A Change of Plans

We were unable to drive into one of the districts around Cape Town due to the threat of violence from a striking union, so we made some changes to the schedule and took a tour around the city with our bus driver.

Our driver shared with us that he had once been a police officer under the Apartheid Regime. He shared how he was paired with a man of color while on duty. By law he was not allowed to be friends with this man, visit his house, or socialize in any way. And yet they were asked to trust one another to watch each others back.

As part of this tour we stopped by St George's Cathedral, where we found this sign. In the same area we found benches from that time that were marked for whites or people of color, like the one in this picture.

We are looking forward to a meeting tomorrow with Achmed Kathrada, who was imprisoned on Robben Island in the same cell with Nelson Mandela. One of the comments we heard today was that the older people who suffered under Apartheid were able to forgive better than the younger people who suffered.

So tomorrow I believe we will have much more to report around healing and reconciliation.