Hermanus – Volmoed - Reconciliation

This weekend was about reconciliation. The past three days were spent in Volmoed, a beautiful retreat center in Hermanus where I stayed in an adorable little cottage. We met and spoke with John De Gruchy, author of Reconciliation: Restoring Justice, a book which everyone on our program read. The book is about the role of Reconciliation and religion in the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) in South Africa. The TRC took place after the apartheid to deal with the injustices of the apartheid era and allow all ethnic groups to reconcile with one another and with the country’s past in order to progress into it’s future. It was lead by Desmond Tutu in his philosophy that there can be “No future without forgiveness”. However, that was not the only type of reconciliation that I experienced and explored this weekend. In addition to understanding a bit better the reconciliation of groups and individuals in South Africa, I also did a bit of self-exploration and reconciling with myself. So often I am easily caught up in worrying about the future, always wanting and needing to have a plan, to have everything figured out. The more time I am here, spending time in beautiful natural places like Volmoed, I begin to reconcile a little bit more with that which is unknown.  I begin to realize that all I really need to know is that I am here, living out my dream and doing what I love and that all I need to be concerned with is continuing to live in this moment, in the here and now. Unfortunately it is so much easier said that done and I must constantly fight the urge to always anticipate what is next and to know the ending and control the outcome, but I am making steady progress.

In the meantime I am learning more about South Africa and the TRC, which I find to be the most fascinating aspect of South African history, and I am enjoying hikes and waterfalls and baboon sightings (okay not always-but we did this weekend at least!) Now that we are back in the K house in Obz I am about to embark on my busiest week yet in terms of class work! I have to say I have been quite lucky to not have had too much thus far, but not it seems that it has all come at once! So while I have three papers and two exams this week, I am trying not to stress and to still just be here, now, enjoying this. After all, I am only receiving pass-fail credits this semester and which one of my aunts was it that said “When in Africa-get C’s”? I think I’ll take that advice! I can’t believe I am saying this, but there are more important things!