Hello everyone!  We have all arrived safely in the USA.  I am sorry we were not able to post on the blog in the Amsterdam or Atlanta airports.  It was a wonderful, exciting trip that we all enjoyed!  We learned much about South African agriculture and the peoples of this great country.  I would especially like to thank the following people:

Dr. Michael MacNeil, who originally developed the idea for this class and has worked tirelessly to help organize the trip.

Dr. Michiel Scholtz, who once again organized a terrific program with the ARC.  The visits to all of the farms were excellent!  Dr. Scholtz also helped us navigate several challenges we faced with obtaining our Covid-19 test results.

Dr. Nicole Klein, who was an excellent co-instructor to have on this trip!  Her help on this trip was invaluable.

Dr. Julie Walker, who was not an official instructor but who helped the students numerous times.  I am really appreciative of her help on this trip.

Below is the final post from our students.  The day they describe is Saturday March 19th and was our last full day in Africa.  Enjoy!!

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael Gonda

_____________________________________________________________________

We have begun our journey back to the United States and while we are sad to leave the warm weather, we are excited to return home safely. But first, we are overdue on a weekend recap. 

We began Saturday by making our way to the Covid Testing Center so we could get our results in time for our flights home. After this, we made our way to a concentration camp cemetery and memorial where we learned about the purpose of the camps. There were 130 camps that were opened by the British army during the Anglo-Boer War to house civilians. The camp was comparable to the US Japanese internment camps during WWII. The concentration camps in South Africa served as a refuge for men who surrendered to the British with their families, a detention and penal settlements for women and children of those the British deemed undesirable, and labor and maintenance camps for African people who were homeless or who were employed by the British army. Dr. Scholtz shared stories of his wife’s grandmother who was in this concentration camp. 

Our next stop was the Jan Smuts House. Here, we had a great tour guide that filled us in on the history of Jan Smuts.  We were able to tour his home. Jan Smuts was the Prime Minister of South Africa. General Smuts played a major role in the achievement of responsible government for the Transvaal and the Union of South Africa. 

We enjoyed lunch on the property before making our way to a local butchery. The Boshoff Afribeef butchery sold Afrikaner meat. They raise and butcher their own cattle and gave us free samples. They were very welcoming. 

We spent the next couple of hours touring Freedom Park and the Voortrekker monument. Freedom Park was a museum where we learned about the history of the struggles South African people went through for liberation, including the Apartheid, and Nelson Mandela. The Voortrekker Monument commemorated the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony who traveled to the northern parts of South Africa. The inside of the monument had very beautiful artwork.

Alas, we made our way back to the hotel to grab our bags and check our Covid test results. Unfortunately, we had a little bump in the road when Sam, Danika, and Aubrina were not able to access their results! Luckily, Dr. Scholz was able to come to the rescue after we rushed to a lab in the hospital to get a paper copy of our results. 

We safely arrived at the airport and enjoyed a nice dinner before making our way to the long check-in line. The flight was smooth and most of us slept the majority of the 11-hour flight! A highlight of this flight was flying over the Alps.  We had a quick layover in Amsterdam before catching another 9-hour flight to Atlanta. 

Our next flight will land in Sioux Falls around 11:30pm and we are looking to catching up on some sleep after a long day of travel. 

Allison Bot-Steffl and Danika Gordon