Sat. night we had a farewell dinner with the students of Orlando West, school officials and our travel agents Tracy, Gail and their families. Tracy and Gail work for Michelle Travel in Jo'burg and have become family to EXCEL, they always go above and beyond the call and saying goodbye to them and our Orlando West family is always bittersweet. At the close of our dinner we presented supplies and equipment to Orlando West from a "wish list" they supply us with each year. I want to thank our students and parents again for making this possible!!! The final touch came with Aaron Jones again singing the U.S. National Anthem followed by all the students from Orlando singing the S. African anthem. My wife Brenda closed the evening with a hymn. We embraced our friends (family) and readied ourselves for the next day.
Sunday morning we got an early start and drove to Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Sharpeville. The church is pastored by Bishop Phillip Molefe Sr. father of Phil Molefe our friend from SABC. They honored us throughout the service and saluted the contributions the program had made to the country over the last 12 years. In a emotional personal moment for me, Bishop Molefe proclaimed me as "my own son" and said when he came to the U.S. I would receive "my father". This was particularly poignant because earlier Bishop Molefe had earlier shared with us that he had a son who was assassinated while attending college in Buffalo, New York and working as an anti-apartheid activist. He said the U.S. will always be a special place because his son's blood spilled on our soil as he courageously fought for freedom against the evil system of apartheid. We left the service uplifted and ready encouraged.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Soweto
Saturday morning 7/28/07 we had a full tour of Soweto which included: visiting a poverty stricken township, small creche (daycare), the home of Bishop Desmond Tutu, and former home of Nelson Mandela (now a museum). We had never seen poverty like that in the township. The home we visited housed 16 people but was little more than three small rooms. However, each bed was neatly made with everything in its place. The creche was for the children of the township and was made from a steel shipping crate. The teachers at the creche explained the children's lesson plans and daily routine. Students, parents and supporters of EXCEL had donated new toys, coloring books, pens & pencils, etc. and we presented them to the teachers. This was followed by a wonderful impromptu moment, student after student took money from their pockets without any instruction from the staff, and placed it into the hands of the teachers and the owner of the house we visited. Our guide gently instructed them to use their right hand to give as using the left was disrespectful. It was an image each of these students will I'm sure carry with them forever.
We also saw the opposite of the township in Soweto. A hospital that stretched almost three blocks, homes with expensive intricate brick work and exquisitely decorated stain glass windows, hand carved designs on doors and gates that made one's jaw drop. Soweto is much more than the image presented in the media and our guide wanted to make sure we saw ALL aspects of Soweto.
The former home of Nelson Mandela was small but full of memorabilia. We saw over 300 proclamations and awards from around the globe, the boots he wore on Robben Island, a championship belt given to him by Sugar Ray Leonard and more. We took pictures outside of Desmond Tutu's home which he still occupies. Our guide let us know he still regularly walks through the community and has even invited full busloads of visitors from other countries into his home. We had no Bishop sightings but were satisfied to visit the homes of 2 Nobel Peace Prize winners a stone's throw from each other. INCREDIBLE!!!!
We also saw the opposite of the township in Soweto. A hospital that stretched almost three blocks, homes with expensive intricate brick work and exquisitely decorated stain glass windows, hand carved designs on doors and gates that made one's jaw drop. Soweto is much more than the image presented in the media and our guide wanted to make sure we saw ALL aspects of Soweto.
The former home of Nelson Mandela was small but full of memorabilia. We saw over 300 proclamations and awards from around the globe, the boots he wore on Robben Island, a championship belt given to him by Sugar Ray Leonard and more. We took pictures outside of Desmond Tutu's home which he still occupies. Our guide let us know he still regularly walks through the community and has even invited full busloads of visitors from other countries into his home. We had no Bishop sightings but were satisfied to visit the homes of 2 Nobel Peace Prize winners a stone's throw from each other. INCREDIBLE!!!!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
NEPAD and ANC
Friday, July 27, 2007 was quite unique. We experienced private meetings with two extremely powerful entities in the country that other tour groups never get the opportunity to experience. In the morning, thanks to connections made by Dr. Rubin Patterson, we met with Prof. Mzobz Mboya Director of Education and Youth Training for NEPAD (New Partnership For African Development) NEPAD is a vision and strategic framework for Africa's renewal. It advocates good governance as a basic requirement for peace and security. It also advocates the partnership of African people on all fronts: economic, education, capacity building, youth development etc. Prof. Mboya was a gracious host and outlined the full plan of educating and training the youth around the continent in order to build a more solid infrastructure.
In the afternoon we visited the offices of the ANC (African National Congress) the ruling party in S. Africa and of course the party of Nelson Mandela. We were introduced to every aspect of the party literally floor by floor and were given access to each department head with a Q & A session with each. The students were told about the origins of the organization, it's history, and how the ANC was banned during Apartheid but continued to grow and in fact flourish underground. The tour ended when we were introduced to David Maimela the President of SASC (South African Student's Congress) which leads ALL student political organizations in the nation. He engaged our students in an electric conversation about student leadership, defeating apathy, and the deep need for them to have a strong voice in government and in their schools. He implored them to be leaders and not followers, stand for justice and equal rights for all people regardless of race or other differences. We marvelled at his passion and keen understanding of global politics as a young college student himself with such awesome responsibilities. We were also greatly honored that he would carve out time in his day to speak with us. What a rare opportunity to interact in such a way with ANC members who continue to shape history.
In the afternoon we visited the offices of the ANC (African National Congress) the ruling party in S. Africa and of course the party of Nelson Mandela. We were introduced to every aspect of the party literally floor by floor and were given access to each department head with a Q & A session with each. The students were told about the origins of the organization, it's history, and how the ANC was banned during Apartheid but continued to grow and in fact flourish underground. The tour ended when we were introduced to David Maimela the President of SASC (South African Student's Congress) which leads ALL student political organizations in the nation. He engaged our students in an electric conversation about student leadership, defeating apathy, and the deep need for them to have a strong voice in government and in their schools. He implored them to be leaders and not followers, stand for justice and equal rights for all people regardless of race or other differences. We marvelled at his passion and keen understanding of global politics as a young college student himself with such awesome responsibilities. We were also greatly honored that he would carve out time in his day to speak with us. What a rare opportunity to interact in such a way with ANC members who continue to shape history.
Rocket Alum in South Africa
While the students were taking their tour, Phil Molefe hosted some of the adult delegation in his office. As we laughed and reminisced, Dr. Cooks brought up the name of a former student who was from S. Africa. When she said the name Papi Leapeetswe Molotsane I sat up in my seat because Papi and I had been student leaders together at UT. Papi was an officer in both the Black Student Union and the African People's Association. Phil said he had Papi's phone number and would call him. He said Papi was doing MAJOR things and in fact had just finished a stint as CEO of Telekom the largest communications company in South Africa! When he reached Papi on the phone we had a wonderful reunion and made arrangements to meet later at our hotel. When Papi walked through the hotel doors several hours later, we embraced and laughed like old times. It was amazing to be standing in a hotel lobby in Jo'burg with a fellow Rocket! Papi insisted on taking us to dinner so we could continue our reunion. As it turned out, Papi had become one of the most influential businessmen in S. Africa and in addition to Telekom being on the New York Stock Exchange, he had also helped bring the Broadway production of The Lion King to South Africa for the first time where it continues to play to standing room only nightly. I shared with him my passion to continue to enlarge the profile of The University of Toledo to be an even greater global institution by partnerships with the EXCEL program and African countries and he pledged his support. He greatly enjoyed his time at UT and wants to become involved again with his Alma Mater. We promised to have ongoing discussions.
SABC/PHIL MOLEFE
We left Orlando West and took about 15 of their students with us to SABC. SABC is the South African Broadcasting Company. It is the largest television network in S. Africa with four different stations each carrying a different type of programming for a different type of audience. Kind of like PBS, CNN, ABC/NBC/CBS all rolled into one large network broadcasting on four stations. They also have a radio tower which broadcasts numerous formats. In other words, SABC is THE media center of South Africa and growing. Phil Molefe is the General Manager for International Affairs for SABC and one of the most powerful men at the network. When he speaks anywhere in the country, things move. EXCEL is extremely blessed because Phil is also a great friend of our program after a chance meeting with Dr. Cooks EXCEL founder many years ago. Since that time he has beeen a major supporter of the program's efforts in and out of S. Africa. Mr. Molefe arranged for a full tour of SABC facilities (radio and television) for the students and afterward hosted a reception and fielded questions. He told our students how important this time in their lives was and how critical it was for them to have a global perspective and always think beyond the box. It was a wonderful way for them to end their day and we only said brief good-byes to Phil because we would see him later in the week. More on that in a later post.
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