President de Klerk and Amy Biehl Foundation

Yesterday, the Bells had the very unique opportunity to meet with former President F. W. de Klerk, the man responsible for starting the movement to dismantle Apartheid. It was one of the most amazing moments of this trip. In the morning, we toured Parliament and then headed to a cafe to meet with him. The former President talked with us for over an hour, first explaining a bit about South Africa 's past, his goals when he became President and then explained the details of the negotiations with Mandela and other political members as they tried to agree on a new constitution for this country, eliminating exclusion. Following that, the boys asked him questions and de Klerk was very candid and open with his responses, giving us his opinions about South Africa today, and other governments around the world. He even spoke about his close relationship with Mandela, highlighting the elements necessary to truly make their partnership a success during such a troubled time in this country. He did let us know they are still very good friends and he will be calling him to wish him a happy birthday next month. After de Klerk left, we discussed our favorite interview moments, and the boys could not stop talking about everything they learned. They all seemed to admire him for his ability to assume his term as President, knowing he would be giving up his power and only serving one term with the goals he hoped to accomplish. After our meeting, we theN went to the Amy Biehl headquarters, the organization we are doing service with while in Cape Town. If you are not familiar with her story, you should read about it online--it provides so many challenging lesons for us to learn. This foundation helps serve over 2,000 youth in townships every day during various after school programs. After learning about the foundation, we ventured to our first school, where we were able to participate in some of these classes. They had music, dance, English, math, cricket, soccer, field hockey and more and we were impressed by all of them. The entire group had to pull out our best dance moves as we joined in the hip hop class and we each got one child as a partner. We could barely keep up with the 4 year olds! We left feeling very excited about our time with them tomorrow. This morning, we arranged an unexpected meeting with David Steward, de Klerk's Chief of Staff during his term. He also provided a rich history lesson, reminding us you can't understand the present without accurate knowledge of the past. He was very open with the fears and struggles during de Klerk's term and discussed hope for the future and the work that still needs to be done. After, we visited Kirstenbosch gardens and then returned to the townships for work in the schools. We split up and visited all the different rooms and enjoyed our two hours there. We helped serve the kids a meal as they left and then returned to the hotel. We will be working with the foundation later in the week helping level out part of a play area and plant grass--wish us luck! Tomorrow, the Bells will be learning traditional drumming skills during a tour of the biggest township in South Africa. We are having an amazing time and look forward to our last week here. GO BELLS!