South Africa - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 331

I must admit that I didn't enjoy my own presentation. I felt that I didn't reach these
children for I assumed that since they lived in a very affluent area, they couldn't relate to
what Iwas saying about the predicament ofthe majority ofAfrica'schildren. Was Iproven
wrong!Afewdayslater,RoseanneWilsonfromSTC-CapeTowncalledmeathometosay
that the students from Camps Bay took what I said to heart and collected boxes of toys,
clothing and canned food for the STC projects in Khayelitsha.
Word continued to spread among teachers regarding my presentations and I contin-
ued to visit several schools per day. I traversed the city with all my gear using my bike as a
point of discussion during my presentations. As a simple example of a typical day, I went
toReginaCoeliPrimarySchoolinAthloneandaddressedthewholeschool.Then,Icycled
to Bishops (my third time) to address another group of students for almost an hour. I ended
atWesternProvincePreparatorySchoolandpresentedtothewholeschool.Sinceitwasmy
last school for the day, I extended the Q&A in various classrooms. This school then gave
me the largest honorarium to date which I gave to STC-Cape Town.
The next day I presented at Herschel Primary and Senior Schools. In addition to an
honorarium,theschoolpresentedmewithabeautifulbookonSouthAfricaandkindlysent
it to my parents in Canada. I was then asked to speak at Rustenburg Girls School (junior
and senior) after which I was invited to meet the mayor in the city centre.
I cycled to the civic center to meet His Worship Mr. Van de Velde, Mayor of Cape
Town and his wife at 3:00 p.m. I first met with Mrs. Van de Velde outside her office where
she worked in the AIDS Committee. She gave me a tour of her office and introduced me
to her staff and volunteers. I described to them what I witnessed regarding the devastation
that AIDS has had in rural Africa mentioning the rise in the number of AIDS orphans and
deserted villages, how it was crippling industries and local economies and how the burden
of dealing with the epidemic had fallen on women (mainly the grandmothers.) They nod-
ded in agreement for when they talked about the impact of AIDS from the South African
context, it was eerily similar.
When the mayor arrived at the AIDS office, we went outside of the civic center to
take photographs.