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EPIC Trip Home

8/28/2013

1. Tuesday, Aug. 27 @11 a.m. We transfer from our hotel to the Cape Town airport. Very efficient staff at Cape Town airport. 2 hr. flight to Johannesburg.
2. Long wait at Jo-burg for the 9 p.m. non-stop flight to New York. Met a brother who was has been volunteering for the past three weeks helping visiting delegates at the airport - very sweet. All the volunteers have done such wonderful jobs - they took such good care of us and were so loving and patient!
Then we eat - shop - walk - walk some more - wait forever for our gate assignment to be posted - go through security - find the office to get sales tax refund - walk some more. Finally go to our gate and get a surprise. Due to the travel warnings from the US State Dept (which we had totally forgotten about), we all had to be patted down before we could get into the waiting area to board our flight plus a passport check and carry-on search - all this AFTER already going through security. All this time in S. Africa & I didn't have to take off my shoes at a security check point or get a pat down like a criminal. Apparently this was being required for all international flights going to the U.S. The TSA is like VISA - everywhere you want to be.
3. Fly 16 hours over the Atlantic (see my earlier post from Aug. 13th "BIG Travel Day" about the flight to Africa & repeat here except we are traveling the other way.). I don't want to talk about it again. Ever. Seriously.
4. Get to JFK on Wednesday at 6 a.m. (EST). Get through massive lines in passport control and security. Claim bags (now required - they won't check through for an international to domestic flight). Recheck bags for domestic flight. Thankful for very helpful Delta airline employee. Find our gate. Get food. This takes 3 1/2 hours at a slow pace because I don't have enough energy for my usual New York walk. And we still have 3 hrs to kill. Why??? Because we got a good deal & an upgrade on the later flight and several months ago that seemed important. It doesn't seem so important now. So here we sit & walk & sit. Thank goodness for wifi. [Note: prices in the airport shops in S. Africa are much less expensive than in NYC!! Good grief!]
5. We eventually fly to Salt Lake & then on to Reno & finally the hour drive home. (Thank you, Billy, for picking us up at 11 p.m. (PST). It was so nice to see a friendly face!!) Two full travel days including many hours in airports. We gained 9 hours due to the time changes but used them all up waiting in airports. I really dislike airports! True Fact. But we can usually find a quiet corner all to ourselves with wifi, stretch out a bit, and stay amused by people watching.
6. Would we do this again if given the chance? Yes!! We're just crazy like that.

[No pictures posted of the travel days. For very good reason. :-p ]

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Our Reflections of South Africa

8/27/2013

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We have found South Africa a very diverse and interesting country. We really didn't know what to expect and we didn't come with any preconceived ideas. We really don't hear that much in the U.S. news media about Africa unless it is a major event. Things here are very complex and we really can't understand everything in just two weeks. But we did talk to a lot of locals and tried to get their perspective.The following are our impressions...

SIMILARITIES: Many things here are very similar to home. You see many of the same brands esp. automobiles. The food & clothing styles are similar. Of course there are McDonalds everywhere but we saw twice as many KFCs. Most everyone speaks English and traffic signs, etc, are all in English making it a comparatively easy country to navigate.

APARTHEID: South Africa is known for their past history of apartheid. But people generally don't want to talk about the "A" word. It is understandably a sensitive topic and still in recent memory. Most wish to leave it in the past but it definitely affects the present. It was an oppressive time - blacks did not have a choice of where they could live - even whole cities like Pretoria were "white only". Workers could come into the city to work and they could live outside the city in government provided apartments or shanty towns but they were not allowed to bring their families for ten years. Blacks, "colored" (people of mixed heritage), & Indians needed papers like passports to go into white areas. Inequality was the way of life.

This applied to all aspects of life. It was against the law for whites and blacks to meet together at all. So by law, our congregations & Branch office had to be racially separate or our brothers would face imprisonment or worse. But our spiritual brothers found clever ways around this. For example, if there was to be a wedding, the black brothers & sisters would come dressed in black & white so they looked like wait staff. The neighbors would not report this to the authorities because it looked like something they were used to - blacks serving whites at a wedding. White South Africans we talked to are not proud of the past and are hopeful for a better future.

CURRENT PROBLEMS: But one set of problems and injustices have been traded for another set of problems. Whites and blacks we talked to are unhappy with the economy and most unhappy are with their government. Unemployment is very high 30-40% - some areas up to 50%-60%. Thus homelessness & crime are very high. There is no welfare system. There is a well-documented corruption in the government. A lot of people have moved to South Africa from surrounding countries hoping for work or to escape civil war or poverty in their country but this adds to the homelessness & crime.

CRIME: Johannesburg & Pretoria are the first cities we've ever visited where we were advised not to go out during the day unless we were in a large group or with locals and never go out at night. Only take taxis that were called for us by the hotel so as not to be robbed or kidnapped by a fake cabbie. Every home & business (both in nice neighborhoods & poor neighborhoods) is surrounded by high walls or fences topped with spikes, barbed wire, razor wire and/or electric wire at the top. Homes display signs showing they are protected by armed response units.

We did notice that we saw very little graffiti. Jo'Burg & Pretoria had a lot of litter but Cape Town was relatively clean. The highways, airports and other infrastructure in the cities are very modern. Less so in the rural areas but that is similar to the U.S.

CAPE TOWN: Cape Town was a beautiful city. The homes were not fortified like in JoBurg & Pretoria. We did walk around the city center and the waterfront by ourselves during the day & felt relatively safe.

TOWNSHIPS: Many black South Africans live in "Townships" or shanty-towns. Rows upon rows of shacks are built of scrap tin or wood with tin roofs, dirt floors, no running water and no electricity. The P.C. words to call these are "temporary housing" or "informal housing" or just "townships". The Soweto township near Johannesburg has over 2 million people and one in Cape Town has 1.5 million people living within and there are many townships around the large cities. The government is trying to build permanent housing (small cinder block houses) and move township people into them but it is a slow process and people who apply wait years or are rejected.

EMPLOYMENT: The government does hire laborers for all kinds of tasks - in some areas instead of parking meters you pay a parking attendant or instead of using equipment to dig a trench, laborers are used. We found attendants in most public restrooms (in airports, state parks, etc) which does mean the bathrooms are kept very clean. This does give some work to some people but they don't get paid much - avg. wage is $7-$8 per DAY.

CLASS DISPARITIES: We did notice very clearly the large disparity between the classes - the "haves" & the "have nots". At the airports, most travelers are white and workers are black. At restaurants, most patrons are white and most workers are black. But at the mall, you see all races. Blacks have most of the hard labor & menial jobs.

Generally whites have a higher standard of living. But everyone was affected by the recession and a white brother we talked to has been unemployed since 2009 except for odd jobs. Plus it is hard to get a job if you are white due to policy changes/laws kind of like affirmative action in the US but to a greater extreme.

Over 40% of the population live in extreme poverty living on an average of $2 per day.

DIVERSITY: There are 11 official languages in South Africa: 9 tribal languages, Afrikaans (spoken by descendants of the white Dutch settlers who arrrived in the 1600s), and English - which is the universal language. Most signs are in English and most everyone we met spoke English with cool accents sounding a little British or Australian or Jamacian. But they said they like our American accents - who knew we could sound cool?

A large community of Indians (dot not feather) live in South Africa. Workers came from India generations ago and their descendants live here. Thus we ate lots delicious Indian food. Curry - mmmmm!

There is a fairly large Muslim community here too. Back in the 1700s & 1800s when there was slavery a lot of slaves were brought from Mayalsia and Indonesia. After receiving their freedom, many settled in the colorful BoKaap area in Cape Town.

Many immigrants are moving to South Africa from surrounding African countries due to civil war, famine, & poverty. Thus there are people who speak Portuguese, French and native languages. (The European languages are due to the surrounding countries being under colonial rule for centuries.)

Despite all the challenges, our dear spiritual brothers and sisters of all races are doing an amazing job of taking care of all different language groups, immigrants, refugees from disaster areas, and building much needed Halls in their varied ministry. It's been a real eye opener for us - so very different from home.

SOUTH AFRICANS: Generally speaking we have found South Africans (of all backgrounds) to be warm, kind and very polite. Mike actually looks like a white South African - the first day we were here the driver started speaking Afrikaans to him until Mike gave him a confused look and then he switched to English. I don't think people knew where to place me as far as ethnicity. But those who found out I am half Native American were thrilled to find that out - I am a minor celebrity here now. :-)

The country is beautiful and we have enjoyed our visit here very much. We enjoyed getting to know many local people of many different backgrounds especially our spiritual brothers and sisters who were so loving, caring and giving. We would love to come back someday and do some of the many things we wanted to do but ran out of time. And to visit again with the many friends we have made along the way.
It has been an absolutely amazing experience!

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To the End of the Earth (Almost)

8/24/2013

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We arrived in Cape Town and were pleasantly surprised. It is called the Europe of South Africa & it definitely has a very European feel. The architecture is a mixture of Dutch and Victorian in the old parts of town and very modern in the city business center. It is on the Atlantic coast and the city reminded us of San Francisco or Vancouver, B.C., especially along the waterfront. It is a working port but the waterfront is also a shopping and dining destination with lots of restaurants with great seafood. We had a great view of the bay and every morning as we left the hotel we were greeted by the beautiful Table Mountain.

Everything is green and lush. There is a lot of agriculture in the outlying areas and a lot of wineries. There are quaint villages with cute shops where we all did our part to support the South African economy. We enjoyed a cellar tour and wine tasting at the 2nd oldest winery in South Africa which started making wine in 1672. They definitely know their wines.

We also went to Cape Point which is at the bottom of the African continent. So now we have gone to the end of the earth. Well, almost. There is this other continent called Antarctica a bit farther south but we've decided to save that for another time. =)

Cape Town and the surrounding areas are beautiful and we've been told in a month when spring arrives it will be even more beautiful here. There is so much history and many museums and outlying areas we would like to visit some day.

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Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty

8/22/2013

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One afternoon a pride of lions was spotted and needless to say we were very excited.

One lioness kept walking closer and closer and closer. I just kept taking pictures and then she looked straight at me and I seriously thought she was going to jump in the Land Rover with us.( What a photo that would have been!!!) But she sniffed & walked away.

Just look how photogenic the granddad is and how proud the young male is of his little mane. ...

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Animal Planet

8/22/2013

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[Note: Sorry I haven't been posting. Mike & I were both afflicted with a mean tummy bug for a couple days - Mike while at the lodge & me after arriving in Cape Town. That's a first for both of us on an international trip. I blame airline travel. Fortunately, we both felt better before our epic travel day home.
So buckle up & join us on the final part of our journey ...]
Game drives are so incredible!!! They genuinely care about the animals. Although we got pretty close, the animals were given the greatest respect and are never touched or harrassed in any way. The animals go about their business & we had the privilege to watch.

The meals were top notch - the best we had in South Africa & that's saying a lot. We actually ate impala one night and warthog another night. Yes, they were both delicious. Impala is very common here - and tastes like very lean beef or buffalo. Warthog is - well - a funky-looking hog. Leaner than pork tho' and the meat was a little darker - very tasty wrapped in bacon. =) And don't worry neither is an endangered species - we were just exercising our rights as carnivores. We weren't the only ones eating impala & warthog ...

We had examples of carnivores all around us. We visited the momma leopards and their cubs each day. Each had a fresh kill. They eat to their full the first day & then each momma put both her cub and her kill in the tree tops to keep the meat safe from the hyenas & other predators. Of course the hyenas would be under the trees to catch anything that fell and looked very hopeful that the whole kill would fall down. Hyenas do kill cubs on occasion when they are small but these cubs were getting big enough to care for themselves and they can run very fast. Then after a few days - to keep her cub safe - momma moves away from what is left of the kill. The leopards will be full for a few more days and then momma will have to hunt again.

The Kirkmans Kamp lodge where we stayed was a manor house back in the day. A rich Englishman tried to raise cattle there but ended up spending most of the time killing the lions who ate his cattle - ummm - duh. Later they turned it into a hunting lodge - rich people would come & spend a lot of money to kill a lot of animals for sport. Now it is park of the Sabi Sands Game Reserve and all the animals are protected. The game reserve is right along the boundary with Kruger National Park and there is no fence between so the animals can roam freely everywhere. They are working very hard to keep poachers out of the game reserve - our car was thoroughly searched when we entered the area. But sadly poachers kill hundreds of rhino each year for their horns. One horn is worth $300,000 on the black market, and with the average wage for a poor family at $30 a month, you can see the incentive.

One afternoon there was an abundance of animals right out our back door. We just sat on the patio watching monkeys, bushbaks, elephants, warthogs and more.

Our stay there was very relaxing (except for the 5:30 am wake up knock on the door for the early morning game drive) and we would have liked to stay longer. The service was impeccible and every game drive was a real adventure. Must come back here someday when our granddaughter is older.

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Out of Africa

8/21/2013

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We have seen TV shows about game drives/safaris in Africa and wonder do they really see all those animals and are you even close enough to see them clearly? The answer is Yes & Yes.

At least here at Kirkmans Kamp in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. Our guides are excellent and they literally drive us right up close to the animals at the same time respecting the animals and their habitat. We have only been on three drives and have seen two mother leopards with their kill for the day, rhinos doing a courtship dance, giraffes eating breakfast, a herd of elephants crossing the river, zebras and so much more.

It may sound funny but it actually reminds us of "boonie-hopping" with my Dad - going on dirt roads in 4-wheel drive and just going and going to see what you can see. The terrain looks similar but the animals are very different from home. :-)

It's been yet another life-changing experience on this trip and a true testament to the marvels of creation - absolutely amazing!! I could go on & on but the pictures are worth a thousand words. Enjoy!

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A day with Pretoria friends

8/19/2013

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Today we spent the day with the Sunnyside, Waterkloof, and Muckleneuk congregations. Their Kingdom Hall, the first built in Pretoria, is home to five congregations and additional foreign language groups.

We started the day in the ministry in the areas surrounding the Kingdom Hall. Quite a different experience from our home territory in rural Nevada. But we found several to talk with and enjoyed ourselves very much.

After a delicious lunch enjoyed outside under the trees, we had an very enjoyable program presented by the local brothers and some fun & games too. It was so nice to enjoy some one on one time with the friends.

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The Special Convention

8/16/2013

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How to describe the convention in a nutshell: amazing, life-changing, a huge demonstration of love and unity. There aren't enough words and there isn't enough time to describe the incredible experience we had the last three days.

The program was presented in Zulu and English. There was a peak attendance on Sunday of over 20,000. We met people from all over Africa: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, Ghana, and Congo. There was a front page article in Monday's Pretoria News about the convention.

The local brothers and sisters are very warm, kind and loving and so grateful that we traveled all this way to visit them. The days went too fast and we wish we had more time to hear the stories of those we met and to meet more people.They have such a love for God and many have gone through so much.

The children were so sweet and so polite. Such beautiful smiles and lots of hugs. We have been very impressed by the young adults we met who are serving in the full-time ministry - they are so giving and very happy.

We felt a little like celebrities because everyone wanted to take pictures with us. ;-) We have been so loved and so well cared for. We feel so blessed to have been here and see our worldwide brotherhood in action.

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A visit to the South Africa Branch

8/15/2013

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Thursday's highlight was a visit to the South Africa Branch office. Most of the printing for the continent south of the Sahara is done here & in many languages. So many exciting things happening in Africa right now. The growth is incredible - they can't keep up. The branch just received approval for a large expansion adding another MAN printing press + another residence building and other support buildings. We enjoyed a nice lunch with the Bethel family followed by a great program including a choir performance - their talent is amazing. The day ended all too soon.

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Our first evening in Pretoria ...

8/14/2013

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After we arrived at our hotel, we rested for a bit, showered & changed and were transported to a welcoming reception at the beautiful assembly hall in Midrand. It was so enjoyable. The local friends gave us a big welcome & put on a delicious buffet for the delegates. We received a really nice surprise when Summer, one of our travel buddies from the 2009 Munich convention, found us. We hadn't seen Summer in four years and it was so good to see her & catch up a bit.

A really nice presentation followed with the history of JWs in South Africa, a bit of what life was like under Apartheid and how the brothers coped, the current progress of the ministry work and the huge amount of work being done at the branch office. The highlight was: songs sung by a children's choir. Just want to pack them all up and bring them home. Too precious!

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