So we had 3 long flights with a total travelling time of 28 hours. Bonnie and I each finished a book and we watched 5 movies between us! We arrived underslept and overfed but we are here, on the African continent, in the huge (10 million people) city of Johannesburg. We are staying in a very beautiful guest house for the next 3 nights, as different members of our party arrive gradually.

Everything we have learned about Johannesburg so far we learned from our taxi driver, who was talking a mile a minute and driving very fast and skillfully through heavy traffic. He told us that it costs 10000 Rand ($800) for school fees for every child who wants to attend school and that the cost prevents many poor children from attending. (All four of his children attend school but his brother died two years ago and in order to be able to put his brother's two kids in school, he took two of his own out.) One of Nelson Mandela's big dreams was for free education but it has not happened. We were driving with him in the mid-afternoon and he pointed out to us many kids of various ages walking along the sides of the roads home from school. Some of them walk as far as 10K each way, he said, and until he pointed it out to us, I hadn't noticed they were all black. "The white kids don't have to walk" he said. They all get driven. He also told us there are white compounds with a private school and shopping and parks and recreation so that the people who live there hardly ever have to leave. There are LOTS of differences between white and black opportunities, despite the official ending of apartheid. 

14 of our amazing members dressed in their VG4A shirts and came to the airport, past their bedtimes, to see Bonnie and I head off on our trip with the SLF. Solidarity means: "unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest, mutual support within a group". This was a fabulous display of solidarity and we really felt the unity of feeling. We are going to South Africa and Eswatini on behalf of all of our members, and donors, and interested friends and family members, to visit and get to know these strong and resilient grandmothers we have been supporting in Africa. Your support really drove that home and made us feel loved and appreciated and honoured. We are extremely grateful. 

We will be travelling with 14 other women from all across Canada and seven members of the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) staff. We will be visiting nine different SLF partners, in Manzini, Eswatini, Durban SA and Capetown SA. We will also be in Johannesburg SA. We leave on the redeye to Toronto on Sunday night, May 11th.

We arrive on May 13th, rest on May 14th and go on a 4-hour guided bicycle tour of Soweto with one of the other participants on May 15th. May 16th and 17th 10 of us are doing a 2-day safari in Kruger National Park. Sunday, May 18th we meet up with the SLF and the rest of the group and the adventure begins!