12th October

On Wednesday we went on a city tour organized for us by the City of Joburg.

We visited the Apartheidmuseum, Soweto, the house of Mandela and the Hector Pietersmuseum.
In the Apartheidmuseum it was straiking that your got a random entrance ticket that tagged you as white or non-whites. That created the feeling people have had during that period when there were a lot of services or areas where not accessible if you were 'non-white'. Juri, our guide , told us that the coridors in buildings were sometimes made wider so non-whites would not touch the whites and there were banks in the parks that said '  for blanks only'. Not really thinkable for us...

 

My entrance ticket made me randomly white

 

 For the people that understand Flemish: some signs in 'Afrikaans':

 

After the museam we continued our trip and passed by the Stadium that was created for the Worldcup in 2010:

Then we arrived in Soweto ( South West Township) : the largest Township of Joburg:
Although there is still a lot of poverty in this township you do start to see that  the government is building new houses in some areas: 

 In 1948 the blank Africans won the elections for the first time and in 1955 the charts of freedom was signed that included 10 chapters. The monument below describes each of the 10 chapters and the South African you see on the picture spontaneously started to sign the African athem

On our way to have lunch  a  herd of sheep crossed the road right in front of us...

We had lunch is  a local African restaurant in Soweto called: Sakhumzi and I was lucky because there was a local market right in front of the restaurant!

The house of Desmond Tutu was right around the corner:

After that we visited the house where Mandela has lived in Soweto:

These are the original chairs he used on his terrasse:

After the government wanted to put the 'Afrikaans' as first language to teach in all schools there was a strong protest & manifestation   from the students.  On 16th June 1976  Hector Pieterson was cold-blooded killed during a manifestation together with hundreds of other students.  A monument was created to remember this major disaster.

 Hector's sister carrying his body:

The firing line  is illustrated through the  grass strip on the square:

It was  again a very learning and rich day
We wrapped  up the day  working on our project as we had a dinner coming up with the CIO of the City of Joburg:

In the boardroom there were some guidelines in Afrikaans on a card to have a good and productive meeting.... for those who understand Flemish: look at the wording  ;-)!

Stay tuned!
#ibmcsc south africa

10th October

We had a very busy day and a bit of an emotional rollercoaster....

We went to the IBM Smarter Industry Symposium where Steve Forbes (Chairman and Editor-in Chief  of Forbes media)  was key note speaker. He gave a very insightful speech on the global economical challenges. During the coffee break I was lucky as he was standing next to me so we had a little talk. He asked me about the situation in Belgium. I had not seen that one coming! But.... I had a picture taken with him...  Right before my camera went dead!  I am really glad I could recover the picture!

 But I had to get and buy a new camera...   :-(

During lunch we were invited to talk in the Ivory Park public school to talk to 400 students of  the age of 16-17.  
#ibmcsc south africa

Each one of us told them something about our personal career to inspire them and motivate them to study well; identify their talent and not to give up despite any drawbacks. Most of them are orphans and live in shacks. They live in poverty with a lot of HIV and teenage pregnancies. One girl was raped the night before and another girl lived on her own in a shack without anyone taking care of her. The main reason why they come to school is because they get food during lunch time.
We realized we were keeping them away from their lunch actually and when we finished the head of the school asked the students who do have some food at home to wait until the others got served. It was emotionally very heavy to see that  right in front of you.
But I was really positively surprised by the disciplined behavior of all of them.
Some students were very vocal in the Q&A and asked about IBM scholarships i.e.
 3 years ago IBM did a project with some volunteers who went to give school on Saturday to 15 chosen students with a willingness to succeed but not the most intelligent ones.The head of the school told us that each one of those are now at the university as a result of that focused coaching & training.

I was proud to be an IBMer even though it was all just a drop on a hot plate. I just wished we could have done more. 

10th October

Yesterday we had the opportunity to  meet & greet with the Executive Mayer, of Joburg, Parks Tau, and his staff. He is in his role since July 1st and clearly has a vision for the City.

We went to MonteCasino for dinner with the team and it felt as if we were in Las Vegas...

There was this interesting  place where you could have a pedicure  (Fish therapy) done by little fish in 15 minutes... Unfortunately it was closed  so I could not try it. If I have the chance I will go back

#ibmcsc South Africa

9th October

Today we had a first meeting with Oliver Fortuin, GM of IBM South Africa. He wore  a shirt of the SA Rugby to promote the Rugby Worldcup.

   

In the afternoon we went with the team and Juri ( our local guide) and Johan ( the driver) to the Lion Park.

Besides  white lions we saw ostriches, sheetah's, a giraffe, zebras, wild dogs, suricats,...

The lions where just eating their piece of a cow...

I could  caress  a lion cub  although it had to be very slow and without touching the head or tail...

 

There were these huge anthills everywhere. They can go to 3 meters sometimes. So next time when you have one in the lawn think about that!

The ladies room was indicated in line with the landscape...

To finish the trip we had a typcal African 'braai' (BBQ) on the terrasse in the park

#ibmcsc #south africa

Arriving in Jo'burg - 8th October

When I arrived at the Tambo Airport  Yuri  was waiting for me to bring me to the hotel and he welcomed me in Afrikaans.... and we understood each other  ;-)

4 of the 6 members have arrived today ( Renee, Ron, Subu and myself) and we explored the area around the hotel.

 There is a big mall near Nelson Mandela Square and it is only when you stand next to the statue you realize how big it is.

We had our first dinner together  ( Ethiopian coffee steak; springbok, prawns, ostrich) and toasted to the start of the project.

It felt as if we knew each other already for a long time.
There was a lady offering us face painting while we were eating.

Tomorrow we will meet the GM of IBM South Africa...
#ibmcsc south africa