It's a small world!

I went to church service on Sunday at JL Zwane, once again it was upbeat and full of life. The congregation was buzzing and there seemed to be more people at church than usual. I realized after I saw police and security people starting to filter into the building that something was happening. Yes, we were going to have a visitor. Jacob Zuma, the ANC (African National Congress) party president of South Africa and presidential candidate for the next election, was coming to talk to a women's leadership group at the JL Zwane Centre. Nelson Mandela was the first president of the ANC. In the last year there has been discord in the party which lead to the eventual resignation of the last president, Thabo Mbeki. There is an interim president in place by the name of Kgalema Motlanthe. There are a few issues surrounding Zuma, it is alleged that he has four wives, has been accused of sexual harassment and he has gone to court on corruption charges. In other words, not really the people's choice. But here was an infamous public figure coming to the centre. We were all waiting just to get a glimpse of him. About 20 minutes before he was to speak we saw the entourage drive up, he walked in the front door and we immediately surrounded him. I was introduced to him as "Jane from America" as I shook his hand and had my picture taken with him (note photo!) He was quite charismatic and spent a lot of time getting his picture taken with many people from the congregation.

The next day I received an email from my friend Kiersten Chace in Minneapolis. She attached an article from the paper that showed a picture of Zuma at a coloured church in a township called Atlantis on the same day that he had been at the Zwane Centre. Kiersten is the person who introduced Kevin Winge to Rev. Spiwo of the JL Zwane Centre in 2000. The ironic thing is that Kiersten has been working with the pastor of the coloured church (Pastor Mike Adams) on a documentary film and developing a multipurpose centre in Atlantis. Last week I set up a meeting with Pastor Mike to go to Atlantis and visit his church and see the plans for the new centre. What a small world we live in!

After my visit to see Pastor Mike I will blog more about black and coloured. I hope you enjoyed this small world story!

Bye for now...