Time before departure is ticking of the clock, soon the twelve SAWIPers and their honorable management leader will leave the cold Cape Townian weather for a DC summer which I anticipate will be filled with the most amazing of experiences.

Upon reading Playing the Enemy today and often seeing the date ‘1989′ while reading,  I stop to ponder on all the things that had been going on in South Africa at that time. When little Petrus was but a fetus in his mother’s womb, courageous warriors were sacrificing their lives for justice and freedom in this nation. Knowing that people I did not know were persecuted so that,  19 years later, I, Petrus van Niekerk can enjoy the fullness of freedom through having friends across racial borders, whom I love enough to die for. That I might not be blindly led to subconsciously succumb to the  poverty of a  Afrikaner culture of fear but have been given the opportunity to embrace a journey of discovering my true identity and place, as Afrikaner,  in this beautiful country God had given us; this startles my being.  The deaths of those brave men and women, most of them unjustly sentenced to Death Row, contributed to the moulding of this opportunity I am speaking of. And that, dear friends, is what inspires me not to take for granted anything in this life . To embrace every second of our SAWIP journey to be raised up as the future leaders of this nation. To be custodians of the legacy of self- sacrificial leadership, grounded in brotherly love.

With that I will conclude for now and wish all my fellow SAWIPers an awesome travel and time in Washington DC!

God bless