Wow! What a week. I still remember how far away excursion seemed when we first arrived at Cape Town. However, it quickly crept up on me and before I knew it we were boarding a plane to Johannesburg. I must say, Johannesburg, Jo-burg, or Jozie, was nothing like I thought it would be. It turned out to be an upbeat, busy city, and more than once I’ll admit I felt like I was in New York or Los Angeles. Our time spent there was filled with museum visits, hanging out at the hotel, and eating lots and lots of food. It was incredible to visit places we’ve been hearing and learning so much about, places like Sharpeville, Freedom Square, the Apartheid Museum, and Soweto.
I could talk for hours listing off things I learned from all the places we visited. Standing in the Hector Peterson museum surrounded by the names of youth who died during the struggle to end apartheid was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve ever had. Learning that the youngest person to die during the shootings in Sharpeville was 12 years old made my stomach churn.
Thinking about how all these events occurred not so long ago is also truly mind-boggling. Although it’s not easy to pick one, I’d have to say my favorite place visited in Jo-burg was Vilakazi Street. Vilakazi Street is unlike any other single street in the world due to the fact that not one, but two Nobel Peace Prize winners were at some time residents on the street. Both Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu “came from” the same street, something that cannot be said about any other 2 Nobel Peace Prize winners. And we got to visit it, as well as Nelson Mandela’s former house.
The 5 days we spent in Jo-burg went by extremely fast, and at 6 am on Monday morning we began the 7-hour trek via bus to Kruger National Park. But I’ll let someone else tell you about that. We departed Kruger early Wednesday morning, and I can now officially say I was awake before 5 am three days in a row- a truly amazing feat for me! We boarded a plane back to Cape Town around 4 o’clock and in no time were landing at the somewhat familiar Cape Town International airport. We were welcomed by none other than fabulous Ben, and were blessed to have Faiek as our bus driver home (whom we greeted with a round of applause as he got off the bus). Vernon summed it up perfect Tuesday night when he explained that tomorrow we would, “return to the place we all belong” because walking into Loch Road last night truly felt like I was back at home.
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