Day 6

Day Six and what a day! Where shall I begin? Well, at the beginning, I suppose. We had breakfast at 8.00am (the grapefruit marmalade is heavenly) and then we phoned Misman to pick us up in his taxi and take us to St Joseph's Marist College. We really wanted to make contact with the Marist College before we went back and they made us very welcome. We were shown round the school and went into lessons in the Junior school. Tom and Paige just got stuck in straight away with the children, which was great to see. The senior school were in exams, so we could not speak to any of them. We were taken to the chapel and found that Year 7 were having Mass, so we stayed a while. the singing was wonderful and the chapel beautiful. As we left, they started singing a Christmas Carol which was quite surreal with the sun blazing down on us and the temperature 30 degrees. They were very keen to establish links with us. In many ways, it has a similar history to the Marist College in Hull, having been founded in 1918 as a school for boys and then amalgamating with a girls school about 18 years ago.
After that Masmin drove us to the Table Mountain Cable Way. It did not take us long to go up and the views from the top were stunning. We took some great photos of each other standing on boulders overlooking, it seemed, the whole world. Even Anna forgot her fear of heights! Even standing on the top of the mountain we could hardly believe that we were there. Masmin - what a lovely man - was waiting for us at the bottom and drove us to the Slave Lodge, right in the heart of the business district. This is where the International Conference organised by the Wilberforce Institute is taking place. We listened to a lecture delivered by Sue Holmes and Yvette Fox on the teaching of slavery in schools in the East Riding. After they had finished, a person from Reunion Island spoke on how things were done on his island,. but he spoke in French. Simon and Paige were delighted and listened with great attention. It is clear from just reading the Conference brochure what a prestigious affair it is with speakers coming from the best Universities all over the world. the Chair of this session was a former Minster of Education in the South African government.

And after that, we were straight on the coach with a group attending the Conference to go the the Constantia Wine Estate which built its great wealth on the backs of slaves. This was the wine that was shipped to Napoleon when he was in exile on St Helena. After a tour of the estate and a brief history, we did a little wine tasting. Anna celebrated her 18th birthday in South Africa with a wee small glass of port.
We are now back at our Guest House watching a most fantastic sunset! Simon is overwhelmed by its beauty! We are going out to the Waterfront for a final meal with the Conference delegates. We hope to be in bed by 9.00pm, but I somehow doubt that that will be the case! Good night everyone. Sweet Dreams. Mr C.