Dearly Beloved,
What a wonderful worship service we had on Sunday followed by an amazing celebration of Brooklyn Votaw's graduation! I am so grateful for all of the extended family members, visitors, and friends that I got to meet.
I want to thank you all for cards and prayers and thoughts as I prepare for this sabbatical. AND, I know there are some concerns you might have, so I wanted to take a few moments to address a few of those.
Will you be able to re-enter the United States?
Cora, Ezra, and I are all citizens of the United States -- and nowhere else. We should have no trouble returning to the United States in July. Although I was born in South Africa, I was naturalized into the United States at the time of my birth, and I have both a South African and a U.S. birth certificate. I am not eligible for South African citizenship, and so only have citizenship here in the United States. Although Cora and Ezra's dad is a Canadian citizen, they were both born here in Colorado and hold only US citizenship (and passports!).
Aren't Zimbabwe and South Africa dangerous?
The answer to a question such as this is always a little complicated. But the short answer is, no more than the United States. The United States has one of the highest rates of gun deaths in the world, certainly among developed countries. Violence and crime in Zimbabwe and South Africa in the places we are visiting will probably be considerably less than it is in the neighborhoods of Chicago where I lived and worked. Certainly, there have been fewer mass shootings in either country than there have been in Colorado alone over the last two or three decades.
Cora, Ezra, and I have received all the inoculations recommended by the CDC, and I feel confident that we will be able to stay healthy and safe relative to illness and wild animals. We are hoping to see some of those wild animals, though, including giraffes, elephants, rhinos, Cape buffalo, lions, hyenas, zebra, wildebeest, warthogs and more!
In Zimbabwe, we will be staying with family friends and then traveling under the care of Sikeleli Travels, a world class international travel agency. We've booked our lodging and travel through them for the entirety of our stay in Zimbabwe.
What about South Africa? Are white people safe there? Unfortunately, there has been recent misinformation here in the United States from the highest levels about violence in South Africa. There is no genocide happening in South Africa against white people -- that is simply false. As in the United States, the most dangerous parts of South Africa are big cities and wealthy tourist areas: Johannesberg and Cape Town in particular. We are not traveling to either place but visiting the much smaller city of Durban where we wills tay with family friends and then traveling to Mfanefile (a rural area) again to stay with friends.
With apartheid over, it is now legal for my family to be in all of these areas and staying with our friends. The friends with whom we will stay were enormous supporters of my parents during apartheid when many of my parents' activities were illegal under apartheid laws. These are people who stood by my family when there was potential risk to themselves. They are people of deep faith and extravagant hospitality -- we will be very well cared for!
The reality is that we all make decisions every day that involve risk and danger. Thankfully, many of us don't have to think about most of them most of the time: getting into a car, crossing the street, going to the movies or grocery store, being unmasked in a crowded room, driving in the mountains, going skiing, and so on. Often, we are more aware of risks involved in places with which we are less familiar or comfortable. That said, it doesn't mean those places are any riskier or more dangerous than where we are usually. In fact, if we were really to tally it, we might find that some of those other places are in fact safer. Though South Africa was not a safe place to be in the late eighties, growing up known and beloved by my rural community made my growing up years there as safe if not safer in many ways than many of the places I might have grown up in the United States.
I am grateful for the God who goes with us. For the Spirit who meets us in the midst of the unexpected. For Christ whose love is a guide and a comfort. And I am grateful for the people, communities, and places that my children, places and I will get to visit. I will be holding our congregation in my prayers as I know you will hold me in yours.
Sending you love and blessings,
Thandiwe
