March 21 post

The ship will dock in Cape Town, South Africa, on March 25. There are opportunities to learn about South Africa's history of apartheid movement when the blacks—the majority of the population—began to object to the economic and social oppression of the whites—the minority of the population. One of the heroes in this effort is Nelson Mandela, a black leader who helped organize the African National Congress (ANC) to end the oppression. Blacks had to carry “passbooks” with them, and any white could ask any black to see the book—the failure to produce the passbook would led to punishment. So, blacks lived in crowded townships and were not free to move about as they wanted.

Mandela was sent to a prison Robins Island to silence him for the work he was doing organizing blacks to gain their freedom. While he was in jail, his wife, Winnie Mandela, worked with the ANC to keep his name alive because he was the face of the struggle for the blacks. The clenched black fist became the symbol to tell blacks to continue to work together to gain their freedom. The music of the blacks held their spirits together, and sometimes there was such a crowd of singers and dancers, the white police were frightened by loudness of the sea of people demonstrating before them.

Nelson Mandela was in solitary confinement much of the time but worked in a quarry digging rock out. He was allowed to receive only one letter every six months. One of the techniques of protest Mandela used was to walk more slowly that the whites wanted as he went to and from the quarry. Years of being in the glare of the white rock and sun caused damage to his eyesight. During this time, the ANC became militant, and the white government realized that they had to talk with Mandela in prison and the ANC to make a deal about the demands of the blacks in order to avoid a civil war (LJ & SK—I know you know about the civil war between the south and north in the US when Abraham Lincoln was president.)

Prior to 1994 and freedome for the blacks, The Arch was Archbishop of Johannesburg, but he had to have a passbook to to travel around. His wife's passbook said it was okay for her to travel since she was married to the Archbishop.

The Arch was very active during this time and meeting with leaders around the world trying to get the governments to take a stand against the South African white government. He said that the student protests in Berkeley demanding that business from US corporations be withdrawn from South Africa was very helpful in encouraging the white government to conclude they had to change their policies toward blacks. During the discussions among the government, Mandela and ANC, it was agreed that there would be an election and that no revenge by either side would take place. Mandela walked out of prison after 27 years. He was elected the first president for the new South Africa. The Arch said that Mandela went to prison an angry man, grew to understand the position of “the other” (someone of a different view), and came out of prison to lead the country saying we must walk the path of forgiveness and not the path of revenge. Mandela still is alive, but we've been told he is not in good health.

As usual, an “interport student” came on board in Mauritius. You may remember that I've talked about this before in getting ready for Burma and India. Karey Burns is 18 years old and lives on the outskirts of Cape Town. She will be going to college next year and grown up in the “new” South Africa. Since apartheid ended in 1994, Karey has learned about it all her school life in integrated schools. She's tired of it, ya. (Karey's speech was dotted with “ya” after a statement but not like the Canadians and Upers.) As she goes to forward with her education, she is worried about getting a job after school.

In order to move blacks forward and upward in society, they are given preference job hiring. The “levels” of society from top to bottom are: white, Indians (from India), colored (mixed race), blacks. Since Karey is white, she's worried that it will be more difficult to get a job, since the other levels of equate capability and diplomas will be hired before she would. Due to this, many white are leaving South Africa in order to get jobs. Karey feels like her generation is being punished for something they weren't a part of.

Yet, according to Arch, South Africa is now one of the most unequal countries in the world. Great wealth and mansions exist alongside patched-together shacks of poverty. Schools are integrated with children of all colors, yet the schools in townships where mostly blacks live, are of poor quality without proper toilet facilities. Arch said, although his country is better than it was, the inequity of conditions is a huge burden on the hearts of those who worked for the new South Africa.

When South Africa hosted the Soccer World Cup in 2010, there was no crime for two months. The Arch asks, “If we could do that?”...and his voice fades off into a whisper and his eyes close.

His wife joined him in Mauritius, and they will both get off the ship to go home together.  What an honor it has been to have Arch on board.