We are well on our way to Tenerife - this morning something serendipitous occurred when I was checking our position, the weather and our speed. We were at 21 degrees north, 21 degrees west, 21 degrees Celsius and 21 nautical miles per hour. Not much chance of that happening to us again. What could that mean in the great scheme of things? ;)
Anyway, times have since changed and here they are at 10 p.m. 24 north 18 west 21.5 nautical miles per hour and and 20 degrees celsius. This means we have crossed the Tropic of Cancer today, have passed Mauritania and are around the same latitude as Western Sahara. We will be saying goodbye to Africa tomorrow and re-entering Europe as we visit Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Madeira over the next 3 days.
Tomorrow we are on an excursion called "Northern Panorama", a half day in the afternoon by coach with very little walking to help me deal with hip ache, instead taking in the views. It is only 3 months since our last visit to Tenerife, so we remember Teide by cable car very well, and didn't really want to spend a day on the beach either so this one sounds new and interesting. I am reluctant to promise live contact via wi-fi, but am more hopeful than ever! Let's see.
Just a quick update on our sea day activities today: super healthy breakfast on the windy deck (force 6), painting a Cape Verdian woman bearing fish on head, roast turkey dinner for lunch.
Our high spot today was another inspirational talk by the most wonderful Chris Lubbe, a repeat of his first talk for those who had missed it with a few extra explanatory slides and a BBC feature about race classification during apartheid. A couple of times Chris alluded to the pre apartheid times and the segregation that pre-existed 1948, the colonial times, and the embarrassment it might cause us to to know that the British started it. Here's a timeline - it might help to clarify.
The BBC world Service has whole projects about African History to support Chris's talk, and the extract below is from there
"A large number of laws were passed to establish the apartheid structure of government. The three most important blocks of legislation were:
The Race Classification Act. Every citizen suspected of not being European was classified according to race.
The Mixed Marriages Act. It prohibited marriage between people of different races.
The Group Areas Act. It forced people of certain races into living in designated areas.
The apartheid regime had a number of pseudo scientific tests for classifying people as belonging to one of four main groups: White, Black, Indian, Coloured (mixed race). One of these tests involved putting a comb through hair - if it got stuck, that meant the person being tested was identified as African.
Every year, people were reclassified racially. In 1984, for example: 518 Coloured people were defined as White 2 whites were called Chinese 1 white was reclassified Indian 1 white became Coloured 89 Coloured people became African"
Chris gives personal perspective to the following table showing the inequality, taken from http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html. He speaks of the day his family's land was confiscated, resettling in a squatter camp with no possessions, attending a school with 60 pupils per class and no books, having to scavenge rubbish dumps for discarded books.
After Chris's talk I went to a second art class while Khachik went to gym, then an afternoon nap for me, just because I can. Tonight there was another 5 course dinner and a thoroughly enjoyable Shirley Bassey night with a rather good west-end musical performer called Clare Bonsu, with all the arm, eye and hip drama you'd expect from Shirl, two Beatles numbers, two Bond songs, Big Spender, I am what I am and everything!
Until tomorrow, so hoping to get some pictures up and chat! Bye for now xx
Getting to Mindelo Harbour on St Vincent, Cape Verde after 7 days at sea has been well worth the wait. We have just read that the deep water harbour was formed by a volcanic crater. The sea is truly intense blue, light turquoise in patches, with tiny lines of white where the wind is whipping it up. From the ship directly in front of us we can see the stunning volcanic mountain ranges, and a good feeling about sustainability as there are "wind farms" both east and west. The scenery is very beautiful. We did what we planned and went off to Mindelo by shuttle. It feels really African, the people, markets, sounds, even though we had read about the connection with Portugal until independence in 1975. As we deduced from the port presentation the Islands don't seem to have geared up for tourism yet, but I am sure they will become a really popular destination for both sun and adventure seekers soon. There's no signs of hotels here in Mindelo on the beach, no expensive Waterfront, no jet skis or water ski-ing anywhere to be seen. There were many people waiting to greet us off the shuttle bus inviting us to take the island tour, and sadly quite a lot of very poor looking people around, asking for money. We didn't think about sharing a picnic until it was too late. :(
Over the day we have taken some lovely photos - big baskets of fish and fruit being carried by the women on their heads, a strong culture of bargaining for the best price. Tiny cafes and bars, all very dark inside without windows. Groups of men old and young sitting outside near their fishing boats, or selling their wares on street corners, lots of laughter and oh yes, lots and lots of dogs. Yet the buildings do look Portuguese - churches and house fronts in very bright colours, colonial statues, so it's been a very interesting day piecing it all together.
We had received a letter in our cabin yesterday with WHO advice about preventing Zika, listing Cape Verde as a risk area, and explaining that these Zika carrying mosquitoes are active during the day. The letter said we should cover up with dark long sleeved trousers and tops, and spray all over with 50% Deet like Jungle Formula or Lemon Eucalyptus like Mosiguard. We have been totally complicit and we have managed to avoid any bites today. Because the temperature has fallen a little bit and the wind is quite strong, blowing many hats off, we didn't feel uncomfortable covering up. We also think the wind will have helped to keep the mosquitoes away. On the clothes market we bought ourselves an African outfit each. Actually they will both be mine when we get home. I might be wrong but I don't think Khachik would wear his multi coloured tie dye top after the holiday. I will wear my royal blue and white tie dye dress in the house like a robe, as well as on any warm days we might have in the summer. Anyway mine is getting an outing tonight.
We are back in the cabin now, I have painted part of the coastline and we are waiting for dinner, sailing away from Mindelo port towards Tenerife. Our coordinates are now 17 degrees north and 25 degrees west. Sea state is moderate and the wind is force 6, which means the decks are quite blowy and there are warnings about the doors, but no closures as yet. The sea looks choppy Tonight our entertainment will include an all female Beatles tribute band called Sister Twist in the Curzon theatre and afterwards in Carmen's ballroom an American guitarist we remember from last year Called Zach Winningham. I will come back with the appraisal tomorrow.
I am sorry not to have been able to show off any of our recent our photos, or live message or Skype - we couldn't find any high speed wifi. I am sure we will when we reach Tenerife, meanwhile quick catches up only from the ship today and tomorrow. Then 20th Tenerife, 21st Gran Canaria and I think 22nd Madeira.
Bye for now
Tonight my blog is short and sweet because I'm conscious of the time. From the map it looks like we are almost level with Senegal, and very close to the Cape Verde Islands. our coordinates are now 14 degrees north and 23 degrees west. There's been a noticeable change in the weather from hot to warm - more cloud cover, a drop in temperature to 24 degrees, meaning that we can be out on deck for a lot longer. As the day has progressed the wind has also increased to a force 5, and the sea state is now classed as moderate. It's not uncomfortable, though, just a gentle sway, so moderate is good, for now!
After a breezy breakfast out on the deck this morning, we went to deck 13 at the very top of the ship to a bar called the Crow's Nest and painted a coastal scene, said to be from St Vincent, but I renamed one boat after Khachik. Very enjoyable, so I went back for the afternoon class while Khachik watched Leicester v West Ham and later Arsenal v Crystal Palace. We also watched a Historical Murders talk about the Krays, very hard to listen to, won't do that again.
Lunch was a bit different today. We went for a sit down waiter service for lunch, instead of the usual buffet. Food is lovely just the same, but I feel we might have eaten less by having portions served out on our plates. That might be the way to go, given that exercising is such hard work ;) Dinner was a lovely sit down event tonight too, with the usual 5 courses. Tonight our choice of main was a Taste of Africa, and included a fish I'd never heard of (and now I've forgotten its name!) with a risotto style rice dish with lots of veg.
Tomorrow we will be in Mindelo port on the island on St Vincent. We have heard that the islands aren't highly populated or developed, and not yet geared up to tourism, although getting ready. We have decided not to do an excursion, but to visit Mindelo by shuttle bus and spend a few hours just taking in the local culture, trying to learn a bit more. More about that tomorrow.
Clocks go back again tonight so we will then be 2 hours behind UK time, but not for long. It seems there are only 8 days left, that's gone quickly!
Bye for now xx
I have now forgotten what being in a port feels like, honestly. When you leave the ship you have an ID card to swipe. As you swipe there's a beep and a voice from the technology as you leave the ship saying "goodbye" and when you return "welcome" - it recognises you by bar code and displays your photo. (A possibility for the future of ID's and passports I imagine) I was just thinking about this and it seems ages away since I heard these sounds just before exploring the sand dunes in Namibia - did we really do that? Yep. That was us :).
But happily for us in this last week a whole new world opened up, so many things to read, listen to, speakers to engage with who have made us think hard about the meaning of life. So much to look up too when we get home.
With our extra hour we just had an extra hour in bed before breakfast and art this morning. We painted "Arch 22 in Banjul" which we might have visited if we had had Yellow Fever Vaccine, and if the Gambia port stop hadn't been cancelled. We don't mind, by the way. We were going to stay on the ship that day so that we could get into Cape Verde unvaccinated, as we don't hold Yellow Fever Certificates. Quite a satisfactory outcome for us. Anyway, back to Arch 22 where today we used a fresh technique - negative painting where a huge part of the paper was a white building, and its shape was created by leaving it blank and painting everything inside around it. Really effective.
Then after lunch, because it's Saturday Khachik was watching footy on telly, I went on my own to "Virtual Planetareum - Guided Tour of the Night Sky",for a talk given by Leon,a fellow of the Royal Astronomical society. He used computer modelling to describe the galaxies and their relationships, including all the ancient mythology. It was riveting, although I have to admit that there was so much new information for my brain that I think I need to listen again. Hopefully it will be available on Channel 2 of our telly tomorrow!
So now for my daily update about where we are and what the weather's like - 28C today, so a bit more comfortable to sit in at breakfast time. A light breeze too. We are degrees 9 degrees north and 17 degrees west, passing about 150 miles off the coast of Sierra Leone roughly level with Freetown. Still very excited about covering all this new ground.
It's Friday. Love and peace especially the Ashpital family who need it more than ever.
Yesterday I talked about that wonderful speaker Chris Lubbe who had survived torture, repeated imprisonment and witnessing the murder of a man he was trying to help, rising above retaliation with the help of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, choosing a non-violent path. His generosity of spirit and his words are still going through my head. He said things like "some of you are suffering pain and ill health, but you will get through it." and "if I got through torture, you will get through this" "We do not have to accept the world as it is." "We need to do our part to bring about change". "Don't look back on bad things that have happened." "Find a way to make the world a better place".
And that has given me and I think hundreds of others lucky enough to have been on this cruise so much hope.
Since writing yesterday we have covered another 450 nautical miles, crossed the Equator and are heading North West, from the live info on screen it looks as though we are just south west of Liberia, (Hello Adrienne and Winston, thinking about inspiring people!). Our coordinates are 2 degrees north and 10 degrees west, so as predicted back in the Northern Hemisphere. It's 31C today, and cloud cover is classed as 5/8. The heat has advised us indoors again, firstly to paint a humming bird with a background produced by putting a wet on wet wash under a sheet of Clingfilm. I love the effect the wrinkles make. I went to two art classes actually.
Then we lunched, heartily again, listened to a Historical Murder Presentation, one of a series presented by an ex- policeman who has researched them, and now tells the stories, presents the evidence before the audience becomes the jury and then hears the outcome.
Today at lunch we were accompanied by a pod of dolphins for several minutes. Beautiful shiny dolphins jumping, playing, friends. It was so lovely to see them. I am amazed that considering where we are we hardly see any sea life, so its a real delight when it happens. The flying fish have come back again too, so we watch them from the balcony too, and enjoy beautiful sunrises, changing seas and skies.
Over the course of a lovely dinner we talked to the couple from Scotland we dined with two nights ago, Margaret and Alan. We covered some ground! Family, teaching, South African politics, hip replacements, world travel, this cruise. They were lovely and so easy to talk to. We discovered that Jimmy James hadn't been allowed to disembark in Cape Town to travel on to his next cruise ship gig. He apparently didn't have enough blank pages in his passport.
For a few days we have been back on UK time, but tonight we will put the clocks back an hour, and possibly one more time before we turn right after Cape Verde and head north eastwards towards the Canaries and Madeira. Two more sea days yo land...
Early night for us - all this on board activity and inspiration can be tiring. Bye for now x
Still thinking all the time about Grandad Roy. Love to all the Ashpitals xxxx
My oh my, we can feel certainly the equatorial heat today. Definitely in excess of 30C. An indoors day was needed today, even breakfast on the deck in the shade at 9 this morning was a bit too hot for us Brits (not all I have to say, some are still getting roasted and turned out on their sunbeds. There was at least one casualty of the heat today, as one man collapsed on deck 13. He was stretchered away.)
So we have entertained ourselves indoors, more art, drawing and painting a monk seal. Pam Carter is the name of the art teacher, quite eccentric at the same time as being an inspirational woman and artist, and as if that wasn't enough, cancer and stroke survivor. She is accompanied by her husband, a former rugby player now confined to a wheelchair as a result of his career, for whom she is also a carer. Maximum respect to them both.
On the subject of inspirational we then went to Chris Lubbe's third and final talk, this one was about the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ( links to a BBC feature narrated by Fern Britton) after apartheid, and the appointment of Desmond Tutu to chair the commission using a restorative justice and amnesty approach. The Commission had three functions: human rights, amnesty and reparation. Hearings took place between 1996-1998, starting in the Western Cape.
How to forgive was at the heart of the work of the commission, but in needed full disclosure and engagement of the perpetrators. How to be listened to as part of catharsis for the victims and their families. There is a SA government TRC site for background and ethos. On You tube there are full hour long broadcasts of the interviews by the TRC (warning of horrific details) for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRE_eM_LtR4
Today's talk was really visual - clips of state sanctioned violence, in particular an event referred to as the Trojan Horse Massacre, where police hid in a container and then just burst out opening fire on everyone peacefully demonstrating - I have now linked to You Tube. He showed us photos from the commission, and added profoundly moving narrative. There are still so many things I would like to know, but it will have to wait until I am at home, with access to libraries and internet for research. I have found another documentary which gives a more information (if you watch please be prepared for the reality), and I have also found the following 21 minutes of summary really helpful.
There was time for a few questions and answers today too. One was to ask about the presence of segregation before apartheid was enshrined in law - eliciting an uncomfortable response about the regime imposed by British and Dutch colonialists. One was to ask why there's so much inequality even now 20 years on. The answer was respectfully that 300 years of inequality cannot disappear in one generation, I have learned so much from these three sessions and feel absolutely privileged to have been here at this time. Two of these 3 sessions are on a loop on channel 2 in our cabins now too, so I will be able to review the details I may have forgotten.
Tonight after dinner we decided to go to the Curzon theatre to watch the Headliners Theatre Company perform "Blame it on the Boogie", but unfortunately there were some technical difficulties and the show was cancelled just after it started. The "pit lifts" went down below stage level, and as it was a dance performance it was too dangerous to carry on.
We are now back in the cabin watching parts of Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy interspersed with Liverpool v. Borusia Dortmund. It's a great thing to be able to study the map of Africa in our cabin and to learn where we are in relation to Gabon, Cameroon and Nigeria, and how we will be sailing towards Cape Verde to the west of Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Liberia and Senegal. They were just place names, and I never really placed them on a map before. I hope I remember all this. A few years ago I learned all the locations of all of the USA, I think I'd be hard pushed to remember even 10 accurately nowadays. Losing what I don't use unfortunately.
Our current location after another 440 nautical miles towards Cape Verde is 1 degree south of the equator and 6 degrees west, so we didn't cross the equator overnight as I had expected. Instead we have been told it will be overnight tonight, and then we are back in the Northern Hemisphere for the final stretch, visiting the Islands - Cape Verde, Canaries (Tenerife and Gran Canaria) and Madeira before returning to Southampton.
We are both feeling really sad for our dear son-in-law Rob, and for Sara, Izzy and Leon as they are forced to come to terms with their awful sudden loss of Grandad Roy, and their unbearable grief. Love and peace, my dears xx
As we travel northwards up the South Atlantic we can feel the move into the tropics again. I am sitting on the balcony feeling the intense heat and humidity again. Not feeling very much like talking today. The sea is calm and there's minimal swell so nausea is a distant memory from the Indian Ocean, and long may it stay that way. We have another 2000 nautical miles to travel before our next stop in Cape Verde. We are currently at 6 degrees south of the equator and 12 degrees west, that puts us in the part of the Atlantic to the west of Angola. I am guessing that means there'll be an uneventful an equator crossing while we sleep in our air conditioned cabin. We are continuing with our art classes - Namibian sand dune landscape yesterday, and Namibian Gecko today. All good.
Once again we have been to hear an inspirational talk by Chris Lubbe, the second of three. Apologies if the following summary seems a bit disjointed. I didn't write anything down at the time and there's so much to remember. I only hope I do Mr Lubbe justice. Today he spoke a little more about his own life. He had left us on a cliff-hanger on 11th as he described having to witness the black man he was trying to help from missing his train being pushed out of the moving train by two white South African police. He reminded us of witnessing his own mother being thrown to the floor for sitting on a whites only bench whilst waiting for emergency medical aid as she slipped into a diabetic coma. These two events are what led him further into political activism, further imprisonment and the most vile of all torture.
He also spoke to us of how the late Steve Biko had visited and supported the squatter camp to which his family had been exiled in Durban, and taught Chris and his peers to write letters to world leaders, and of his own letter which he wrote to the Queen, but never received a reply.(see later). You might remember Steve Biko and Donald Wood in the film Cry Freedom starring Denzel Washington as Steve Biko. (Trailer)
In answer to a question one of the cruisers asked him - where and how did Apartheid begin? He showed a photograph of the architect of apartheid in South Africa, Hendrik Verwoerd (sp?) He is said to have learned about it from the British Colonialists and the Bible. It started in 1948. Thereafter successive governments up to P.W Boethe got away with imposing white supremacy and sanctioning the use of violence and all kinds of cruelty to control the black majority. This was very strangely after the Holocaust and the defeat of Hitler, and contemporary with segregation by colour in the southern states of the USA. A World War against, amongst other things, Arian supremacy had just been fought and won. How did Apartheid slip through without similar worldwide intervention? What made this situation any less worthy of the interventions of the 70's and 80's 40 years sooner? It's so obviously evil. What makes humans do something so wrong for so long?
He also illustrated how political will outside of South Africa was changing. Trevor Huddleston was working in SA and became vocal about human rights. He was banned from SA and on return to the UK turned to the Anti-Apartheid movement. This gained momentum and slogans began to appear in high profile places. Bands and musicians began to put on their albums "we do not support Apartheid", and slowly governments were influenced to withdraw trade and force the SA economy into jeopardy. We were also played the anthem "Free Nelson Mandela" to remind us of the times when a person buying a Free Nelson Mandela mug in the UK and taking it back to SA was sent to death row for bringing in "subversive material". He told us how vhs tapes of the Free Nelson Mandela music concert were banned and had to be smuggled into South Africa - again this was deemed to be "Subversive material". He recollected how just as the film was about to be shown, the venue was raided, he got caught and imprisoned. He described imprisonment and the inevitable torture of black political prisoners to make them talk, like being handcuffed and having his feet bound, and then being stood under a cold shower for a week, surviving only from the water from the shower, and becoming emaciated. Several times he thought he knew he was going to die. The guards would get bored and play Russian Roulette with him. One night after being forced to hold a gun to his own head, firing several blanks, knowing his chances were 0, the live bullet got jammed, and even though he had already suffered, he began to think his father's prayers for his safety were being answered, because he had survived. He recalls how he resolved not to become violent in his struggle, instead to take a peaceful approach.
I hadn't realised that Elton John and Queen had played in Sun City when people like Peter Gabriel and Bob Geldoff were boycotting apartheid and being very vocal about the injustices. I wonder why they did this? I wonder how they feel about it now?
Apartheid had many extreme and violent supporters in high positions - Chris mentioned Eugene de Kock aka"Prime Evil", imprisoned for 20 years for his role in murders. I have, since this talk, been looking on the net for history of Apartheid and discovered the most extreme end is still in existence. It makes me feel very uncomfortable but in the interest of balance it is right to include the flip side of the Rainbow Nation, without wanting to give it much space. Footage and articles about Eugene TerreBlanche give this side of the story. One of the most disturbing clips of Terreblanche I watched was an old Louis Theroux programme which looks as though it may have been aborted after a few minutes
Apartheid covered many public places - beaches, benches, toilets, buses, hospitals, schools, colleges,workplaces.
Black people sitting down on whites-only beaches was illegal. Peaceful seated protests were often brought to an end by police helicopters landing near a sit in, and invariably violence. However, black people jogging on the beach wasn't illegal until the 1980's, a loophole which Chris showed was exploited as far as it could be, by daily jogs. Chris has a photo of Arhbishop Desmond Tutu jogging on the beach laughing and wearing a T-shirt with "Just Call me Arch" printed on the front. He referred to Arch as a mischief maker, something I have now heard several times.
At around the time when many white South Afrians were beginning to express anti-Apartheid sentiments, a group of White women in South Africa formed a Black Sash organisation and silently and non-violently protested against Apartheid, without arrests because they were white, in large numbers. We never heard about this. During Apartheid the newspapers were always censored, and access to outside or "dissident" news was blocked. Often whole articles or pages were blacked out.
During this time the ruling party had selected a new leader. Chris quite emphatically described how F W De Klerk was largely unrecognised as a strategist or for his contribution to the changes in South African government, although the Nobel Peace prize was awarded to both Mr Mandela and Mr De Klerk. De Klerk had apparently feigned right-wing-ness to become selected as the new party leader, yet once elected his true views became instantly known. Without hesitation he released Nelson Mandela in 1991 and unbanned the ANC.
Nelson Mandela tracked Chris down at some point after his release, phoned him and invited him to meet with him. Chris thought it was a hoax, and hung up on him! It was real, he called back and Mandela offered him employment as a body guard, even though Chris confessed to not being able to use a gun. Mandela sent him to be trained with the SAS. By getting into contact with Nelson Mandela, Chris discovered his father had actually also been an activist whilst he (Chris) had been growing up. Chris's father had hidden Nelson Mandela from the police when he was on the run. Chris recollects how twitchy his father was after 9 at night when anyone came to the door, but had no idea what the reason was. His father told him that he didn't tell Chris he was hiding Mandela because he would have "blabbed" and got everyone sent to prison.
Three years later the country had its first democratic election and the ANC won with a landslide, some new voters queued for 3 days to cast their vote. Nelson Mandela became President on 10th May 1994.
One day early on in his government, Mandela gathered his team together and said he wanted to make FW de Klerk his deputy. This is the point where soul searching about the true meaning of reconciliation began. Chris then showed us a short extract of the film Invictus, and pointed out the character who was playing him, and how the film differed from reality. The scene in the film represented the moment in Chris's real life of a massive shift of attitude, the moment when the former white special branch who had inflicted torture, became the body guards of Nelson Mandela's team. It wasn't easy, but it happened. One of these men had actually tortured Chris, and he told us how he is now his friend, really genuinely his friend.
So in this part of his story Chris remembers the boy from the shack in Durban with no electricity or water now travelling the world with hero Nelson Mandela, advising him sometimes, meeting world leaders, including the Queen and the president of the USA. He related a very touching story of how the Queen brought the letter to him he had sent from South Africa under Biko's tutelage. It seems the Queen did reply but censorship of the mail in SA meant he never received her reply. The closing part of the talk showed famous quotes from Desmond Tutu about forgiveness leading to freedom, Truth and Reconciliation, the movement forward, Nelson Mandela's vision for a Rainbow Nation and the way he changed the association of the Springbok with white south Africa into a powerful message of reconciliation.
There is one more session about Truth and Reconciliation to come tomorrow.
