Today we had 3 very interesting and informative experiences. First off we visited a sustainable farming operation run by Vanderbiljpark Rotarians, notably Rita Benecke whom we helped celebrate her 80th birthday on Saturday. Rita is a local mover and shaker, head of the Benecke Group of Companies. The operation is completely organic and grows a wide variety of vegetables as well as starter seedlings for 44 other gardens run by community groups such as churches. They also operate a “soup kitchen”, literally a large commercial kitchen were they produce 1800 liters of soup PER DAY🥰. The soup is made in four large stainless steel vats and the cook was just beginning today’s batch. The soup is distributed daily to charities such as Meals on Wheels, schools, churches and real soup kitchens. While we were there a young man was loading the trunk of his car with 5 gallon plastic buckets of hot soup and loaves of donated bread and butter. He will travel to one of the client churches or schools for immediate distribution.
After our tour we journeyed deeper into the “Township of Bophelong” Bophelong means “Place of Life” in the Sotho language, one of the 12 official languages of South Africa. Townships are communities on the outskirts of the cities where the blacks were only allowed to dwell. The most famous is Soweto near Johannesburg. Since the end of apartheid, blacks are not confined to the townships. Those with the economic means to do so will move out and into the cities proper. Those that can’t, including poorer whites, continue to live in the townships. In fact they are growing as the economy deteriorates and the gulf between the haves and have nots continues to widen.

The destination was a restaurant where we would dine on a selection of local cuisine. Interesting and very tasty to say the least. Chakalaka,a spicy mixture of beans, onions, peppers and carrots; pap, a creamy mixture of corn meal similar to polenta; potjiekes, a stew like dish made with a variety of meats and vegetables and potatoes and the requisite “Brazilian”, South African bar b q, in this case chicken legs. All of this washed down with jugs of homemade ginger beer. The restaurant was actually a night club, complete with a bar extending the length of an entire wall, leather sofas and a dj booth. Probably a rocking place in the night time.
After a post lunch chill out then a little dancing on the nightclub dance floor to get the blood flowing and the food settled we headed to an after school program run by a local newspaper publisher Simon. As the presence of a group of Canadians was a hot topic in the township, he wanted to interview us and as I am the team leader I was chosen to speak for the group. He asked what my impressions of South Africa were and I repeated my earlier assertions that I was impressed by how welcome we were made to feel and also how proud South Africans seem to be of their country. We went on to talk about the power and magic of Rotary worldwide. I suggested that if you want something done, get a Rotarian excited about it and it will get done.
We visited Simon’s after school project were he provides space and guidance for up to 90 school children from about 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM every day. He personally picks up all the children from their schools and then drives them all home afterwards. He is assisted by older student helpers and is doing this on a shoe string for funding. I suggested he needed to enlist the support of the local Rotary club.
After being entertained by a group of boys who sang us a lovely song, we piled back into our van, headed back home for a nice quiet evening and bed to recharge for another busy day tomorrow.

About 65 million years ago a large meteorite slammed into the earth in an area we have come to know as the Yucatán peninsula. The resulting ash cloud that was flung into the atmosphere and encircled the earth blocked out the sun and eventually led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Almost 2000 million years earlier an even bigger meteorite slammed into the earth in present day South Africa near the town of Vredefort. The meteorite was an estimated to be between 20-25 kilometers in diameter and created a crater up to 300 kms wide. The rebounding of the earth after impact caused and uplift of material now known as the Vredefort Dome, a series of circular hill formations northwest of Johannesburg. Archeological evidence suggests that the only living organisms around at this time were simple protozoas which would have been destroyed in the cataclysm. Who knows what they would have evolved to had this not happened.

Central to this area is a town called Parys. It is to here we journeyed for a bit of shopping therapy and some light refreshments. Parys is a town much like Chemainus but it has become somewhat busy with traffic with lots of commercial trucking using the Main Street. You have to on high alert when crossing the street as traffic flows on the left hand side of the road.
Later we returned to our cars and drove for about 30 minutes to a beautiful venue located beside the Vaal River. This river flows through north central SA and is about 1450 kms long. We spent the afternoon on the banks of the river just upstream from the “barrage”, a weir/dam the forms the Barrage lake. The river is lined with massive estates and monstrous homes. This venue is an open air party place. We were served a traditional lunch of oxtail stew and homemade breads with local wine and beers. A formal welcome from the District 9400 Friendship Exchange Committee chairperson was warmly received by our team. I was asked during an earlier conversation what my first impressions of South Africa were. In response I said two things. Number one was how much we appreciated our warm welcome and secondly how evident it was that South Africans are very proud of their country.
We capped the afternoon off with a nice cruise up the river and back and then a short drive home and early to bed for another busy day.

We can learn a lot from trees. They are always grounded but never stop reaching for the heavens.
This morning we were picked up by our individual hosts for the next 4 nights and headed southwest from Johannesburg to a small city about the size of Nanaimo called Vanderbiljpark. Along the way we stopped to visit a home for severely disabled people aged 0-99. Yes 0-99. These children (mostly) primary suffer from cerebral palsy. I say 0-99 as most of them come as infants abandoned by their mothers because of the disability and will spend all of their lives here at this home. This facility is run by a charitable organization and rely pretty much on the donations of generous patrons. Very small stipend provided by the government for food. The place is a clean, bright happy place, well staffed with dedicated people. In honour of visit today we planted two fruit trees, one pomegranate and one pear.
Back on the road again after our tour and a lunch of “ funeral sandwiches “ we arrived at our host’s home for a brief rest then off to a special 80th party for a longtime member of the RC of Vanderbiljpark, Rita Bebecke. Rita is a very important business person in the country and owns a number of restaurants hotels and inns. 150 people joined at the Old Valtonian’s Sports club for a special birthday day dinner and we were very honoured to be included. Now we are back at the home of our guests, ready for bed to wake energized for another exciting day tomorrow. A cruise on the Vall River in the offing. Goeie nag sorted drome ( check Google translate under Afrikaans)

After a 29 hour journey from Vancouver through Toronto and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, we arrived at our hotel in Johannesburg to begin our 2 week Rotary Friendship visit to District 9400 in South Africa. An evening over a lovely buffet dinner with the rest of our tea, we retired for the night and a 10 hour sleep..

We rose this morning with no jet-lag and we’re met by our host team and we set out for the day. More to come.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton