Youth Day and Diamonds: lets celebrate!!!!!

Day 15 - Youth Day; This is a holiday for all of South Africa. Almost everything closes down and there are speical events all over the country for kids (who have the day off of school). I think it started in 1992. The Afrikaans people were forcing the African children to speak Afrikaans instead of their tribal language. So, in silent protest they marched from their schools through Sweato (south of Jo-burg). Gun shots rang out and a young boy was killed. This was the start of apartied. Since then the day has been celebrated as Youth Day all over South Africa. We went to Bethesda to celebrate Youth Day. The churches from Onderstepoort, Soutpan, Central, Kekana Gardens, a youth group from Iowa, a campus outreach team and a few other groups were there. We had an authentic African Braii. This means you bring your own meat, all grill together, and then mingle when your food is finished. When we got there half of the group decided to mingle on the volleyball court. (Dont dive, its dirt). Tim, Caleb, Ben, Candi and I however, picked it up a little with a ruthless game of soccer. By the end of the day I hurt so badly, but it was so nice to get out and do something strenuous. We sat down to eat lunch, then were back at the games. The African girls play a ruthless game with the jump rope. Dr. Casey and I watched but did not try. There was singing and a history of the day then a challenge about education. Then we had to go home. From the sun I had a pretty good migriane, but it was a good day. I really enjoyed being with Americans, different groups of Africans, and Afrikaans all fellowshipping together. Mr. Zak ran the Comrades marathon today. When we got home we watched the TV to see if we could see him. We did see him twice, but did not see him cross the finish line. He did finish though, praise God! (Unlike last year) I guess this is a monumental thing over here. AND if you have run (or even attempted) Comrades it gives you a certain clout in the community with the people.


Day 16 - We went to the diamond mines!!! "Millions of years" ago a volcano erupted in the area today known as Culinan. A young boy almost 100 years ago stummbled upon some pretty rocks which he used for playing marbles. (They were great shooters) Later a family friend discovered they were diamonds and asked the boy where he had found them. This man, Mr. Culinan offered a pretty price to the owner of the farm where the diamonds were found, not offering the information about the precious gems. The man refused; not until his death, did Mr. Culinan purchase the property. Today the Culinan mines boast the largest diamond ever found (one piece of which is a part of the British crown jewels), the patented Culinan cut (with 58 facets),and a whole bunch of other things I was going to write, but Candi was just driving me crazy and I forgot. Anyway, the mine does not do underground tours any longer, so we had a surface tour. It was very interesting - especially the geology lover in me. (Yeah! Earth Science!!!!) After the tour we were supposed to go to a place that sells the diamonds for pretty cheap, however, the store had closed down. We asked if we could order diamonds at the same cost, I'll let you know. Some of you have already put in your orders and deposited $$ into my account. I'll do my best. After the tour we ate at a fabulous resturant, met a guy that looks like Jos Riebe, and got ice cream from a ding ding ding ice cream truck.