Leaving Lesotho

On Thursday morning we left Lesotho for an early flight to Jo’Burg. It wasn’t easy to leave! Two weeks was a short time – it took the first week to really get the “at home” feeling and then all of a sudden our work was done and it was time to go. The Sisters gathered at the airport to see us off just as they had done to welcome us. As that plane took off I had the feeling that I will return again and I left a piece of my heart there! I hope to find some ways at home to support the amazing work the sisters there are doing. A little bit goes a long way there!

On Thursday morning left Lesotho for an early flight to Jo’Burg. It wasn’t easy to leave! Two weeks was a short time – it took the first week to really get the “at home” feeling and then all of a sudden our work was done and it was time to go. The Sisters gathered at the airport to see us off just as they had done to welcome us. As that plane took off I had the feeling that I will return again and I left a piece of my heart there! I hope to find some ways at home to support the amazing work the sisters there are doing. A little bit goes a long way there!

The Oakford Dominican Sisters with whom I have worked for the past six years as facilitator for team meetings and assemblies welcomed us with open arms when we arrived in Jo’Burg. Gemma, whom I had known before she returned to Jo’Burg to serve on their General Council had arranged quite a program for our four days there!

After our arrival and breakfast (or whatever meal it was – they fed us constantly and deliciously!) we were taken by Fabiola to the Oriental market – a place that sells everything and anything Indian or African. I bought some beautiful Basotho fabric there to use for my liturgical workshops. We then went to Konoia, a retreat/conference center run by their sisters where we were shown feast of gift items crafted by the very poor people not only from South Africa but from the surrounding countries. To be honest, I felt guilty about the prices they charged for some lovely things and had to remember that a dollar goes a long way here!

That night we said good-bye to Nicki who had to go back to Los Gatos and resume her responsibilities as principal of St. Mary’s School. We went with her to the airport and saw her off ending one chapter of our journey!

Jo’Burg is such a contrast to Lesotho! The city is large and looks very similar to Large City, USA. But on the outskirts there are still squatter’s camps and very poor housing and in the inner city there is abundant crime and filth. This was to become even more evident the next day.

On Friday, Justina, a Dominican who has a great love for the people of Soweto took us there for a tour of Soweto. She was a wealth of first hand information and stories – this was no tourist overview – she got us close and personal in the short three hours we had with her. It was such a privilege to go to Regina Mundi, the site of the uprising against apartheid, to hear the stories of what happened there from the perspective of one who was ministering among the people at the time, and to see what is now a place of peace and celebration. We saw bullet holes still in the wall and ceiling and the broken altar rail from the escape of the student resisters during a police raid – they were given thee minutes for all 4000 to get out of the Church before being tear-gassed.
There was a photo gallery in what was the choir loft that told the powerful story of resistance starting in the late 60s and capturing the bravery of the youth and women in the struggle. The photo-essay goes from black and white pictures all the way through the violence to color pics of present day liberation. Behind that celebration, though, there still remains a classism based on the large gap between the rich and the poor.

We saw where during apartheid the townships were laid out so that the white South Africans were in the “inner circle” and the colored (mixed) and black South Africans were housed around in concentric circles. It could be death to cross those boundaries. The blacks could work for the whites who could keep one gardener and one cook in a cottage on their property, but the rest of workers’ families had to keep to their place separated from their loved ones. We learned that although there are many more inter-marriages now, and despite the government’s efforts (many quite impressive) at providing housing and pulling people out of poverty, liberation is young and there is still so much to be done. In some sections of the city and suburbs there is housing construction that looks like the hills of Contra Costa County and only a few miles down the road there are squatters’ camps that are so sub-human they are hard to look at. Billboards along the very well built and maintained road system celebrate liberation as they advertise phones, technology, housing developments, etc. by showing both black and white enjoying the benefits of said produce. The whole experience reminded me so much of our own civil rights movement – but in much sharper relief.

On Friday afternoon Gemma and Dagmar, both members of the Dominicans’ leadership team, took us to Pilanesburg, the game reserve where we stayed for two nights. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Jo’Burg to the reserve so we got out of the city and saw the most beautiful countryside. Africa in late summer-early fall is so beautiful. We did not have to experience the devastation of the terrible rains they have had this season and only reaped the benefit by seeing green hills and flowers everywhere. Cosmos is a “weed” that grows everywhere along the road and is so beautiful in full bloom. The sad news for the Africans is that many of their crops have suffered because of the rains, particularly in Lesotho where the peach crop was devastated.

We arrived at Pilanesburg in time for dinner and settled into our accommodations, thatched “huts” that were more than adequate, very comfortable and had most of the conveniences of home. The meals there are buffet style outside right there in the park. So lovely, delicious and enjoyable!

At 5:45 am on Saturday we went out for our first drive through the park where right away we found hippos waiting for us. Just seeing that first big game was awesome – and there was so much more to come. We also saw rhino, ducks, zebra, elephants, impala , birds, flowers, butterflies and more! Pictures will tell that story!

After a delicious buffet breakfast we went out again and saw more and more and more – including two couples of hippos mating! My giraffe story will have its own space later! It was wonderful and quite overwhelming to see these beautiful animals in the wild.
After a little break we went out on our night drive led by the tour guide – real safari style! Oh, my!!!! You’ve read my elephant story!

We didn’t see too many more big game animals after that, but night fell and the sky was clear and the stars came out and it was amazing! I am proud of the fact that I recognized the Southern Cross as soon as it appeared and found Orion! The sky looks so different in the Southern Hemisphere and to actually see it was remarkable. I wouldn’t have known that one gets so familiar with one’s own piece of the universe! The Milky Way was so dense – a spectacular and humbling sight.

We enjoyed a very late dinner after our night safari and fell into bed with visions of elephants and giraffes dancing in our heads.

On Sunday morning we feasted again before driving through the park one last time. We drove to the “Cradle of Humanity” where “Mrs. Ples,” the oldest human being discovered, and “Little Foot” an even older “ape man” (over 200,000 years old) were found in the caves there. There is very current research that shows that this is where humanity was born – I’d call it “Creationists’ Hell” for sure! The photos and data are compelling, awesome, and almost beyond comprehension in terms of the millions and billions of years that they trace.

Margaret and I did the tour of the caves – a bit of a challenge as one had to crawl through some tight spaces – thankfully not many of them. But it was more than worth it! Little Foot is still being extracted from the stone in which he lies and in two years will be moved to a public museum nearby. I’m sure it will be a great educational site, but I found myself having mixed feelings about that! It was a profound experience to be standing in a place like that – to wonder about the origins of life, perspective on life, meaning of life, and how this all fits together in my own life! I’m sorry that our time was so rushed because I think an experience like that needs a lot more time to be absorbed.

Monday was our last day in Jo’Burg and in the morning Paula Mary, another Oakford Dominican took us to see two project run by their sisters. One is an AIDS project for children infected and affected by AIDS. The other is a project for women infected or affected by AIDS who create crafts and the most beautiful weavings to raise money. The real purpose, however, is to empower the women and given them purpose and hope. Both projects were very inspiring. In both, local women are being trained to lead the projects and to take positions of responsibility for the children, the crafts, and for telling the story of their lives and work.


Then it was time for us to leave. After a short nap and shower we packed our bags (significantly heavier than when I arrived!) and Gemma drove us to the airport for our 8:00pm plane. L-O-N-G would be an understatement in describing the flights to Montreal. We flew from Jo’Burg to Frankfurt (all night) where we had a five hour layover, from Frankfurt to NY-Kennedy (nine hour flight) airport where we had a three hour layover and finally landed in Montreal some 33 hours after our departure!

Yesterday was a rest day – sleep, eat, sleep some more, eat, sleep some more….

And today our meetings begin!