My first full day here has been absolutely incredible. Probably one of the best days of my life thus far. But seriously…
We all woke up and had breakfast at 8:00am, which was delicious! Then we left for a bus/walking tour of Soweto, which is a town either in or near Johannesburg. I’m not entirely sure. J Our first stop in Soweto was at their largest & wealthiest mall. It was beautiful! And I feel weird saying that about a mall, but it really was. We got to explore it a little bit and found some interesting things: a store that looked just like Old Navy, a hair shop that was called “Kinky”, the restaurant Nando’s which I saw in England, and then there was this random blow up pool in the middle of the mall! And inside the pool, there were these huge blow up balls that people could get into and run around the pool, so it was basically like a hamster in one of those toy balls, but HUGE and in water. Some people from our group did it and it was HILARIOUS. Also, my friend Lauren and I were walking around and these two girls, probably 5 or 6 years old, came up and just stared at us. So then we started talking to them and they both really wanted to have their picture taken and then LOVED that they could look at it immediately after. They were adorable.
After that, we went to another stop and saw the South Africa Constitution, which interestingly had a lot to do with equality and peace. One of the laws even said that everyone had the right to “peace and friendship.” J
We drove some more….by the way, in between all these things we’re driving through all different neighborhoods. As our tour guide said, “I’m showing you the good, the bad, and the ugly.” So even though we only got to get out at a few places, we were able to see a lot from the bus. We stopped at a Catholic church, the biggest one in Soweto, and it was gorgeous. Inside, there were a bunch of stain glass widows. My personal favorite was one window that, on the outside, depicted Mary and Jesus as black, and on the inside, depicted them as white, showing that Jesus came to earth for everybody and every race.
We also got to drive past Desmond Tutu’s house and Nelson Mandela’s house, which has now been turned into a museum.
And then we stopped for lunch. Now, I know this is already a long blog but this was my absolute favorite part of the day so don’t stop now! J We pulled up to this little restaurant in the middle of a neighborhood, and our tour guide told us we were going to have to eat cow hearts and intestines. Luckily she was kidding but she had us all going for a while. J The food was actually delicious! It was buffet style so we had a lot to choose from. I tried a little bit of everything, but my favorites were the chicken, rice, potatoes, some type of coleslaw, ice cream, and REALLY good fruit. All the fruit I’ve had here so far has been incredible. At the end of our meal, a group of children came and did a dance for us. It was awesome! They were all so good!!! As my friend Lauren says, “Africans just know how to move!” J And then they announce that they are going to “dance us out” as we leave. Because there are so many of us, not everyone got to experience it, but praise God, I did! It was so cool! This little girl, maybe 8 years old, grabbed my hand and quickly taught me this dance as we walked out of the restaurant. Of course, she was ten times better than I was but she just graciously laughed every time I messed up J And as we were going out, this adorable little boy grabbed my other hand and started dancing with us too!! It was absolutely magical. I loved every second of it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of the three of us actually dancing but I think some other people in my group did, so hopefully I can get those soon! In this picture, the girl to my left is the one I danced with.
After lunch, our Soweto tour was over and we went to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. It was crazy thinking about how recent it all was. If I remember correctly, it was only declared illegal in 1994. That’s during my lifetime. And it was all so political, so public. I just don’t understand how so many other countries ignored it for so long. It also made me wonder how South Africa reconciled so quickly. I mean, when we were driving around today, nearly every black or colored (that’s an appropriate term here) person we saw waved at us or smiled or danced for us…they all just loved us. They have this joy that just radiates from their hearts onto their beautiful faces. It isn’t about possessions or wealth or status. Their joy comes from deep within. And even after everything that white people have done to them, they still loved us. It amazes me how quickly they forgive. Those are two things I’ve already seen in these people that I want to emulate…their forgiveness and their joy.
In Invictus, there is this great line Matt Damon’s character says about Nelson Mandela. “I was thinking how a man could spend thirty years in prison, and come out and forgive the men who did it to him.” In the Apartheid museum, there is a whole section dedicated to Nelson Mandela. He really was one of the most remarkable humans to ever live, and his humble ability to forgive is something he passed on to his followers. It was so neat to get a glimpse into this culture, this world. And it was so encouraging to see the restoration God has already done in this country.
Alright, so that was all yesterday! Now we're in Pietermaritzburg and it's absolutely GORGEOUS. I've never seen anything more beautiful. I know this blog is already a novel though, so I'll save that for tomorrow! Thanks for sticking this one out! I'll try to upload more pictures tomorrow, but the internet is really slow right now. Love you all!!!
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