Rainbow Nation

Cape Town, South Africa

Day 1

My experience here started with a remarkable and life changing opportunity to meet with Linda Biehl.  I am not sure if anyone knows the story of Amy Biel but I will give you a short history of their story.  Amy was a student about the age of 22 I think who was in South Africa trying to aid in joining the white and black communities together during the apartheid.  She ended up getting stoned to death by four young black men. She instantly became an example as a white American woman who was killed during this time. According to her mother this is exactly what she didn’t want, as many blacks were being killed every day and were only known by a number and as soon as a white person died their name was everywhere.  She wanted to be known as a number. Two out of the four men a few years later where issued freedom from the TRC, which was established by Mandela and Desmund Tu Tu.
Linda Biehl many years later started the Amy Biehl Foundation, which is an after school program in a township on the outskirts of Cape Town. The foundation gives young children a safe place to play games, sports, and aid in bringing a community together. Two of the murders now work for the foundation with Linda (later in the week I had the opportunity to meet both of them). This woman has shown the true power of forgiveness and reconciliation, as she is able to move past the evil and see the good that can come out of a situation. Hearing her speak moved me to look at my own life and the situations where it is often hard to move on.  She is the most courageous and inspiring women I have ever heard speak. Loosing a child is often a parent’s worst fear and now this woman is working with the ones that murdered her daughter. She considers them very good friends and their daughters even call her grandmother.  Her love and compassion amazed me as she spoke. It was a blessing that she came onto the ship to talk with us. 
Now too dramatically change the subject on the rest of my day I went GREAT WHITE SHARK CAGE DIVING!!!! The company picked us up right from the ship and drove us about two hours to the other side. I was extremely excited and also very nervous. When we were on the boat about ten minutes and then they started placing fish chum in the water and began preparing us as what to do. The placed the cage inside the water and we began putting on wet suits. No joke only a few minutes later I saw my first great white shark right next to the boat. This is when I started freaking out because it was huge and I was about to get into the water with it!! It was the most thrilling thing I have ever done and I loved it every minute of it. The shark would come up to the cage and hit it and the whole boat would shake each time. One time it even got its mouth stuck in the cage!!!! It was really scary looking into the eyes of this enormous animal that could destroy me in a few seconds. I never felt unsafe inside the cage as long as I was carful where to my arms and legs. I couldn’t believe what I was doing and how awesome it was! I had a blast!
When we arrived back on the ship we went out to the waterfront, which is beautiful. It is nothing like the rest of the town and is extremely designed for the tourist. I often felt as if I was in England as all the white people have the British accents yet were born and raised in South Africa. We had dinner at a restaurant with live music and dancing. We met up with the rest of our friends and went out for the night. It was a crazy and great night of dancing with the locals at a club.

Day 2
Today I had a trip to the Amy Biehl Foundation for one of my classes. We were able to talk to the manager of the organization and he discussed how and where most of their donations come from. They are very creative and innovated with the ways in which they work around the system. We then visited different townships and secondary school in which they sponsor. For lunch, we went to a common area where people gather to have parties, lunch, or simply to hang out. It was a great way to get a feel of typically and daily life. We happened to be there when a soccer rally was going on for the World Cup. We learned their national song and enjoyed celebrating with local people. (we even got free stuff!) We drove by the spot where Amy was exactly killed before heading out to meet the children. Once we arrived with them we played with them for a few hours. Most split up into teams and played soccer, while the rest of us colored and painted with the kids who didn’t want to play. By the end of the day I had been colored all over my body, even all over my face. I really enjoyed this trip because I felt that everyone seemed to benefit from this experience. I truly saw the interaction between all different cultures coming together with pure fun while embracing each other’s company. The two people who work for the foundation, who were the ones that murdered Amy years ago happened to also come out to be with us. I had the opportunity to talk with one of them personally as he showed me a picture of his daughter and I simply was asking him questions. Later in the day the other one shared a bit of his life story and the power and significance this foundation had on his life. I truly respect these men who have looked passed their actions and now promote a foundation that offers security and entertainment for children. They were genuine men who have moved on and now have families of their own. Often Linda and the men travel in the States together to share their story. The day was filled with laughter and happiness when we left.
At night a few of my friends went out to have some drinks at a local restaurant that was playing live jazz to relax and debrief from the day. I couldn’t believe my life from where I was and what I was doing. My life is surreal.  

Day 3
Today a few of my friends had become good friends with a taxi driver who agreed to give us a tour of the city for a reasonable price. We decided to first head out to see the Table Mountain National Park, which is the most south one can travel in Africa. It is also where the Indian and the Atlantic Ocean met and we were able to see the two currents merging together. The drive was a beautiful as we drove along the coast and through mountainous areas. It is about an hour drive outside of the city of Cape Town and randomly we would also run into baboons randomly on the side of the road. Once we arrived to the Cape Point we had about a ten-minute hike to get to the top where the lighthouse is located. It was absolutely beautiful there. The clouds lightly covered the ocean with mountains in the background. The ocean was surrounding us. It was very serene and peaceful that words cannot describe. Even after three months on the ocean I am still amazed at the beauty that it posses as well as all that encompasses it. 
We left here and went to an ostrich farm down the street. They are the funniest animals with their long necks and weird bodies. One bit my friend’s hand! It was really funny and luckily it was not to hard that she was not hurt.
We headed then towards boulder beach, which is where you can swim and hang out with penguins. They were just hanging out underneath the boulders and in the water. This place was beautiful as well, from the color of water to the mountains on the other side. The penguins were very calm and used to interact with humans so we were able to get very close to them. They are adorable in their little tuxedos. 
Our driver the drove us to the biggest township in Cape Town. It has 400,000 people living in it. A township is where during the apartheid the government forced all the colored and blacks to live in a certain area designed for them. They gave them no structure for the homes yet most have electricity and running water. The houses are made out of tin, cardboard, or are inside of large shipping crates. Although the apartheid ended in 1994 most still live in these communities and with people that I met along the way they loved them and did not wanna leave.  Unfortunately, we were unable to get out of the car because it is unsafe for tourist to be in that area. At one point we even had a car follow us and we had to change our speed and quickly lose him. I never felt unsafe as we drove by everyone waved and smiled and were yelling “white people, white people” as we drove by. It was really interesting to drive through and see. South Africa has an extremely high wealth discrepancy and it was extremely obvious. One minute you would be in a suburban style housing and the next street you would come to shacks that were made of tin. I have never seen anything like that.
The rest of the day we went to a beautiful beach town called Camps Bay to have dinner on the beach in a little town outside of Cape Town. The sunset was gorgeous as Table Mountain reflected the color and turned a pink color from the sun. We spent the night talking and meeting all sorts of people.

Day 4
This day was spent in Stellenboch wine tasting. This day was beautiful was we drove from wine land to wine land tasting all different types from red to whit wine. The wine country was beautiful with the trees and dirt roads that we drove on. I felt as if I was in a movie with the green rows and rows of land and then would come across a stunning white building with pink or red roses surrounding them. We arrived in the winelands around 10:30 and yes I know it was a bit early to start drinking! I have never been wine tasting before as obviously I am illegal in the states to drink and I loved it. It was so much fun to try all the different wines. I learned all about how they are made and what creates the smoky taste or rich flavor. We didn’t leave the wine lands till about 4:30 as we decided to try and see as many as possible. There are hundreds of different places to go visit and we only went to five or so. When we got back I met up with one of my friends for her 21st birthday dinner on the beach and then meet up with my other friends at a reggae bar called “Mama Africa” later in the night. We had a great last night in South Africa dancing and being with each other.

Day 5
HAPPY EASTER AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!
How lucky am I that I got to spent Easter in South Africa. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a church in walking distance and in the morning couldn’t find anyone to go to church with me. However, later on the ship we had a church service so I was able to still worship and enjoy this special say. I spent the day relaxing and walking around with my friends. We had to be on the ship by four so we did not venture to far out, but ended up just staying in the waterfront listening to a live band at a restaurant. It was relaxing and really fun!