Finally some photos....

The Black Eyed Peas outside the Foundation with a few of their staff members.

Black Eyed Peas members autographing NMF memorabilia for staff members.

Bonsiwa opening NM's briefcase for Jill and I in the archives, where it is stored. This is the briefcase that he used when he was President. Apparently he still asks for it when he makes trips abroad.

There is no struggle unless it is documented properly

I am still doing archival description and am on box 378 out of 387 boxes. Something I forgot to mention is that earlier this week I was going through a box marked "general correspondence" and came across a signed book by David Backman (Beckman: David Beckman My World Photography by Dean Freeman). I am not a fan of soccer or David Beckman, but I still thought it was pretty cool. While going through another box of general correspondence yesterday, I came across letters from Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton! (for all my American classmates...)

Last Thursday the Foundation hosted ten grade twelve students from the Erasmus Monareng Secondary School in Vosloruus. The students discussed the first three comic books under the Madiba Legacy Series. The students and NMF staff also listened to accounts by Mrs. Amina, Mrs. Alina Mkhwanazi and Mr. Peter Magubane, who shared stories of their experiences of the protest marches of the 1950s and 1960s.

Peter Magubane is a photographer. He brought with him photographs of the student uprising in Soweto on the 16 June 1976. The photos were powerful images, some of them horrifying, but still very powerful. Mr. Magubane was also attacked by the South African Police that day and had his nose broken. More upsetting to him was the fact that the police made him expose some of his film. He stated, "I fought my struggle with my camera." He said that he knew his nose would eventually heal, but the images that had been exposed to the sunlight were lost forever. Some of the students that day also did not want photographs taken, but Mr. Magubane talked to them and convinced them in stating "There is no struggle unless it is documented properly." Peter Magubane published a book, Soweto: The Fruit of Fear in 1987, which is a photographic account of the June 16th uprising in Soweto.

That afternoon, our coworkers Shadrack and Boniswa took us to Soweto. We visited the Hector Peterson Museum and the house Nelson Mandela used to live in during his time in Soweto. Both Jill and I were pleasantly surprised. There has been a lot of economic development in Soweto and it is no longer the shanty town in my mind as depicted in Paton's Cry the Beloved Country. Boniswa made friends wherever we went which resulted in free tee shirts and hats at the Mandela Family Museum in Soweto. They even had some of Mandela's old boots (which I took entirely too many photos of) on display in the bedroom of the house.

A very exciting Monday morning in Johannesburg.

I just met the Black Eyed Peas!!!! They gave a concert here in Johannesburg last night and came to the Foundation today for a visit. I took a bunch of photos and had a photo taken with them - I think. It was so chaotic and crazy. I got to talk with "Wil.i.am" a little bit so that was cool. He was surprised when he found out I was Canadian and he seemed to think that was cool.

Dancing to a Different Rhythm

Last night I heard some African jazz. We went to a bar in Melville to listen to some jazz and it was great. So was the South African wine I drank. Too good in fact – at 6:30am this morning I realized that at my age, the “not on a school night” law will need to be enforced.

I am still doing archival description. In the past two days I have come across some really neat stuff. To start on a light note, I first came across a letter from Montel Williams, then a note from Melinda Gates, a Christmas card from the Dali Lama, and then a letter from the “Greatest of All Time” – Muhammed Ali. There were also letters from both the Bush Presidents, but forgive me for adding my own bias in saying they do not fall into the greatest of all time category. Then there was a folder of letters from Kofi Annan

Much to my delight, I found a box marked “OPRAH.” I am not sure how many visits she has made here, but the records I came across concerned her 2002 ChristmasKindness project and her school for girls. There in the box were photos, like snapshots. Not sure who took them and nobody knew they were there.
One of the more amusing things I have found was a CD containing a Christmas card list. This is like no list I have ever seen in my life. Oprah again made he list, along with Whoppi Goldberg, Sidney Portier, Quincy Jones, Mrs. Gandhi, Elizabeth Taylor, etc…Sarah Furgeson made the list, but Queen Elizabeth did not. Does anyone have any ideas on that one? Then, there in front of me was Denziel Washington’s residential address in LA. I had to close the file. It was simply too tempting to copy it down.

Last night, Jill and I attended a book launch with Verne Harris at a lovely gallery here in Jo’Berg. Zarnia Maharaj’s Dancing to a Different Rhythm is an account of her life story as the wife of struggle activist and former cabinet minister Mac Maharaj. There have been many volumes written by South Africans involved in the struggle for democracy, but few are first-hand accounts by the women. Verne managed to get our copies signed and I am looking forward to getting into the book this weekend. At the launch, we also met Ahmed Kathrada, a close friend of Nelson Mandela who was mentioned frequently in A Long Walk to Freedom.

The origins of humankind

I am currently in the midst of going through the archival records and creating descriptions for their current holdings. I just happened to take a closer look at an itinerary for a trip made to Monte Carlo for the opening of the World Sports Academy. In one afternoon, NM met with Sugar Ray Leonard and Sylvester Stallone, had lunch with Naomi Campbell, and had dinner with Prince Albert and Eunice Kennedy Shriver!!

This past weekend was a productive one. Professor Duff has an impressive network of friends here in South Africa. On Saturday, her friend Leiza took her, Jill and myself to the “Cradle of HumanKind” at Maropeng. We saw fossils that are two million years old, and have proven that humankind did begin in Africa. We were fortunate to see the world famous original fossil, Mrs. Ples, that was discovered in South Africa in 1947 by Dr. Robert Broom. We also saw the Taung Child fossil, which people tell me is also a significant archaeological find.

That afternoon, we visited the Sterkfontein Caves where the fossil of “Little Foot” still lies embedded. Yep, that’s right, I was crawling around caves with Professor Duff. I was actually crawling in places and it proved to be a bit of a work out. Upon leaving the caves, we discovered it had rained and we were greeted by a magnificent rainbow: a nice way to end the day.

On Sunday, we visited the Origins Centre at Witwatersrand University. We had a four hour and fifteen minute tour with tour guide ‘Vera.’ She told us that we had broken her previous best record of three hours! Vera is a retired Librarian who worked for many years in Soweto, and she proved to have a passionate interest in South African history. We had dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was followed by a tour of a market in the Indian section of town. It was a small, but incredibly busy market. All in all, it was a great weekend.

Taung Child

Today from Johannesburg

Today Jill, Wendy Duff and I visited Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. This was the location of the prison in Jo’Berg where such prisoners as Nelson Mandela and Gandhi were held at various times. We left with a mixture of emotions. Throughout the exhibit, there were interpretative displays with commentary from former prisoners. The conditions were absolutely horrifying, which was highlighted by the fact that the prison operated until 1983. The positive aspect is that the constitutional court was built on this same site, using bricks from the former prison: this representation from the past being used to build the foundation for future change.

Tomorrow is our first day at work of work. That means an early morning rise for the first time in a long time!