Back from South Africa

Hello Everyone. As my lovely wife has kindly informed you, I have returned from my trip to South Africa. It was a truly remarkable three weeks, and I look forward to sharing some stories and photographs. I have struggled, however, with how to begin sharing some of these things with all of you. During the trip, I had a wide range of experiences characterized by a wide range of emotions, from joy to awe to anger to deep sadness. South Africa is a beautiful country with a painful history. In other words, it is a country a lot like our own. How then to begin talking about it in a way that doesn't collapse the tension of the place, painting either to dark or too rosy a picture? To solve this dilemma, I’ve included two pictures in this first post that try to get at both aspects.

This first photo depicts one of the many casualties of Apartheid. His name was Hector Peiterson. He was 13. He was shot by a policeman at a student protest against the forced introduction of Afrikaans (the language of the white oppressor) as the language of instruction in all black schools. Imagine you're in the middle of high school, trying to prepare for your future and overnight the government mandates that from now on all teaching will be in a foreign tongue. You watch as your test scores plummet and your learning slows in those most crucial years in your school career—all in a disgusting scheme to further the systematic exploitation of your people. In response, the students protested, and this little boy was one of the many killed. That’s his sister running alongside his body.

The second photo conveys for me some of the hope that is a counterpoint to the darkness of the first. It is the sign outside the recently finished Constitutional Court of South Africa—equivalent in many respects to our Supreme Court. It simply says “Constitutional Court” in the ELEVEN official languages of the country. The court is built on the site of one of the most notorious prisons in South Africa where countless political prisoners and resisters where held during Apartheid. The chamber where the court meets is built literally out of the bricks the former cell blocks and guard towers. It is an amazing place. And while it does not represent a South Africa fully healed of its past, it certainly sums up the hope that such healing can and will occur.

Well this is a start, anyway. I have lots more to share, but I wanted to start it off right. I hope this does it.