South Africa Trip - Pre-Trip Notes

I am heading to South Africa on Sunday, January 3, 2016. I will be traveling to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Robbin Island, Pretoria/Tshwane, Soweto, Stellenbosch/Paarl, Dinokeng Reserve, and Pilaneberg game park. I am traveling with a group of 14 people on a humanitarian/social justice tour.

“Travel is organized through Mission Vision Tours with the intent to engage conversations of race and racism, systemic oppression of groups of peoples, and to explore solutions to such injustices.” (From MV Tours Humanitarian Travel Letter)

We are meeting with authors, pastors, Truth and Reconciliation Commission members, spending a day with kids from an orphanage, swimming in the Indian Ocean, spending time at a game reserve, hiking the mountains near Franschhoek, and swimming in the mountain pools.  It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am delighted to be going.

While I have taken some significant time off from my blog, this occasion gives me the chance to start again – for at least the two weeks that I am away – and take you on this journey with me. I will post pictures, blog about my thoughts and experiences, and keep my family up to date about how things are going.

One of the things that I am most excited about is hearing the stories of those living in South Africa who have experienced the pain, racism, and systemic oppression related to Apartheid and post-Apartheid South Africa. I think there is much to learn.  And I look forward to opening up my heart and mind to hear what they have to say. I want to sit there and soak in all that I can.

This trip will help lay the groundwork for one of my next book projects about social justice preaching. And I think there are some interesting parallels between the US and South Africa in the ways people of color have been treated.

I invite you to follow along if you wish and to experience this amazing culture through my eyes. I have much to learn and am extremely grateful for the opportunity.