Thursday, March 8, 2007

Freedom for the Captives - Lesli

Well…….we all went to prison today! After a yummy breakfast of ostrich sausage, we headed to the Waterfront of downtown Cape Town. We boarded the Sea Princess ferry at the Nelson Mandela Gateway and sailed to Robben Island. The island contains a prison that once housed 1,500 political activists during apartheid, including Nelson Mandela, who later became the first democratic president of South Africa. Our tour was led by two former prisoners, one of which was incarcerated four cells way from Mandela. We actually went into prison cells and read the struggles of the prisoners held captive there. It was hard to realize many of these men were imprisoned in our lifetime with the last prisoners being released in the early 1990s. This made us aware of our own civil rights struggle and very thankful that we live in a country were we have political freedoms.

The afternoon was spent on the beautiful Waterfront of downtown. We had a wonderful lunch on the water and enjoyed some diverse shopping. We headed back to the team house at 5pm when everyone else was trying to leave the city as well. Traffic is universal! We made it back and had a share time overlooking the breathtaking scenery that surrounds us. Everyone made a daring trip to the beach for a group picture! I say daring because the winds are really fierce around here and we were eating sand! Dave led a wonderful time of praise and worship and reflection of our time here. We are excited to be starting our journey home tomorrow but saddened to leave this beautiful place and its even more beautiful people.

For those of you at home, we’re can’t wait to see you! We have so much to share. God has been so good and faithful. We have learned so much and feel so blessed to join God in His work in Cape Town, South Africa. See you soon!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lesli, I just wanted to let you know how much I've enjoyed reading the accounts of your group's experiences in South Africa.