We had the special opportunity to welcome Desmond Tutu onto our ship for
the crossing from Mauritius here to South Africa. He spoke to the children,
separately, as well as the entire shipboard community about his life and his (important)
role in the struggle for racial equality in South Africa. He was incredibly
inspiring and lovely, as you would expect. Tim and Ben are in this picture; you
may not recognize Ben, second from the right – see explanation of shaved head, below.
“Neptune Day”
was the day that we celebrated crossing
the Equator in the Indian Ocean. There are supposedly many traditions
associated with this occasion. One is to shave your head, which four out of
five of us opted out of doing. Ben, our “all in” child, decided to go for it.
There are also photos below of Ali kissing a fish (part of the ceremony) and
Tim kissing the ring of King Neptune (our ship’s captain in costume). It was a
fun day.
We have been taking Ali to the pool on the ship every day over
the past few months and she is swimming.
Not “Pilc family” level swimming, of course, but she is making her way
from one side of the pool to the other – with lots of splashing, drama, and
excitement. The college students have been cheering her on, which generates
even more enthusiasm. Major progress given that she has been scared to get her
head wet until now.
India Rick's ppt
We docked for a week in Cochin, India, which is on the
southern tip of the country. Rick took one of his classes on a field trip to
two hospitals that cater to medical tourists, which is a growing sector of
India’s service economy. Cochin is, in some respects, the future that India
wants for the rest of the country. Most everyone is literate and tolerant of
religious differences. It’s also the only matriarchal province of India, which
means women have equal rights to everything. This has helped the area enjoy the
highest rates of economic growth and overall affluence. India is sometimes described as a continent masquerading as a country given the extraordinary diversity and population
(1.2 billion people). We enjoyed the glimpse of it that we had.
Pictures from our past few weeks:
