Yesterday was our busiest day since leaving home. Today we took it very quietly, sleeping in till 7am. The ship is heading west around the bottom of Africa towards Cape Town and the headwinds are strong and the seas are rough. Most of the outside decks are closed and we had intermittent rain. The ship is travelling slower at about 14 knots, as we have time to spare and we get a smoother ride. It is still quite cold but they say tomorrow will be good weather. Very quiet on Deck 7. Find the rainbow.
The former South African Prime Minister F. W. de Clerk came on board yesterday and at 11am today gave a talk entitled "Walking with Nelson Mandela on the Long Road to a New South Africa". He spoke frankly and in detail about the processes they went through and how they succeeded in bringing the opposing ethnic groups together. He felt the success they had was partly due to the timing coinciding with the fall of communism around the world. Russia had been having success throughout Southern Afrika in preventing establishment of democracies. He answered a series of questions on current issues, and emphasised the importance of providing a better education system for all to alleviate the massive unemployment and poverty problems.
The main theatre was full and the second theatre half full for a televised relay. He was given a standing ovation at the conclusion.
The good news is that the broken washing machine on our level has been fixed, so the access may improve as 1000 people leave us in the next two days and another 1000 join the tour.
We went to a second concert tonight by "Your Three Tenors". Tomorrow we go to a Primary School in Cape Town.
No comments:
Post a Comment