As we read 'Waiting for the Rain,' we can share thoughts about this award-winning 'Best Book for Young Adults' here at the blog as well as in our literature circles and class discussions. Publish your comments, including your first name. You can also publish ideas and information you have about South Africa, which might add even more to our understanding of the novel.
Below are some video clips that relate to our study of South Africa. You may need to let the videos 'buffer' through the first time, and then they should run smoothly.
1. From the 1992 documentary, '7-Up South Africa' - here, highlighting two 7-year-old boys, one an Afrikaner and the other a Zulu. Check the connections to the novel, 'Waiting for the Rain.'
2. A scene from the movie, 'The Power of One' - P.K. goes off to an Afrikaner school and listens to a preacher's sermon.
3. Here are scenes from the movie, 'Sarafina!'- tension at the school; Sarafina visits her mother
4. The movie 'Bopha!' has a scene which shows the conflict students had with the language of instruction in the classroom.
5. After becoming a big star in the late 1950's, Miriam Makeba was banned from her home country for 27 years because of her views about apartheid. Here's her 'Click Song,' in which she explains to an audience in the Netherlands a feature of the Xhosa language, one of 10 or so black South African languages. (Miriam Makeba played the part of Sarafina's mother!)
6. Another South African musician who got banned is trumpeter Hugh Masekela, here in concert, performing his song, 'Stimela,' about the train that took black men to work long, hard hours in the mines of South Africa.
7. Remember the movie 'The Color of Friendship' and references to Steve Biko, the black South African activist who was killed in his police prison cell in 1977? The movie 'Cry Freedom' is about the friendship between Biko and newspaper editor Donald Woods. This scene has Biko, played by Hollywood actor Denzel Washington, in court, answering questions about government terrorism and black consciousness.
8. Peter Gabriel, a rock singer from England, performed this song at a 1980 concert in honor of Steve Biko. (According to Rolling Stone Magazine, Peter Gabriel's 1983 music video, 'Sledgehammer,' is still considered one of the top 5 music videos of all time.)
9. Here's Steve Biko himself in 1977, commenting on the situation in South Africa.
10. Johnny Clegg, sometimes called the 'White Zulu,' formed South Africa's first racially mixed music group. He performs his song 'Scatterlings of Africa' in 1987 on French television.
11. 'Gimme Hope, Jo'anna by Eddy Grant is an early music video from 1988 featuring a reggae rhythm. The song was a big dance hit in Europe and North America but was banned in South Africa. What do you think 'Jo'anna' refers to?
12. Here's the movie trailer for the documentary, 'Amandla!' - a look at how music played a major role in the fight against apartheid.
39 comments:
Based on how far we are in the book, I don't think that WftR does a very good job of highlighting the racism that was happening in the time that this book place in (1980). However, I think that soon the book will do an excellent job of doing showing what apartheid was really like, on both sides of the war. The reason that I believe this is because it will show how what was once a friendship, will soon be a hate between two people caused by different views on the same event (Outcome Statement #1). I cannot wait to read the rest of the book and find out what happens.
So far I have read to chapter 5 and I like what I read. I think the book did a good job describing what Frikkie and Tengo are always doing on the farm and also how they are talking to each other. I agree with Joseph when he says that "soon the book will do an excellent job of doing showing what apartheid was really like, on both sides of the war." I think later on Tengo and Frikkie might have a conflict because of the way they see thing differently. (Outcome Statement # 1).
What I like so far in all chapters I read was chapter five on page 42, top first paragraph when Frikkie asks Tengo if Tengo will want to be his boss-boy once he owns the farm, and Tengo doesn't answer, he just continues to hit the tree stump. I wondered what Tengo thought of Frikkie's question and why he didn't answer the question. May be he feels bad because he thought that since they have being friends since they were three, once Frikkie owned the farm, he would not want Tengo to work for him, but just to be his best friend still.
I want to find out what will happen next and find out how their friendship will survive
In class, we watched the video ‘7 Up’ and I think that this video out of them all connected the most to the novel that we are currently reading in class – Waiting for the Rain. It connected to the novel because the Afrikaner boy was 7, lived on a farm and had many best friends who were black workers on the farm and I thought that this boy resembled Frikkie. Also, the black boy connected to the novel because he is much like Tengo in the story because he is 7 and works on a farm with cattle where he helps his family with the work. I watched video number 3, 7, 9 and 12 and they all gave me information about apartheid in South Africa. These videos will help me when reading the book Waiting for the Rain because it will help me under stand what is happening in the city of Johannasburg while Frikkie and Tengo are on the farm. The videos about Mandela were really interesting because he said a lot of powerful things in the interview and in court and I realized what a young, powerful educated man he was and what a tragedy it must have been when he died.
I too think that the book will tell both sides of the story of apartheid through a typical white and black boy in South Africa in 1980s. I think that this book is pretty sad because it shows how deeply apartheid affects both the blacks and whites on an emotional level. It’s also sad because the book tells a story of two best friends who just happen to be of different races, and how this truly affects the way that their friendship matures and changes. Hilary mentions the scene of when Frikkie talks about the possibility of Tengo becoming his boss-boy; and this part of the story really puzzles me. I think that this specific scene is the turning point of Tengo and Frikkie’s relationship from two innocent boys having fun to a more complicated, difficult friendship.
I remember watching the movie 7UP which is not a soft drink but is where they interview a seven year old Afrikaner boy who lives in a farm and have black workers who are his friends. I think that the boy resembles Frikkie. I really thought it was interesting because the boy said that the blacks were not allowed to go to the Afrikaner school and he also said some very insulting things about black people but he still has friends that are black that work on the farm. I also realized that the boy said that he liked one of the workers because he doesn't drink. This shows me that the boy has good values or standards. Also they interviewed a zulu boy who resembled Tango in the story. This boy worked on a farm and raises cattle, just like Tango who has jobs on the farm. I remember that the boy had dreams to go to I think cape town or something just like tango who wants to see the ocean and wants to see what lies beyond. IN Waiting For the Rain, it explains about these two boys who are different races and have a strong friendship. But Apartheid is the separations between races and I don't know if their friendship will last.
I watched the movie The Power of One and remember how in the scene showed in the video, the preacher tells of how the land rightfully belongs to the Boers. If I'm not wrong, in Waiting for the Rain, there's a scene where Tengo is told that the land belongs to the blacks, who were there before the whites. I think that's an interesting example of Outcome Statement #1, how people perceive things differently.
I am enjoying the book so far, although I think they could do more to explain how apartheid was like then and further elaborate on the relationship between the whites and blacks on the farm (so we could do a comparison on racism in the city and outside the city). I trust that as we read more of the novel, the author will show us more on how Tengo and Frikkie's friendship is affected by apartheid.
In the novel Rice without Rain, the two main characters are Tengo and Frikkie. Tengo is a black farm boy, his parent’s does not have a lot of money, and therefore he is unable to attend school. In many part of the novel, Tengo stated that he wanted to live in the city. Frikkie, a white boy whose uncle owns the farm has lots of money. Frikkie’s uncle has also told Frikkie that when he dies, the farm will belong to Frikkie since Frikkie loves the farm. Frikkie receives good education and lives in the city. Frikkie is friend with Tengo, they both live on the farm when Frikkie has holiday and even though they have different skin color, they are still able to get along.
In the film 7 up, there were also two boys who were interviewed. One of the boys was an Afrikaner and the other came from a Zulu tribe. The white boy came from a wealthy family, his parent owns a farm. The white boy is also friend with the black farm boy on his farm. The white boy receives good education and although he is friend with a black boy, he stated that he would be up a black kid if they entered his school. The boy also said that when he grows up he want to live on his farm. The other kid that was interviewed is a son of one of the farmer, his family does not have much money and their way of earning money is selling cows. The boy also told the interviewer that he wanted to go and visit the city.
From these two sources, there were many connections that could be made. Both of the black kids living on the farm wanted to live in the city where as the white kids that lives in the city, wanted to live on the farm. This idea can also be related to a novel we read earlier in class, The Little Prince. When the Little Prince was on Earth, he was at a train station, and seeing the people on the train made the Little Prince wonder where they were going. The Little Prince was told that one is never happy where one is. Frikkie wanted to be on the farm and Tengo wanted to be in the city.
I think that the video '7-Up' best relates with the book 'Waiting for the Rain'. I think this because in the video 7-Up, the Afrikaner boy resembled Frikkie as the both of them live on a farm and the black people who work there are his friends. And the black boy resembled Tengo as they both work on farms and they love their cattle.
I also watched the video that contained a scene from the movie 'The Power of One'. I think that this video will help me while reading this book as it talks about the amount the Afrikaners had for the British and the blacks. The Afrikaners always thought that the blacks were below them and were only there to serve them. This resembles a bit to what happens in the book. The smallest of white children treat older black people very badly, as they are taught to not show any respect to the blacks. They are told that the blacks are there to respect them not the other way around.
So far, in this novel, I have realized that this book is being represented in different perspectives. Each character thinks of the situation in the book in a different way. For example, Sissie's friend thinks that calling the old black man 'kaffir boy' isn't bad, but Tengo on the other hand thinks that it is the most inappropriate thing he has ever heard.
I have a strong feeling that Tengo and Frikkie will not remain friends if this difference in perspective continues.
So far, I have read up to the 6th chapter in WftR. From reading that, I realized that the book didn’t really have too much about apartheid in the beginning but I think later on in the book, they will talk more about it because I am guessing that soon, Tengo will move to the townships. I think that because I could tell that Tengo didn’t want to stay on the farm. I think he wanted to go to the townships Tengo is extremely interested in learning.
From watching the video ‘7 Up’ the other day in class, I realized that that video connected to WftR the most because the Afrikaner boy was just like Frikkie. They both lived on the farm, they both were going to inherit the farm when they got older, they both have black workers as friends, and they both are white. Also, the black boy in the video was similar to Tengo because they both worked on a farm, they worked with cows, they both aren’t very rich, and they both seem like they want to live in the townships. It seemed like both Tengo and the Zulu boy in the video wanted to go live in the city to have a better future.
Another video that connects to WftR is the video with one scene from the movie ‘Sarafina!’ In the beginning of the video, a group of black boys are planning to close down a Boer shop and one boy says that many blacks are too quiet. That is similar to Tengo’s family because they were quiet as well because they didn’t want to get their ‘oubaas’ angry. Also, in chapter 5 of WftR, Frikkie and his uncle are explaining to Tengo about ‘the great trek’. Frikkie asks Tengo if he knows about ‘the great trek’ and Tengo says no because he wants to keep quiet about his learning.
I think the book will soon talk about the struggles in Tengo and Frikkie’s relationship. I think the book is quite depressing because it shows how two friends could soon become enemies because of the colors of their skin. I think when Frikkie asked Tengo if he wanted to be his boss-boy, Frikkie seemed sort of annoyed. I think he was annoyed because he didn’t want to be a boss-boy. I think he wanted to be something better than that. I think that event is the turning point of their friendship, as Amy said, and they will soon become farther apart.
As a class, we watched the 7 up video and I realized how much the situation the black boy and the white boy is similar to Tengo and Frikkie's situation in "Waiting for the Rain." Willhem, the Afrikaner boy in 7 up and Frikkie are both interested in the farm. Willhem , relates to Tengo because the both make clay figures as a hobby in the veld. In both 7 up and "WftR" the Afrikaner boys are good friends with the black boys that work in the farm, although they have different perceptions of black people outside the farm. Farinda, the Zulu boy in 7 up, wants to leave the farm and study which is similar to Tengo's desire. Also, they both know all the names of the cattle in the farm and they both have favorites.
I agree with Joseph, that the aspect of extreme racism is not portrayed YET in the book. Although, I feel that this will eventually escalate and affect their friendship.
I think the video of Sarafina made me think that the school situation will be the same for Tengo. One of the black school boys says that the only reason they were given and put in a school was to get them off the streets. I think that Tengo will experience this if he ever goes to a school in the city.
Overall, the book is interesting. It has a catchy plot and I enjoy reading it.
There were many connections between the videos and our class novel, ‘Waiting for the Rain’ and also connections between the videos themselves. The videos helped me understand more about how life was like for Frikkie and Tengo during the time of apartheid, what was happening to the lives of the people affected by it, and how it became an issue acknowledged by countries abroad. The video, ‘7-Up in South Africa’ reminded me of ‘Waiting for the Rain’ because the environment and lifestyle of the boy and his family in the documentary were very alike Frikkie’s. The Afrikaan boy in the documentary said he had friends who worked on the farm, and in the book Frikkie had a friend who worked on the farm for his uncle too: Tengo. After watching the video about Peter Gabriel (video 8), Johnny Cleg (video 10), and Eddy Grant (video 11), I was surprised by how many people from countries outside of South Africa were opposed to racism and how many had wanted to give support to the blacks. I thought that during the time of apartheid (starting from the late 1940’s and ending in the year 1990), many countries outside of South Africa would think apartheid was not an issue to be concerned about. After watching the videos, I realized that I was wrong; people from France, England, and North America stood up against apartheid and voiced their dissatisfaction too.
I have finished up to chapter seven of ‘Waiting for the Rain’. During this part of the book, Tengo starts to realize something about the way Frikkie’s family was treating him, and he suddenly becomes hesitant and reserved whenever he is around Frikkie. It is the moment when the two boys’ friendship starts to change and become more complicated. I think the author does a great job of making the reader see both Tengo and Frikkie’s perceptions. This way, we would be able to understand each of the boys’ feelings and what they are going through during the time of apartheid. I believe it would be very interesting to see through the eyes of an Afrikaan and a black, and to see how different or similar their thoughts may be. That is why I look forward in continuing to read this book and discussing it with my classmates.
We already got a head start in class of watching the videos because we watched 7 up. This video related to 'Waiting For the Rain' in many ways including as one boy being a white, and the other black. The white boy states that he would either want to be a policemen when he grows up or stay in the veld, just like Frikkie. Frikkie's best friend is Tengo while Wilhem's best friend is the garden boy. One similarity I noticed between the white kid Wilhem and Tengo is that they both play with clay. Tengo matches up with the black boy in the video because they are both seven in the beginning (as well as Wilhem and Frikkie) and while one's posession is cattle, the other's is a small area to produce food. The cattles had names and so did the cows in Frikkie's farm. A big similarity to the video and 'Waiting For the Rain' is that the white kids wanted to stay and dominate the farm while the black kids wanted to learn about the facts of the world, even though in the video it did not clearly say this about the black kid. I think this video may have been somehow based on the book because the stories are similar.
The next video I watched was the movie scene from the Power of One where PK goes off to an Afrikaner school and listens to a preacher's sermon. The video shows how each cultural group had perceptions of the other group even though they may or not be of the same color. 'Waiting for the Rain' relates to this when Tengo realizes that the Boers did not understand the British and the British did not understand the Boers. Both had negative views about each other and that somehow they were mistaken. They didn't see themselves the way the others saw them just as how Oom Koos does not see himself as the way Selina and Tengo sees him.
So far the book 'Waiting for the Rain' is really interesting because even though it is written in third person, Frikkie's and Tengo's thoughts are revealed. So we are able to see the secrets of both parties. THis way, later on if there are some misunderstanding, we can relate this to how the Boer's and British may have had this problem as well. As Tengo is receiving education, he isn't an ignoramus and by this it is affecting the friendship between Tengo and Frikkie. I really would like to see how both Frikkie and Tengo's thoughts regarding the future affects their bond and whether they will be as close as they are now, or distant.
I think the book Waiting for the Rain is a very realistic novel that clearly covered and represented the period of crisis in South Africa. I agree with Amy about the video 7-up and I would like to restate and add some of the main points that I have jotted down during and after I watched the video. There are many different ways that the video 7-up can relate to our class novel WftR, for example, the Afrikaner boy lives on a farm with his uncle like Frikkie and I think he say that he has a sister and he also calls her ‘Sisie’ the way Frikkie calls his sister. In the beginning of the video, the boy was making objects out of mud with his hands; this can connect to what Tengo was doing in the beginning of chapter 2 in our class novel. There was also a black Zulu boy in the video whose family owns cattle and he likes giving them names the same way Frikkie does. It seems that the hobbies of the two boys in the 7-up video is almost the complete opposite from the boys in Waiting for the Rain. One thing the Afrikaner boy says in the 7-up video that does not match what Frikkie would think is that the 7-up boy does not like black people and does not have respects for them even though his best friend is black too.
It was also interesting to find so many people who can be considered as true heroes who fought for and helped in the fight against apartheid. There was Miriam Makeba in video 5 who tried to express her opinions about apartheid and what she was going through but in return, was banned for 27 years away from her home country South Africa. Musician Hugh Masekela in video 6 who communicated his ideas and philosophy through his music had taught others about the truths behind apartheid, racism and the painful years that he had lived in. Steve Biko, a truly amazing fighter and Johnny Clegg ‘the white Zulu’.
I have not read chapters 5-7 yet but so far I think WftR is an interesting book, it covered a lot of information, philosophy and ideas that demonstrates the uncomfortable situation of the people of South Africa during the apartheid, I think this book will give us a panoramic view of the real South African Apartheid and by taking a closer look at what has already happened caused by racism, maybe we can learn something out of reading this novel about our own lives and maybe this learning in Humanities would change our identity and our perceptions in order for us to ‘reflect upon our own cultural identities as well as to recognize and respect cultural similarities and differences within a global perspective’.
Previously, I have read chapter four of “Waiting for the Rain” book. It is about a friendship between an Afrikaner boy and a black boy in 1980’s. It was when the blacks were discriminated severe by apartheid and when there were so many controversies. Almost all of the videos clips in the blog view about apartheid and some of the settings of those videos are around 1980’s. The videos’ time period relates to the “Waiting for the Rain” book. In addition, the “7-Up South Africa” is a good example of the two different perspectives of an Afrikaner boy and a black boy; it reflects upon the situation of Frikkie and Tengo.
The people in the videos show the struggles of freedom and many people expressed their feelings through music. Black people fought non-violently and one of the videos had references to Steve Biko. In that clip, Steve Biko said that the black consciousness is all about, without any reference of the white man, to try and build up the sense of our own humanity. Steve Biko was a black South African activist who was killed in his police prison cell in 1977. I think these time-periods were the climax part of the South African history.
Right now I'm on the fifth chapter of the book. So far the book has been really descriptive in explaining emotions and scenery but it has also been telling us little pieces of information of what it was like in South Africa at that time. Such as about the townships and schools. Frikkie didn't get to go to school but now after watching video number 4 I know what it would have probably been like, he would have been taught in Afrikaans. In my opinion Frikkie wouldn't have objected to this but he would be very curious about it. In the song 'Gimme Hope' I think the singer is referring to Johanessburg as Jo'anna because he says that she's got a system called apartheid and Johannesburg is where most of the apartheid was created. I think by referring to 'golden money' in the third paragraph he is talking about the gold rush in Johannesburg. I'm a bit confused because I don't get why he would say, "give me hope Jo'anna" if he was also angry at 'her' at the same time.
So far to chapter 4 I think video “7up” and “Sarafina” have the most connection to “Waiting for the Rain”. First in the “7up”, the Afrikaner boy and Frikkie are alike as both of them think black as their best friend. They also live in the farm. The black boy in the video resembles Tengo as they both want to leave the town and go to the city. They both work in farms and are not educated.
The video clip from the “Sarafina” movie also connects to the novel. In the movie, black students discuss about protesting and Sarafina asks them why they are fighting the school. They respond that the school does not educate them but Sarafina oppose to their opinion that Mary (history teacher) does. The boy says to her “Open you eyes Sarafina”. Like in the novel, Tengo had no idea about what Apartheid is before his cousin came over to the farm to rest. Although Sarafina knew what was happening but still she didn’t face the reality. As Tengo now realized something about Apartheid and the awful laws I think the novel will tell us conflicts with Frikkie.
I really like the book Waiting for the Rain. Compared to the Power of One, I think Waiting for the Rain is more of a young adult book where there isn’t any violence in it like in Power of One. Also, I really enjoy the story currently. It’s really captivating and I’m soon absorbed into the story.
After watching the ‘7 Up’ video, I believe that Waiting for the Rain has a lot of connections with the video. Even though they’re different skin colors, but the Boer boy in the video also makes mud toys like Tengo and the African boy in the video own cattle like Frekkie’s uncle. Also, the video give me a faire idea of what the apartheid was like in Africa at that time (1980’s). The Boer boy called his friends ‘boy’ even though they might be older than him and can even be adults. In Waiting for the Rain, Frekkie’s cousin referred to old Ezekiel as boy even when the old man was the elder of Tengo’s tribe. That part angered me a lot because I think it’s really rude for the 12 years old Boer girl to call a man much older than her a ‘boy’.
What I like about Waiting for the Rain is that the author really captures the character’s feelings. Also, the beginning of the story might not be really exciting, but as it gets closer to the ending, I’ll want to read more to know what happened to the two main characters.
I think there are many connections between Waiting for the rain and 7up video clip. This book takes place in 1980, still Apartheid continues and many Blacks work for Whites like a servant. In the 7 up video clip, 7 years old boy called Wilhem said Blacks are not allowed to come to their school or else, get beated up by Whites. Wilhem had two Black friends, Makenda and Willie. As well as the book, Frikkie(white boy) has a Black friend, Tengo.
The movie, The Power of One has connections with Waiting for the rain because it showed how P.K. (England boy) is treated from people who believed England messed up everything and colonized them in the past. In the book, Tengo is eager to learn and want to go to the school that Joseph is going. As a matter of fact, Tengo might be treated like what Afrikanners treated P.K.
The movie, Sarafina has connections with Waiting for the rain. Such as, the time period and when children were more anxious and rebellious about Apartheid. In 1978, about half of the population was under the age of 20 and the children were more contentious than their parents. In the movie Sarafina, school boys in Black school planned to burn the school and persuaded adults to join the demonstration. But the adults thought they were acting stupid. Same with Sarafina’s mom; said Sarafina is making no sense at all when Sarafina said she’s going to kill the Whites.
after reading a few chapters of the book i started liking the book because it showed the 2 sides of view for both Frikkie and Tengo. For now the book hasn't really brought up apartheid but i agree with both Joseph and Hillary that as the story goes on apartheid will become a major part of the story. i started to really like this book because of the friendship the boys have and how their friendship will indure hardships later on in the book, and i cant wait to finish the book.
From reading the first few chapters of ‘Waiting for the Rain’, I assume that the book contains many sad and tragic moments growing between the close relationship of Frikkie, a white, and Tengo, a black boy, who lived during the time of apartheid. I believe that the purpose of writing this story and being recognized as the award-winning ‘Best Book for Young Adults’ is to make people, like young adults, realize the system of apartheid and its effects on whites and especially blacks in the past.
Like what Amy said, the video ‘7-Up South Africa’ connected to most of the plots in the book ‘Waiting for the Rain’. For instance, Wilhem, a seven-year-old Afrikaner in ‘7-Up South Africa’, lived in a farm owned by his uncle. In connection to ‘Waiting for the Rain’, Frikkie also loved to stay at his uncle’s farm. Another boy in ‘7-Up South Africa’, named Farinda, a Zulu, wanted to leave his village and go to the township. Similarly to ‘Waiting for the Rain’, Tengo craved to go to school to broaden his knowledge, instead of having to stay at home. According to the scenes from ‘Sarafina’, the black South African students expressed their reactions toward the system of apartheid, which they were controlled over by the whites. They confidently said that they were not happy but was not quiet either so they must fight against it. Similarly, in the novel, Tengo was astonished to know about the restrictions to apartheid, such as the blacks must carry passbooks with them all the time.
Due to the intensity of events going on in ‘Waiting for the Rain’, it urges me to read forward and uncover the conclusion to the complicated relationship between Frikkie and Tengo.
After watching the video '7 Up', I was quite shocked by the 7 year old Afrikaner boy's opinion of blacks. Although he called them his best friends (farm workers), he said they did not belong in a white school, and would get beaten up if they came. He also thought of blacks as poor people without proper clothes who 'stink'. I was surprised at the amount of grasp a mere 7 year old child had of the concept of apartheid and how this affected his negative attitude towards blacks (outcome 2). I also saw how this video was connected to our class novel, 'Waiting for the Rain'. Rather than compare Wilhem from the '7 Up' video to Frikkie, I think he is more like Frikkie's sister, Sissie. Sissie has a similar negative attitude towards blacks in the book, referring to Frikkie's friend as a kaffir. I also watched the video of the movie scene from 'Bophal'. I never realized that apart from all the familiar methods of unjustness and segregation such as passbook laws and laws restricting blacks from several facilities, the blacks also had to face the problem of learning Afrikaans, which was made an official language. It was quite unpopular among the blacks. I also watched the interview with Steven Biko, and I thought his ideas of an organized plan by the blacks against politics used negatively towards them, was contrasting to Mandela's idea of violence causing an effect.
I think WftR is about to take a turn for conflict and more 'drama', because as Joseph mentioned, both Frikkie and Tengo view things differently, which will cause them to have contrasting opinions and beliefs about certain topics. Also, they have different values and dreams. Frikkie wants to work on the farm away from the city, while Tengo wants to go to the city to learn and satisfy his curiosity. I think these differing values will shape their identities differently (outcome 2). I would like to see whether or not their friendship will survive. I would also like to see the future interviews of the two South African boys in '7 Up'. It will be interesting to see how time has an influence on their opinions.
I think the cover of this book is very interesting. The book cover gives the readers a summary of the story, while the title of the book, “Waiting for the Rain” is a symbolism of the main idea of the story. The illustration of Frikkie and Tengo turning their backs toward each other gives the readers an idea of the relationship between these two characters. I believe that the title, “Waiting for the Rain” represents the two characters both waiting for the arrival of freedom. I have read four chapters in the book and so far I cannot find any signs of conflicts between Frikkie and Tengo. I think this is because the author is using the first few chapters to give readers a strong idea of Frikkie and Tengo’s friendship in order for the turning point to be more obvious and surprising. Like Hilarina, I look forward to the changing point of Frikkie’s relationship with Tengo.
We watched the video “7 Up” in class and the two boys in the video can be connected to the characters in “Waiting for the Rain”. Although the white South African boy who played in the farm was friends with two other black workers, he did not accept the black South African kids who played in his school. The boy in “7 Up” reminds me of Frikkie because Frikkie and Tengo are friends and Tengo works in the farm. I wonder if Frikkie will react the same way as the boy in “7 Up” in the future chapters.
I have read the first four chapters of the book so far, and I was surprised about how Frikkie treats Tengo. In the video "7 UP", the little boy says his thoughts about the blacks. However, he also metioned that he has black friends because they do work for him like waking him up. In the book, Frikkie did not treat Tengo badly. They are really good friends together. The video "7 UP" was in my mind for a long time after watching it in class. It relates to the book because the boy and Frikkie both work in a farm.
As the story progresses, I think Frikkie and Tengo will face some challenges among their relationship. Because the story was during the apartheid law in South Africa.
As I read the "Waiting for the Rain" book, I found out that Tengo and Frikkie had different wishes. Tengo wants education because he is curious about most of the ideas that pops into his mind. Frikkie is bored of school and he wants to come to the farm and work in the land. These might be a clue to what will happen later in the chapters. Since Tengo and Frikkie has different wishes to meet their satisfaction, there might be conflicts between them later in the book.
Also, as Joseph mentioned, "However, I think that soon the book will do an excellent job of doing showing what apartheid was really like, on both sides of the war." I agree with this because there are two main characters that come from different races which will have to make to book explain the two sides of apartheid.
After reading the first few chapters of Waiting for the Rain, I think that Frikkie and Tengo will have many conflicts, both with each other and alone. I think they will have conflicts with each other because their views about the same thing is so different and they don't want the same things. For example, Frikkie wants to stay on the farm and quit school, while Tengo wants to do the exact opposite and go learn at one. Frikkie takes everything he eats for granted, while Tengo treasures everything they eat. I think this relates to outcome statement 2 because how a person is raised in a society relates to their identities and beliefs. Tengo treasures everything because his family is poor and they do not get anything close to luxurious. Frikkie, on the other hand, lives very comfortabley, seeing as how he takes everything for granted, like school, food, and books. Their two identites are so different from each other, but yet they still are friends. I think this will be very interesting in seeing how their friendship changes because aparthied hasn't quit reached the farm yet.
After watching the clip from 7 Up, I was in a way, shocked, by how the boer kid talked about the blacks. I think that the kid thinks like that is because how he was taught to look at blacks as he was growing up. (outcome statement 2) I also think that it is weird when he says that he is friends with a black servent because he gives the keys to him in the morning. He also says that he beats the black people up because they don't have the right clothes, they smell bad, and the kids at school just don't like them.
I’ve gone through chapters 1-4 of the novel, Waiting for the Rain. This story takes place at the 1980s, when there was still a system of apartheid. One thing I thought about this was that the story is very realistic and interesting, especially the fact that Frikkie and Tengo are friends. In the beginning of the book, the author didn't clearly show the system of apartheid, because Frikkie and Tengo were really good friends. I'm not sure, but maybe that's what actually happened during the 1980s, where system of apartheid takes place but blacks and whites were friends! Also I wonder what will happen to the relationships between Frikkie and Tengo later in the book, because Frikkie is an Afrikaaner and Tengo is black. I am thinking that Frikkie and Tengo will not like each other in the middle of the book, the "conflict" but ends up being good friends again because that's how it used to be like.
Like most of the other people, I believe that the video clip we watched in class, “7-up” has strong connections with the novel, because the people in the clips are similar to the characters in the novel. The Afrikaaner child is friends with a black "boy" (which refers to "adults") but he also said that he will beat up the black kids who go to his school. In the book, I only read until chapter 4, so I don't know whether Frikkie is going to beat up the black boys or not, but they have similar situations where they have a black boy and an Afrikaaner boy and also because the black boy and Tengo are both at a farm.
I never had a passion about learning Africa. But out of many countries in 1 continent, the unit we're learning in humanities hooked me into the unit, "South Africa." It seems like the reason for studying South Africa instead of other countries is that South Africa is the only country with the apartheid. Through chapter 1~4 in WftR, they show a little about the apartheid. The video 7 Up and Sarafina is kind of related of what I'm talking about. In the video 7 Up, the boy says that he will beat black people up at school because they stink and stupid. Now, even white children even know about apartheid since it was so powerful. This show that the period (about 1980s~1990s) we are learning now, was full of racism, stereotype and discrimmination. In the movie Sarafina, they talk about very important ideas of apartheid while the students are arguing. They are discussing about how to fight back against the soldiers. I've learned so many histories about South Africa. Now, I would really like to know about the story written with the topic of South Africa, which I meant was, "Waiting for the Rain."
i have read through ch 4, and so far, i don't see the apartheid very mcuh. Joseph told Tengo about it but it is not really happening. And it is not sirious problem for both Frikkie and Tengo yet.
But i think it is going to be interesting as the story go along the apartheid. I'm also looking forward to get to farther part because i want to see how the friendship between Frikkie and Tengo will survive the apartheid.
After watching 7-up video clips, I could make some connections with it to our class novel "Waiting for The Rain". In the video clip, this 7 year old white Afrikaner boy lives in a farm. He also enjoys to make things with the mud just like Tengo. But I found some differences. In the novel Waiting for The Rain, Frikkie and Tengo are friends even though they have different skin colors during the year of apartheid. But this guy in the video, he extremely dislikes the black people.
Overall, I love this story of novel so far, and I can't wait until I finish the book. I like the idea of the author that he/she made Tengo and Frikkie as friends even though they have different skin colors. In the novel, Frikkie is a character who likes to go work at the farm and hates to go to school, and Tengo is a character who is curious and restless.
Waiting for the Rain is similar to 7UP. I agree with Parijat that the white boy shockingly calls blacks his best friends but also refers to them when he meets them at school in a rude and judemental way. I think that in the middle, Frikkie will not understand Tengo's ways because of school influences. Apartheid will separate them but in the end, it would probably be a happily ever after. Both will learn something along the way through different views and influences. In the end, they will learn that apartheid is unfair and unjust.
I think that as far as we read the book showed us what was it like having a best friend in a different color and how do you over become it. The book getting at we are learning both perspectives about both sides (black, white) of South Africa. One of the characters doesn’t get what is going on why is frikkie has a better education? A in after his cousin came and explains to him he started thinking about his friend in a different why…
After watching couple of videos, I realized that these videos really relate to the class novel we are reading, ‘Waiting for the Rain.’ The first video I watched, 7-Up is a video that interviews two seven years old kids. (One is black and one is white) The white kid mentions that he likes hanging around the farm and that he has some black friends. The white boy, Wilhelm says that one of black workers in the farm is his best friend. However, when the reporter asks him how he thought about black kids coming to school, he reacted negatively. He said, “The black kids won’t stay in school long because we will beat them up. They stink!” This interview kind of relates to the situation between Frikkie and Tengo. They are best friends at the farm and they enjoy being with each other. However, Frikkie might think negatively about other blacks because the whites always thought that whites were ranked higher than the blacks in social situations. Also the black kid interviewed in 7-Up is very similar to Tengo because they both live in a farm and doesn’t get good education. I also thought that the book related with the short video clip from the movie ‘Sarafina’ because the setting of the video clip reminded me of how townships are told by Joseph, Tengo’s cousin. The boys in school are similar to the Gangs mentioned by Joseph. Also the place Sarafina’s mom worked is similar to place where Joseph’s mom worked.
Like the book “Waiting for the Rain”, the video 7-up shows many similarities in characters and thoughts towards Apartheid. From this, I disagree with Joseph about the fact that Waiting for the Rain isn’t doing a very good job of highlighting racism. From the beginning of the story I have seen many connections that Waiting for the Rain has made towards Apartheid. At the beginning of the story we have seen the blacks serving the whites, although the black settled on the land first. Tengo’s mother, Selina had been working as a housemaid for the Afrikaner family and Matilda, Joseph’s mother working for the Millers as a cook. Both were serving the whites. Other than this we have seen pass books, and buses for different race in the township that Joseph lived in. Further more, the whites didn’t have to pay for their school supplies but the blacks who at that time were unprivileged, had to pay for theirs.
I think that the video 7-up was a good connection to the book Waiting for the Rain. As other said, Wilhem resembles Frikkie from Waiting for the Rain since they both owned farms, and were white kleinbasses. Both had black friends that were at status lower than them. On the other hand Farinda resembles Tengo. Both are black people working on the farms having a low level of welfare. Although the conditions they are living in now aren’t as relaxing at the white’s, both had dreams of moving to the township for education and better future. At this point, the friendship of Frikkie and Tengo are going strong, but will Frikkie have negative thoughts towards the blacks the way Wilhem had towards his friends that are black.
This book will be interesting as the friendship of Frikkie and Tengo turn sour when both have different thoughts towards apartheid. Will apartheid influence them to turn a loving friendship in to hatred? As we get deeper into the book I think we will see conflicts between the two and their thoughts regarding apartheid.
I am not enjoying the class novel we are reading at the moment because it seems uneventful. Also there are many punctuation mistakes. I watched the music video for the song ‘'Gimme Hope, Jo'anna’ by Eddy Grant. I think that Jo’anna refers to the city of Johannesburg in South Africa. In the song Eddy Grant makes a personification of Johannesburg and describes the different ways black people are affected by apartheid.
I agree with Joseph because so far in the book they do not mention much about apartheid and racism but if you think about some sentences figuratively it actually shows some racism. The story so far does not show direct racism towards Frikkie and Tengo but it actually does if you dig deep into what they are saying. The video "7-up" shows an Afrikaner and a black boy that share thought about their lives. The white boy dislikes black people and he mentioned that he likes to bully them. He is 6 years old. It is amazing how racism is put into young children minds at such a young age. I am sure that when Tengo and Frikkie they will have to realise that they are not allowed to be friends and that apartheid is a serious event. I think the book will also highlight the racism to the blacks.
I think that the clip from The Power of One movie helps to shed light on why the Afrikaners wanted to have control during apartheid. They wanted control because they believed that God have given South Africa to the Afrikaners, and the Afrikaners thought that the blacks were in a sense ‘unholy’, because in their bible it says in a verse “then they turned black for their sins”, and so they took that to mean that they could treat the blacks of South Africa how they wanted because in their eyes, they were ‘sinners’. This helps to explain why the Afrikaners may have been so tough on the blacks living in township’s, like Joseph’s father, who got arrested several times because of the unjust laws of apartheid in Waiting for the Rain. Also, I think that the clip form the movie Cry Freedom talks about the view of the blacks during apartheid. I think that I have already watched this movie, or watched something similar to it in 6th grade, but watching it again now shows some of the reason why the blacks in Waiting for the Rain are struggling so hard for freedom. I think that when Joseph talks about the townships he is also talking about how some of the blacks are proud of who they are, and that is why they are fighting for a cause they believe in.
So far from chapter one to four, I thought the “7Up” videos have most the strongest connection than other videos on the blog to the novel “Waiting for the Rain.” For the video “7Up” the Afrikaner boy, Wilhem is similar as Frikkie. Wilhem and Frikkie lived in the farm and also Wilhem thinks and had the black as his best friend just as Frikkie in the novel “Waiting for the Rain.”
However the differences between these two characters. In the video Wilhem didn't want the blacks come to school and educate with whites. For this part I was pretty shocked and surprised by the young Afrikaner boy, Wilhem. Even if he already had his best black friend, he said that the blacks did not belong in white school and he said whites get beaten up when blacks came to white school. Also, Wilhem said blacks were “stink.” I was surprised that the young Afrikaner boy had a bad perception of blacks even he lived far away from the city. And I saw how this apartheid problem affects the boy’s negative attitude for the blacks. Also in the novel “Waiting for the Rain, I saw that Frikkie’s sister Sissie had a bad perception and attitude to Tengo and blacks just like Wilhem in the video.
I have not been enjoying the novel so far because not much has happened. I find it a bit boring because I like to read books that have action in them. I think that the book will get better in the later chapters because Tengo will finally understand apartheid. I watched the 7-up documentary. It connects with the class novel in several ways. First of all, the Afrikaner boy's best friends are black South Africans. Frikkie's best friend is Tengo, a black South African. The Afrikaner likes the farm and wants to live there when he grows up. His friend is the garden boy. Tengo is also the garden boy in the novel. The Zulu boy wants to leave the village and go to the township, Tengo wants to leave the farm and go to Johannesburg in the novel.
I watched the blog music videos (Hugh Masekela). The video is connected to the book Waiting for the Rain because: they both have something to do with a train that led blacks from one place to another. I also think that the way the train is describes in the book and in the video is pretty similar. It is described as cold in both, and where the blacks sit is the same. It almost sounds like a mean place for blacks to be in. Whites ruthlessly discriminate blacks for literally no reason, just being different. I thought that those two really made me see what the situation was in South Africa at the time of apartheid. Another thing that I thought was quite connected is he holocaust. People were also treated unequally, killed and send on trains to concentration camps.
After finishing the book 'waiting for the rain' and watching the 7-up. I found out living as a south african in the south africa is awful. Just because you are black, you have to live in the township and clasifying peoples by what skin color they have are evil, Afrikaners looking down at africans just because they are black, is just not right.
Now that the apartheid is over i am glad and even though i did nothing i still feel sorry for the blacks.
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