Nelson Grans virtual Walk across South Africa
in light of COVID-19, for the first time ever, we walked alone,
every day for a month in solidarity for african grandmothers.
21 Nelson Grans walked 3,925 kms from May 10 - June 7, 2020
Together We Raised $4715.00!
Together We Raised $4715.00!
Please scroll down to follow our walk across South Africa.
While we have the privilege to ‘walk’ for pleasure and exercise, the African Grandmothers walk every day collecting firewood and water or are on their feet all day long supporting their grandchildren and the orphans in their care.
Nelson Grans are very passionate about supporting the African Grandmothers.
Granny B explains why we are walking in her own words... Please click to see video here. |
Irene & Cynthia discuss why we started and have been compelled to help since 2006.
Please click to see video here. |
Over time, the grandmothers of Africa are now being recognized as community experts and vital agents of change in their communities.
African grandmothers nurture, feed and put their grandchildren into school. They work to educate themselves and their grandchildren about HIV prevention, care and treatment. They tend to the sick in their communities, help the recently bereaved, set up support groups and harvest the crops. They have become small business owners to earn a living, and rights advocates for theirs and their grandchildren’s protection. And, fittingly, they are now recognized as community experts and vital agents of change.
The Stephen Lewis Foundation works with grandmothers in 15 sub Saharan African countries hardest hit by the global AIDS pandemic, where there are still thousands of young women infected each week. This pandemic is still raging. And today two pandemics have collided. Change and support is happening from the ground up. Please support the community organizations who are quickly changing how they serve to support the new needs of Grandmothers, youth and communities in dealing with the new reality of a second pandemic, COVID-19.
There is still time if you would like to donate. Please click this donate button to go to our team page.
African grandmothers nurture, feed and put their grandchildren into school. They work to educate themselves and their grandchildren about HIV prevention, care and treatment. They tend to the sick in their communities, help the recently bereaved, set up support groups and harvest the crops. They have become small business owners to earn a living, and rights advocates for theirs and their grandchildren’s protection. And, fittingly, they are now recognized as community experts and vital agents of change.
The Stephen Lewis Foundation works with grandmothers in 15 sub Saharan African countries hardest hit by the global AIDS pandemic, where there are still thousands of young women infected each week. This pandemic is still raging. And today two pandemics have collided. Change and support is happening from the ground up. Please support the community organizations who are quickly changing how they serve to support the new needs of Grandmothers, youth and communities in dealing with the new reality of a second pandemic, COVID-19.
There is still time if you would like to donate. Please click this donate button to go to our team page.
South Africa
Is a country on the southernmost tip of the African continent, marked by several distinct ecosystems. Inland safari destination Kruger National Park is populated by big game. The Western Cape offers beaches, lush winelands around Stellenbosch and Paarl, craggy cliffs at the Cape of Good Hope, forest and lagoons along the Garden Route, and the city of Cape Town, beneath flat-topped Table Mountain behind Cape Town with it's beautiful table cloth of clouds.
The current population of South Africa is 59,224,262 which is equivalent to 0.76% of the world population.
66.7 % of the population is urban (39,550,889 people in 2020) and the median age in South Africa is 27.6 years.
Is a country on the southernmost tip of the African continent, marked by several distinct ecosystems. Inland safari destination Kruger National Park is populated by big game. The Western Cape offers beaches, lush winelands around Stellenbosch and Paarl, craggy cliffs at the Cape of Good Hope, forest and lagoons along the Garden Route, and the city of Cape Town, beneath flat-topped Table Mountain behind Cape Town with it's beautiful table cloth of clouds.
The current population of South Africa is 59,224,262 which is equivalent to 0.76% of the world population.
66.7 % of the population is urban (39,550,889 people in 2020) and the median age in South Africa is 27.6 years.
Week 1 - Discoveries walking from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth
This is a beautiful journey. Here is a glimpse of the landscape on our first leg, please click here.
To get us in the mood to walk we start with a walking song by clicking here.
We begin in Cape Town which is active with volunteers - here are some of the community organizations the Stephen Lewis Foundations work with that we came across as we virtually walk this week:
- How Grandmothers uplifted this Cape Town Community out of poverty visit this site. This is an organization the SLF works with: please click here.
- The Etafeni Centre is situated in Nyanga, one of the oldest black townships in Cape Town. As an impoverished community, the people of Nyanga face severe unemployment and alarming rates of HIV/AIDS. Once known as having the highest crime rate in Cape Town, Nyanga is slowly improving through the efforts of community members who are working hard to alleviate poverty and create job opportunities: please click here
Trevor Noah grew up in Cape Town and in this video he is talking about the project he works with supporting girls and HIV, please click here. And here Trevor interviews his grandma, in Soweto, South Africa, to talk about his childhood and her life under apartheid, please click here.
On this part of the trip they are walking through what is known as the Garden Route. The coastal scenery is spectacular: please click here.
This leg of the journey ends in Port Elizabeth where we get a lesson in language: please click here.
Day 7 - Addo Elephant National Park
Here you will see large herds of elephants, cape buffalo, zebra, warthogs, hyenas, antelope, and lions. In the surrounding Zuurberg mountain range is home to the Cape mountain zebra, mountain reedbuck, baboons, blue duiker, aardwolf and red rock rabbit. Hippos are found in the Sundays River which flows at the base of these mountains. Endemics such as the red fin minnow and yellowfish are found in the tributaries of the river.Gemsbok, black wildebeest, springbok, buffalo and black rhino are found in the arid nama-karoo around the Darlington Dam area. The coastal forest is home to bushbuck, bushpig, brown hyena and the rare tree dassie. Day 9 - Queenstown Komani, formerly Queenstown, is a town in the middle of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, roughly halfway between the smaller towns of Cathcart and Sterkstroom. It is currently the commercial, administrative and educational centre of the surrounding farming district. The town prospered from 1853 up to the worldwide depression of the 1930s, and again thereafter. In the 1960s, the majority of the Black population were moved east to the township of Ezibeleni, as part of the attempt to move African people to so-called "homelands". A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland) was a territory that the white National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia), as part of its policy of apartheid. The threat of drought looms over Queenstown. The area has in the past had very severe weather problems, luckily, often only affecting the surrounding areas. |
Day 8 - Zebra National Park
In the early 1930s, the Cape mountain zebra was threatened with extinction. A National Parks was set pu for the zebra's preservation. At that time, the mountain zebra population of the park comprised only five stallions and one mare and was insufficient to expand the population. In 2015 the park's herd numbers over 700 animals. .
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Day 10 - Aliwal North
The settlement of the area and its development into a town probably is connected to the presence of good water, thermal springs and a good fording place ('drift') across the Orange River, just below its confluence with the Kraai River. People love to go to the two hot mineral springs, both of which have extremely high concentrations of minerals and gases. It's approx 2000 metres above sea level. |
Day 11 - Approaching Lesotho
As we leave the Republic of South Africa and cross into the Kingdom of Lesotho we may have to show our passports! There is a different feel in the air. High and mountainous, brasing fresh air. We leave behind a country that is only 79% classified black, to enter this little republic in which 99.7% identify as Basutho. We walk past rondavels and maybe buy a traditional Basutho blanket or hat. This is a land-locked country has 2.2 million people, just slightly more then the city of J-burg. We will stay here for a few days to learn more about this interesting kingdom. |
Week 2 - Discoveries walking inland to Lesotho.
Here is a beautiful video of the elephants in Addo Elephant National Park: please click here.
Here is a hopeful meerkat trying to eat an egg: please click here.
Here is a recipe for a delicious a South African Traditional Dish that Granny B used to make in Zambia for her kids. How to make Bobotie, please click here.
Here is short clip from a 'documentary' on Southern African animals... from the director of The Gods Must Be Crazy... African animals getting drunk on the Marula fruit. People love marula - they are slightly sour and very thirst quenching. In our liquor stores the liqueur Amarula is made from this fruit: please click here.
Here is a community organizations the Stephen Lewis Foundation works with that we came across as we virtually walk this week. Keiskamma Trust is a community organization that the Stephen Lewis Foundation works with just east of Port Elizabeth. It was initiated to generate income. It provides employment for the local Xhosa people and includes social services and health care. It has become the regional centre of excellence for care of people suffering from TB and HIV & Aids. It has taught villagers to grow high-yield vegetable gardens to help provide good food in their villages.
Here is a beautiful video of the elephants in Addo Elephant National Park: please click here.
Here is a hopeful meerkat trying to eat an egg: please click here.
Here is a recipe for a delicious a South African Traditional Dish that Granny B used to make in Zambia for her kids. How to make Bobotie, please click here.
Here is short clip from a 'documentary' on Southern African animals... from the director of The Gods Must Be Crazy... African animals getting drunk on the Marula fruit. People love marula - they are slightly sour and very thirst quenching. In our liquor stores the liqueur Amarula is made from this fruit: please click here.
Here is a community organizations the Stephen Lewis Foundation works with that we came across as we virtually walk this week. Keiskamma Trust is a community organization that the Stephen Lewis Foundation works with just east of Port Elizabeth. It was initiated to generate income. It provides employment for the local Xhosa people and includes social services and health care. It has become the regional centre of excellence for care of people suffering from TB and HIV & Aids. It has taught villagers to grow high-yield vegetable gardens to help provide good food in their villages.
Day 12 - Rural Lesotho
Lesotho, a high-altitude, landlocked kingdom encircled by South Africa, is crisscrossed by a network of rivers and mountain ranges including the 3,482m-high peak of Thabana Ntlenyana. On the Thaba Bosiu plateau, near Lesotho's capital, Maseru, are ruins dating from the 19th-century reign of King Moshoeshoe I. Thaba Bosiu overlooks iconic Mount Qiloane, an enduring symbol of the nation’s Basotho people. For a look at daily life in rural Lesotho please click here. The homes are called rondavels, and notice the handcrafted traditional Basutho hats and blankets in the video. Everywhere in Lesotho one will see the small, sturdy Sotho pony, adept at negotiating the steep mountains and gullies and indispensable for carrying the grain to the mill for grinding, they are known for their tough little hardiness. Lestho has the second highest HIV prevalence in the world, second only to Swaziland. Both these little countries are heavily dependent on South Africa for employment, and have easy access to the gold mines
of Johannesburg. They also suffer from poverty, gender inequality and stigma/discrimination if known to be HIV+ve. Funding is badly needed. Migrant labour is a lifestyle as people leave their village homes for work in South African cities, and too often this leads to family breakdown and imported disease. Truckers are very vulnerable, and border posts wield a heavy sex trade. |
Day 13 - Maseru, Lesotho
We pass by through the capital, Maseru, where we visit the nearby nineteenth century ruins of King Moshoeshoe. Although it is a young independent nation, Lesotho's history goes back years and owes its origins largely to the genius of King Moshoeshoe the Great (1786-1870). In 1815-29 Moshoeshoe gave protection to the remnants of the various nations that fled from Zulu and Matebebele raids, into the highlands of what is now Lesotho. In 1824 Moshoeshoe united his followers and ensured the birth of the Basotho nation, establishing a stronghold at Butha-Buthe and later at Thaba-Bosiu (Mountain of Night) less than 30km from the capital city of Maseru. Moshoeshoe not only defended his people from Zulu raids but preserved their independence against the Boers. In 1830s Moshoeshoe welcomed Catholic and Protestant missionaries who brought religion and formal education to Lesotho. Moshoeshoe was known for his outstanding diplomacy, tolerance, generosity and compassion. According to Casalis (1861) Moshoeshoe learned all this from his mentor, chief Mohlomi, who also remains a very Prominent figure in Basotho history because of his unparalled wisdom during his time. He had taught Moshoeshoe to: “deal justly with all, especially the poor; to love peace more than war and never kill anyone accused of witchcraft.” |
Day 14 - Durban
We travel east to Durban on the coast, which is in KwaZulu-Natal, a coastal South African province, is known for its beaches, mountains and savannah populated by big game. The safari destination Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, in the northeast, is home to black and white rhinos, lions and giraffes. Durban is an Indian-influenced harbor city and a popular surfing spot. Cultural villages around the town of Eshowe showcase the traditions of the indigenous Zulu people. The Golden Mile beach in Durban is also a well-known surfer's haven on the Indian Ocean. It is the busiest port in the country. Archaeological evidence from the Drakensberg mountains suggests that the Durban area has been inhabited by communities of hunter-gatherers since 100,000 BC. |
Day 15 - Durban
The city of D'Urban was established by the British in 1854. The province was called Natal and became the most English part of the Republic of South Africa (RSA). With the end of apartheid in 1994 Natal became KwaZuluNatal (KZN). The capital of the province is Pietermaritzburg (PMB) established 1839. There is a Gran living in Nelson who was born in PMB,KZN,RSA and uses that address regularly to send cards etc. to people there! Durban now has a very high crime rate, as do other South African cities. Many live in gated communities with high walls, electric fencing, security guards. Drug trafficking is a major issue due to Durban being a port city. Mahatma Gandhi lived in South Africa for 21 years where he developed his political views, ethics and politics. Durban has a large population of Indian origin. Indians were brought to the KZN coast to work on the sugar plantations. When Gandhi arrived in South Africa, (according to Herman), he thought of himself as "a Briton first, and an Indian second". However, the prejudice against him and his fellow Indians from British people that Gandhi experienced and observed deeply bothered him. He found it humiliating, struggling to understand how some people can feel honour or superiority or pleasure in such inhumane practices. Gandhi began to question his people's standing in the British Empire. See more. |
Day 16 - Johannesberg
Johannesberg is home to almost half the worlds human ancestor fossils. Population 2,026,469 and capital of Gauteng province. The city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade. It was one of the host cities of the official tournament of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Here is a compilation of drone shots captured throughout the city of Johannesburg. Please click here. |
Day 17 - Soweto
1,695,047 people live in Soweto a township of Johannesberg. It was once home to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Mandela’s former residence is now the Mandela House museum. A separate city from the late 1970s until 1994, Soweto is now part of Johannesburg. Originally an acronym for "South-Western Townships", Soweto originated as a collection of settlements on the outskirts of Johannesburg, populated mostly by native African workers from the gold mining industry. Soweto, although eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, had been separated as a residential area for Blacks, who were not permitted to live in Johannesburg proper. It is a thriving township now. White people once protected by the economics of Apartheid, are now struggling to make ends meet. And now wealthy black people are staying in Soweto and re-building their new homes there. |
Day 18 - Pretoria
Pretoria (also known as Tshwane), has a reputation for being an academic city with four universities. Pretoria is the administrative capital of South Africa. It straddles the Apies River and has spread eastwards into the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountains. Even since the end of Apartheid, Pretoria itself has had a white majority, albeit with an ever-increasing black middle-class. However, in the townships of Soshanguve and Atteridgeville black people make up close to all of the population. The largest white ethnic group are the Afrikaners and the largest black ethnic group are the Northern Sothos. |
Day 19 - Highveld The Highveld region is high plateau country. With the discovery of gold in Johannesberg in the 1880's cheap labour was recruited from across the Highveld, and from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia. As government sought to develop the country the people were also taxed. This forced the people to enter the money economy, and young men left their villages in droves for the mines. Bereft of their men, traditional ways that had kept societies functional collapsed. As did family life. The elderly, women and children struggled without their menfolk who in their turn, struggled to send meager wages back to their families, and visit them. The largest deposits are located in the Witwatersrand, which centres on Johannesburg, with smaller deposits in the northern Free State near Welkom and Virginia. The Highveld is also exceedingly rich in diamonds, coal, vanadium, and manganese. 80% of South Africa's coal is produced in Highveld, between Pretoria and Johannesberg. Coal thermal power stations produce nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide and release coal dust. The smog has resulted in one of the most polluted areas in the world. Over 300 people, young and old, die each year from respiratory pollution. |
Week 3 - Discoveries walking Lesotho, Durban, Johannesburg, Soweto and Highveld.
Lesotho
The Basotho Hat is the nations Symbol. It is a conical woven hat with a distinctive topknot, is a symbol of Lesotho's unification. It depicts a mountaintop, conical and topknotted, which is visible from the fortress and tomb of Moshoeshoe. In addition to the had both men and women invariably wear the wool Basotho blanket as a cloak, regardless of the season. The careful selection of color and pattern allows for individual expression.
Covid-19: Lesotho was covid free until about May 10, but a case was then reported. The border is porous and it is believed the virus came in with someone returning home, although people were asked not to cross the border. Testing is sent for processing in Johannesburg. If HIV+ve people are on antiviral drugs they are not more vulnerable to covid-19 than other people. But if they are not taking their medication their immune systems are, compromised.
To read about the culture and background of Lesotho, please click here.
See the beautiful mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho countryside by drone, please click here.
Lesotho ponies, are a special breed of ponies adapted to the cold harsh winters in the country. Here is a video of daily life in Lesotho. please click here.
The Stephen Lewis Foundation works with several community partners in Lesotho.
This is a clip about the very famous market in Durban that people enjoy for its vibrancy. It also tells a little about apartheid, the shadow of which still hangs over RSA. Please click here.
Two men of note, lived in South Africa.
1. Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, a traditional Zulu healer, who recently died was 98. Nelson Grans first attempt at finding a logo for our Grans group used one of his drawings. To hear his message, please click here.
2. Mahatma Gandhi lived in South Africa for 21 years where he developed his political views, ethics and politics. When Gandhi arrived in South Africa, it is said he thought of himself as "a Briton first, and an Indian second". However, the prejudice against him and his fellow Indians from British people that Gandhi experienced and observed deeply bothered him. He found it humiliating, struggling to understand how some people can feel honour or superiority or pleasure in such inhumane practices. Gandhi began to question his people's standing in the British Empire.
Durban has a large population of Indian origin. Indians were brought to the KZN coast to work on the sugar plantations. The city of D'Urban was established by the British in 1854. The province was called Natal and became the most English part of the Republic of South Africa. (RSA). With the end of apartheid in 1994 Natal became KwaZuluNatal (KZN). The capital of the province is Pietermaritzburg (PMB) established 1839. There is a Gran living in Nelson who was born in PMB,KZN,RSA and uses that address regularly to send letters to people there!
Durban now, has a very high crime rate, as do other South African cities. Many live in gated communities with high walls, electric fencing, security guards. Drug trafficking is major issue in Durban as it has a large port.
Covid-19: Lesotho was covid free until about May 10th, but a case was then reported. The border is porous and it is believed the virus came in with someone returning home, although people were asked not to cross the border. Testing is sent for processing in Johannesburg. If HIV+ve, people are on antiviral drugs and they are not more vulnerable to covid-19 than other people. But if they are not taking their medication their immune systems are compromised.
HIV: Lestho has the second highest HIV prevalence in the world, second only to Swaziland. Both these little countries are heavily dependent on South Africa (RSA) for employment, and have easy access to the gold mines of Johannesburg. They also suffer from poverty, gender inequality and stigma/discrimination if known to be HIV+ve. Funding is badly needed.
Migrant labour is a lifestyle as people leave their village homes for work in South African cities, and too often this leads to family breakdown and imported disease. Truckers are very vulnerable, and border posts wield a heavy sex trade.
Johannesberg
2,026,469 people live in Johannesberg. It’s called the city of gold as it was formed during a gold rush in the 19th century. It’s home to almost half the worlds human ancestor fossils. It has the tallest building in Africa - the hill row tower 'Hillbrow'.
Silicosis - the price of gold in Johannesberg. To learn more, please click here.
There are many tribes in Joburg - here is one style of one tribes dancing in the street. Please click here.
Diepsloot: is a suburb of 350,000 in Johannesburg and one of South Africa’s poorest black townships. Please click here.
Squatter Camp in Munsieville where white families, once protected by the economics of Apartheid, are now struggling to make ends meet. Please click here.
Nelson Mandela worked as a lawyer in Joahannesberg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. In 1961 and led a sabotage campaign against the government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and served 27 years in prison.
Miriam Makeba was a talented singer and this song features on the album AN EVENING WITH BELAFONTE/MAKEBA, which won them both a Grammy Award in 1966. Please click here.
Brenda Fassie sings a tribute to the apex freedom fighter of our time Aye Nelson Mandela (July 18, 1918 - Dec 5, 2013). RIP Madiba. Please click here.
This is a children's book that Nelson Mandela loved. The stories were chosen by the Nobel Laureate himself, from every region of Africa. Please click here.
Soweto
1,695,047 people live in Soweto a township of Johannesberg. A separate city from the late 1970s until 1994, Soweto is now part of Johannesburg. Originally an acronym for "South-Western Townships", Soweto originated as a collection of settlements on the outskirts of Johannesburg, populated mostly by native African workers from the gold mining industry. Soweto, although eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, had been separated as a residential area for Blacks, who were not permitted to live in Johannesburg proper. It is a thriving city now. But in June 16, 1976 ~ a peaceful student protest over a government decree that black school-children be educated in Afrikaans instead of English turned into an uprising against apartied. Please click here.
Under the system of apartheid (Afrikaans for "apartness", though the system was founded by the British), a comprehensive system of racial segregation was imposed upon South Africa starting in 1948. The economy of Johannesburg depended upon hundreds of thousands of cheap black workers who performed most of the semi-skilled and unskilled work, and which forced the government to make some exceptions to apartheid in order to keep Johannesburg functioning as South Africa's economic capital. In the 1950s, the government began a policy of building townships for blacks outside of Johannesburg to provide workers for Johannesburg - Soweto, a township founded for black workers coming to work in the gold mines of Johannesburg, was intended to house 50,000 people, but soon was the home of ten times that number as thousands of rural blacks came to Johannesburg. It was estimated in 1989 that the population of Soweto was equal to that of Johannesburg, if not greater.
Now wealthy black people are staying in Soweto and re-building their new homes there. Please click here.
Lesotho
The Basotho Hat is the nations Symbol. It is a conical woven hat with a distinctive topknot, is a symbol of Lesotho's unification. It depicts a mountaintop, conical and topknotted, which is visible from the fortress and tomb of Moshoeshoe. In addition to the had both men and women invariably wear the wool Basotho blanket as a cloak, regardless of the season. The careful selection of color and pattern allows for individual expression.
Covid-19: Lesotho was covid free until about May 10, but a case was then reported. The border is porous and it is believed the virus came in with someone returning home, although people were asked not to cross the border. Testing is sent for processing in Johannesburg. If HIV+ve people are on antiviral drugs they are not more vulnerable to covid-19 than other people. But if they are not taking their medication their immune systems are, compromised.
To read about the culture and background of Lesotho, please click here.
See the beautiful mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho countryside by drone, please click here.
Lesotho ponies, are a special breed of ponies adapted to the cold harsh winters in the country. Here is a video of daily life in Lesotho. please click here.
The Stephen Lewis Foundation works with several community partners in Lesotho.
- mothers2mothers-Lesotho has 111 clinics that directly bringing medical services to women and families living in remote areas. To learn more, please click here.
- Malealea Development Trust, to learn more how they are bring rural students online, please click here.
- Touchroots Africa supporting children and young people affected by HIV and AIDS. To learn more please click here.
This is a clip about the very famous market in Durban that people enjoy for its vibrancy. It also tells a little about apartheid, the shadow of which still hangs over RSA. Please click here.
Two men of note, lived in South Africa.
1. Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, a traditional Zulu healer, who recently died was 98. Nelson Grans first attempt at finding a logo for our Grans group used one of his drawings. To hear his message, please click here.
2. Mahatma Gandhi lived in South Africa for 21 years where he developed his political views, ethics and politics. When Gandhi arrived in South Africa, it is said he thought of himself as "a Briton first, and an Indian second". However, the prejudice against him and his fellow Indians from British people that Gandhi experienced and observed deeply bothered him. He found it humiliating, struggling to understand how some people can feel honour or superiority or pleasure in such inhumane practices. Gandhi began to question his people's standing in the British Empire.
Durban has a large population of Indian origin. Indians were brought to the KZN coast to work on the sugar plantations. The city of D'Urban was established by the British in 1854. The province was called Natal and became the most English part of the Republic of South Africa. (RSA). With the end of apartheid in 1994 Natal became KwaZuluNatal (KZN). The capital of the province is Pietermaritzburg (PMB) established 1839. There is a Gran living in Nelson who was born in PMB,KZN,RSA and uses that address regularly to send letters to people there!
Durban now, has a very high crime rate, as do other South African cities. Many live in gated communities with high walls, electric fencing, security guards. Drug trafficking is major issue in Durban as it has a large port.
Covid-19: Lesotho was covid free until about May 10th, but a case was then reported. The border is porous and it is believed the virus came in with someone returning home, although people were asked not to cross the border. Testing is sent for processing in Johannesburg. If HIV+ve, people are on antiviral drugs and they are not more vulnerable to covid-19 than other people. But if they are not taking their medication their immune systems are compromised.
HIV: Lestho has the second highest HIV prevalence in the world, second only to Swaziland. Both these little countries are heavily dependent on South Africa (RSA) for employment, and have easy access to the gold mines of Johannesburg. They also suffer from poverty, gender inequality and stigma/discrimination if known to be HIV+ve. Funding is badly needed.
Migrant labour is a lifestyle as people leave their village homes for work in South African cities, and too often this leads to family breakdown and imported disease. Truckers are very vulnerable, and border posts wield a heavy sex trade.
Johannesberg
2,026,469 people live in Johannesberg. It’s called the city of gold as it was formed during a gold rush in the 19th century. It’s home to almost half the worlds human ancestor fossils. It has the tallest building in Africa - the hill row tower 'Hillbrow'.
Silicosis - the price of gold in Johannesberg. To learn more, please click here.
There are many tribes in Joburg - here is one style of one tribes dancing in the street. Please click here.
Diepsloot: is a suburb of 350,000 in Johannesburg and one of South Africa’s poorest black townships. Please click here.
Squatter Camp in Munsieville where white families, once protected by the economics of Apartheid, are now struggling to make ends meet. Please click here.
Nelson Mandela worked as a lawyer in Joahannesberg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. In 1961 and led a sabotage campaign against the government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and served 27 years in prison.
Miriam Makeba was a talented singer and this song features on the album AN EVENING WITH BELAFONTE/MAKEBA, which won them both a Grammy Award in 1966. Please click here.
Brenda Fassie sings a tribute to the apex freedom fighter of our time Aye Nelson Mandela (July 18, 1918 - Dec 5, 2013). RIP Madiba. Please click here.
This is a children's book that Nelson Mandela loved. The stories were chosen by the Nobel Laureate himself, from every region of Africa. Please click here.
Soweto
1,695,047 people live in Soweto a township of Johannesberg. A separate city from the late 1970s until 1994, Soweto is now part of Johannesburg. Originally an acronym for "South-Western Townships", Soweto originated as a collection of settlements on the outskirts of Johannesburg, populated mostly by native African workers from the gold mining industry. Soweto, although eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, had been separated as a residential area for Blacks, who were not permitted to live in Johannesburg proper. It is a thriving city now. But in June 16, 1976 ~ a peaceful student protest over a government decree that black school-children be educated in Afrikaans instead of English turned into an uprising against apartied. Please click here.
Under the system of apartheid (Afrikaans for "apartness", though the system was founded by the British), a comprehensive system of racial segregation was imposed upon South Africa starting in 1948. The economy of Johannesburg depended upon hundreds of thousands of cheap black workers who performed most of the semi-skilled and unskilled work, and which forced the government to make some exceptions to apartheid in order to keep Johannesburg functioning as South Africa's economic capital. In the 1950s, the government began a policy of building townships for blacks outside of Johannesburg to provide workers for Johannesburg - Soweto, a township founded for black workers coming to work in the gold mines of Johannesburg, was intended to house 50,000 people, but soon was the home of ten times that number as thousands of rural blacks came to Johannesburg. It was estimated in 1989 that the population of Soweto was equal to that of Johannesburg, if not greater.
Now wealthy black people are staying in Soweto and re-building their new homes there. Please click here.
Day 20 - Lowveld
As we leave the Highveld we walk towards the Kruger National Park. We are now in the Lowveld, where animals find it more comfortable to live than we humans do. It is hotter! As we approach the Limpopo river in the north, which is the border between the Republic of South Africa and Zimbabwe, we enter malarial terrain. Rudyard Kipling wrote a tale, How the Elephant Got Its Trunk, telling of “the great, grey, green, greasy Limpopo river, all set about by fever trees.” He wrote this in a time before it was known that mosquitoes are the carriers of malaria. People found that malaria was very prevalent in areas where fever trees (vachellia xanthophloea} grew, so they thought that the trees caused the malaria. The truth is that both fever trees and mosquitoes love hot, low, swampy areas. Cool things to know about Fever Trees: Many animals turn to the fever tree for sustenance. Baboons, monkeys and bush babies enjoy the tree’s nutritious gum while giraffes and monkeys eat the pods. Elephants tuck into the young branches and leaves, and birds, butterflies and bees are attracted to the flowers. Photosynthesis is usually carried out by the chlorophyll in plant leaves. However, the fever tree is the only tree species on earth whose bark performs the process instead of its leaves. Fever trees grow incredibly fast - they can reach a height of 15m to 25m and grow approximately 1.5m in height annually. They will kill off their lower branches in order to maximize the nutrition they get from the soil so that they can grow as tall as possible, this is known as sacrificial branching. Today, the bark of the fever tree is often used for treating eye infections and fevers, and quinine extracted from the bark is used to treat malaria. The trunks and branches of fever trees are often used as fencing to keep hippos away from cultivated land. Fever trees have a very shallow root system, they are easily knocked over by elephants who tend to contribute to their short lifespan. To check out the beautiful huge Makuleke Fever Tree Forest please click here. |
Day 21 - Bela-Bela & Mokopane
Bela-Bela (Tswana: The pot that boils) is a town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Deriving its name from the geothermic hot springs around which the town was built, it was called Warmbaths, until 2002. The Mokopane area is one of South Africa's richest agricultural areas producing wheat, tobacco, cotton, beef, maize, peanuts and citrus. The Zebediela Citrus estate, 55 km to the south east, is one of the biggest citrus farms in the southern hemisphere. The area is rich in minerals with the mining of platinum, diamonds and granite. Day 22 - Polokwane Polokwane, also known by its former name, Pietersburg, is a city and the capital of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It is South Africa's largest urban centre north of Gauteng. Polokwane was one of the host cities of the official tournament of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. |
Day 23 - Limpopo Province
In northern South Africa you will find the Baobab Tree or the upside down tree. Baobabs can live to be over 2,000 years old, and some of the oldest and largest are in the Kruger National Park. They are common in Southern Africa, but seem to be dying, maybe due to climate change. Just about every part of the baobab can be utilised by humans. The leaves can be boiled and eaten. The pollen of the flowers can be made into a kind of glue. The wood can be used to make rope or paper. Medical unguents and remedies can be concocted. Even the seeds can be sucked for flavour or ground into a palatable coffee (apparently). The fruit pod also contains tartaric acid, which can be collected and made into a yoghurty, sherbet-like dessert. This is the source of the Afrikaans name for the tree: kremetart, which I foolishly thought meant ‘Cream tart’ but actually translates as ‘cream of tartar’. In other parts of the world, the baobab is also known as the Monkey-bread tree and the Sour-gourd tree. Legend has it... A baobab grew in God's garden, but it offended God with boastfulness and arrogance about how strong it was. So he pulled it up and threw it out, over the garden wall. It landed on its head with its roots in the air and stayed like that, and prospered because it was so strong. Day 25 - Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park is 2 million hectares at the northern boarder of South Africa below Zimbabwe and Mozambique. |
Day 24 - Thohoyandou
Tucked in between Nzhelele Nature Reserve and Kruger National Park, Thohoyandou is a town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It is the administrative centre of Vhembe District Municipality and Thulamela Local Municipality. It is also known for being the former capital of the bantustan of Venda while Dzanani is the traditional capital of Venda and the home of the VhaVenda kings. Thohoyandou name means "head of the elephant" in the Venda language, and was the name of one of the VhaVenda kings. Under the apartheid system the land of the Venda people was designated a homeland so they were fairly unaffected by the political and social changes that had such a massive affect on the rest of the country. The 1,000,000 strong Venda population was left alone to live the way they had for hundreds of years in their lush, mountainous and remote region, which is why their culture, language, arts and crafts have survived so strongly. Today, many Venda people live in Thohoyandou in the Limpopo. It is situated not far from the border of Zimbabwe. Kruger is South Africa's first National Park and it contains significant numbers of all of the big 5 game species. It has well over 255 recorded archaeological sites ranging from early Stone Age (roughly 1 million years ago) to various Iron Age settlements and recent historical buildings and sites.
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Our last day we depart from the most artful airport in the world, the Kruger National Park airport in Skukuza. To see how art and architecture meet travel please click here.
As we check our bags it seems fitting to play the South Africa anthem. This anthem is sung in three languages even though there are many other South African languages. First Zulu, then Afrikaans and finally English. Please click here.
Fare thee well South Africa, we hope for you!
As we check our bags it seems fitting to play the South Africa anthem. This anthem is sung in three languages even though there are many other South African languages. First Zulu, then Afrikaans and finally English. Please click here.
Fare thee well South Africa, we hope for you!
Support our Nelson Grans Team Here
Online at: https://slf.akaraisin.com/stridetoturnthetide/NelsonGrans2Grans
Cheque Option 1: if you are in Nelson and can give it to a Gran on our team, make it out to Nelson Grans to Grans
Cheque Option 2: send a cheque directly in the name: Stephen Lewis Foundation, and mark our team name on it and mail it to: 260 Spadina Ave, Suite 100, Toronto ON, M5T 2E4
Credit Card: you can call the Stephen Lewis Foundation and use your credit card at: 1-888-203-9990 or 416-533-9292
Online at: https://slf.akaraisin.com/stridetoturnthetide/NelsonGrans2Grans
Cheque Option 1: if you are in Nelson and can give it to a Gran on our team, make it out to Nelson Grans to Grans
Cheque Option 2: send a cheque directly in the name: Stephen Lewis Foundation, and mark our team name on it and mail it to: 260 Spadina Ave, Suite 100, Toronto ON, M5T 2E4
Credit Card: you can call the Stephen Lewis Foundation and use your credit card at: 1-888-203-9990 or 416-533-9292
Community organizations the Stephen Lewis Foundation works with in South Africa
Cotlands, dlalanath, Ekupholeni Mental Health and Trauma Centre, Etafeni Day Care Centre Trust, Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS, Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust, Izimbali Zesizwe, Keiskamma Trust, Mamelani Projects, MusicWorks, Siyanqoba Community Support Group, Siyaphambili HIV and AIDS Support Group, Sophiatown Community Psychological Services, Tateni Home Care Nursing Services, Treatment Action Campaign, Umtha Welanga, Wide Horizon Hospice, Wits Palliative Care (Wits Health Consortium, Zoe Life Innovative Solutions.
Cotlands, dlalanath, Ekupholeni Mental Health and Trauma Centre, Etafeni Day Care Centre Trust, Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS, Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust, Izimbali Zesizwe, Keiskamma Trust, Mamelani Projects, MusicWorks, Siyanqoba Community Support Group, Siyaphambili HIV and AIDS Support Group, Sophiatown Community Psychological Services, Tateni Home Care Nursing Services, Treatment Action Campaign, Umtha Welanga, Wide Horizon Hospice, Wits Palliative Care (Wits Health Consortium, Zoe Life Innovative Solutions.