Travel Study Seminar to South Africa
Twenty years toward justice, equality and a lasting peace.
Johannesburg and Cape Town
NOVEMBER 3-15, 2014
This 11-day trip (plus two travel days) includes three nights in Johannesburg and seven nights in Cape Town. Participants will be away for one Sunday.
Schedule
Day Zero–Monday, November 3
Depart from U.S. locations to Johannesburg.
Day One–Tuesday, November 4
Arrival at OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg. Transfer to Marben Manor Guest House, a short distance from the airport. (Hosts: Willem and Yvonne Bester) Settle in. Dinner together at Marben Manor, followed by devotions and a brief overview of the Johannesburg program in the evening.
Day Two–Wednesday, November 5
Breakfast at Marben Manor. Morning visit to the Apartheid Museum for a glimpse of the history of South Africa and the story of the rise and fall of apartheid. Then on to Soweto for lunch and an afternoon visit to Vilakazi Street (home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners!) and the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum, which tells the story of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, often seen as a turning point in the struggle against apartheid. [Possible visit to Orlando East PC or to Sinenhlanhla HIV and AIDS project in Soweto – both initiatives of the eGoli Presbytery of the UPCSA.) Dinner at Moyo on Zoo Lake, which features a Pan-African buffet of dishes from around the continent and performances by local singers and dance troupes.
Day Three–Thursday, November 6
Following breakfast at Marben Manor, we will visit the offices of two of the PC(USA)’s South African partner churches: the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (which traces its ancestry to Swiss missions) and the Uniting Presbyterian Church (which has roots in the Church of Scotland). This will be an opportunity to learn more about the history of the two denominations, the focal points of their current ministries, the joys and challenges that they face in a democratic South Africa. We will share lunch with staff at the UPCSA before going on to Constitution Hill to tour the former Men’s Prison and the new, richly symbolic Constitutional Court built on the same spot. Dinner at Gramedoela’s Restaurant, followed by a play at the historic Market Theatre.
Day Four–Friday, November 7
Breakfast at Marben Manor. Optional outing to Bruma Lake Market, where stallholders market a wide variety of wares, including local crafts. Lunch at Marben Manor before departing for OR Tambo Airport for an afternoon flight to Cape Town (2 hours duration). Arrive Cape Town and transfer to St. Paul’s Guest House in the heart of the City, owned and operated by St. Paul’s Anglican Church. Dinner at a restaurant in nearby Long Street, a centre of Cape Town night life.
Day Five–Saturday, November 8
Breakfast at St. Paul’s. Overview of Cape Town history with Prof. Nigel Worden. [Weather permitting, this might be done as a walking tour from St. Paul’s to the District Six Museum – about 1 mile away, through the Company Gardens of the Dutch East India Company, and past St. George’s Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament.] Visit to the District Six Museum to learn about the impact of apartheid and forced removals on the social and political geography of the Cape. Afterwards, we will have a box lunch on the way to the V&A Waterfront, where we will take a ferry to Robben Island to visit the prison where Nelson Mandela and many other leaders of the African National Congress were incarcerated for decades. Tours of the prison and the island are conducted by former political prisoners. Dinner at the Waterfront (or, weather permitting, we can take a trip in the cable car to the top of Table Mountain to enjoy the sunset before returning to town for supper).
Day Six–Sunday, November 9
Following breakfast at St. Paul’s we will worship in area churches. Possibilities include JL Zwane Memorial Presbyterian Church in Gugulethu (a large African congregation with extensive community programs; liturgy predominantly in isiXhosa and some English); Rondebosch United (diverse Presbyterian-Congregational congregation near the University of Cape Town with a marimba band; liturgy in English) or St. George’s Cathedral (the “mother church” of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, formerly Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s church, now under Archbishop Thabo Mokgoba). Drive around the Cape peninsula, stopping at quaint villages such as Kalk Bay and Simon’s Town, Boulders Beach (to see one of the largest penguin colonies in South Africa), Cape Point Nature Reserve (“Where Two Oceans Meet”) and coming back along spectacular Chapman’s Peak Drive. Dinner in the seaside town of Hout Bay before returning to Cape Town.
Day Seven–Monday, November 10
We will meet with some of those involved in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process, as well as members of the Khulamani Support Group, an organization that continues to work for the rights of survivors of human rights violations, to explore the impact of the TRC and the state of racial and economic reconciliation in South Africa. Possible participants in these discussions include the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, the Institute for Healing of Memories, and the Quaker Peace Centre. Supper will be on your own at any of the myriad restaurants and cafes within a few blocks of St. Paul’s.
Day Eight–Tuesday, November 11
We will meet with staff of the Program for Land and Agricultural Studies of the University of the Western Cape to learn about the history of land struggles in the Cape and the progress of the initiatives for land restitution.
Day Nine–Wednesday, November 12
We will focus on HIV and AIDS on this day in Cape Town. The day will most likely include a visit to the Winelands.
Day Ten–Thursday, November 13
Today will focus on reconciliation in the Church and the Church’s role in reconciliation. We will visit partners in the Uniting Reformed Church (out of which the Belhar Confession emerged) to learn about the history and impact of the Belhar Confession. We will also meet with leaders of the Dutch Reformed Church to learn hear about progress and continuing challenges in the quest to reunite the various members of the Reformed Church family, divided by centuries of segregation and apartheid. We will also visit the Theology Faculty at Stellenbosch University and the Beyers Naude Centre for Public Theology there.
Day Eleven–Friday, November 14
We’ll remain In Cape Town until noon. There will be a chance for shopping at the Waterfront before we depart Cape Town for Johannesburg. We will then connect to our flights from Johannesburg to the U.S.
Day Twelve–Saturday, November 15
Arrival to the U.S.
