• What Is OWN?
    Watch the preview!
    GO
  • Oprah's Club
    Sign up for the official book club newsletter
    GO
  • On Demand
    Watch Oprah's interview with Uwem Akpan
    GO
  • Little Readers
    Give your child the gift of books
    GO

Tiffany Jackson

Day Eleven

Flight Home/Reflections
My flight home was bittersweet. I was anxious to depart to Africa because I knew the adventure would bring about many lessons. Now, I am anxious to return home because I want to begin processing my experiences. The lessons I've learned are as vast the terrain of Africa:
  • Apartheid hurt all the people, not just the blacks.
  • Many whites fought against the evil caused by Apartheid.
  • The Beloved Country is as beautiful as Paton described in his book.
  • I can do a lot to confront my own fears.
  • There are many different tribes in South Africa who practice different customs.
  • The biggest lesson is the resilience I saw in oppressed people— is one of the reasons that South Africans did not enter into a major conflict when Apartheid was dismantled.
I am going to take the lessons I've learned to create a better self and hopefully my light will shine.