"Toto, we are not in Africa, anymore..."

I have left Africa without exiting the Continent. Welcome to Johannesburg, South Africa, aka. “Any Town, USA”. Now I am sure that if I stayed here long enough I would see significant cultural differences between South Africans and Americans, however at first glimpse, Joburg could be any city in California. Full of shopping malls with Louis Vutton , and as well as movie theaters. coffee shops, bookstores, and every kind of restaurant imaginable. Paved roads, phone lines, street lights, stop signs and crosswalks, are the first sign that this place is much different than Uganda. But, then you see clean streets, Audi’s (and my own personal red Mazda 3), as well as high-rise buildings with excellent construction. “Toto, we are not in Africa, anymore” ….. in fact we are in a completely different world then we have known in the last four months.

So I took an extra week in Johannesburg after 8 grueling days of training with World Vision. Bill and Joanne Scheidler, graciously opened up their house to me for a place to stay. On Sunday, I visited City Life Church, pastored by their daughter Gini and her husband James Monagham; both who my family have known for a long time. I also attended their Generation Church on Friday night (ages 12-21) and they sang many songs I recognized, including one from Donna Lasit!

I also got to meet up with a couple other friends that live here. We actually met one year ago on my tour through Egypt! We never imagined that we would be able to see each other again so soon. (It’s a small world) They took me on quite another adventure actually. We went about 90 minutes outside of the city to the bush and sped along on 14 different zip-lines that zig-zag back and forth across a canyon. They progressively increase in speed and you wear padded gloves that you use on the zip-line to slow your incoming speed into the next platform. I did do one day tour. I spent several hours in the Apartheid Museum. It depicts the incredible fall of the political policy of racial separation and therefore discrimination between blacks and whites in South Africa. We visited areas around town where you could see a few signs left behind as reminders of this separation; shops for those with Black skin and others for those with White skin, and separation in public transport as well as drinking fountains. Different tribes regulated to certain suburbs (or better described slums) around the city; in which to leave, you must have a pass to travel. I have already had a real “Safari Adventure,” but one thing I did the day before leaving South Africa was visit a Lion Park. This is the first time in my life I have ever seen a White Lion. Such beautiful creatures! Then you got to go play with the lion cubs that had been abandoned by their mothers. You felt like you could adopt one and take one home as a pet! They also had a couple Giraffes at the park that you could buy food to feed! So I filled my hand full of “giraffe food” which looks like nothing more than pieces of round cardboard to the human eye, but it sure looked attractive to that giraffe, as he wrapped is gooey, gristly, warm, (and moist) tongue around my hand to make sure not to lose a single bite!