Aloha meets Ubuntu

photo: Jason Patterson

I first started following the voyage of the Hokule'a last year at the suggestion of a friend who knew how much Vince and I enjoy the sport of sailing. At the time, the Hokule'a had just embarked on a historic leg of their worldwide journey, namely from Hawaii to Cape Town.

Their voyage is significant on many levels, but perhaps most notable is the fact that this particular leg signified the youngest culture (Polynesian) arriving at the cradle of humanity where the oldest cultures of mankind originated. This "reverse-migration" story with people returning to their roots piqued my interest even more than the sailing. I have been tracking the voyage ever since!

The crew of Hokule'a made landfall on the African continent in mid-October arriving in Maputo, Mozambique. From there, they made their way to Richards Bay in South Africa before stopping in Mossel Bay where they visited Pinnacle Point, an archaeological site where some of the oldest known hominin fossils have been unearthed. From there, Hokule'a rounded Cape Agulhas, the southern most point on the continent of Africa.

photo from TEC FB page

Along the way they picked up National Geographic photographer and The Explorers Club Fellow Dan Lin (right) who is from Simons Town, South Africa. Lin and TEC Fellow Nainoa Thompson (left) sailed across the southern tip of Africa and into the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Hokule'a with #ECFlag 124. This marks the first time in known history that a vessel from the Pacific Islands has ever reached the Atlantic.

Hokule'a finally reached Cape Town more than a month after landing in Africa where they were greeted by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the spirit of Ubuntu for which he is a proponent. I had hoped to be in Cape Town to welcome them too when they arrived in port, but a little thing like moving to Asia at the end of November put the kibosh on that plan. 

However Vince was in Cape Town last week for work (and a stop over at the Royal Cape Yacht Club for a farewell drink in order to watch a friend's son race). He managed at least to make it over to the V&A where the Hokule'a is docked during its stay in Cape Town. The crew was not in to say Aloha to, but Vince kindly took a few pictures of the vessel for me to see. Amazing!



 

"Aloha" is a Hawaiian greeting and farewell that conveys affection, peace, mercy and compassion. "Ubuntu" is a Nguni Bantu term roughly translating to "human kindness." It is an idea from the Southern African region which means literally "human-ness", and is often translated as "humanity towards others", but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. 

I would have loved to have been there to see Aloha meet Ubuntu in person, but unfortunately the timing was just not on my side. I am encouraged though to know that at least it did happen.

 





To read more about the voyage of the Hokule'a check out these articles in:
The New York Times
and
National Geographic.

To track the voyage in real time, visit their website tracker, 

(Please note that the Polynesian Voyaging Society owns the trademark for the image of the voyaging canoe Hōkūle‘a™)

Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania

We celebrated Halloween this year at the Old Parktonian Sports Club in the Bordeaux section of Randburg. (Actually it was Mishief Night, not Halloween. But if Halloween is a foreign concept in South Africa that is only now slowly gaining favor, Mischief Night would be an even tougher sell.)














Costumes, candy and an outdoor showing of Hotel Transylvania.

A Haunted Valley Lodge!

We decorated Valley Lodge a little ... even though we had zero chance of trick-or-treaters on Halloween!

masquerade!

But that didn't stop us from dressing up. I like costumes that are high concept with minimal effort.

Inspiration for this year's costumes ...

Alice the Corpse Flower

For me, Chicago Botanical Garden's Alice the Corpse Flower ... without the hideous smell!











 

Homo naledi rocks!

For Vince, Homo naledi ...

Canus naledi

For Lou & Serge, the much less-celebrated (and faux) discovery of Canus naledi.

 

We bought that beaded skeleton mask from this street vendor!

We skipped out on the movie and headed to Parkhurst for dinner at dog-friendly Coobs.

Happy Halloween from Valley Lodge!

Good news ... when we got home, there were no smashed pumpkins or egged cars at Valley Lodge. No signs of mischief whatsoever. I guess that's a good thing and yet it still makes me kinda sad :(

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Jane, Chris and I @ 44 Stanley in the Joburg CBD

We have been entertaining some American visitors since Thursday. Chris and Jane stayed on in Sandton over the weekend after a two week trip through South Africa and a jaunt up to Victoria Falls. They picked the best time and the worst time to visit Sandton and see more of Joburg.

Joburg rolled out the purple carpet for our guests!

Firstly, the Jacarandas are in full bloom. We took them to the Four Seasons Hotel The Westcliff to take advantage of its fabulous view overlooking the Jacarandas of the Parks and Joburg below.

And for their sundowners of course - or in this case, clouddowners.

Sterkfontein Cave

And the Homo naledi exhibition - which was originally scheduled to close on October 11 - was serendipitously extended until October 18 which allowed Chris and Jane to experience this other incredibly ephemeral opportunity. These two circumstances made it the best of times.

They were there!

In one of her previous lives, Chris ran a consulting company back in the USA which helped plan educational exhibits for museums. We introduced Chris to the Rising Star Expedition's Lindsay Hunter who is in charge of designing the National Geographic visual lab experiences for Homo naledi at Maropeng.

But it was also the worst time to visit Sandton. Their visit landed right smack dab in the middle of the EcoMobility World Festival in the Sandton CBD and Jane and Chris stayed right smack dab in the middle of EcoMageddon Ground Zero, the Protea Balalaika Hotel. We had to drive in and out of Ground Zero several times over the long weekend and with all the road closures, detours and restrictions, it was very painful. The worst.

How do we know Chris? Chris was Vince's High School Senior Class English teacher! She was a huge influence on his life and he has seen her and kept in touch with her all these years. She recognized his writing ability amongst the football jocks in the back row and according to Vince, "mercilessly edited and critiqued his work." Two published books as well as several chapters written for other authors' works, countless papers, magazine and journal articles, speeches and talks later, he is in Cape Town right now being interviewed for an upcoming TED Talk documentary on cognitive computing. (see the finished product below!) Thanks Chris!

I wonder if they read A Tale of Two Cities that year. It would have been prophetic. "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; ... " - Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities

 

Dinner at Home with Family

Vince and I had a once-in-a-lifetime family dinner last night with Professor Lee Berger and our celebrated ancestor Homo naledi in the Cradle of Humankind. Home.

We started with a gourmet meal at Maropeng Museum's Tumulus Restaurant to celebrate the uniqueness of the find and the wonder of this amazing discovery.

Over dessert, Dr. Berger spoke about how the discovery unfolded and its importance to science. I have heard Dr. Berger speak before on the radio and on television but his enthusiasm is truly exciting to experience in person. It was infectious!

Afterwards, we were led downstairs for a private viewing of the fossils with Dr. Berger, with an explanation of some the puzzling and astonishing features of our distant ancestor.

Dr. Berger opened the floor to questions which added a further dimension to understanding Naledi's place in paleontology and anthropology.

Homo naledi will be returning to the University of the Witwatersrand after October 18 for further study and analysis.

Thank you Maropeng Museum and Dr. Berger for this very special evening at home.