My trip started off with an offer of $400 and a hotel stay if I’d fly the next day but unfortunately I couldn’t accept the offer so I got on a really full plane. Thankfully, it was much better than some planes I’ve been on and the trip went well. We did end up waiting 1 ½ hours for our departure due to strong winds and some planes not being able to land, but we made up some time during the flight and they treated us well.
Upon arrival in Johannesburg, we was met by a really great man who’s part of the church Chris (a pastor I travelled with) was preaching at and were taken to our hotel. What we saw that night was much like any city in the Western world. I won’t go into all kinds of details but will highlight a few things combined with a few pictures. Here goes…
South Africa is dealing with a power shortage and so they have what they call load sharing. The electricity is turned off in rotating areas for a few hours at a time. We experienced this a few times. One of the times without power was during a service so there was some improvising; but it turned into one of the best services ever! Another time was just after this photo was taken. We found out there was a soccer match on when we had some free time so we had to experience it. After sitting through the first half with a dozen people around us smoking drugs, we heard an announcement that the power would be turned off for 20-25 minutes and we should watch our belongings closely. The people we were with are from South Africa and they decided it wasn’t safe for us to stay so instead of watching the second half, we found a restaurant in another area of town and had a good meal. The lights went out as we walked out of the building!
I was able to spend some time with a few friends of mine from college. This is Coral and her family. I met them on Sunday afternoon and we also went to a game park all day Monday.
5 minutes after arriving at the game park, we saw our first elephants. They got quite close!
...But not too close for me to get out and take a picture! The family we were with were quite scared about me getting out of the vehicle, but I hadn’t seen any lions and I was quite sure the elephant wouldn’t charge without warning (sorry mom). Following my example, Chris also got a picture like this.
Elephants weren’t the only animal to get close – this one looked like it might charge so we didn’t get out.
On to Cape town where I got to see a couple other friends of mine. This picture is taken on top of Table Mountain – the pride and joy of Cape Town and much of South Africa. I checked the elevation and found that the top of the mountain is almost exactly the same height as the base of the last ski hill I was on in Canada. I must admit that the view was great and Cape Town is an incredibly beautiful city.
We did some “touristy” type things but also took some time to see a little more of the country. We went to Robbin Island where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison and also spent some time at an orphanage. Here’s a shot of the children at the orphanage together with a few volunteers and those of us who were visiting. I enjoyed playing with the children for an hour or so before we left to see some other areas and people.
During the next part of our trip, we went through the poor areas of Cape Town. I didn’t see nearly as much poverty as I saw in Uganda, but it was still appalling. One thing that amazed me was that most buildings in the poor area were shacks at best, yet the majority also had TV antenna’s on their roofs. Apparently, it’s very unusual for someone in one of these communities to not have a flat screen TV and a cell phone. They can hardly put a roof over their heads, but they can watch the boob tube under it! This picture is one of the poorest churches I’ve ever seen.
After a trip that went very quickly, I made it home in time to have 10 minutes at home before heading off to church for the evening. I pulled off 4 meetings before church, one church service, and someone at my place for a couple hours after church before going to bed and attempting sleep. Making the mistake of not taking a sleeping pill, I didn’t manage any sleep till 3AM and was completely shot the next morning as I went to church after sleeping through my alarm for an hour! When I did wake up, I managed to get ready in 10 minutes before someone I had promised a ride to church showed up at my door. Another busy day and late night, then came Monday…
slept in like I haven’t in my memory, then got up and did some much needed unpacking and laundry
…as I talked with a certain special someone back in Canada…
