A different side of Africa

Last weekend I got the incredible opportunity to visit my brother Preston in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a junior at Vanderbilt, but he's been studying abroad in Cape Town since July and was kind enough to be my tour guide for a few days.

Cape Town is an amazing city full of incredible things to do. The city is one of the most beautiful I have ever been to - located on a peninsula stretching down to the Cape of Good Hope, with oceans on two sides and dramatic mountain ranges ringing the city center, it seems like any direction you look provides another awe-inspiring vista. Over the course of four days we went surfing in the Indian Ocean, hung out on beaches by the Atlantic Ocean, and drove down to the cliffs where both oceans meet. We also went on some intense hikes in the mountains surrounding the city, watched whales breaching from the town of Hermanus, and ate some of the best food I've had in a long time! It was definitely action-packed, but it was also a huge blessing to have time to relax and catch up with Preston, as well as meeting all of his new friends and getting a taste of what his life has been like for the past few months.

South Africa itself is a really interesting place. All of my Kenyan friends told me that I was leaving the "real" Africa, and it really did feel more like Europe that the Africa that I've been exposed to in Kenya. There have been so many different European influences and different powerful regimes in South Africa that it has developed into a hodge-podge of people from all kinds of different backgrounds, ethnicities, economic conditions, and political affiliations. It is strange to see familiar-looking slums on the edge of incredibly modern highways with World-Cup caliber stadiums in the background, and these juxtapositions really challenge the ideas of segregation and apartheid that have been such a big part of South Africa's history. Many people point to South Africa as the "1st world" representative of the continent, and there are definitely elements of modernization that haven't found their way to Kenya yet. At the same time, though, this progress has come alongside terrible race relations and has led to a country with a lot of social baggage that is still very evident.

Seeing this side of Africa really makes me wonder about the future of Kenya. The country has enjoyed relatively good economic growth, but tribal conflicts and political instability are threatening to explode into much bigger issues in the future unless some serious changes occur within all levels of the population. I would love to one day see Kenya with the kind of modernisation found in South Africa, but even more than that I would love to see a Kenyan population that is at peace with itself and can truly live together in harmony. I hope that the latter doesn't get sacrificed in pursuit of the former, because in the end no one would benefit. This country could definitely use your prayers - more than anything we need leaders with integrity to step up and stand against the cycle of corruption, sacrificing personal luxuries for the good of the country. Right now it is hard to see where that will come from if it doesn't come from God, and my prayer is that he would send individuals with the courage to make real changes!