Date: September 16-28, 2025; the optional safari extends the trip by 3 days
Cost: $2500, plus the cost of airfare to and from Johannesburg, South Africa; the optional safari is an additional $1,000
Registration deadline: June 15, 2025
This South African solidarity learning pilgrimage will explore the long history and legacy of settler colonialism and apartheid, which was an unjust socio-political policy that fostered racial segregation. The pilgrimage will focus on the social constructs created around race, land dispossession and how they so thoroughly defined, and continue to define, South African society. We will:
- Consider the parallels of apartheid to our own context.
- Focus on the role of the church in the struggle against apartheid.
- Build on what was learned during Chapter One of the Racial Justice Pilgrimage. (Chapter One participation not required)
One of the elements of apartheid was the way in which its social and political construct emerged out of a particular theological foundation and imagination. Struggling against the legacy of apartheid, the South African church still continues to confront not only the racial segregation, displacement from land dispossession and apartheid spatial injustice, but also its theological assumptions.
We can accommodate 20 people. Those who went on the United States Civil Rights Pilgrimage will receive priority registration, but it is not required.
The $2,500 cost includes transportation in South Africa, lodging, meals, and entrance fees to museums and parks. The optional safari in Krueger National Park is an additional $1,000. The safari option will extend the trip to October 1.
Sample itinerary—South Africa Pilgrimage
DAY 1 – WELCOME TO OUR NAMELESS COUNTRY
- Late Breakfast | Contextual Bible Study & Introduction | Lunch
- Archival Site – Apartheid Museum
- Circle Dialog @ St Benedict’s | Dinner
DAY 2 – LOSS DAY 1
- Breakfast | Contextual Bible Study
- Site of Struggle Visit – Constitution Hill | Packed Lunch
- Site of Struggle Visit – Kliptown & The Freedom Charter
- Dinner @ Sakhumzi
Day 3 – LOSS DAY 2
- Breakfast | Contextual Bible Study
- Site of Struggle Visit – Sophia Town & Mpanza | Packed Lunch
- Archival Sites – Hector Pieterson Museum & Regina Mundi
- Circle Dialog @ St Benedict’s | Dinner
DAY 4 – DISPOSSESSION DAY 1
- Breakfast | Church in Hillbrow
- Afternoon Braai @ St Benedict’s
DAY 5 – DISPOSSESSION DAY 2
- Breakfast | Contextual Bible Study
- Site of Struggle Visit – Hillbrow (Innercity Federation & MES)
- Packed Lunch | Circle Dialog @ St Benedict’s | Dinner
DAY 6 – TRAVEL DAY TO CPT
- Breakfast | Iziko’s Eucharist of Solidarity
- Travel to CPT | Dinner @ Schoenstatt Retreat Centre
DAY 7 – RESISTANCE DAY 1
- Breakfast | Contextual Bible Study
- Site of Struggle Visit – Langa & District Six
- Packed Lunch | Archival Site – District Six Museum
- Circle Dialog @ Schoenstatt | Dinner
DAY 8 – RESISTANCE DAY 2
- Breakfast | Contextual Bible Study
- Site of Struggle Visit – BoKaap w. Cultural Lunch
- Circle Dialog @ Schoenstatt | Dinner
DAY 9 – RESISTANCE DAY 3
- Breakfast | Contextual Bible Study
- Archival Site – Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation
- Circle Dialog @ Schoenstatt | Dinner
DAY 10 – FRAGMENTS DAY
- Breakfast | Fragments Session One
- Lunch | Fragments Session Two
- Dinner @ Groot Constantia Vineyard
DAY 11 – INTEGRATION DAY
- Breakfast | Table Mountain Visit (Optional)
- Lunch Out | V&A Excursion
- Drop off at Airport Hotel
DAY 12, 13, 14 – optional safari
- Safari in Kruger National Park
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