Africa, Africa

For the past twelve days I was in South Africa. It was quite the trip. From the people to the sights to the country itself the visit was incredible. Our journey consisted of 3 days in Pretoria, 5 days in Johannesburg and 4 days in Cape Town. South Africa is a country that can overwhelm you with its stunning natural beauty from Cape Town's winelands and cliffs to safaris just outside the Jo'burg-metro area. Equally overwhelming is the racial diversity of a country that is 80% black and just 15% white, but with much inequality. Apartheid ended here just 15 years ago and it seemed as though you could notice it Jo'burg. There is definitely a severe paranoia that is not unjustified that robbery, assault, carjackings and murders are always imminent. Rich people do not put picket fences around their homes, but rather concrete barriers with electronic fences that have armed response units with guard dogs lurking near the entrance. All of this is because Jo'burg is chronically unsafe. The city has 40% unemployment. Of that number, many are black and between the age of 18 - 24. That is not a good demographic for a low crime rate. Yet, Jo'burg was a city founded first because of its gold and later because of other resources. For that reason, many British mining companies are in Jo'burg and are very much profitable. Throw in the Afrikaaner influence into the mix, and you begin to get an idea of the kind of diversity you see in Johannesburg. It is a city of nearly 5 million, but growing fast. 70% of all businesses in South Africa call Johannesburg home. For all of its security issues, it is the richest place in the country beyond a doubt.

That doesn't take away from other cities who have their own charm. Pretoria is where a lot of politicians call home. For that reason, it is markedly more pretty than Jo'burg, but also less exciting and very white. Cape Town is incredibly cosmpolitan with the feel of a European city to it - just much blacker. These are just generalities and initial things that are striking.

What exactly did we do? In Johannesburg, we went to the Nelson Mandela and Hector Peterson Museums. The name Mandela doesn't need much explanation, but the second one does. Hector Peterson is a little boy who was shot dead by a riot in Soweto in the mid 1970's. An anonymous journalist took a photo of the boy being carried across street in the midst of the riot. That photo became famous and embodied what happened in Soweto that day. At this point in time, the apartheid government had been in power for 20 years. They had previously decided that it wasn't important for blacks to learn math and writing skills only how to mine and to farm. They also decided that blacks wouldn't be allowed to travel outside of their township without permission. Growing bolder, in the 1970's they said that all schools in the black townships had to teach Afrikaans (a mix of Dutch, German and Belgian). Students resisted and organized a protest where they were all going to march from the township to a soccer stadium. They never got there because the Afrikaaner police unleashed fire and killed more than 200 children no older than 12 years old. Seeing all of this in the museum was powerful. What is even more striking is where we went next.

We went to a poorer part of Soweto (here is where you find out that Soweto was a SOuth WEstern TOwnship that is part of Johannesburg that is massively big and riddled with poverty though within it there are some lower middle class and middle class pockets). We visited a school that looked like it had been abandoned. Its windows were shattered, its doors non-existent, its walls sprinkled with gunshot holes and its yard appeared like many of the kids did in the classroom - malnourished. Of all the kids that go to school, 85% of them do not know their parents either because the father is working far away in a mine and the mother has died from AIDS or because the some guy my age raped their mother who abandoned the child. The result is that you have all these kids living in quasi-orphanages with no role models and, for the most part, no future. That is why Real Madrid is throwing a bunch of money to renovate the school so that it can do some after school projects and hopefully link the kids with positive role models that way. Though it is just one school, it is a microcosm of the South African situation. The rest of Johannesburg was meeting with universities. It was fruitful.

Then we went to Pretoria for a few days. We went to nature reserve and saw some zebras and antelope. We passed some time in the swimming pool of the residence where we were staying. We had meetings with government institutions the next day before returning to Jo'burg to wrap some other meetings.

Next, we went to Cape Town for more meetings. The city itself is incredible. There are sidewalks, and it is completely walkable during the day. There are live music venues, bars, diverse restaurants, shopping malls, theater and plenty of life in the city. It is also naturally beautiful with its own waterfront, and the chance to do things like safaris, whale watching, skydiving, cage diving to see Great White Sharks, seal watching, hiking, touring wine lands, driving along the coast and seeing diverse wildlife. We opted for the last two. We drove along the coast to go to the Cape of Good Hope and stopped off in Simon's Town to see some African Penguins.

It is here where I get to say that while I have pictures they do not do justice to the trip. Either the weather sucked when I had my camera on me, or (as was the case in Soweto) I didn't feel comfortable or was too caught in the moment to take the really interesting shots. Regardless, below is the link for photos:

http://s756.photobucket.com/albums/xx208/rbdesimone/Africa%20Africa/?albumview=slideshow

It was a great trip with many memories. South Africa is a fascinating country.

San Cristobal, South Africa and Ulzama

I am gearing up for South Africa. I will take a 12 day trip from March 11th until March 23rd visiting four cities. The purpose of the trip is business. We will be meeting with several individuals at South African think tanks and universities to see what the possibility is that we could do a research partnership with one or more of them. I will be staying at this place called Cotswold Gardens that is right next to the Jo'burg Zoo. It is just a short five days away. It is going to be awesome, terrifc, fantastic, wonderful, sick, mad, etc...

Other bit of news is that I went for a hike yesterday on the Camino de San Cristobal. It was the first hike that I've taken in awhile and the first in Pamplona. It won't be the last. The view from the top of the mountain is pretty neat. You can see the Pyrenees as well as all of the little towns that are around Pamplona. To boot there is an old, abandoned army fort at the the top of the mountain that was also used as a prison camp during the Spanish Civil War. It was pretty creepy to be inside. Regardless, as the weather gets warmer I am animated to take more and more hikes.

After I get back from South Africa on the 23rd, I will go on a four day retreat (25 - 28) to Ulzama (a small village) to spend some time in prayer and silence. I don't know when I will make my next entry then. I will squeeze in what I can. Either way, there should be pictures accompanying some of the following posts.