This will be my last blog entry for awhile as tomorrow I return to the US. I arrive Friday evening and plan on spending the weekend enjoying the company of my lovely wife who I miss dearly. Once I’ve had time to reflect on the last 5 weeks, I will sit down and write some more. Frankly I’m exhausted both mentally and physically. I’ve poured every ounce of my being out on this trip. I’ve talked more in the last month than the previous 6 months combined! My soul longs for silence and my body rest. I need to either go sit by the ocean and listen to the crashing waves or find a mountain stream rushing over rocks. Then again I could just put on my noise canceling headphones I got for Christmas and plug into my NatureScape sounds on my iPhone. The only problem with that is you don’t get to experience the smell of fresh air.

This morning I was up early and drove into downtown Johannesburg. It can be an intimidating experience doing it during rush hour but I had just done the same route the night before. I’ve become used to driving on the left side of the road and shifting with my left hand which certainly makes driving a much more enjoyable experience. I was fortunate today as I was able to find a parking space on the street just up the road from the offices of SAWIMA. Everyone there has been so helpful the last few days and I feel a debt of gratitude to Joice Dube and her organization. At 9AM journalist Thuso Khumalo rolled in to do an interview with me for Voice of America and SW Radio Africa. We had a lengthy conversation on the book and why it’s currently relevant not only in Zimbabwe but South Africa. My perspective of change starting first in the heart and then affecting the surrounding culture has been a paradigm shift for many in the media used to the typical political jargon and clichés. Today we also talked a lot about why the reconciliation process in Zimbabwe seems to have ground to a halt. From my perspective, the government is ill equipped to deal with the issue. Reconciliation happens on a very personal level and can’t be legislated. When the process is being driven politically it becomes about which party or segment of society will benefit the most. At the moment, the selfishly ambitious motives of those involved in the process guarantee failure. After Thuso finished with me he interviewed Nicholas Dube who grew up in Mbezingwe near the Community of Reconciliation. Nickolas shared his perspective on the community and how it impacted his life. While he was there Thuso decided to get Joice’s thoughts on the story. Because Joice lost her dear friend Gaynor in the massacre, it wasn’t long before she found herself passionately proclaiming the message of the book.

Last night Joice arranged for me to meet Glyn Hunter who is a media relations guru. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with her today as she is passionate about change in Zimbabwe. She asked me a plethora of probing questions which were quite stimulating as she was trying to familiarize herself with the story behind Saving Zimbabwe. I soon found myself pacing back and forth while lost in the various conversations we had throughout the day. I’m so grateful that she has decided to help me get the message out to the secular media. Tomorrow I will be doing a TV interview at 2 PM with Chris Maroleng the Africa Editor for the 24 Hour E News Channel here in South Africa. Conveniently their studios are just down the road from where I’m staying.

I then had the privilege of meeting Luke Zunga the author of “Farm Invasions in Zimbabwe; Is Zimbabwe a Democracy?” We talked for a good hour or so about what was really motivating those who claimed they were taking over the white owned farms under the banner of black empowerment. I’ve always found it interesting that most of the white owned farms were managed by black farm managers. How come when the farms were taken over these farm managers and their workforces were chased off the farms? Shouldn’t they have been the ones placed in charge as they had the technical know-how to run them? When you dig deeper you find out that black empowerment was merely a political cliché used by a few elite politicians motivated by selfish ambition and greed. Luke at great peril decided to speak up and expose the fraud. As I soon learned, Luke (a CPA) also has a real passion for raising up the next generation of businessmen and women to turn around Zimbabwe’s failed economy. He done quite a lot of research and put together an extensive training process he wants to implement first in South Africa and later Zimbabwe.

Tonight as I sit in my room, it’s starting to dawn on me that this is my last night sleeping in South Africa. Wow, so much has happened that I feel like I’ve lived a lifetime in the last month. Thank you to all of you for your love and support on this rather emotionally charged journey. So many of you have played an intricate part in making this trip a success. I hope in time we can look back and see that this was the beginning of something good, something healing, and something that made a difference.