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Thursday, June 10, 2010

World Cup--First Highlight

June 10, 2010

The highlight so far?

We went to Nelson Mandela Square this morning after we picked up our game tickets. We needed to exchange dollars for rands and look for fans. Davis and I are trying to capture photo ops with fans from each of the 32 countries playing in the Cup. We thought that sort of public spot would be great to see the pageantry of fanatics (and we were right).

But, that's not the highlight. This is:

As I was looking for fans worth photographing, I spotted an ancient woman wearing a tall yellow and green hat, being led through the crowd by a young woman and man. I stopped to let them pass in front of me and saw that she was blind, crying, and smiling. Her young friend/relative explained that she had waited for years to come and touch the 20 foot statue of Nelson Mandela. She was 86 years old and had lived a very hard life under apartheid. Now she was gripped by the World Cup and ready to follow every match on the radio.

5 comments:

  1. goose bumps vickie! enjoy each moment of our beautiful country! ope you saw the amazing united for bafana support yesterday in sandton? God Bless and hugs!
    Samm & Deqlan

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  2. this is one reason i like about the buenger people.. that the first highlight of a trip to SA to see the world cup isn't about soccer, but about social justice.

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  3. What an incredible beginning to your trip. Have an incredible time.

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  4. And she was wearing green - which always makes me think of Erin

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  5. All I can say is WOW. Thanks so much for sharing this story!
    Lisa Burton

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