Sanibonani from South Africa!

After arriving in Johannesburg and enjoying an excellent night's rest, we headed out to the Apartheid Museum. Even though we were tired, the museum proved to be helpful in providing a context within which we can frame the social issues that we will be confronting. The experience of going through the museum with an assigned "race card" helped give students a personal understanding of how pervasive Apartheid was in people's lives, and its legacies.

After discovering that our lunch spot (surprise!) wasn't open, we decided to head downtown to grab some lunch and go to the "Top of Africa." From the top floor of one of Johannesburg's tallest buildings we surveyed the city, from the SABC broadcast tower, to world cup stadiums, smoke stacks of Soweto, to the sprawl that holds the city's millions of people. Then we headed back to the airport for a quick flight to Cape Town and shuttle to our new home at the University of Cape Town.

We awoke this morning to beautiful sunshine and an incredible view of the eastern face of Table Mountain. After getting to know each other with some silly but hilarious games, as well as a group orientation, we headed to Groote Schuur Hospital for a conversation with Dr. Paul Roux and Dr. Diane Grey, physicians at KidzPositive (www.kidzpositive.org). After a quick lunch we visited their beadwork center in Mowbray, and learned about their income-generating projects for families affected by HIV/ AIDS. Since then we changed money, sent a few emails, and we are now getting ready for a braii (a South African BBQ) with the director of the Catholic Welfare and Development organization here in Cape Town.

We are all super excited to go to Robben Island tomorrow (despite the early morning wake-up that awaits us!) and to visit the cell that Nelson Mandela called home for over 20 years. We will keep you posted on our upcoming adventures.

Bye for now,

Dan and Anna