As IT Coordinator, it was my responsibility to assist all passengers on the ship in connecting their computers to the wireless network and to the Internet. This also meant that I was one of the first people on the ship to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah, who were so gracious in agreeing to travel across the Atlantic Ocean from Brazil to South Africa with 700 college students. I was called into Dean John's office early Sunday morning, or first day after leaving Brazil. John and Desmond Tutu were just finishing up going over the Archbishop's schedule for the week. He was joking around with John, asking to not have too hectic of a schedule, and then called John, Father. It was very cute. Archbishop Tutu was wearing a Semester at Sea shirt that he got on his last time on the ship in 1992. The dean's office is on deck 5 and the Archbishop's cabin (where his computer was) is up on deck 7. John told us we could take the elevator, but Desmond was very cute and said he wanted the exercise, so we headed up the stairs.
As we were heading up, he commented on how dependent we are on e-mail and the Internet these days to stay connected. He said it's amazing we ever got along without it. Normally, the Internet on the ship is very expensive, about $.30-$.50/minute, and the login process is very cumbersome, so I was going to make a very special exception and set up Archbishop Tutu's computer to be allowed to access the Internet for free. I went into his room to get his MAC address and didn't even have a pen or paper to write down the information, I was incredibly unprepared. His wife Leah, was sitting out in the sun on the porch. It was kind of surreal kneeling at the end of this man's bed with his computer open trying to remember how in the world to find the information I needed on a PC. Too bad he's not a Mac user. He asked what I did before coming on Semester at Sea and I told him that I had been at The Christian Science Monitor for 5 years. He said that he used to read the Monitor, but doesn't receive it any longer. I mentioned this to Christa a few minutes later, and she's going to get him a gift subscription.
After I got the information I needed I told him that I'd have his computer set up to get online shortly after Global Studies. He bowed to me and said thank you, you pretty pretty lady.
There were opportunities for everyone to get a chance to hear the Archbishop speak and ask him questions, but some were luckier than others and got more face time. Being on staff has many advantages, one being that we have opportunities that students don't have such as dinner catered by the chef they flew in just for the Archbishop and a chance to have some one on one face time (well as one on one as you can get with other faculty/staff clamoring for their face time. A few students, however, got the chance to have dinner with the Archbishop, and to make it completely fair, I had the honor of choosing those students. I wrote a little program to randomly pick the 20 chosen students (this program was later adapted to pick the cabins which got searched for alcohol and other illegal substances), fortunately the students weren't aware that I was the one to blame for their fortune or misfortune.
On Thursday evening we had the faculty/staff reception with the Archbishop. It's always fun to have excuses to change out of the normal SAS wear of sweatpants and a t-shirt into something nicer. Chris is the official photographer, but I must be the official backup photographer because I ended up taking many many pictures of people with Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah. Jason wanted to get a picture of himself high 5-ing "DJ Dez" as we've taken to calling him. Archbishop Tutu high-5's people a lot (it's very cute), so Jason wanted to capture that in a photo. I was able to get a great photo.
I also got a great photo of Beth with the Tutus, took photos of the deans with the Tutus, a few professors asked me to take their picture, I was the photographer for the photographer and took Chris' photo, but I never got in there for a photo with me. I told Chris that I really wanted a photo and he said he'd take one, but the evening went on and the Tutu's got up to leave, I was pretty sad I'd missed my chance. Chris stepped up and played his role well, he told me to follow him and we went over and caught the archbishop just as he was leaving and I got a picture with him holding a drawing of the South Africa flag. It was great.
Saturday was the day we'd all been waiting for, Desmond Tutu was speaking at the Global Studies class. This is the class that all students are required to take and all passengers are required to attend, but it's also probably the most skipped class. Today, people started claiming seats for class before breakfast was even over, I managed to claim a 3rd row seat.
Desmond Tutu is such an incredible man. I would give him the Nobel Peace Prize for his smile alone. The other night at the reception we had with the archbishop and his wife Leah, I wanted to go up to him and tell him how much I appreciate his smile, and that if everyone smiled like he does it would be the answer to world peace. I didn't have a chance to talk to him that night, but hopefully I'll see him around the ship before we get to South Africa. He is such an incredible person and an important part of history, yet he doesn't raise himself on this pedestal and preach to us. He is fun, friendly, and genuinely interested in everyone he meets. Jason described him very well - you expect him to be larger than life, but he's also smaller than life. He is very down to earth and presents himself as someone that we can identify with. He was very natural around us; this morning he was wearing a red baseball cap, and a striped polo shirt. Another time he talked to us he was wearing a leather cap and his Semester at Sea t-shirt - of course his smile completed every outfit. He tells jokes and laughs, but also is very serious about his beliefs.
He didn't find out that we were going to Myanmar (Burma) until after he was already on the ship. He told Dean John that if he had known we were going there, he wouldn't have agreed to come on this leg of our voyage. He's on a committee that is trying to boycott tourism to Myanmar because of all of their human rights violations. Dean John encouraged him to share his views with the students because we need to be educated and we should know about the country we're visiting. I think there were students who felt similarly before the archbishop came onboard, but now I've heard rumor that there is a group of students that will not be getting off the ship in Myanmar and are protesting the fact that we're going. That will be tough for them because it's now our longest port - 6 days. I'm grateful that we have these opportunities to make important decisions and think about the effects of our choices as tourists.
I'm not sure my notes on his speech can really do it justice, but the words he shared with us were some of the most moving and inspirational I've heard from anyone. He sees the good in EVERYONE and doesn't blindly state that any one group or ideology is better than any other.
He began by thanking the crew on the ship, the faculty, and all others who have made his stay enjoyable. He commended the faculty on the wonderful job they are doing - when referring to the faculty he called them guys and guyesses. I thought that was very cute. Every once in awhile he gets kinda cheeky when talking about his wife and hides behind his hands if he says something that might get him in trouble. He always refers to her as the boss. When he was talking about how much he appreciated all the attention and kindness from the shipboard community to him and his wife Leah, he said, "There are advantages of having the kind of complexion we have because you won't see when we're blushing." Have I mentioned how cute this man is? I just wanted to pick him up and put him in my pocket he is so cute. He's a short little man with white hair and an amazing smile that lights up the room - he's an all around jovial person. When he's happy his whole body says I'm happy. He dances around in circles, throws his hands in the air, cheers, and/or throws his head back in laughter. He and Leah have been married for 50 years and still look like they're every bit as in love as I'm sure they were 50 years ago.
He started off the main part of his speech by saying that there are three ways to deal with a situation when someone makes you mad.
This third option is what they tried in South Africa. He said that forgiving is never easy and black South Africans have many reasons for not wanting to forgive, but when they do it's very powerful.
He ended his opening remarks by turning it back to us. He challenged us to share what we have. He said that we won't win the war against terror until we ensure there aren't conditions in the world that make people desperate. He told us to ensure that ours is a world where people can walk with their head held high.
The second part of the session, a panel of 3 students and 3 professors came up to ask Archbishop Tutu questions. Their questions were all focusing around the overarching question "How can your private, public, and spiritual life illuminate our collective future?"
He said some very inspiring things during this part of the session. I didn't write down all the questions and his complete answers, but I did capture some of his key points and things that I want to remember.
Some key quotes or points he made that I really liked:
When asked what in his life has shaped who he is and what he's done, he said that most people don't spend a great portion of their life in introspection. That would be like pulling up the roots of a plant to look for growth. But he does attribute his growth and successes in life to his mother and people who have prayed for him and said "God, make him who you want him to be." He acknowledged that no one would be where they are today without others. He said, "I have been very blessed in those who have helped to mold me and I have been very blessed by those who have prayed that God would mold me."
He said that he is not a pacifist, but he believes in non-violence. There may be a time that non-violence won't work, but in the case of South Africa, he began by asking leaders to help the black South Africans be non-violent through sanctions.
He had some very insightful things to say about religion in light of terrorism and things going on today. He said that religion in and of itself is neither good nor bad, it's morally neutral. Just like a knife. The knife is neither good or bad, it depends how you use it. If you use a knife to spread butter, it is good. "If I use it to stick it in your guts, it's bad." He stated that Christians can't walk around and strut and say that they have superiority in moral conduct. Just look at the Christian fundamentalists who go around and say "The Bible Says..." Archbishop Tutu was very clear in saying that "just because it's in The Bible doesn't make it right."
We can't look at a group of religious people, like Muslims and say that they are bad because a group of Muslims were responsible for the World Trade Center tragedy. The Oklahoma bombing was done by Christian fundamentalists. We were able to see that those were bad Christians. Muslims aren't bad, there are just bad Muslims.
He said that he gets very mad when we Christians think we have a corner on the God market. What was God before Christianity came along? Did God not have religion? "It's bologna of the worst kind." God wouldn't say to the Dalai Lama or Mahatma Gandhi, "sorry, you're not getting into heaven because you're not Christian." We Christians make our God so small. "God belongs to all just as all belong to God."
Everyone laughed when he said, "I'm glad I'm not God. Imagine God has to take responsibility for Sadaam Hussein and George Bush.
One student who was raised by a single mom on welfare in L.A. asked, "How can we and how should we ask our government to fight global poverty if we can't fight our own domestic poverty?" The Archbishop responded by saying that politicians listen to the polls. "You are the polls." If you don't like what you see, then change it. That's a characteristic of the American people. Americans are very generous and come together as a people. He said that we Americans should export our generosity instead of our bombs. "It's the thing that makes you truly great." We should get to the point that when we say jump, people in Washington will say, "how high?"
South Africa is a very unique country because it has 11 official languages. He introduced us to the ubuntu philosophies which in part says that I can't be me unless you are you. My humanity is caught up in your humanity. We all work together as one team, not lots of individuals on our own. The community comes first and it is important for individual relationships to be dealt with for the good of the community.
He used the end of the session as a call to young people. He said, "The world needs you young people for your idealism and ability to dream." God can help us bring our dreams to fruition. "Some of God's best collaborators are young people." He went on to say, "When I was younger, we had much fewer pressures exerted on us." We should be exhilarated and say isn't it fantastic that more young people don't go off the reins.
Before we left Global Studies, Dean John came up to make an announcement. He was very serious and started off by saying this is an announcement that no one wants to have to make. At the beginning of our voyage he said there were two main missions of the trip. They were responsible for keeping everyone safe, and we all have to be flexible. As he was starting this speech we all thought someone died. I was wondering who could have jumped overboard and why we didn't know about it sooner. Well, turns out that they had to cancel our port of Kenya. There was an additional security briefing announced recently and even US Navy ships who were supposed to arrive in Kenya around the time we're going there have canceled their trip. They said that there is significant maritime piracy off the coast of eastern Africa that is linked to terrorism and Al Qaeda operatives. Since terrorists don't distinguish between government operations and tourists, Kenya is just not a safe place for Americans right now. I know that this was the right decision to make, but I'm very sad we're not going to Kenya.
Molly convinced me to join the choir after we left Brazil. My work schedule didn't really allow me to make it to many rehearsals, so my time in the choir didn't last past South Africa, but I picked the best possible time to be a part of this group. We learned the South African national Anthem and 2 other South African songs which we performed for Desmond Tutu at our South Africa cultural pre-port. The national anthem is 4 stanzas, each in a different one of South Africa's 11 official languages. The first 2 stanzas are sung in different languages depending on who's singing it, but I believe we sang in Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, and English.
The Archbishop was so incredibly cute. He was sitting in the front row gleefully dancing to the music and throwing up his hands in glee. When we finished singing the anthem he got up and kissed every one of us on the cheek. It was so great, made the whole performance worthwhile. We had been pretty terrible in rehearsals, but actually pulled through for the performance.
Our South Africa logistical pre-port on Sunday was when Dean John officially thanked the Tutu's and we said our last goodbye to them. John presented them with a few gifts, one of which is the newest SAS book, "Changing Perspectives" that we all signed. Since I didn't get another chance to talk to his grace face to face, when I signed the book I thanked him for his smile and told him that we will have achieved world peace when all of God's children can unite in one big smile.
