A little bit about the trip. I spent a month in Africa between March and April 1998. I was there with Fox News covering the visit of President Clinton to Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Botswana, and Senegal. This trip was the first of a sitting American president to Africa, and the longest foreign trip for President Clinton. My job was to handle the logistics for the 20,000 tons of television equipment we brought over from the US and Europe, and to assist with the field engineering for the stop in Cape Town, South Africa. After the work was done, I met up with my friend Peter Wharton, who was the Engineer in Charge for the stop in Gaborone, Botswana. We both flew into Maun, Botswana, and rented a 4x4 truck for 8 days. We covered more than 1000 kilometers off-road in 4 countries.

The first impression is that in many ways South Africa feels quite similar to Canada, particularly in terms of industrialization and infrastructure. The climate is wonderful. It gets hot in the afternoon, but is quite pleasant the rest of the day. Sunshine, nice breezes. The people are incredibly friendly and very eager to extend any hospitality; almost to the point of feeling as if South Africa were straining out a battered hand, grasping for the grip of the other hand of the world withdrawn for so many years. Like an infant needing the warm embrace of mother to fully develop and grow.

Bear in mind that I really haven't been outside of the "good" areas of town. Last night coming over to the hotel we went through what I was told were the bad parts of town. They seemed to me to be any street in LA, NY, or Washington. Reminders of home a continent away. [later I would spend a day in the townships of Johannesburg. A way of life that is surprising at how good it is when it's good, and sickening at how bad it can be too.]

All the people live in houses behind high walls with electrified razor wire atop. Prisoners of their own worlds, perhaps? There may be a sense that the blacks, so long oppressed, will spontaneously rise up and quash them. A valid fear, I am sure, but it never happened in the US. Isolation never served any purpose but to isolate the fears of each other to incubate stereotypes that someday hatch into the albatross every nation carries around its neck.

Continuing to mainly work and not see much of Joburg. Hoping to be wrapped up today and take Thursday and Friday to see some sights.

There is an interesting gadget most people seem to have on their cars here. It is a lock quite similar to that bicyclists use. The U shaped Kryptonite ones. The lock goes around the gear shift so you cannot change gears without first removing the lock. Very smart idea. It is much smaller and less cumbersome than "The Club"...

Later
I thought when I got done on Monday that I would be spending the rest of the week free. Well, something always comes up. But the folks I'm working with here are really great. Definitely have made some new friends. And South Africa is starting to grow on me. Mind that I still haven't gotten out all that much, but it is a somewhat inexpensive place to live [for an American with dollars]. Maybe it may be worth it to retire here. Land and homes are very cheap (but mortgage rates are around 18%) and cars and insurance and taxes are quite prohibitive. But at the same time, there is a very special feeling here that the country is on the brink of a very momentous change and growth. I think the end of apartheid was the first pains of puberty for their modern development. And there are freedoms we don't have in the states. Gun laws are much less restrictive. And you can have an open bottle in the back seat of a car!!

Oh, I never wrote about my cab from the bureau to Dulles Airport. I had a Sikh driver, and talked to him at length about the Sikhs. I found out so much that I never knew before. He was very happy to have a non-predjudiced white guy who knew a little about the Sikhs and who wanted to know more. A good start to this trip to a land very strange to America, but yet one with so many similarities and cultural bridges because of the slave trade. I really hope that the president's visit builds a stronger bridge between out two nations; that the exposure of the trip will help form the same positive bonds the US has with our friends who were once too British colonies. And that by building a strong relationship with South Africa, we will help all of Africa to begin a new age of development and renewal in the next millennium. Perhaps the next great empire of the world will be an African one. Rhodes would like that, except there will be a black in charge. Imagine where this land could be today if people like Rhodes weren't so stubborn, colonial, and racist. Perhaps it was pure greed and ego. Rhodes wanted it not only for himself but for the British empire. Imagine what could have been if he had wanted it for the Africans as well...

A very stunning waitress at the restaurant tonight. Ohhh, if only I had sat in her section. Strong jaw, short pony tail. A perfect galaxy of freckles spinning around her dark comet eyes. The face that I long to kiss. One to kiss slowly, to caress the cheek and suckle on her high neck. Gently dredging a hand down the plateau of her back. A broad smile, perfect teeth. I can see her smiling at me on a bluff, holding hands, moving closer together and feeling warm against each other just watching the clouds sing, the birds sailing along, a world of her beauty and peace. Sunshine, warm on her face.