Friday and Saturday
Irwin and Cathy Juckes are quintessential hosts. Picked up promptly from the airport, I was swept away to their home, given the tour of their (and my 5 week) facilities, considerable personal space, and every kindness to be afforded. Soup was on the stove awaiting our return to be accompanied by baked sweet potatoes, a shower was a welcome respite from 24 hours of travel, a South African candy bar on the nightstand, and internet access was available to check in with folks from home. The only notable from the flight is my checked bag which did not join me in the airplane. I did not have the Juckes' address, so perhaps it has been delivered to the church address, which I provided baggage services. (The bag was delivered Sunday afternoon)

My great plan to defeat jet-lag failed miserably as I passed out at 9:30PM, woke until 10:30PM, and then slept until about 2:30AM. Four hours later I decided it was time to stop tossing and turning sleeplessly. This allowed for a leisurely pace this morning, including a tour of the garden at the house. Darkness had fallen by my arrival and the morning light allowed my first views of Johannesburg.

Rev. George Marchinkowski picked me up from the house and we headed straight for a casino where we met the two other interns who will be in South Africa and three other supervisors. Have any of you been taken to a casino straightway by your new boss? I quickly gambled away the entire summer stipend I was allotted and will spend the rest of my summer welding in a wheelbarrow manufacturing plant in hopes of avoiding the casino and paying my debt.

Perhaps we only ate at the casino because it happens to be adjacent to our first South African introduction, the Apartheid Museum. It is also possible that none of us gambled. But whose story is this?

After fighting a tiger, two jaguars and an orca we went to the Apartheid Museum. George has asked me to reflect on the experience of a black person under Apartheid, according to my observations in the Museum. I am far more struck by the climate of violence depicted in the past 150 years of South African history. Having recently read Nelson Mandela's "autobiography," Long Walk to Freedom, I was already acquainted with the general struggle. Similarly to the rest of Africa, white Europeans colonised South Africa; a little over a century ago the Boers (farmers of Dutch descent) fought the British for the land, particularly in light of the highly productive and freshly discovered gold and diamond mines. Africans were not really a factor in this battle between developed nations and continued to be neglected as various laws were established resulting in the confiscation of land. At the end of the day, Europeans, comprising no more than 20% of the population, seized control of 85% of the land. It should be noted that many Europeans were well established in the land before this, but the Blacks, Coloureds, Indians and anyone not fully Caucasian became totally disenfranchised. Following World War II and a general fear of Blacks the very conservative National Party was elected and instituted formal Apartheid. The majority Black population couldn't vote at all in elections until 1994, which explains these results in 1948. There was also a fear of communism and intense nationalism on the heals of WWII that assisted the NP's victory.

The above summary is entirely inadequate to understand Apartheid's formation, but there is plenty of literature on the subject and I'd be willing to share more, but I'm trying to keep people interested in my blog by not posting too extensively. Half way through the Apartheid Museum, right after 1948 was detailed, two Grizzly Bears (clearly imported) assaulted 42 boys who were calling a man baldy.

From the formal initiation of Apartheid in 1948 until its theoretical demise in one-man one-vote elections in 1994 it is accurate, in my mind, to describe life in South Africa as violent. Certainly the denial of one's humanity is violence against the soul, and was accompanied by physical violence such as removal from land and direct attacks. I readily accept that even non-violent political demonstration is antagonistic, but it does not necessary solicit a response of state violence. Black South Africans eventually resorted to organized violence to counteract government sanctioned assaults, first through bombing facilities while trying to avoid human casualties and then training militias in neighboring countries- this came after about 12 years of civil and political disobedience against Apartheid. When I look at South Africa today I think of Dr. King's words, "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral; returning violence with violence only multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars." I don't know what the alternative to violence in fighting Apartheid could have been, as the political and diplomatic routes were pursued before physical violence. Nevertheless, a culture of violence remains- more people died between the abolition of Apartheid in 1991 (I'm pretty sure on that year) and 1994 than in the previous three decades under Apartheid. My current residence is a gated and walled community, the house itself is walled and gated with a spiked fence, I have a key to a security gate and to a front door which has two deadbolts as well, and then there is an alarm complete with motion sensors in the living room (though this may be to keep us from the kitchen in the middle of the night). I suspect much of this is no longer necessary, but the violence of the past 14 years is so ingrained that this will continue to be the norm.

On a happier note, we had a braais (br-eye) to end our first full day. There were fifteen people to eat two grills' worth of meat. I was fully sated after two plates of a spinach and sun-dried tomato salad, a little bit of bread, beef sausage, and grilled tenderloin. They are really challenging my palette around here. The photo features Rev. Chunky, his son Matthew, and half of a cow on the grill. Dinner was followed with an exploration of Chunky's Scotch collection. George and Chunky sat down for a good thirty minutes and talked about every bottle, after Chunky hand selected different Scotches for each of us who were drinking. I don't know if I can handle this all summer!

Sunday
I will not be in the habit of describing every day, but Sunday was my first at Trinity Presbyterian Church where I was warmly welcomed, followed by lunch with the Juckes (including daughter and son-in-law), followed by a viewing of 'Yesterday' - a feature film about HIV/AIDS- with Meredith and Chris back at Chunky's house, and a light meal at the Juckes. And now, this morning, Monday morning, I begin my first day off, which will include my first opportunity to drive a standard left-handed on the wrong side of the road (it's the correct side here for some reason) on the freeway. Keep myself and the rest of Jo-Burg in your prayers!