Poly's Club Mud Goes Global (Day 5) March 27, 2026

March 28, 2026

Poly's Club Mud Goes Global (Day 5) March 27, 2026

We awoke Friday morning to a glorious day- cool and clear. We drove to the world famous District 6 Museum (D6M); for the ride, we were joined by a couple of the future leaders of iThuba. Sivwe met us at the museum and introduced us to its historical context, providing key insights of which we would not have otherwise been made aware. The museum contains memorabilia and personal items from families who lived in District 6 Museum before their displacement due to Apartheid, with each image there was a plaque explaining the meaning of the images and how it impacted the families who lived in the neighborhood. These items ranged from each of the street signs from the original district to kids’ toys and old soda bottles to significant stores in the community; for example one section explained a barber shop that was part of the neighborhood community. It was so inspiring to see the complete blue and white theme of the museum that was inspired by the street signs kept from the person who destroyed the district in the first place.

After the museum, we had the opportunity to visit another museum, this one based on Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife, Leah. We were greeted by a Desmond Tutu statue welcoming us inside, and another Tutu statue hanging from the ceiling - actually swinging on the chandelier! That gave us a bit of a surprise, and we definitely jumped a little. This fun stature highlighted the Archbishop’s courage… and humor/fun for life. Siviwe also joined us to look around this museum and he shared his thoughts and gave further insights. After we walked around, we stopped and watched videos at each section of the museum, and they were all extremely informative and showed key highlights into Desmond Tutu’s life. It was very interesting to see how he discussed his privilege with his father being a teacher, and how his privilege inspired him to help those who didn’t have the resources he had. When discussing his career, we learned that he decided to stop teaching because of the Bantu Education Act that limited education for native South Africans; Desmond Tutu knew he did not want to be teaching kids information that limited their world view and development of critical thining skills.

In the afternoon, we visited the community center in Langa. Neighborhood artists were selling their work there. One room had collected trash from the township and created items from the trash that could be used. For example, they had wallets made out of leather and cloth, jewelry, and so many more creative items. One artist had even made paintings out of beach sand, which is really creative and inspiring.

After visiting the community center, we returned to iThuba in order to have a clay workshop led by Club Mudd. It was so fun to be able to see the kids express their creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking skills, as this was many of the kids’ first time working with clay. It was a perfect opportunity to bond with the kids and get to know them better as we worked together to create pieces. Many of them had no idea what they wanted to make at first but as they started to create, they thought of more art ideas, with the kids ending up making multiple pieces each. During the creation process, the iThuba students’ eyes were fixated on their projects. At first, they were very shy and didn’t know how to interact with the clay but as they got more comfortable, they started to open up and talk with us about their ideas. What a joy to see their intrigue and wonder with art!

Overall, it was a fun day full of information and bonding. We look forward to seeing kids again tomorrow and creating bonds together.

By Nia and Tilda