Day 1 - Kagiso Township Visit - Sat Sept 22, 2012

One of the few mornings on the trip where we did not have an early start, in part due to the scheduling changes to accommodate Sanette's funeral, as well as a party celebrating what would have been her birthday tomorrow. Breakfast followed by a briefing meeting allowed for an almost leisurely morning. I had brought some charms with me to give as mementos to all the team members (and also lots of extras to hand out on the stops we would make along the way). Heart shaped "Love" charms and round "Hope" charms with the words on one side, and the Chinese characters on the other were well received by all. Other participants were doing similar things, like Donna passing out her tri-colored ribbons for everyone to help decorate their bikes.

The late start was also much appreciated because we woke up in the morning (and went to bed the night before) to pouring rain and thunder! Not exactly the way to start out our first official day - but raingear was packed by all the riders, and finger crossed that by the time we left, the skies would clear. Which they did - thankfully!

This was our first visit to a township, Kagiso. First, a little background on townships in general, and on Kagiso in particular - for the uninitiated. Like me. :)

Kagiso is a township situated in the Krugersdorp area in Gauteng Province, South Africa. It was established in 1920 by ex-miners and squatters The township is currently occupied by nearly 190,000 people.

In South Africa, the terms township and location usually refer to the often underdeveloped urban living areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of Apartheid, were reserved for non-whites. Townships were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities. During the Apartheid Era blacks were evicted from properties that were in areas designated as "white only" and forced to move into segregated townships. Separate townships were established for each of the three designated non-white race groups

Kagiso has had a serious environmental problem since its inception. The environmental fallout was caused by 240 hectares of a slime dump perched on the edge of the township. Between 1970's and 1980's, a time when the gold was being actively mined, the extracted waste products in the form of sludge, was pumped into the slime dam located some distance from the residential area.

In 1991, the mining operation closed but the dried sludge continues to be problematic in the form of dust. Scientists have proved that slime dams and mine dumps contain very fine poisonous particles which are easily inhaled, leading to a high risk of increased incidents of cancer and birth defects.

(Sources: "Kagiso Historical Research Report", compiled by Vusumuzi Khumalo; Wikipedia)

On our way we ended up on smaller and narrower roads, potholed and without shoulders, and the housing around us got smaller and more run down as we went. Still, people were coming our and lining the streets in droves to cheer us in as we got closer to our destination. What a sight to see for me, the crowd lined up to welcome us.

As we parked the bikes we quickly realized that there was a bit of a panic going on among the setup crew. Turns out there was no electricity - meaning no microphones or speakers for the show! Elrie and her crew were busy trying to 'borrow' electricity from a nearby source, but it appeared to be time to improvise!

In the meantime the community had planned a show for US! What a wonderful surprise with a group of young people performing a tribal dance for us.

By the time that was done, the crew had resigned themselves to a cappella performance, and true to the saying, "the show must go on", it did - and it was amazing how the team improvised and got the crowd involved at the same time. . I have to say in looking back, it was probably one of my favorite shows just for that reason.

The lovely and brave Carina took the stage to tell her story of survival - of an extensive family history, the presence of the BRCA gene, losing her mother when she was only 10, and nursed her grandmother through to her death as a young woman. She had lived under the threat of a diagnosis her whole life. The screenings she herself had from a very early age revealed her cancer when her daughter was just 3 years old. A touching story and reminder of the importance of early detection, and increased vigilance for those with a high risk factor. Raynolda translated for Carina for the locals, as she did for many of us along the way!

 After the entertainment and education, we mingled with the crowd as the Revlon gifts were handed out to all the attendees, and I spoke with several survivors in the crowd - one whom was sporting an Avon T-Shirt! How cool was that?? I handed out Love and Hope charms to the survivors I met, and also to some of the young girls, who thought they were great! We also met a biker chick who rode by herself quite a way to see Zanele - one of our supporting riders/road marshalls.

As we watched dark clouds gather in the distance, we hurried up and got back on the bikes to start making out way to Pretoria, where we would stay for the night in another City Lodge property. They treated us very well with all the sponsored rooms! By the time we got to our lunch stop, I was starting to feel a sore throat coming on - which unfortunately did nothing but get worse as the afternoon wore on. Elrie's husband Villy was kind enough to take me to a pharmacy to stock up on some local medicines which were a huge help over the next few days to me and others as this virus made it's way through our ranks! We were dropping like flies throughout the week. Bit of a bummer, that...

We all ended up gathering together for dinner, and I roomed with Amy for the first time, and we were fast friends by the time we finally went to sleep - after talking and laughing - again, into the wee hours! Sleep would have to wait for after this event it seemed, though probably the lack of it likely contributed to my susceptibility to catching that damned cold!

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