Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
my approach to Aliwal North was the lack of vegetation. It seemed like the Wild West in
the USA's dustbowl with desert like plants and tumbleweed blowing across the road.
IlefttheOrangeFreeStateandwasabouttospendmyfirstnightinCapeProvince.
In Aliwal North, I met the Catholic bishop who permitted me to stay in the house across
the street. He said that he was expecting me, which struck me as odd, for I myself didn't
know that I would be stopping in this town. He offered me some tea, bread and jam for a
snack. I washed up and then was invited to dinner. During our meal, he invited me to give
a talk to the schools in the morning to which I gladly agreed to.
Whatasmallworld.ThenextmorningImetawomannamedPaulaMoloi,aretired
nurse, who went to St. Paul the Apostle's Church in Toronto (I was baptized and had my
First Communion in this parish and my Dad is still the organist there.) Paula lived in a nice
area of Aliwal North. Her neighbours loved her and watched out for her (they even dug a
holeundertheirpropertyfencetoallowtheirguarddogstopatrolbothproperties.)Shewas
a black South African and her neighbours were white. This was a simple illustration of the
New South Africa: where neighbours looked out for each other regardless of skin colour.
Afterbreakfastwiththebishopandtheteachers,ImetthesisterinchargeofBishop
Lamont High School and then was introduced to the students. Ispoke to about 700ofthem
who were extremely polite and curious and asked many questions. I spent about an hour
with them and when I finished, they came up to me for autographs…on their shirts, their
books and so on. My message that I wrote for each autograph was the same: “May God
Bless you in all that you do. Never lose sight of your dreams.” They sang to me and two
girls gave me an orange.
One funny thing happened as I was about to leave. A group of older girls came up
to me to say good-bye. One of them kissed me on the cheek and said that she will probably
neverhavetheopportunitytokissawhitemanagain.Shethenranbacktomeetherfriends
and returned to class.
It was noon when I started to cycle. There was a cold wind blowing to my side but
soon it changed direction and became a tailwind. I did a lot of climbing and some of the
viewswerebreathtaking.WhenIwas21kilometresfromJamestown,Inoticedaonecenti-
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