Biography

Virginia Hamilton’s Visit to South Africa

“What I did on my summer vacation in November 1996”

On Saturday, November 2, 1996, I joined a 55-member delegation of children’s literature specialists for a two week sojourn to South Africa. It’s a long way! Seven hours to London, a 45 minute stopover to change planes and 12 non-stop hours to Johannesburg. Here’s some of the journey.

We visited former all-black townships of millions of people, such as Soweto and Mamehlodi, schools, libraries, shops and universities. We met people in our professions – publishers, writers and artists, librarians and teachers. And wonderful, kind children. We traveled also to Pretoria and then on to Kruger National Park Animal preserve. We flew to Capetown, South Africa, and visited the farthest-most point in South Africa, The Cape of Good Hope.

Here is some of what I saw.

To start your tour, click on a photo title below (Click the [ i ] button on the top right corner to learn more about each photo):

For more information, visit the African National Congress Home Page: http://www.anc.org.za/