“To the left, poverty”
I foxtrotted through 10 days in Cape Town, South Africa like it was a delightful, fleeting dream. As a participant (and reporter) at the third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, I was wrapped up in conference sessions and busy doing writing assignments from early until late. But I also found opportunities to see the city and take in some of the magnificent scenery of the southern cape. It's a beautiful place, charming and hospitable.
Cape Town, I discovered, is unlike the cities in Ethiopia or Kenya where I've lived and worked in years past. This felt more European than African, certainly more westernized than any other place I've visited on the continent. But the vibrant colours of the markets and the clamour of the taxi touts conveyed a distinctively African flavour as well. The affluence of the waterfront development flowed inevitably into the chaos of the bus station.
South Africa is a country of mind-boggling anomalies—where enormous resources are stockpiled just a security fence removed from great need; where Christianity flourishes and violence abounds.
One telling moment came on a day trip to the Cape of Good Hope (not to be missed). On one side of the road, a tall stone wall topped with barbed wire protected a lovely forested area. The other side of the road featured a sprawling shantytown, cluttered with shacks and dirty streets, crowded with people spilling into the roadway.
"To the right, game reserve," observed our guide. "To the left, poverty." And on we drove. It was an apt summary of the contradictions of the country.
People from nearly 200 countries gathered for the evangelism conference. My own table group brought four men and two women together on a regular basis throughout the event. Thus I got to know a ministry administrator from Singapore, a Middle East scholar from California, a literacy worker from Nepal, a student worker from Dubai (with connections to Iran) and a youthful aboriginal Canadian currently working in the Philippines. And me.
South Africa was indeed a trip to remember. I won't forget the Irish restaurant where I spent time with a Norwegian journalist, nor the lounge where I'd meet with a Chinese pastor. I will fondly recall the Ethiopian hotel where I took my breakfast. I loved to walk the cobblestone streets and wonder why the buildings need such steep-pitched gables.
The world is very much at home in Cape Town. I felt like I met the world, but kind of missed out on Africa.
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