Posted on December 10, 2009
I am Sebinane Lekoekoe from Lesotho. I completed my BA degree in 2008 at the National University of Lesotho, where I obtained an upper Second Class (2:1) and this year, 2009, I applied for Postgraduate Diploma in African Program in Museum and Heritage Studies at the University of the Western Cape, where I was offered a full scholarship to pursue my studies. This is the program that combines theory and practice through lectures, seminars, colloquiums, field trips and internship. It is also characterized by modules offered by practitioners in the heritage sector, like Director of Archival Platform, Dr. Harriet Deacon, Mr. Edward Matenga, Ms. Bonita Bennett, the Director of District Six Museum, Mr. Seelan Naidoo, the former Robben Island CEO, Caroline Wintein, Sarah Winter just to mention a few. The core course is steered by Professors Rassool and Witz. With regular invitation of heritage professionals, the program provides a creative educational environment, characterized by open discussions with inputs from students from around Africa. In my group, besides a couple of South Africans, there were some students from Zambia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria, Cameroon and of course myself from Lesotho. This mixture is the one that makes the course even more interesting since coming from diverse geographical locations, our experiences in the heritage settings also differed immensely. The courses offered included Management of Heritage Agencies, Public Communication, Issues in Museum and heritage studies, Collections Management
The location of UWC also plays a pivotal role as its proximity to the Mother City where there is a heaven of Museums enriched our studying. This is owing to the fact that some of the challenges facing museum like dealing with collections acquired during colonial era was clearly exemplified. Here I refer to collections that were made along racial lines and that perpetuated racial stereotypes. District Six Museum and Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum also are another set of Museums where the role of communities is illustrated in the museum settings. So this makes it clear that the course gave us substantial knowledge of museum traditions and politics. We were able to interact with these museums and heritage sites that serve as point of reference in class, like the issues of diorama, although now closed and body casting and the notions behind their making. In June/July, we then did internship at different departments at Robben Island which gave us a hands-on-experience and I was very fortunate to be granted power to view and analyse the oral histories of ex-political prisoners reference group who were housed in section B. This gave me an insight into how data is collected in the heritage site from living treasures and also how it is packaged for tourist consumption. What I found even more striking was compiling a Conservation Management Plan alone after being allocated different sites on Robben Island under the module 'Collections Management'. It is another crystal clear example showing how the course equips us with various competencies.
I am currently doing my internship at District Six Museum to get a real sense of a museum setting. I also have a plan of establishing a museum in Lesotho since Lesotho does not have a museum other than the one which claims itself a museum because of 'collection'. Having learnt and seen how a museum is shaped and what its functions are in the society, I feel very much energetic to establish one in Lesotho-a museum that will communicate ideas and serve as a forum of citizen engagement, with histories that address common contemporary issues. Briefly, this is going to be a museum on migrancy, looking at how among other Lesotho played a crucial role in South African mining industry from the late 1800s. This will be the Museum that preserves the memories of Basotho migrant labour system in a 'foreign' land and it will chronicle migrant labour experiences. This has been fueled by the fact that History is offered in less than five percent of schools in Lesotho and therefore a handful of historical stuff just pass and our future generations will not have any idea regarding some of the historical achievements because they are not recorded. This will remain a site of conscience as among others, the plan is to erect within the proximity of the museum a memorial complex to commemorate those who lost their lives while in the system of migrant labour. This is a plan I am working on at the moment and will of course invite different inputs at a later stage from heritage and museum professionals regarding what some of the issues worth-looking at in this matter are. It will be a place that will also equip the University of Lesotho students with practical experience in a real museum world since the department of Historical studies at the University of Lesotho have lately introduced the heritage program, from whom I am one of the students the department boasts of. On a broader level, this 'imagined' museum will be tasked with resonating voices of migrant labourers and a centre for celebrating diversity, promoting dialogue and re-building the fabric of a once migrant community. It will advocate migrant labour rights.
On the 09th November I also attended a workshop organized by the Labour Research Service at Salt River at the Community House, which has recently been declared a provincial heritage Site. My being there was to gather ideas in a platform where discussions were driven by inputs made by people working in Museums, Archives and Academia at the newly established heritage site. As else where, what stood out became the role of those who had been interacting with the space since it was not an empty space but a space occupied by people. The issues of community involvement, I would think became very outstanding and for someone like me with an existing idea of setting up a museum such issues were recorded.
So the course not only made me an academic, it also widened my horizon and I think has contributed immensely in making patterning me into a fruitful citizen. In the motivational letter that I wrote when applying for the scholarship, one of the expectations I outlined was to get an insight into the field of heritage since I graduated with Environmental History and Cultural Heritage Studies and surely this program has added so much on top of what I already had. Other aspects that the course was able to cover include insights into international policy and law, legal instruments, regulations and conventions governing heritage. In this regard, South Africa equips us immensely as ambassadors from different regions especially because it is ahead in terms of heritage management.
Other than interning at District Six Museum, I am also coordinating a 'Celebrating Africa' project whose aim is to compile Africa's rich heritage and histories from Cape to Cairo in a coffee table book form to showcase the riches of Africa. It is aimed at attracting visitors to African heritage institutions and also aimed at implementing marketing strategies, shedding African stereotypes. It will represent a different story of the African continent-a story of investment and not a place to pity, but a destination to relish.
Sebinane Lekoekoe participated in the University of the Western Cape's programme in African Museum and Heritage Studies in 2009.