This week marks the 10-year anniversary of the end of apartheid, the government-enforced racial segregation of South Africa.

Although the country has come a long way since apartheid’s end, South African students on the ISU campus say there is still a long road to travel before the repercussions fade completely.

Students from the country say they will not celebrate the decade anniversary because many problems remain unsolved.

“What am I celebrating?” said Sipho Ndlela, graduate student in chemical engineering. “The success of the few in South Africa? I personally think it would be against my principles when the black masses are still suffering in South Africa.”

Ndlela said even a decade later there is still division between blacks and whites in the country.

“Even today, 10 years later, there is still tension,” he said.

Ndlela grew up in South Africa when apartheid still existed, but was able to come to the United States for his college education. Apartheid ended while Ndlela was still in the United States.

“When I went back [to South Africa], there was a new government,” he said. “It was a huge culture shock.”

Ndlela eventually returned to Iowa State for graduate school and plans to go back to South Africa when he is done.

“In Iowa, I’m very comfortable when I see a white person. But when I go to South Africa, I’m very color-conscious. So it’s still segregated,” Ndlela said. “The only time I get to talk to a white person [in South Africa] is when I go to a bank or a shop.”

Shaylyn DeYoung, senior in community health education from South Africa, said discrimination isn’t as much of an issue as the poverty and crime in South Africa.

“I lived for 18 years in South Africa,” she said.

“My whole family still lives there, so I get worried about them when I hear of increased crime or something happening with the government.”

Ndlela said the violence and crime in South Africa has not improved.

“The government has to institute ways to cut down crime. They have to take this issue more seriously,” he said. “Eventually if you cut down on crime, the economy will improve, and there will be more jobs for people.”

There are other serious problems that need to be addressed as well, he said, such as AIDS and unemployment.

Despite these problems, South Africa has seen marked improvements since 1994.

“The health care system is much better,” Ndlela said. “When I was growing up, a lot of kids died when they were young because parents couldn’t afford the health care.”

Equality across the races has also improved education and employment opportunities for black citizens, Ndlela said.

“Blacks now are actually allowed to own businesses,” he said. “They can live where they want to.”

South Africa has indeed come a long way since apartheid ended, and there is always hope for better conditions further down the road, Ndlela said.

“Apartheid has come and gone,” Ndlela said. “Democracy is now here.”

Jane Davis, associate professor of English, teaches English 345, a women’s literature class in which students read the autobiography of Winnie Mandela.

The rebuilding process in South Africa continues today, she said. What many people don’t realize, is that for a broken country the rebuilding process can take decades, Davis said.

“People should think, when these anniversaries come up, how much progress has been made in terms of improving daily lives, injustices of the past and race relations overall,” she said.

“Maybe if people were more aware, they would be more active in trying to give aid to South Africa.”

People just aren’t informed, DeYoung said.

“I don’t think people around here know a lot about South Africa at all,” DeYoung said.

“When we were in apartheid all those years ago, then it was really publicized. But now that we’re done with that, it’s not really made known to the rest of the world that people in South Africa are trying to make it right now.”

Lack of awareness is partly due to a lack of media coverage, Davis said.

“What’s sad is that maybe a couple of years after Mandela was released, it’s almost as if the U.S. media said, ‘OK, apartheid is solved, we don’t have to worry about that anymore,'” Davis said.

“When something really disappears from the TV news media and papers, it’s just not in the popular consciousness anymore, and so people think, ‘Oh, that used to be a problem.'”

What people don’t realize is that the problem still exists, she said.