South Africa -- Videos from our journey on youtube

[donnadaf]

Yes, South Africa is a little far from our beloved Puerto Vallarta (we'll be back in March), but I thought some of you might be interested anyway. In August, Mike and I spent an extraordinary two weeks in South Africa with Sharon Katz/Peace Train and a group of educators, musicians, and artists. Sharon is a South African musician and activist; she now lives in the States but is still actively involved in various empowerment and cultural projects. In 1993, as apartheid was ending, she put together a multi-racial choir of 500 teens for a concert in Durban, and then a smaller group of 150 teens who traveled throughout South Africa on the "Peace Train" with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. She also worked with Nelson Mandela and the ANC as the country held its first elections. Through her, we were privileged to meet and talk with many South Africans whose personal stories were both painful and inspiring to hear. In addition to visiting historical, cultural, and natural areas, we visited a school that Peace Train is building, Mama Mary's orphanage (she deserves sainthood), and Soweto and Kayamandi townships. We were also treated to several concerts by South African musicians. (A highlight for me was sitting in with Sharon's South African band on some classic blues tunes.) Mike put together five short chapters of impressionistic videos of our journey, which you can find on youtube at the site below.

http://www.youtube.com/damagechannel1