Generosity

Hi Friends,

I'm so excited to be able to share with you that I had a fantastic weekend. Here are the details. On last Friday night, I decided to go into Johannesburg to visit with my friend from Birmingham-Southern, Lisa Glenn, who is in the RSA on a Rotary scholarship. So I got up on Sat., took my malaria pill, and got dropped off at the bus station in Pretoria to ride into Jo'Burg. This option was much cheaper than taking a taxi ($10 versus $50) Well, I got to the station just as the bus was about to leave, but the driver was nice and let me (and another lady) pay really quick and hop on. Well, this other lady and I (what Dad would call the "be-laters") sat together and chatted all the way into Jo'Burg. She's a librarian working at the UNISA, which is a distance learning school. The most interesting thing she shared with me was that UNISA law students do not a have access to legal research search engines like LexisNexis & Westlaw unless they are on campus. "But," I asked, "UNISA is a distance learning school, so how does that work if they have to come on campus to do legal research?" Well, she said, students submit requests for info. to on-campus librarians (like her) and she finds the materials they need and she mails it to them or sends it via email. I found this incredibly fascinating because all my legal professors emphasize the necessity not of learning the black letter law, but of being able to find the applicable statute as needed. And that foundational basic is what the law librarians do. That struck me as very interesting because those lawyers who do not wind up working with firms that can afford to subscribe to Lexis (expensive) are at a loss if there's not an adequate library nearby.

Anyway ... back to the librarian on the bus. I had been nervous about taking the bus and traveling by myself, but it was quite fine. There were all older ladies on the bus, and when we got off, the lady with whom I had been chatting asked where I was headed, so I told her Constitutional Hill. She said that was close to where she was going, so she offered to walk me there. I accepted, and she walked with me the 4 blocks to the museum. Upon arriving we discovered that the tours for the day were finished, so she proceeded to give me an informal tour focusing on the design of the Court. Now, permit me a brief detour to talk about the beautiful architecture.

The theme behind the entire design of the Constitutional Court is transparency / transparent government. Hence, there are lots of windows, skylights, and glass. http://www.concourt.gov.za/text/tour/images/pic1.html . This transparency theme is reinforced in that the court is open to the public, so all can come and watch the trials and seating is permanently installed in the back. You'll also note that in the picture, the brick on the left looks very different than the brick on the right. That's because the brick on right was used in the old prison that used to be on these grounds. That prison held political prisoners as well as people convicted of common crimes such as violating pass laws. (FYI - Pass laws restricted the movement and freedom of every black South African over the age of 15. Therefore, if you were going to travel outside of your designated 'homeland' you needed permission in the form of a pass book to do so. The pass had to specify for what purpose and for how long you were permitted to be there.) Well, in a very symbolic gesture, the architects of the Constitutional Court tore down that prison and used the formerly oppressive structural elements to construct a democratic, transparent government institution committed to redressing past wrongs. I think it also serves as a perpetual reminder of the country's history, and that historical context is constantly influencing current law.

There was also an intentional effort to make the Court distinctly African. Accordingly, outside the building, in bright, colorful letters, there's a huge list of all the languages spoken and interpreted by the Court. There are genuine cow hides on the 11 justices' bench, acknowledging the prominent role that cattle played in some cultures as a source of wealth. Just contrast this picture to your own mental image of our U.S. Supreme Court and you realize how very beautiful and warm and unique this building is. Furthermore, in some African sub-cultures, trees served as the gathering place for the airing of disputes, so the Court seeks to evoke that same feeling of airing disputes under a trees before 11 wise elders (Justices). In this picture, the tall poles are the trunks and the shiny silver things, the leaves of the trees. http://www.concourt.gov.za/text/tour/images/pic3.html

Okay, so enough about the architecture and back to the lady (librarian) that I met on the bus. She's explaining all this information about the architecture to me when this man and 5 people walk in. So we introduced ourselves, and it turns out that he was the Director of the grounds (Court and Fort next door). He had brought his family to give them a quick tour, so my companion asked if I might tag along, and they welcomed me. They took me all over the building and even invited me to join them for drinks (non-alcoholic strawberry juice). I have a picture of all of us that I will forward later (as soon as Bethany explains how to put pictures on a blog). The Director's mother was especially friendly, saying that she knew what it was like to be away from home, and so she hugged me (read: pushed my head in her bosom) and kissed me and said, "that kiss is from your mother." A very tender gesture, very much appreciated. As we talked more, I discovered that the Director's mother (Margie) and her husband had been to visit Oakwood Church in Huntsville, Alabama. This was shocking because I too visited that church a couple of times. It turns out that this family (the Petersons) are Seventh Day Adventists also and natives of Jo'Burg.

As we started running into more and more people, the Director would introduce all of us as his family, and "the American traveler, also family, my daughter." At the end of our tour, they asked me how I was getting home, and I said I was taking a taxi, but they said "No, we will drive you." So I accepted and the Director and his wife brought me to Lisa Glenn's dorm room. Now here's a detail that Shade Tree Mechanic will appreciate. When we got to the dorm, most people would say, "Okay, bye. Nice to meet you." But instead, Mr. Peterson got out of the car and walked me to Lisa's door and waited for Lisa to come down and let me in. And he reminded me of his mother's previous invitation for me to join them for church next Saturday. They have invited me to spend the night Friday and go to church with them Saturday and then to the Youth Day celebration on the 16th.

AND THEN, after I was safe at Lisa's (in her dorm room on campus), Katy Gianni (also a B'ham native) picks Lisa and I up and takes us to this Indian restaurant where I had chicken masala, which was delicious. I asked Katy to let me pay to thank her for driving us and spending time with us, but she refused. She would not even let me pay the tip. Then the next day, I went to church with the Albertyns (friends of my Bible study teacher in Alabama) in Centurion. They too were wonderfully kind to me, welcoming me into their home, taking me to church and fixing me lunch with homemade tiramisu for dessert, treating me as one of the family, and inviting me back. Through each of these experiences (the librarian walking me to the Court ... the Peterson family taking me under their wing ... and Katy and Lisa being so generous with their time and companionship and housing) ... I have come to appreciate more and more what it means to have a spirit of generosity.

When I drafted the first half of this blog, I was safe in Lisa's dorm room, warm, fed, and safe, getting ready to go to bed, (the best feeling in the world) and I wanted to write to give each of you a reason to thank God for his abundant protection and provision for me during my first weekend in South Africa. To MM, Shadetree, Elba, Coni, and Evan - thank you for continuously thinking of, praying for, writing to, and calling me overseas.

Love,

Kristian