If you’re new to this blog series and don’t know what’s happening with South Africa’s 21-day (now 35-day) lockdown, my first post has all the details. Or read all my lockdown posts.
It’s Lockdown Day 19 in South Africa. It’s raining. I feel unmotivated and kind of depressed. Also I spent the last few hours trying and failing to bake bread. (Check my Instagram story for the bread-making failure play-by-play.)
So I’m going to show you some pretty pictures I took last month before the world changed.
One month and four days ago – although it feels like five years ago – my friend Fiver and I spent the day exploring Pretoria. Pretoria sometimes gets a bad rap for being a sleepy town without enough to do, but I disagree with this characterization. My visits to Pretoria are always pleasant and fun. I’ve actually been meaning to spend more time there (it’s less than an hour north of Joburg) and blog about it more. I think I’ll make that one of my first orders of business whenever we’re allowed to go outside again.
Fiver and I did several interesting things that day, but the highlight was our visit to the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria. The Javett Art Centre opened last year and it is a truly spectacular museum, with a stunning collection of modernist South African art.
Fiver and I wandered wide-eyed around the whole place, gushing about everything we saw, but the best part was the African Gold exhibition. This section of the museum houses an exquisite display of gold sculptures, jewelry, implements, and other accessories from all over Africa, including the famous Mapungubwe rhino.
I felt so much joy looking at and photographing these beautiful African art pieces. Fiver did too, and decided she would return with her sketchbook later in the month and spend more time. Little did we know that one week later Fiver and her husband would be on a plane to Amsterdam, fleeing the country so they wouldn’t be forced to overstay their visas once the travel ban started.
Anyway I was planning a full-length post about the Javett Art Centre, but now doesn’t feel like the right time and I don’t want to sit on these beautiful African Gold photos any longer. So here are some of my favorites.
The pieces are displayed in glass cases, in a dark room with black walls and dramatic lighting, which is what causes all these crazy reflections.
Incidentally, if you’re keen to learn more about the history, culture, and architecture of Pretoria during lockdown, I recommend following the Louwkuls. Adriaan and Nadja Louw are Pretoria locals (get it?) and run a great blog about the city. Yesterday Adriaan – who is an architect – hosted a virtual tour of prominent Pretoria buildings on Facebook Live, and it was extremely informative and enjoyable to watch. They might do another virtual tour soon.
Several people have asked me about the current COVID-19 situation in South Africa. As of today, South Africa has had 2,415 confirmed COVID-19 cases (an increase of 143 from yesterday) and 27 deaths. Last night there was a public briefing with Dr. Zweli Mkhize, the S.A. Minister of Health, and Professor Salim Abdool Karim, chair of the COVID-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee, in which they discussed these numbers and what they mean. This Daily Maverick article summarizes the highlights of the briefing.
In short, the South African case numbers are remarkable in that their trajectory is very different from that of any other country currently dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak. Unlike the United States and many European countries, South Africa has so far avoided an exponential explosion of cases; our curve has actually flattened. Most experts seem to agree the strict lockdown has something to do with that.
The big question now is what do we do going forward, as South Africa can’t stay locked down forever. I guess we’ll see.
I’ve been meaning to do this forever, but I really want to thank everyone who is supporting me on Patreon. I originally set up this tool to help fund my #10SouthAfricanTowns campaign, which is now on hold for obvious reasons. I expected a lot of people to withdraw their support, or at the very least I didn’t expect any new signups, once the lockdown started.
To my great joy, I have lost very few Patreon members and a lot of new people have signed up! Here are all of the new people who have contributed since my last shout-out:
Enrique
Dagmar Haken
Ryan Brown
Margaret Fauchier
Erin Archer
Anonymous
Tenney Mason
Debbie Devoe
Heidi Clever
Christine
This funding really helps me to continue blogging at a time when freelance travel writing has become an even more impossible career than it was before. Also it means a lot to me that so many of you enjoy my work enough to support me in this way. Thank you, thank you.
Just as a reminder, you can donate as little as $1 per month to my Patreon and receive my monthly newsletter and a weekly voice memo with lockdown updates and travel stories.
Today I’m featuring #10MillionMasks. The whole world knows this already: We need more face masks. We need more people wearing masks, making masks, and donating money to make and distribute masks.
#10MillionMasks, an organization founded and run by several South African businesses, provides information on how to do all of these things. There’s even a pattern and step-by-step instructions for how to make your own mask. Check it out: www.10millionmasks.africa.
I’m off to eat my ugly home-baked bread now. Good night.
How have I never blogged about 44 Stanley Avenue, the coolest shopping and dining complex in Joburg, which is only five minutes from my house?
I guess it’s wrong to say I’ve never blogged about 44 Stanley; I’ve mentioned it countless times over the years (see here and here) when writing about specific restaurants or shops that are there. But I’ve never written a dedicated post about 44 Stanley as a destination and it’s about time I did – especially now, with the holidays upon us.
In 2020, I published a blog post with tips for Americans living in South Africa who wanted to vote in the U.S. presidential election. I thought about simply resharing that post this year. But then I realized: 1) I want to write a U.S. election post that will be fun and informative for everyone, not just other Americans; and 2) Believe it or not, the U.S. presidential election stakes are even higher in 2024 than they were in 2020. So I’m introducing you to some really cool Americans in Joburg – one who I’ve known forever and two who I just met – and tell you a bit about who they are, why they live here, and why they vote.
A couple of years ago I started a “Hidden Joburg” series – a quest to visit all 28 places in the book Hidden Johannesburg, by Paul Duncan and Alain Proust. Then I got sidetracked. I published my last Hidden Joburg post in December 2022. But finally, almost two years later, I have a new Hidden Joburg place to add to the series: the home of the late sculptor Edoardo Villa in Kew.
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It makes me smile, when I see it.