It's A Beautiful Day

Friday: In The Name of Love by u2
For those of you who looked at my blog 2 days ago and noticed my PS note at the bottom, yes, I did in fact go to a U2 concert. They played 2 shows on the whole African continent. One in Joburg, the other in Capetown. And we just happened to snag 12 seats to see them last night.

Yesterday, we left Durban and it was very sad. Mostly because we had to leave Peter, our beloved guide, and Michael, our bus driver. They will be greatly missed. Now, we hadn't had any drama up till this point. Bad news: yesterday was the breaking point. Mama K and 7 other students almost didn't make it on to the plain. The plane company we were flying with overbooked our flight and they almost were left behind. On top of that, one person lost their boarding pass while another left his passport on the bus (which had to come back and give it to him). Thankfully, however, everything worked out. But it was pretty intense on the TA end. I would have had to take charge with the concert people while Mama K would have had to stay in Durban and miss the concert (she had bought a ticket too...definitely coolest professor ever!).

We're staying at a place called River Lodge, which is a backpacking style place. We quickly unpacked and had a group meeting and then left for the concert. Everything was CRAZY! There were thousands of people downtown. We ate at a grocery store on the way. Mama K, Sophie, Ana, and I decided we wanted a t-shirt and waited in line 1 hour for them. Definitely worth it, but it could have been done a lot more efficiently.

At last, we finally saw U2! Hands down the best concert ever! I highly encourage you to find the concert online somewhere! The whole performance was incredible. Their stage had walkways that rotated, with a circular screen above them that would separate into different panels. Sophie told us the stage had to be imported from Australia. Oh, and it was shaped like a space ship (kind of like the Star Fox emblem almost).

A few reasons why this was/should count as a Cultural Life Program (yay CLPS!)
1) Bono mentioned the "rainbow people" while he was on stage. The population at the concert was very much NOT representative of all of SA. You would have had to look very very carefully to find a black person in the crowd. True, most of his fans are white, but it was just very interesting to me that these people love their music, but don't understand the religious ferver behind it.
2) During the song "In the Name of Love," Mandela's face appeared on the screen. It amazed me to see that not everybody rejoiced when they saw it. This man who was the biggest advocate for nonviolence during Apartheid's fall in the 1990s and Reconciliation, the Gandhi of SA and people didn't go crazy with joy. A lot of them just stared and remained silent. This makes me wonder how many people at that concert were Afrikaner? How many people really understand the level of inequality in SA, and how some have to fight tooth and nail to resist their own oppression? Again, how do you listen to this music of Jesus without wanting liberation for your impoverished neighbor?
3) Zackie Achmet was there!! For those of you who don't know him, Zachie Achmet is an AIDS activist who protested taking medication until everybody in South Africa had access to it. He began this grassroots group called TAC (Treatment Action Campaign). When Mbeki became president of SA, he refused to provide education materials or antiretrovirals to HIV positive people. So people like Zackie started educating people themselves, trying to prevent unprotected sex and promoting HIV testing. They would go to bars, schools, etc. to do this. Eventually in 2003, they got the government to have a treatment care plan for HIV positive individuals. Now, they're focusing on female impowerment in SA. According to one of the Articles we're reading, SA is the most dangerous country to be a woman. There is a lot of gender inequality, and women are very disinfranchised. This has lead to huge rates of domestic violence in this country. A woman is raped every 10 seconds. So organizations like TAC are very helpful and I'm glad we have them.

Saturday--All of the songs from The Pebble and the Penguin
Today was a very touristy day. Right off the bat, we got up and started for the Cape of Good Hope. Never did I imagine that when I was studying Portugese explorers in middle school did I think I would actually visit the point that changed trade history for good. The Cape was discovered by Bartholomew Diaz in 1488. When we got there today, the tide was down and we were able to go climb on the rocks. I found a couple of old shells that I hope to bring back home (sorry, family, I couldn't find any pretty ones, but they are African!). Then, we went up to a light house that was fairly historical on the Cape Point. The view was absolutely gorgeous. We could see this rock way out at see where waves were crashing. I asked Mama K if this was where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. She said that those were probably just rocks with waves hitting them, but that it's up for debate as to whether the two oceans meet at Cape Point. Believe what you will. As for myself, I think I'll keep thinking the rock is the meeting point.

Then, my favorite part happened. WE SAW AFRICAN PENGUINS (hence the Pebble and the Penguin soundtrack suggestions for the day). They were adorable, for realz! I got lots of cute pictures, some of them grooming each other, some holding hands, some laying on eggs, some just looking at the camera. We then got to have lunch and celebrate Liz's birthday (she turns 20 manana, but its our free day so we won't have a lot of time to be together). Then we got to go shopping at a local market.

Finally, the best thing happened. We got to talk to Bishop Peter Storey. Bishop Storey was pastor of Central Methodist Church during Apartheid. He spoke at Furman on my birthday last fall and I brought a voice recorder to hear his speech for today. He talked about the 5 pillars of Apartheid: Building an Ideology and Theology on Racism, Making group areas to control Africans, Bantu Education (i.e. ensuring there is no black competition to counter white supremacy, and thus educating them to be domestic servants to whites only), Bantustan Policies (retribalizing Africa), and having a repressive police force that operates like the Gestapo. This was countered by 4 pillars of resistance from churches. This came from churches asking "What does it mean to be a Christian during Apartheid? And for Bishop Storey, it meant this: 1) You ust speak hthe truth and expose the lie of Apartheid (that the differences btw. people are greater than their humanity) without fear of failure, 2) That if you are going to be a witness in Africa, you must idtentify with the oppressed and stand with them so that they are not destroyed by those who would rather have them destroyed, 3) You need to demonstrate the alternative, not just denounce what's wrong, but live what's right (i.e. put integration into practice within the local churches), and 4) Find ways and means consistant with empowering the oppressed in a nonviolent, civily disobedient way.

Absolutely incredible, no?

Love,
Hill