What's not in the pictures

Okay, this is interesting. Apartheid was just abolished here about 12 years ago, so it’s as if we have stepped backwards into some of our own country’s history as we experience the still-new integration of races. Terms like “blacks, whites and coloreds” don’t refer to the laundry, but to the faces that make up this Cape. There is still great separation, primarily due to wealth or lack thereof, but in general that has separated the blacks from the whites.

Violence and thievery don’t abound per se, but it’s certainly more common than our sheltered lives are used to. People only pause at stop signs or red lights after dark due to the high number of car jackings. Lock your doors at all times and don’t leave valuables visible in the car.

As we’re driving along in this picturesque place, we pass “Townships”, where MILLIONS of people live in shacks constructed of whatever could be found – mostly tin. Aids is raging, and they say one infected person in a Township is expected to transfer the disease to 200 people within a township because of the lack of hygiene and monogamy. Wow. On Thursday afternoon we plan to visit a Children’s Hospice with our hosts, Peter and Maven, who volunteer there every week. Most of the children have aids, some have worse, but this home provides love for them.

These aren’t things you process right away, but they’re the part we don’t have pictures for you to see, but want you to know nonetheless.