Revisiting home from home. The places of my heart.

 

 We have lived in Cape Town for 17 years now and we love it. Cape Town is the home city of our children; the home built for and from their experiences and memories. But it is not the place of my birth. Cape Town is not my home town; the home of my heart.

Johannesburg ; EGoli - the city of gold . That is where is was born in 1969 and where I grew up and when to school and studied. having lived away from JHB for almost half my life I think it should not just be called the City of Gold- and it is that indeed for the wealth and spending on life is evident in most of the big centers. from the huge, carefully constructed and thought through shopping malls to the houses that have been built in every nook and cranny; and because of its wealth , I think it is the city of change and so it should be called The City of Change. Nothing stays the same. It is hardly the city . and yet.......

My father lives in Diepsloot on a farm -  small holding . From his patio  stretches out a beautiful view of Johannesburg and we can see the tower in the far off distance standing tall and obvious. Behind us is a very different Diepsloot , about 5 Km away. The one that grew up from the dust and dirt as Apartheid fell. That ever growing town of shanty and brick building alike. It holds the rape capital in its belly. As we drive in from Lanseria, we pass the hustle and bustle of that Dipesloot on the corner. It is huge and busy and full. Welcome to JHB. A place of huge wealth  and of course the harsh realities of post Apartheid SA. and yet......

Sunday and we decide to visit one of our churches in JHB. Christ Church Midrand. It is quite near to Diepsloot which is saying something in JHB. We rush because are late but we really should not have. Christ Church Midrand is a church we have longed to visit for a while now.  It is a church much like our own and we have links to it in many ways. It is also the church that has been tackling issues on diversity and culture in our denom and so we were quite excited. It is a beautiful , fresh, airy and  welcoming building. People were friendly but of course this is JHB after all, everyone is friendly and it is full  of black and white people. It was a refreshing and looking back obvious experience. I say this because, the City of Change has embraced and succeeded in doing something that we in Cape Town can not get right. it has embraced diversity and culture. It is no longer the white city of my youth but it is the beautiful city of the new South Africa. We loved it. It felt like home.

 Gods word was taught and we heard from him and were encouraged and challenged. It was good!  We looked out for old and new friends and found one. 

 After church we visited The Mall of Africa.  Once again, this confirmed all I have said about the city of Change. People of all colours , shopping before Christmas ; enjoying the day; eating alongside one another. living life -- together. On the outside at east because this experience does not really say much about the deepening of relationships for people in SA however the opportunities to do so are obvious.

 This is a photo of us outside Christ Church. That Joburg light  shines bright.

 We set off from Joburg to travel through Gauteng into Mpumelanga and on to The Kruger National park. Through White River and passed the coal industry of sA. The back bone of our electricity and of our pollution problem. A complex issue when seeing it up close. We must have passed 100 coal trucks in that one journey representing employment on a very large scale. This is a photo of a coal mine and the coal cleaning and sorting plant.

The far right photo is an electricity plant doing its thing.




 On and on we traveled o the many Toll roads  and through all that controversy. We stumbled upon the new university of Mpumalanga and here are some of the photos.

The farmlands of SA are also in part in these parts. Mangoes , bananas, avos , and earlier on mielies and cabbages. Row upon row of the food that feeds this country. 

 And finally at the park. 42 degrees and counting. The last time we visited the park, Doug and I, was about 20 years ago. Our kids had never been. We had an excellent time as a family and we enjoyed the many, many animals hiding in that enormous National asset. Another part of our country where change has not remained a distant friend. The park has not really changed from the point of view of the nature but in many ways; good ways ; it has changed a great deal. All the old style , Apartheid rangers  and people working behind all the desks are gone. All the rangers and park workers are from the area around The Park,

 The shops have freshened up and sell interesting South African creations although marketed for foreigners unfortunately. People were all friendly and well informed and it was an excellent and true SA experience. The picnic spots have turned into huge , bushveld eating areas with bathrooms and coffee bars and of course some bushveld meals. This was a big change from the " bring your own food" vibe. The other big change is the the blocking of all the smaller sandy roads. These are now private entries into private lodges which was annoying and which we did not always avoid. These are the really interesting roads and now they are out of bounds.

We saw almost every kind of baby  which was really special. this elephant was a tiny one and the one a leopard sort to get. This heard was having none of that.

 Traveling with teens through the park, I think we were the only lot rocking the roads to rap and the like . What a fun time.

 This dark photo is one from a night drive we did. It was brilliant. A busload of foreigners and a smattering of local SA people.

 We exited The Park via another gate and so got to see another part of the country. These are photos from the roadside shops as we zoomed by on route to catch our plane back to CT.

 Fields that carpeted the valley with bananas. As far as the eye could see.

 Beautiful Mpumelanga we miss you already and you gave my heart a zing. You are welcoming, extraordinary in all ways and you were a delight to enjoy. What a treat and encouragement.  As we left we saw local B&B and back packers  as people have grabbed opportunities for business that living on the border of The Park offers. So encouraging.

As we journeyed on singing and enjoying the trip, we chatted about what an encouragement our trip had been in terms of seeing our beautiful country again. Being stuck in the lovely CT kind of gives a skew view of things. This is an amazing country with amazing people and with good change happening and working. The fields are full, the rain was falling, the ground was bearing much fruit and change is ... it just is and that was so encouraging. This is not a country in collapse as many want to believe. It is a country full of real hope and many blessings . Of course we have many real issues but the South Africans we met are getting on with life despite it all. We have come back to the tip of our country after visiting the far corner and we are full. Thank you Lord.