MOTHER'S DAY AND MORE ON VOTING

Thank heavens for modern technology.  What a joy it was to be able to talk to all three daughters on Mother's Day!  I must admit I was feeling a bit sorry for myself in the morning, but by the time I Skype called them later in the day, I was more content.  I went to church, then got a Sunday paper and perused it over lunch, then went to see "Grand Budapest."  Funny movie.  Walked home, finished  a report due for the Peace Corps, watched another episode of West Wing.  I am enjoying this program; seldom saw it when it was on, and have all seven seasons on my computer, thanks to other PCVs, and am now starting season five.

Speaking of politics, discovered that the voting is really for the parties more than the candidate. There are 31 parties, but only 11 had enough votes to get one or more of the 400 seats in the Parliament.  The ANC is the ruling party (since Mandela and the end of Apartheid) and the DA is the next strongest.  There is concern that only 1 out of 3 of the "born free" voters (since 1994) registered to vote... that some apathy is starting to set in already.  Lots of bad things could be said about the government and various persons in high places.  HOWEVER!  They had a 73% voter turnout last week.  Rather impressive, yes?   Here's one photo of the line of people waiting to vote.