Iqaluit (Jul 03/06) - Several decades of apartheid and oppression haven't been able to subdue the spirit of South Africa's majority.

That is what Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS) students found during their two-week trip to that country in May.

A massive elephant approaches the safari jeep. The students also saw giraffes and zebras and rhinoceroses during their tour. - photo courtesy of Morley Hanson/Nunavut Sivuniksavut

Although the apartheid era ended in 1990, in the townships - the ghettos where black people were forced to relocate - many residents still live in crowded shanties made of scrap wood and tin. Sometimes they also have to make do with a common water tap and share an outhouse, according to student Tina DeCouto.

"It was just shocking, the fact that millions of people live in poverty in huge areas," she said. "It was kind of emotional."

Yet those same people were rich in cultural customs like dance, music and choir. Morley Hanson, an instructor with NS, noted that one local humanitarian organization's unofficial motto was, "Don't just see our pain, see our strength."

DeCouto and fellow student Mishael Gordon see some parallels between the Inuit's rise against colonialism and that of South African blacks. However, South Africa's history was harsher, said DeCouto.

"Their struggle was a lot more violent. It was more difficult for them," she said.

Gordon added, "Both the Inuit and the South African people are very strong."

Another similarity between the peoples is their common desire to preserve their native languages. South Africa has 11 official languages and numerous dialects, Gordon said. The NS students met some descendants of the Khoikhoi people, but were dismayed to discover that only five elders still speak a particular dialect, said Gordon.

"Their language has just been demolished," she said.

The trip did have its lighter moments. The students got a chance to take a sight-seeing safari. The menagerie included elephants, giraffes, zebras and rhinoceroses.

"One of the elephants, a female, got really curious and she came and sniffed my classmate and her trunk got inches away from her head," Gordon said, laughing.

She will be returning to Ottawa this fall for her second year of NS college programming in Ottawa.

DeCouto said she plans to continue travelling.