African Mysteries
On our last day, many of us wanted to see the sites that figured prominently in the Apartheid battles and Khotsu proves to be a great facilitator. Khotsu will tell us about the biographies of OR Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Steve Biko and add his personal experiences as well. We started the day with a visit to The District 6 Museum followed by a stop at Saint George Cathedral where Tutu served as the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.
The District 6 Museum
Mandela was, perhaps the greatest human rights activist Africa ever produced as he finally achieved a level of equality in a country divided by race. Arrested in 1962 by the National Government, Mandela was sentenced to five years in prison but he remained undaunted in his battle for equality and was eventually sentenced to life in prison. In prison, he continued his work for his cause with titanic determination. In 1990 he was released from prison and was elected President of the National Security Council. His story is known world wide and with Tutu as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated human rights violations in the nation the two achieved a non-violent revolution that gave hope to a disenfranchised people. These men were giants in African history and tributes to them dot the Cape Town landscape. From gay rights to black empowerment their achievements are massive. At Saint George Cathedral we paid our respect at the spot where Tutu’s ashes are placed.
An interesting fact emerged when we were told that the two men were the products of the townships…in fact, they grew up on the same street. Valakazi Street actually produced two Nobel Prize winners. At the District 6 Museum, more civil rights history was on display. The National Government actually removed 60,000 people of color from Cape Town’s District 6 and relocated them to the townships. This occurred in the 1970’s and to this day the cleared area remains largely undeveloped. The punitive action had consequences beyond the exclusionism and racism inherent in the deed. The township blight worsened and political tensions rose. Today a group of writers, artists, activists and citizens have created the District 6 Museum to make sure the injustice is not forgotten.
This day is yet another reminder of the incredible contrasts one sees everywhere in Africa. Beauty is everywhere in Southern Africa. In Cape Town, the gorgeous landscape, the bustling port and the majesty of Table Mountain are offset by the ugliness of the townships and the evil of the District 6 action. Like most places in the world, victories are rare and cherished when they occur. Apartheid is defeated but many struggles remain. It can appear that the place is either all progressive or all repressive, rather, it is a study in contrasts, rife with nuance.
We spend our last night in the cape with mixed emotions. We miss home and we will miss Africa. We have experienced fear, awe, disgust, poverty, pain and joy in the compressed time frame of a single month. We all know that processing our African experience will take time but we are all grateful for the chance to see and feel so much.
Our group will dissolve in the morning. Some will fly to their homes directly from Cape Town while others will fly to Johannesburg, to connect with their homebound flights. Some will fly direct to the US and others will make connections in Zurich, Frankfurt and Qatar. We will fly to Johannesburg and catch a flight to Newark. After a four hour layover we will fly to San Diego. In all, our transit will take 27 hours. We are again reminded that we are flying half way around the world. On the plane from Africa, a quote from the Irish novelist George Moore comes to mind: “a man and a woman travel the world over in search of what they need and return home to find it.” Finding Africa will ultimately happen at home. It will take some time.
The trip can be quantified as follow: 15 airplane flights, 27 game drives, 4 Unique African Nations, 3,897 photographs, 25 packings and re-packings, 35,000 air miles, 12 medicines, 32 days of malaria pills and 5 (As in Big)
The numbers are insignificant compared to the quality of the African adventure. In the days since we arrived home we find ourselves reading about Africa and listening to its music. The on-going interest is the gift we were given on this amazing journey. While the trip was gritty and uncomfortable at times…it was also compelling, beautiful and amazing.
As Marcel Proust once wrote, “the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Africa offered a spectacular vision and we now had new eyes with which to see it.
Olio Folio 