.

I also met Bradly Lee Cameron, a team-building events organiser at the Hub who became a close friend. Despite jet lag, my first weekend included sightseeing, including visiting Hout Bay with Moskoff, my classmates Myia Dargan and Laurenne Mvete and a colleague’s daughter, Kena Kimani, and bonding with my host family. I knew it would be a memorable summer.

The following week I met Tony at the Hub to have an introductory meeting with him and Yallop. After leaving the Hub, we ran into Moskoff and joined her for coffee and pastel de nata at SCHOON Bakery & Cafe, one of my favourite cafes to do work.

My first meeting with Tony was our first culinary experience at the Bites and Sites walking tour in June. I was able to watch first-hand the editor in his element, such as his writing style and personality. I was right, he is beyond brilliant and I was blessed to tag along with the beloved TGIFood editor.

To select a favourite restaurant that I dined at with Tony would also be too difficult, each outing holds a special place in my heart, from over-the-flame meals at VUUR, to EDGE restaurant and even trying oysters for the first time at Wild Peacock, I am grateful for every culinary journey, conversation and, most importantly, company time with the devoted editor.

While my Instagram followers thought I enjoyed my culinary excursions the most, I hope my stories reflected the joy I felt with the people I met along the way. From my first Thursday party in July with friends like Clarence Lions, to trying kota for the first time with Mpemnyama and Belebesi, and even the impromptu hangouts with Cameron and his brother, Lee Jacobs, I knew it would be difficult to say goodbye.

How could the warmth of a country, despite its segregated past and legacy of apartheid, have welcomed me with open arms, more so at times than my own country?

Living in Kayamandi while exploring the culinary industry before travelling to Soweto, Johannesburg, prepared me for an intensive month of community building, unearthing apartheid, and conducting interviews and research about spaza shops and the complexities associated with the informal sector.

The day after my flight to Joburg, I woke up early, ready to explore. Hosted by CURIOCITY, a hospitality and tourist service based in Cape Town and Johannesburg and founded by Bekhi Dube, I joined a tour of Soweto. There I met my tour guide, Tshepo Mokone, driver Dominic Mzimkhulu and friend Bonga Zungu. CURIOCITY would become a safe space for me in the new city.

Interning at the Market Photo Workshop with former journalist and current manager of programmes, Khona Dlamini, was also a highlight. Being able to learn from the professional who supported my journalism projects was encouraging to say the least.

One of the most touching moments in Joburg was when I interviewed a few of the victims’ family members for my reporting. After reaching out to a journalist based in Joburg, Orrin Singh, he shared the contacts of one of the victims’ family members, Dumisane Manisela, who lost his daughter, Zinhle. As this month marks the first anniversary of the children’s passing, I find myself often thinking about the children and their loved ones, praying for their comfort during this difficult time.

Despite the solemn meeting, the family members were vulnerable and showed me so much love. I was even invited to stay for dinner by Dumisane and Lebo Manisela who allowed me to meet the interviewees at their homes. In the upcoming weeks, Lebo even accompanied me to interview foreign spaza shop owners in Naledi to diversify the perspectives for my reporting.

Before that, she made magwinya for me to try. She added anchaar for me to dip the dough, which absorbed the mango sauce. My first time trying the fat cake was in Naledi when Mokone travelled with me to Naledi for my prereporting work.

I tried the deep-fried dough in Durban again when I visited Cameron. Cameron invited me to spend a few days with him and his family and I met another one of Cameron’s brothers, Gabriel Mandlala. After my four-day trip in Durban, I couldn’t believe I visited three cities in South Africa! I would have never been able to explore so much without the kindness of the people I met.

Of course, I can’t forget to mention that my parents, Joryn and Roger Campbell, visited me in Jozi. Celebrating my father’s birthday was quite literally the icing on the cake. Watching tour guides in Soweto sing “happy birthday” to my hero who shares the same birthday as South Africa’s notable activist, Madiba, is a core memory for me.

Back home, I’ve carried those lessons into freelancing. While I wait for full-time opportunities, I’ve interviewed Joburg chef Sanza Sandile, two of the Ko Cafe owners, Israel and Lulu Adeyjanu, and even my cousins, Oona and Oriana Nelson, and their father, Curtis Nelson, the executive director of Sesame Flyers International in Brooklyn, New York, a community-based organisation in the city. Covering Carnival for my publication, FUSION, I explored its cultural depth from embracing the diversity of the Caribbean diaspora while also spreading knowledge about the history of the cultural event and even dispelling some misconceptions in the process.

“One misconception about Carnival is all about whining and grinding, but there’s so much historical and cultural context to it – especially because Trinidad specifically or the Caribbean is so much about resistance culture and there’s so much pride behind, everything is so beautiful about Carnival,” said Oriana Nelson.

South Africa taught me to step outside of my comfort zones and I am prepared to enter the job market while building FUSION.

I can confidently say I left South Africa with lifelong connections. I must admit that each time I hopped on a plane during my travels in the country, I cried. The country of history and hope left me craving more, with an ache in my heart. How does a country feel like home in just two short months? Well, the answer might be more simple than I thought.

In Jozi, they say “Welcome home”, and home is what South Africa became. I sometimes find myself looking back at photos and videos from the trip, grateful for the experience yet yearning to return.

Until then, ngizokubona maduze (see you soon), South Africa. DMMy first connection to South Africa came through Nelson Mandela. Every Black History Month, teachers read excerpts and Mandela’s name was usually mentioned. His autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, even has a special place on our family dining room table.

But I have a confession to make. Though I’d seen Mandela’s name many times, my knowledge of apartheid and South Africa was limited. I could blame it on the intentional framing of history in Western schools, but that wouldn’t be entirely fair. After all, I had a piece of South African history right in my home.

My connection didn’t end there; three of my cousins travelled to South Africa during undergrad. Living vicariously through their safaris and skydives, I wanted to visit the country one day. Four years later, I would arrive at Hout Bay, photographing penguins, documenting my own version of South Africa.

Before starting my master’s programme in magazine, news and digital journalism at Syracuse University, I dreamed of studying abroad. I’d never travelled internationally as an undergrad and I wanted exposure to a new culture.

After being connected with Professor Harper, graduate director of multimedia, photography and design at the university, he led me to the iKapa Impact mutual benefit volunteer experience founded by South African Humphrey Fellow Dee Moskoff.

Moskoff’s internship allows students interested in travelling to South Africa to create a proposal of their interests to work on a personalised project through her diverse network. I left the meeting with Harper ready to reach out to Moskoff!

During our first virtual meeting last December, I learnt a bit about the intentional South African connection builder. Before our call ended, she told me to do some research on South Africa before formally applying.

I shared my interests with her, such as food, culture and community engagement, including the magazine I founded at the university, FUSION, to represent the narratives of the Black, Caribbean and African diaspora. In exchange, I was given the contacts of students who travelled to South Africa from Syracuse and even the name of the publication that I would eventually write for, Daily Maverick.

Eager, I spent the rest of the day researching before settling on my proposed topic, Diasporic Dinner Dialogues, where I would highlight diversity in the culinary industry in South Africa.

Prior to my arrival, Moskoff wanted to ensure that I was prepared for my travel, from safety to even publication logistics. Week by week, I was given a new update, one being that I’d be Tony Jackman’s intern.

I would spend time reading the seasoned food critic and journalist’s writing. Meeting Tony virtually, I was met with warmth too large for the small screen, he is truly an angel.

The connections didn’t stop there. Moskoff introduced me to my site supervisors at CoCreate Hub, Sonya Olivier and Susan Yallop, who played such an integral part in my life beyond my internship experience.

I even met the sweet Mama Madiba and her niece, Piko Mpemnyama, who would become more than my host family. My study-abroad experience was truly coming together and as if that weren’t enough, I would be able to extend my time in South Africa as a recipient of one of the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Awards, allowing me to report on a case that claimed the lives of six children in the Naledi township in Johannesburg.

Everything was falling into place. To celebrate I booked my flight to Cape Town – on my birthday.

It is hard to forget your first day in a new environment. From Moskoff greeting me at the airport, to dining at Amazink, and having my first time of many meals of pap and chakalaka, I think fondly of those first few hours.

Shortly after eating, I went to Karen and Jan Viviers’ home, where I spent a weekend before I went down the road to Mama Madiba’s home, where I would live for a month. Toby Zwart, the son of missionaries, was also spending the weekend at the Viviers’ until his parents returned from Namibia.

Karen and Moskoff's years-long friendship made the weekend stay possible at the Viviers. Moskoff designed the host experience to include the couple’s home, a white family who moved into the township after apartheid. While the act was uncommon, their decision helped to break down the barriers between the two races while also forming a new type of community built on trust, culture and resistance.

The Viviers treated me like I was their own and it felt like I had been friends with Zwart for years. I experienced authentic South African food at their household, including one of my favourites, potato stacks. Jan, a lawyer by profession but chef at heart, loves to cook, and would dish out traditional dishes during the quick weekend. The couple loves people and in their home they have a beautiful collage of their blood relatives and people close to them, the “Rainbow Nation” displayed on their wall.

That weekend, the couple took Zwart and me to their beach home for one weekend where I saw a different part of South Africa – tourist luxury contrasting sharply with Kayamandi’s informal settlements, deepening my understanding of the country.

After returning to Kayamandi, I packed my bags to head over to Mama Madiba’s home for the first time, meeting family members like Mpemnyama and Onako Belebesi in person. Come to think of it, my first day at her home was a day of many firsts – visiting the CoCreate Hub and ordering an Uber in South Africa.

Any nerves were shaken after meeting Moskoff at Aunty Sophie se Kombuis in Stellenbosch, my favourite place for a quick bite of jam and roosterkoek. Moskoff then dropped me off at the Hub where we had our first in-person meeting with my internship supervisors, Olivier and Yallop.

I also met Bradly Lee Cameron, a team-building events organiser at the Hub who became a close friend. Despite jet lag, my first weekend included sightseeing, including visiting Hout Bay with Moskoff, my classmates Myia Dargan and Laurenne Mvete and a colleague’s daughter, Kena Kimani, and bonding with my host family. I knew it would be a memorable summer.

The following week I met Tony at the Hub to have an introductory meeting with him and Yallop. After leaving the Hub, we ran into Moskoff and joined her for coffee and pastel de nata at SCHOON Bakery & Cafe, one of my favourite cafes to do work.

My first meeting with Tony was our first culinary experience at the Bites and Sites walking tour in June. I was able to watch first-hand the editor in his element, such as his writing style and personality. I was right, he is beyond brilliant and I was blessed to tag along with the beloved TGIFood editor.

To select a favourite restaurant that I dined at with Tony would also be too difficult, each outing holds a special place in my heart, from over-the-flame meals at VUUR, to EDGE restaurant and even trying oysters for the first time at Wild Peacock, I am grateful for every culinary journey, conversation and, most importantly, company time with the devoted editor.

While my Instagram followers thought I enjoyed my culinary excursions the most, I hope my stories reflected the joy I felt with the people I met along the way. From my first Thursday party in July with friends like Clarence Lions, to trying kota for the first time with Mpemnyama and Belebesi, and even the impromptu hangouts with Cameron and his brother, Lee Jacobs, I knew it would be difficult to say goodbye.

How could the warmth of a country, despite its segregated past and legacy of apartheid, have welcomed me with open arms, more so at times than my own country?

Living in Kayamandi while exploring the culinary industry before travelling to Soweto, Johannesburg, prepared me for an intensive month of community building, unearthing apartheid, and conducting interviews and research about spaza shops and the complexities associated with the informal sector.

The day after my flight to Joburg, I woke up early, ready to explore. Hosted by CURIOCITY, a hospitality and tourist service based in Cape Town and Johannesburg and founded by Bekhi Dube, I joined a tour of Soweto. There I met my tour guide, Tshepo Mokone, driver Dominic Mzimkhulu and friend Bonga Zungu. CURIOCITY would become a safe space for me in the new city.

Interning at the Market Photo Workshop with former journalist and current manager of programmes, Khona Dlamini, was also a highlight. Being able to learn from the professional who supported my journalism projects was encouraging to say the least.

One of the most touching moments in Joburg was when I interviewed a few of the victims’ family members for my reporting. After reaching out to a journalist based in Joburg, Orrin Singh, he shared the contacts of one of the victims’ family members, Dumisane Manisela, who lost his daughter, Zinhle. As this month marks the first anniversary of the children’s passing, I find myself often thinking about the children and their loved ones, praying for their comfort during this difficult time.

Despite the solemn meeting, the family members were vulnerable and showed me so much love. I was even invited to stay for dinner by Dumisane and Lebo Manisela who allowed me to meet the interviewees at their homes. In the upcoming weeks, Lebo even accompanied me to interview foreign spaza shop owners in Naledi to diversify the perspectives for my reporting.

Before that, she made magwinya for me to try. She added anchaar for me to dip the dough, which absorbed the mango sauce. My first time trying the fat cake was in Naledi when Mokone travelled with me to Naledi for my prereporting work.

I tried the deep-fried dough in Durban again when I visited Cameron. Cameron invited me to spend a few days with him and his family and I met another one of Cameron’s brothers, Gabriel Mandlala. After my four-day trip in Durban, I couldn’t believe I visited three cities in South Africa! I would have never been able to explore so much without the kindness of the people I met.

Of course, I can’t forget to mention that my parents, Joryn and Roger Campbell, visited me in Jozi. Celebrating my father’s birthday was quite literally the icing on the cake. Watching tour guides in Soweto sing “happy birthday” to my hero who shares the same birthday as South Africa’s notable activist, Madiba, is a core memory for me.

Back home, I’ve carried those lessons into freelancing. While I wait for full-time opportunities, I’ve interviewed Joburg chef Sanza Sandile, two of the Ko Cafe owners, Israel and Lulu Adeyjanu, and even my cousins, Oona and Oriana Nelson, and their father, Curtis Nelson, the executive director of Sesame Flyers International in Brooklyn, New York, a community-based organisation in the city. Covering Carnival for my publication, FUSION, I explored its cultural depth from embracing the diversity of the Caribbean diaspora while also spreading knowledge about the history of the cultural event and even dispelling some misconceptions in the process.

“One misconception about Carnival is all about whining and grinding, but there’s so much historical and cultural context to it – especially because Trinidad specifically or the Caribbean is so much about resistance culture and there’s so much pride behind, everything is so beautiful about Carnival,” said Oriana Nelson.

South Africa taught me to step outside of my comfort zones and I am prepared to enter the job market while building FUSION.

I can confidently say I left South Africa with lifelong connections. I must admit that each time I hopped on a plane during my travels in the country, I cried. The country of history and hope left me craving more, with an ache in my heart. How does a country feel like home in just two short months? Well, the answer might be more simple than I thought.

In Jozi, they say “Welcome home”, and home is what South Africa became. I sometimes find myself looking back at photos and videos from the trip, grateful for the experience yet yearning to return.

Until then, ngizokubona maduze (see you soon), South Africa. DM