Kimberely and the Big Hole. The Big Hole is the largest man made hole in the world. It is a gigantic crater, 214 meters deep and 17 hectares in perimeter. It was made as a mining site for diamonds from 1871-1914. It was a beautiful day to go out and see it. The tour begins with a 20 minute film that begins with the original discovery by children at the Orange River and ends with Rhodes buying out Barney Barnato to control the diamond production in South Africa. In the movie they show two little white kids and a black kid playing together at the Orange River. I’m sure that’s exactly how the diamonds were discovered.
At one point in the film, they describe a Zulu chief who became a mine worker and had to be stripped down and searched like all the other workers. This chief saved lives in a cave in and did several heroic deeds. He was well respected by his fellow black miners, but was still black and therefore treated as if he couldn’t be trusted. The Big Hole does a great job glorifying mining, but poorly addresses the inequities in the black and white miners.
While at the Big Hole, yes I know it’s funny, go ahead and giggle, we toured a recreated mining town and some of us played skittles, a game like bowling, but with ball. Melanie and I went around taking pictures of some of the architecture before I got an ice cream bar. I also picked up another award winning purchase - a pin for the 2010 world cup that begins June11 and ends on my birthday next year, July 11. It’s one of my favorite things I have bought because you can see driving around SA how excited they are for 2010 and how much pressure it is putting on the government to get ready. Right now there are strikes all over SA. It began with the doctors in Kwala-Zulu Natal. Then it was the construction workers, especially those who were building the stadiums for 2010. We saw several of them marching in Durban. Now, it has branched out to municipal workers, trash collectors, bus drivers, etc. In addition there are many service strikes. People in the townships are lighting fires and protesting because Zuma has yet to deliver on the promise of providing electricity, water, housing, and basic services to the people, especially those in the townships. On the other side of this argument though, how much can the government provide? There is over 20 % unemployment (an accepted number by the government, although it may be significantly higher), but children drop out of school and want to do nothing. I know the government needs to supply the basic needs, such as clean water, electricity, housing, heat, but what people really need are jobs. Zuma promised half a million by December. He has a lot of work to do to get there.
After the mine tour, we checked into the Horseshoe Inn. It’s in the shape of a horseshoe, duh! Each of our doors are the split doors and it looks like our rooms are created from renovated horse stalls. Kori and I have four beds in our room. I think we each spend half the night in one, then move to another.
Matt, Jason, and I walked down to the Wimpy’s restaurant after we checked in and used the internet for a little while, but I didn’t have all my entries done.
For dinner, we took four cabs and went to Mario’s, a small Italian restaurant. The proprietor of the restaurant came and talked to us twice to make sure everything was fine, which it was. However, Erika noticed that there were only white customers and all the serving people were black. Kimberely definitely has some of the throwback to earlier days and separation of the races.
At one point in the film, they describe a Zulu chief who became a mine worker and had to be stripped down and searched like all the other workers. This chief saved lives in a cave in and did several heroic deeds. He was well respected by his fellow black miners, but was still black and therefore treated as if he couldn’t be trusted. The Big Hole does a great job glorifying mining, but poorly addresses the inequities in the black and white miners.
While at the Big Hole, yes I know it’s funny, go ahead and giggle, we toured a recreated mining town and some of us played skittles, a game like bowling, but with ball. Melanie and I went around taking pictures of some of the architecture before I got an ice cream bar. I also picked up another award winning purchase - a pin for the 2010 world cup that begins June11 and ends on my birthday next year, July 11. It’s one of my favorite things I have bought because you can see driving around SA how excited they are for 2010 and how much pressure it is putting on the government to get ready. Right now there are strikes all over SA. It began with the doctors in Kwala-Zulu Natal. Then it was the construction workers, especially those who were building the stadiums for 2010. We saw several of them marching in Durban. Now, it has branched out to municipal workers, trash collectors, bus drivers, etc. In addition there are many service strikes. People in the townships are lighting fires and protesting because Zuma has yet to deliver on the promise of providing electricity, water, housing, and basic services to the people, especially those in the townships. On the other side of this argument though, how much can the government provide? There is over 20 % unemployment (an accepted number by the government, although it may be significantly higher), but children drop out of school and want to do nothing. I know the government needs to supply the basic needs, such as clean water, electricity, housing, heat, but what people really need are jobs. Zuma promised half a million by December. He has a lot of work to do to get there.
After the mine tour, we checked into the Horseshoe Inn. It’s in the shape of a horseshoe, duh! Each of our doors are the split doors and it looks like our rooms are created from renovated horse stalls. Kori and I have four beds in our room. I think we each spend half the night in one, then move to another.
Matt, Jason, and I walked down to the Wimpy’s restaurant after we checked in and used the internet for a little while, but I didn’t have all my entries done.
For dinner, we took four cabs and went to Mario’s, a small Italian restaurant. The proprietor of the restaurant came and talked to us twice to make sure everything was fine, which it was. However, Erika noticed that there were only white customers and all the serving people were black. Kimberely definitely has some of the throwback to earlier days and separation of the races.
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