The Pilgrimage Comes to a Close...

Today we continued our time of reflecting on the festivals and the personal experiences we had, and we did this by going out and finding a rock that reminded us of our time here or of the people that we met. Once we had our rocks, we split into our small groups and spent some time journalling.

After lunch we had the special treat of going up to Table Mountain, or for the local South Africans, The Mountain. We saw some breath-taking views of Cape Town as we went up on the cable car, and saw even more stunning views of the area when we got to the top. The real reason for our trip to Table Mountain was to erect a can of rocks to mark the end of the pilgrimage. As we each placed our rocks down we shared what it is that it meant to us, and it was great hearing from each other the journey that we shared. So now the pilgrimage has officially finished, but tomorrow we get to have a day off before heading back to Joburg and then home for many of us. We hope you have enjoyed keeping up with the stories and experiences that we have had on this 2010 Pilgrimage to South Africa, and we look forward to seeing what comes out of our time here!

The team reflects...

Today marked the final stage of the pilgrimage, as we started the process of reflecting on our time here and the festivals that we did. It was a nice feeling to be together once again as we split into our festival teams to plan our reports and story-telling in the afternoon.

Everyone enjoyed catching just a glimpse of what each team did at their festivals and the difference they made in their area. Tomorrow we continue sharing our experiences and what our time here has meant for us.

Another Day of Pilgrimage...

Today we were joined by the team that went to Durban so that we were one again a whole big group for the first time since Joburg. They were all very weary and tired from the long coach trip from Durban, but a quick walk to District 6 got the blood rushing and they were soon awake.

At the District 6 museum, we were given a tour by an original member of this remarkable community that existed during the height of the Apartheid regime. He told us about how this very diverse community of people from all sorts of backgrounds and races lived together in harmony regardless of the colour of their skin, their race, religion or beliefs, even when the government was trying its hardest to separate people. District 6 stood up against the Apartheid regime and proved that we can all live together as one, and showed us a real example of Ubuntu.

After our tour of District 6, we then took a rather bumpy ferry ride to Robben Island. As some of you may know, Robben Island was the place where the Apartheid regime kept its political prisoners and was where the likes of Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma were imprisoned. What people don't know was that Robben Island was also the place where the mainland sent lepers a century or more ago, but was a place of imprisonment for over 3 centuries. We were very moved by an ex-prisoner who took us on a tour of particularly the prison, and seeing the place through his eyes.

We finally returned to the Grasmere Educentre where we are staying and helped the guys from Durban settle in.

Final Day of Festivals in Cape Town!

Today was the third and final day of festivals in the three locations in Cape Town - Atlantis, Athlone, and Red Hill, and also the last festivals for the pilgrimage.

In Red Hill team arrived to be greeted by 30 kids who had been waiting for them since 10am in the morning and who were very excited to see them again. With a slightly smaller team than yesterday, they did a really good job as a team and made some good connections in the community. There were a constant swarm of kids in the centre games who just enjoyed being together and there was a nice feeling of belonging and community within the group that were at the festival. One of the local team there, a community worker who has been there for three months, said that before the festivals everyone in Red Hill was asking why he was there, but now because of the festivals he has made so many connections with people in the community and all the kids know and trust him now.

Despite some more windy weather in Athlone, more connections were made and more fun was had at the festival there. The festival seemed to be a non-stop dance-fest with everyone just wanting to dance for most of their time at the festival. One special moment of the festival was when many of the kids would come up to James and affectionately call him Uncle, reflecting how they felt like being family with the team. The local team were really happy to see how the community come together during the festival and how they can link people into the activities that are already running Athlone like Kids Club. Some exciting possibilities!

The Atlantis team started their festival a bit earlier at 11am and when they arrived the park was pretty much empty, especially for a Saturday. However, like the two days before, kids soon came by the masses to be part of the festival. The local member of parliament came and welcomed everyone to the festival and was really keen to see this in other nearby communities. Although, not quite as many adults as yesterday, there were still plenty of kids and helpers as well. Jess, a local part of the pilgrimage team, seemed to attract a little of horde of kids who followed her everywhere she went. One grandma came after the festival and told Heather how she saw everyone doing the line dance from her flat and was dancing along as well in her kitchen, showing how we also had an impact even on those who were watching.

All-in-all, it really has been an incredible time of making connections and building a real sense of community in places that have so many needs, but also have so much to give. Tomorrow we will be joined by the Durban team as we have a second day of pilgrimage.

Cape Town Festivals Day 2

Today was the 2nd day of festivals in Cape Town, and the 5th festival of the pilgrimage. Across all three festival locations it was clear that our hard work from yesterday had paid off and we were seeing community start to build.

In Atlantis the team arrived to a park considerably more empty than yesterday and thought that it would be a quieter day - we were so wrong! Once we had set up the tables and most of the activities, kids seemed to come out of nowhere and we ended up with more than we had yesterday. Our local team of 20 volunteers, especially the grandmas, did a great job sticking it out painting faces, making balloons, and blowing bubbles. We had several older members of the community come up to us and say thank you, and one older gentleman came to Michael with tears in his eyes overjoyed at what he saw, saying that he now has hope for his community. There also a very nice sense of gratitude and belonging amongst both the kids and adults.

The Red Hill team experienced a similar experience with the kids being much more calmer and more willing to help than yesterday. The kids began to understand the culture and living by the norms of build people up, help people grow, because people matter. One of the highlights of the festival was when two older ladies joined in on the limbo, reflectng how the community was starting to embtrace the festivals. The team also did a fantastic job working together and so the festival seemed to work a lot more smoothly.

The Athlone festival did not quite have the crowds that the team expected, but had a much more consistent flow of people come through. The wind caused a few problems, but everyone still had a great time. At one stage Emily walked over to one of the festival activities to find a young boy taking control after Phil had made him 'Master of the table' - quite special!

Tomorrow we have our 3rd and final festival in Cape Town so stay tuned for the next update!

Cape Town Festivals Day 1

After two days of festival training with locals, we were keen to get into our first day of festivals. The three communities that we did festivals in were Athlone, Atlantis, and Red Hill.
For the team in Athlone, despite having a fairly small team, managed to start their festival a bit early at 12:30pm. It wasn't too long before kids, parents, and the rest of the community drew towards the excitement and fun of the festival, located in a spacious park with a wonderful view of Table Mountain. The crowd built so well that by the end when they did a tug-of-war, kids vs adults, the whole tug-of-war rope was absolutely full of people, and it was a surprise that it didn't break! At least 150 people came to the festival, with more expected in the coming days.
The Atlantis team arrived to a local team of about 10 and a park full of kids, so it wan't going to be a problem drawing a crowd. Through out the festival there were at least 70 kids in the centre games, and one of the favourites was water balloon volleyball with two sheets on both sides packed with kids. This combined with water balloons that were more like giant water superbombs, meant a whole lot of fun! Michael from Cape Town did a great job as MC, and there were piles of kids swamping both the face painting and balloon sculpting.
Despite being stuck in traffic, the Red Hill team started their festival on time in the rather small dirt space that they had, surrounded by shacks. Almost istantly the area was full with just kids for the centre games, let alone having space for the face painting and the other activities. Some local community workers who were part of the team worked really well and had great time as they saw kids from three very segregated areas of the community come together and enjoy playing with each other. The kids were pretty wild though, so the team came back very weary, but are looking forward to what is in stall for the coming two days of festivals.

Cape Town - Second day of Festival training

Today we enjoyed some wonderful weather in Cape Town - sunny and warm, just what we needed for today. Jo led us through some training on what there is to do after Open Crowd festivals and how to develop a movement, which was very interesting material as we saw how we were just the beginning of what could be a movement here in South Africa.

At lunch we were treated to a South African braai (barbeque) and were joined by the local youth group. It was a fun time of meeting new people, eating great food, and watching soccer on the big screen together. There were even some centre games going outside with one of the highlights being the line dance we taught those from the youth group.
In the evening we held a community tea, inviting friends of Fusion from around the local area. Like most of the afternoon, we had a great time of socialising, playing some active team-building activities, and eating some yummy food. To finish off a fantastic day, we sat around the big screen and watched Bafana Bafana (the South African soccer team) play Uruguay.

Tomorrow we start our first festivals in three communities - Atlantis, Athlone, and Red Hill. Stay tuned to hear some stories from the festivals tomorrow..

Cape Town Day 2

Rested up and ready for action, we started off the day with some singing and a time for journalling before heading off for festival training in our communities for the first time.

The Athlone team were lucky and didn't to travel anywhere as their training was in the building where we are staying. However, they did get a tour of the area by our local member of the team, Derek, before teaching some festival skills. They had the chance to put their skills to the test with the kids of the creche, who really enjoyed themselves, particularly liking 'What's the time Mr Lion?'.

The Red Hill team had some adventures on their way to Red Hill, about an hour away. At one stage they were all taking a pictures by the side of the road of what they thought was a whale, when in fact it was a bouy with a whale's tail attached to it - quite a funny sight! Red Hill has its own little version of Apartheid, being segregated into several areas housing groups of the same 'race'. They met up with 8 or so people working in the community who were committed to seeing the community come together. Some exciting things to come!

The third part of the team went to Atlantis, a town of roughly 50,000 people also an hour away, and is mainly a 'coloured' community. There was a team of 10 volunteers, most of them teenagers, who were keen to see something different in their community. One of the highlights of the time includes teaching some of the centre games in the park where we are having the festivals, and 70 kids rocking up to koin in almost instantly and we hadn't even started a festival! So we have no doubt that we will draw quite a crowd for the festivals starting on Thursday.

Tomorrow we start our second day of festival training and also have a community braai (South African barbeque) in the evening before watching the South African soccer team, Bafana Bafana, play a game.

Cape Town Day 1

After a rather uncomfortable and long trip on the coach, we finally arrived at our destination - Cape Town. We were warmly welcomed by Derek and others from the Fusion Cape Town team, which is more than can be said about the weather that remained rainy, windy and cold for the rest of the day. Once we settled into the classrooms that we are staying in at the Grasmere Educentre, we scoffed down some warm breakfaast, had some warm showers and relaxed until lunch, especially after such a long bus trip.

After some lunch, some of us ventured to a local shopping centre to watch a South African comedy movie about how to survive in South Africa, which was a good laugh. Once we finished dinner we gathered for the first time as the Cape Town team and heard a devotion from Jo and looked at the days ahead. Tomorrow we start our first day of festival training in the three communities that we will be working in - Athlone, Atlantis, and Red Hill.

The team splits...

Today was the day that our big team split into two smaller groups to go to Durban and Cape Town for the next stage of the pilgrimage. The 17 pilgrims that went to Durban had to wake up at an early 4:30am to catch a coach from Joburg to Durban, a six hour drive. They arrived safely in Durban around 3pm, but soon discovered that they forgot to take some festival gear that they needed!

The remaining 18 pilgrims made up the Cape Town team and managed to sleep-in a bit longer than the Durban guys and said goodbye to the Rocky Valley campsite to catch a coach at 1pm. Thanks to some handy packing by Jero we managed to fit all our suitcases and luggage into the back half of a mini-van and then all piled into the one and a half mini-vans left. Once we were on the coach it was an overnight trip to Cape Town.

Day of Pilgrimage

After three exhausting, but very rewarding days of festivals we had a day to relax a bit and gain a greater insight into the history of South Africa. We started off with a bit of a treat with a visit to a nearby lion park, which was a great opportunity for us to have the African safari experience. We passed some zebras, ostriches, and springbok, learning a bit about each and how they survived in their environment. Next came the fun part – the lion cages! Most of us were amazed by them and especially how big they were. Some were even adventurous and decided to say hello, jumping up on the side of the vehicles. Other highlights include patting some lion cubs & feeding giraffes – they have long tongues!
We then moved into the pilgrimage part of the day starting at the Apartheid Museum. It was a sobering and informative experience for most of us as we tracked the rise and fall of Apartheid, following the stories of many who were affected and those who stood against it. All of us, and the particularly the South Africans in our group, found a greater appreciation for what people like Nelson Mandela & Desmond Tutu did for this great country.
Our next stop was the Hector Petersen Memorial in Soweto, a suburb of Joburg. It was set up to commemorate the 600 students who died during and after the Soweto Uprising in 1976, where 15,000 students peacefully protested against having to be taught in Afrikaan at school and were met by gunfire from the police. One of those students killed during the protest was a young boy called Hector Petersen, who became a symbol of struggle against the Apartheid regime.

Last Day of Festivals

Today was the third and final day of festivals in Joburg. We were all very excited to see what impact the last two days of festivals have had on the four different areas we have been working in.

The Chaneng team had stayed in Rustenburg overnight and so started their festival earlier at 11am to finish as the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony started. There were so many kids at the festival, especially in the centre games. Six young people from the local church, who had been part of the team from the first festival, were really keen to see their community changed and to continue what the team had started. What was nice was that after 3 days, the team had really been accepted into the community and it was just like being with family when they watched the opening ceremony and game with the locals.
In Brixton, the team had a really great time as there was a real sense of celebration for everyone at the festival now that South Africa’s big moment had arrived. Everyone regardless of race, skin colour, religion, or gender joined together at the festival as one – proudly South African. It was a special moment to be part of.

Despite some tireless organising by Rachel and Dave, the Alexandra teams didn’t get to their festivals sites until 3pm – 4 hours after the festival should have started – because of some unreliable taxi services, which was a disappointing for many. However, we did get to run 30 mins of centre games at both the Alex Creche and Stadium Carpark, and also got to say goodbye to the many friends we had made over the past 3 days.
And of course, the first day of the FIFA World Cup wouldn’t have been complete without watching the opening game of South Africa vs Mexico. So we all gathered, except the Chaneng crew, at a local park to watch the game on a big screen with some 10,000 South Africans who couldn’t have been more excited. Everyone seemed to have a Vuvuzela and were putting them to good use – what an atmosphere!

Festivals Day 2

Having already done one festival at each of our areas a lot of our fears and uncertainty disappeared and were replaced with excitement. We were all very eager to start our second festival and see the impact that we are having in our communities.

The Chaneng guys headed off early again, taking their overnight gear to stay overnight. It was a warmer day, especially out in the sun on the red dirt, but the team worked very hard. The kids were testing the boundaries this time, which proved more of a challenge, but all in all was a good time. To finish off the day they celebrated over some KFC.

In Brixton, the team had a few more additions like a local volunteer, Stan, who did a great job as a clown. One of the stories from the festival was that there was a lady with a baby in a blanket wrapped around her helping with the balloon sculpting and even participated in the tug of war!

Although not having a PA for the festival, the Alexandra Stadium Carpark team did a fantastic job reinforcing the norms in everything they did. Nearly all the girls at the festival became helpers, especially helping Sarah with the centre games, and there were even some parents that came this time. Dave had a great chat with a guy from the Chamber of Commerce who was really keen to try and get sponsorship for the festivals.

Like many of the other festivals, the Alexandra Creche festival had heaps of volunteers and kids wanting to help. It was so much so that a whole sign-up sheet was filled and we even ran out of name tags. We estimated at least 200 people were part of the festival, and Michael from Cape Town did a great job as MC. What’s the time Mr Lion and the tug of war were some of the highlights.

Festivals Day 1

Today was the day! We were all very excited as we gathered our gear and prepared to go off into the four locations for festivals – Alexandra Creche, Alexandra Stadium Carpark, Brixton, and Chaneng. The Chaneng team left early at 9am as they had to travel 2 ½ hours to get to their festival, while the rest of us waited for the taxis to take us later on. However, 2 hours later one taxi finally turned up so the Alexandra crew (all 23 of us) had to squeeze into a 15 seater mini-van and a very small hatchback for the hour journey to Alex – quite an adventure!

At the Alexandra crèche we were greeted by a swarm of excited kids between the ages of one and six and it didn’t take long to get the festival into full swing. Despite not having a PA system everyone had a great time. The Alexandra Stadium Carpark festival had an estimated 150 people come and enjoy the festival activities in the large car park area behind the stadium there.

The Brixton team had to wait even longer for taxis so by the time they arrived at their festival location they only had an hour to go. Fortunately, Ann Simmons and a team of volunteers from Brixton had a festival already running and our team just had start up some centre games. There were lots of little kids and even a golden statue!

After 2 ½ hours, the Chaneng team were greeted by six volunteers from Rustenburg who were really helpful, picking things up quickly when the festival started. The festival even featured a jumping castle, which in the first hour wasn’t used at all until one youngster jumped on and in an instant nearly everyone was on the jumping castle. It was so full of kids that the team had to turn it off!

When everyone finally returned back to the campground, we were very exhausted, so after a quick dinner and debrief it was straight to bed, ready for another day of festivals.

Last Day of Training & Preparation for Festivals

Excitement has started to build as we draw ever closer to our first festivals starting tomorrow. Today, our last day of training, we were privileged to hear from two guest speakers who shared their vision of a better South Africa and really encouraged us as we prepared for our festivals and as we go out into the 3 different communities.

We also met together in our festival groups for the first time and heard a little about what we were going into and got all our gear together. In the afternoon we received our pilgrimage t-shirts, which really look great and you will see more of in the coming days. We had some free time in the afternoon so some of us decided to climb one of the near-by mountains and see the amazing view below.

SSOM Day 2

Day 2 of the Short School of Mission started off with some singing ‘African-style’, with the local South Africans and the two Nigerians leading us. Dave Ireson showed us through a model of how we reach the community in a number of easy steps. Marty then explained to us what the ‘Open crowd’ was and how we can achieved this through Open Crowd Festivals.

The afternoon involved a number of electives where we got to learn how to do several festival activities like balloon sculpting, face-painting, and clowning. Everyone had a great time, especially when we got to showcase our new-found skills in the evening, as well as learning the new line-dance. Large games of cards have really taken off in our spare time, reflecting how close we have become already.

The Pilgrimage Begins!

Today was the official beginning of the Pilgrimage to South Africa as we all joined together for the first time. There are a total of 36 pilgrims from 6 different nations, ranging from Germany, Nigeria, & Albania to Australia, South Africa, & Canada. Each one of us got to experience a bit of South African hospitality as we were welcomed to Johannesburg and to the start of the pilgrimage.

Marty Woods kicked us off with the Short School of Mission, leading us through why we are here and an overview of our time here. In our journaling time we had a look at some background information of South Africa and inspirational figures like Nelson Mandela, Ghandi & Desmond Tutu. We finished the night watching the amazing movie ‘Invictus’, which follows the story of Mandela as he brings the nation together through the game of rugby.

Welcome!

We want to warmly welcome you to the Pilgrimage to South Africa 2010 blog. We will be updating this blog after each day to keep you up-to-date with the happenings of the pilgrimage as we go about changing communities during the World Cup moment. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming days..