Ferriss Bailey Michaelhouse, South Africa

In Front of the Mandela House

Miles and I left at 2:30 in the afternoon and we arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa at 11:00am(Nashville time) the next day. South Africa is seven hours ahead so it was five in the afternoon. We were picked up by Mrs. Vambe, the mother of Shingi, a student at Michaelhouse who is coming to MBA in the fall. During the long ride to their house in a suburb of Joburg, Mrs. Vambe asked us many questions about everything from school to our future plans, but Miles and I were both a little slow after our long flight and introduction to an entirely new place. We eventually arrived at the Vambe’s house and met Shingi, and his two sisters.

The Vambes were extremely hospitable and showed us around Joburg. They brought us to the Lion Park outside of Joburg, where we were able to see Impalas, Zebras, Giraffes, and Lions. We also fed the giraffes by hand and pet the lion cubs.

An Elephant in Unfolozi

A Giraffe in Umfolozi

The next day the Vambes took us on a tour of Soweto, which is the only place in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived on the same street, those two are Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Soweto also has severe poverty and as a result many squatter camps. We were actually able to go into one called Kliptown. A resident named Mo showed us inside a typical house and then showed us the Kliptown Youth Program or KIP. KIP is a program that provides the children of Kliptown with food, computers, tutoring, and various activities. It is operated by Thulani Madondo, who was actually a top ten CNN Heroes finalist. Kliptown was truly eye-opening, not only because of the awful living conditions, but also because of the amount of effort certain individuals are putting forth to make a change. We went on to Mandela’s house, which has been turned into a small museum. It was especially moving to see it with Mandela in such critical condition.

The Prinsloos

A male Nyala that our host brother, Armin, shot

After our short stay in Joburg, Miles and I flew on to Durban where we were picked up by the Prinsloos. Their house in the Zimbali estate was beautiful, with a clear view of the Indian Ocean and a world class golf course. Mr. Prinsloo told us there was no theft in Zimbali except for the monkeys, who run into the house and steal food all the time. The Prinsloos took us up north to Hluhluwe, and we stayed on a pineapple farm, which actually produces twenty percent of the world’s pineapples. We went hunting on the farm first for guinea fowl and later for buck. Both Miles and I shot a guinea fowl, but we didn’t see many buck. Armin the younger brother did shoot a Nyala(pictured to the right) which is a trophy kill. The Prinsloos then took us on to the Umfolozi game reserve, which is the world’s second oldest behind Yellowstone. We didn’t see a great amount on the reserve, but we saw two elephants and a Giraffe as close as we possibly could, which made it completely worth it.

Michaelhouse main quad, a view from the bell tower

The Founders House C Blockers

After an unbelievable time with the Prinsloos, we drove west to Michaelhouse. The school is situated in the midlands of Kwazulu-natal; basically, it is in the middle of nowhere. Michaelhouse is an all boys, all boarding school with many traditions. Some of the traditions include the sacred grass in the main quad, which only school prefects can walk on. Students coming to and leaving the school must wear number ones, which is the formal uniform of a blazer and the school tie. There is also a cak and cop system where the seniors can order the E blockers or 8^th graders to make them a sandwich, do their laundry etc. It is essentially the opposite of the Little Brother system at MBA, where we help welcome the new students. Behind the obvious differences, MBA and Michaelhouse are very similar. They are both all boys private schools recognized for their academic and extra-curricular strengths.

I stayed in Founders House, which is the oldest of the eight houses. Miles stayed in Mackenzie, the newest house. We both stayed in C block(10^th) dorms, but went to B block(11^th) classes. Unfortunately, I was not able to play any team sports because of a stress fracture on my shin, but I was able to cycle. My Housemaster, Mr. Bounds lent me his bike, and I was able to go on many beautiful rides in the adjacent Orobi reserve.

One of my mountain biking adventures

Of all of my classes, Drama and History were the most memorable. Drama was always exciting, and we really got to know the other guys in the class. It was interesting in History to see the different perspective on events. My teacher, Mr. Thompson, is also the exchange coordinator at Michaelhouse.

The entire trip was unbelievable, and I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Warner, Mr. Gioia our host families, the Vambes and the Prinsloos, Mr. Thompson, and everyone at Michaelhouse for making the trip possible. I have made good friends and memories to last a long time.