Laura and I watched the movie “Invictus” the other day. The story of Nelson Mandela, South Africa, and the 1995 Rubgy World Cup is much, much better than the movie. That said, we still very much enjoyed the film. While watching the film I realized that the events portrayed had only happened five years prior to my visit to Cape Town, South Africa. I visited Cape Town in the Fall of 2000 while on my Semester at Sea voyage.
There is a particular scene in the movie that struck a chord with me. In an effort to help inspire and unite South Africa the Springbok rugby team was encouraged to run rugby clinics in various townships. In the movie they show the team rolling in to a poverty stricken township to the delight of several children playing games in an open field. The scene instantly transported me to a trip I took to the townships around Cape Town. Here are some pictures from Cape Town, with an emphasis on my trip to the townships.
Nikon 9000 ED Color 35mm Negative Scan, 4000 dpi.
And, just for a good time, here’s the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.