On a more personal note...

I have been instructed to post something more personal this time, and so I’ll comply since I’m about to be out of pocket for a while. The last few weeks have been consumed with meetings, lectures, and preparing midterm essays, so there really isn’t a lot that’s too interesting to tell. I have figured out my classes and arranged an independent study in lieu of next semester’s cancelled course. I haven’t gotten more interested in my two compulsory courses. I have, however, made a few side trips that I thought you might find a little more scintillating than the details of my lectures.

1. The Apartheid Museum. This museum is a remembrance of all the factors which combined to create apartheid: pass laws, white fear, the works of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, the Soweto Student Uprising, etc. If you aren’t so good on your South African history, here is a link to the Wikipedia site on apartheid. It would really help you in understanding what I’m doing this year. Anyway, I’ve been to the Apartheid Museum twice now, both times for two hours, and am still only about 2/3 of the way through the museum. I like to read everything—you know me. Here are some pictures of the museum.

The pillars of post-apartheid South Africa. Not pictured are several others including reconciliation and truth.

Admission to the museum--you enter through the "white" and "non-white" entrances

An example of a South African identity card. Note that the woman pictured isn't just black, she's identified as Swazi as well. This is because blacks couldn't even all live together--they were forced into "homelands" of like tribes.

The definition of apartheid--"the system of segregation or descrimination on grounds of race inforced in South Africa 1948-1991."

2. The Hector Pietersen Memorial. Hector Pieterson was the first student killed in the Soweto Student Uprising (click for link) of 1976, which marks the beginning of black resistance to apartheid as well as state violence in dealing with black resistance. The memorial is dedicated to the student uprising and discusses the resistance of blacks to the state mandate of education for all students in Afrikaans, the language of the oppressor. It was really, really interesting for an educator.

Picture of Hector Pieterson being carried by another student and followed by his sister, Antoinette Sithole.

Marker placed by Nelson Mandela

View of Soweto from the Memorial

3. This weekend, I visited Calvary Methodist in Midrand to participate in the Manna and Mercy course offered by the pastor, Alan Storey. The course serves as a brief introduction to the Bible and provides a framework for understanding and interpreting scripture: that God desires a giving and forgiving people. Anyway, we discussed a lot about the context of scripture—things that the peoples who developed the scriptures would have understood just by being in their context. For example, the number 40 was not understood as a number, but the symbol for “a lot.” So, 40 years in the wilderness meant a lot of years, not necessarily 40 exactly. Also, the “rod” was a pointer by the rabbi used to help the congregation follow the scriptures. So, “spare the rod, spoil the child.” As a result of failing to seek out context, we fail to understand scriptures correctly. Very interesting!

4. For worship Sunday I attended Calvary for the early service. Calvary is a multi-race, multi-class church in Midrand, the halfway point between Jo’burg and Pretoria. The church has lots of ministries for the disadvantaged in the Midrand community and works toward active understanding of social justice issues within its own congregation. It reminds me of my own Highlands UMC in Birmingham. After attending the early service at Calvary, Alan took me to Ebony Park Methodist where he was preaching for their service. EPM is a more traditional African church with a service entirely in Zulu and members dressed in traditional Methodist attire (black suit with white shirt and red vest for men and red top with white collar, black skirt, shoes, and hoes for women). They danced and sang with vigor and welcomed me to their congregation by asking me to pray for them. It was lovely.

Finally, some views of Jo'burg from my various side trips. Hope you enjoy!

I love this sign! It's for Cell C and it's HUGE!

I live near the white tower, which is on the Wits campus.

They have great sunsets here--which leads to the question whether or not I am shaving years off my life breathing in all this smog!

So, I’ve had a good few weeks, despite papers on epistemic paternalism and the frameworks of human rights in light of shifting conceptions of human identity. On Wednesday I leave for Cape Town to visit Jon David, a friend from Birmingham who is also on a Rotary at University of Cape Town. We plan to live it up for a couple of weeks, so I won’t promise a blog post during that time. But I promise to include installment two of “cultural amalgamation issues” upon my return, so keep those thinking caps on. I will also promise pictures.

I love and miss all of you, have no doubt. I covet your emails and pictures and facebook messages. Thanks for all of your support. On a personal note: a belated Happy Birthday to my Uncle Denny! Congrats to Rebecca and Charles on their marriage! Congrats to Ben Marsh on becoming a Fulbright Scholar! I joy in your celebrations, even when I’m not around to hug you in person.