So day one of the next African adventure. Another night flight. I hate them. Especially this one to Johannesburg which is over ten hours long. Sleep would help but always proves a challenge.
A sunny but cold spring day at Heathrow but we are looking forward to a warm start tomorrow morning in South Africa. Apart from my wife, we have my grand daughter Katie with us this time. It will be great to watch her reaction to the culture and wildlife explosion she is about to experience.
How do you fill 11 hours? Well firstly a film. I watched Colin Firth in the film ‘The Railwayman.’ My wife tells me I will enjoy it; its the sort of depressing film I like! It is about a man who is trying to come to terms with his prisoner of war experience at the hands of the Japanese on the Burma Railway. It is based on a true story where Eric Lomax eventually goes back to the scene of his torture and mistreatment to confront Takashi Nagase, the man who was his main torturer. It is a challenging film to watch but in a strange way links to very much to where I am heading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEGTm1jgf_U

You can’t think of South Africa without thinking of Mandela. How,despite what he went through  he led the country to a spirit of reconciliation rather than hatred. The whole structure of the political system in the country wreaked such iniquity on so many. And yet, after his release from 27 years of imprisonment on Robben Island he modeled how everyone should respond in the new South Africa. The country established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) where witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.
Here in this film, Lomax who arrives believing he will repay his captor with what he deserves but ends up forgiving. In that spirit his captor finds the grace to admit, confess and atone for what he has done. They end up as friends until they died in 2011 and 2012.

In the film Invictus charting Mandela’s rise to power we find poem that sustained him through those years. The poem of he same name probably helps explain how some men in such abject situations as Lomax – starved, beaten and tortured to an inch of his life, not only survived but had the grace eventually to forgive.

So we arrived. It wasn’t sunny and it wasn’t warm. It’s autumn here and the airport at Johannesburg was shrouded in mist. We spend the day catching up with sleep and preparing for safari tomorrow. Every time I come here I am amazed at the change. The fantastic Oliver Tambo Airport and now the toll road from J’burg to Pretoria halving the journey time. South Africa may have much to move forward yet, but it is important to remember the monumental task and the monumental changes to date.