GRAMADOELAS RESTAURANT: A CHANCE TO BREAK BREAD WHERE THE RICH AND FAMOUS HAVE DINED. THEN TALK TO THE OWNER & LEARN REAL S.A. HISTORY!

Gramadoelas is Khoi-San for an African Valhalla. And as good as the restaurant is, I couldn't find anyone that had ever heard of it(!). Pity. The place is located in the same building in Newtown, Johannesburg, as the Africa Museum. And if you're going to the Market Theatre on Bree Street, the place is perfect for a meal or a snack following one of Joburg's best kept secrets: The Market Theatre.

And if you go, introduce yourself to the owners: Eduan Naude' or Brian Shalkoff. We asked Brian about the handsome, authentic African/Cape Dutch decor and found ourselves enthralled with a 20-minute lecture about the history of South Africa. The talk was given as we walked around the restaurant, admiring all the various artifacts that represent indigenous Africa or the Cape Dutch history.

Mr. Shalkoff made note of the fact that most Afrikaners sided with Germany in World War One...and did the same when Nazi Germany rose up under Adolph Hitler, resulting in the Second World War. I asked him about his ethnicity and he responded that he was a Lithuanian Jew. He related how his mother was from Chelmo, Lithuania.

Interesting how my Holocaust training at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem seems to always be there when I need it. Brian and I discussed the Holocaust and how over 200,000 Lithuanian Jews were put to death at the hands of Hitler's henchmen. He lost several family members to the Nazi terror.

The buffet had finally been set by the able wait-staff at the restaurant...and my family and I began our sumptuous adventure into what is referred to as "fusion cuisine." Translated that meant tribal African, Arab, Cape Dutch, exotic game meats, fish delicacies, Malay curries, and a range of tempting desserts featuring everything from brandied pears to a rich cheesecake, buried in fresh strawberries.

Did I mention Cape wines? Gramadoelas features an extensive wine list, loaded with the best of the best Cape vintage wines. Svetlana had a merlot red and I opted for a couple of Windhoek light beers. Delightful!

We also met and talked to Eduan Naude', the older of the two owners. It seems in his youth he designed clothing and one of the photographs hanging on the wall as you enter the restaurant features Miriam Makeba dressed in a fashion piece designed/created by the then-17-year-old Eduan. He's very proud of that photograph and I would be too if there any association with Ms. Makeba.

And the list of notables that have dined at Gramadoelas? Check this out: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Nelson Mandela, The Queen of Denmark, Hillary Clinton (why would they have her next to a queen?), Bill Clinton (what they list him next to Elton John because Bill is a pretty good saxophone player?), Elton John, Mrs. John Major, the daughter of Winston Churchill, Lady Soames. Then "lesser" persons such as Catherine Deneuve, Denzel Washington, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Harry Belafonte, Nadine Gordimer, and finally the famed anthropologist, Phillip Tobias.

Quite an impressive list of folks who dropped by for a bite to eat, huh? I made sure that I sat in the very same seat where Nelson Mandela ate a late supper back in 1999, I think Brian said. It was a memorable evening and we will never forget the cuisine that prompted a French food writer to say, "If you are foolish enough to want to eat outside France, and you happen to be in Johannesburg, try the Gramadoelas."

Well, I don't know about all that silliness by a French food writer, but we do know the place is just damn good, plain and simple. Most of all I'll remember the walk through history given to me by Mr. Brian Shalkoff. And I'll never forget the change in the look on his face when he described Hitler's Holocaust and what it did to his Lithuania.

AFRIKAANS LANGUAGE CLASS AT NORKEM PARK HIGH SCHOOL: PLEASE NOTICE THE ENTHUSIASM!

Enthusiasm for the subject matter being taught is something that every good teacher must possess. Visit Phillix Phaho's classroom at Norkem Park High School and you'll witness just that. The learners like him and in turn, Mr. Phaho attempts to draw them to a language that is not indigenous to their culture. Phaho is from Limpopo Province, where he learned to speak Afrikaans as a youngster. He did well in Afrikaans at the high school level and went on to study the language at the college level. The language came easy for him and he decided to become a teacher of Afrikaans at the high school level. It's not an easy job...trying to convince kids that Afrikaans is worth mastering, but he does his best and his boundless enthusiasm wins out as the deciding factor for some of charges to work harder in his classes. Most of his learners will be speaking three languages by the time they graduate from high school--not too bad considering most American kids are lucky to have mastered two languages by the same time.

AFRIKAANS AS LATIN? A SO-CALLED "DEAD" LANGUAGE?

This is guaranteed to "ruffle some feathers", right? Wrong! I simply posed the question as anyone might, having an inquiring mind. Afrikaans is alive and well, but only in South Africa. Oh yes, the use of the language knows no boundaries in-and-around South African turf, but its use is primarily in South Africa. Period.

It's a language that has been described as beautiful, expressive, and poetic. I've also heard some locals describe it as "guttoral" in sound and crass, especially the use of it in the countryside. Someone told me it's a cross between German and Dutch. The person who did so told me he didn't understand or like Afrikaans until he studied drama (in South Africa).

There is no doubt that Afrikaans is insular and those who speak it are protective of its use. It is South Africa's third "mother" tongue, spoken by about eighteen percent of the population. It is outstripped only by Zulu and Xhosa with English placing fourth as a first language.

Phillix Phaho would like to change those figures. A colleague at Norkem Park High School, the black South African of Pedi ethnicity enthusiastically teaches Afrikaans at our school. The language of instruction at NPHS is English.

Learners, as they are referred to here, are obligated to enroll in English language classes, which for the vast majority of kids is their second language. Afrikaans is also a required class offered every year at school. I'm told that for some learners Afrikaans presents certain "difficulties."

Nathan Nguli (not his actual name), is repeating the tenth-grade Afrikaans class he failed last year. The youngster has excelled in my history class this year, but he said the Afrikaans language class was not to his liking. He said, "I don't like the language because of its history and close association to the apartheid era and the racist past." With emphasis, he added, "It has nothing to do with Mr. Phaho...he's a good teacher."

Phaho has had difficulties attempting to convince some of his students, most of whom are black and belong to his ethnic group, that the study of the language of the apartheid era is a worthwhile endeavor. He related, "Most of my learners are either black or coloured and some of them want to get political with the language. I can't take that approach. To me, Afrikaans is a structured language like any other."

The development of Afrikaans, sometimes affectionally referred to as "kitchen Dutch" by the white Afrikaner population, was dramatically influenced by slaves brought to Cape Colony. Few if any slaves were captured there for export to the Americas. The Cape administration forbade such a practice. In that regard, slavery was abolished at the Cape in 1838.

That is not to say that servitude disappeared with the stroke of a pen in the Cape. Like the America's, colonists figured out ways to keep the masses out of the mainstream--equality was a strange and perverse word in any language.

Before slavery was abolished, most slaves brought to what is now South Africa, were from East Africa, Madagascar, India, Indonesia, and the Malay peninsula. Eventually, a creolized culture and language emerged that played a major role in the development of the Afrikaans language.

In the late nineteenth century, Afrikaans-speaking whites sought to create a "racially pure" culture/language by driving a wedge between themselves and coloured Afrikaans speakers. Led by certain over-zealous, racists, they reinvented Afrikaans as a "white man's language." In so doing, they substituted Dutch words for those with Asian or African roots. Eventually, Afrikaans was accepted as an official world language in 1925 (there are approximately 6,800 languages in the world today).

Nathan Nguli is not impressed by the history lesson Afrikaans offers him. "It's a useless language to me," he stated in a matter of fact tone of voice. "I think of the Soweto protests and riots of 1976 over the issue of Afrikaans language being used as the medium of instruction in schools then. It was a terrible time of suffering blacks had to endure because of the apartheid government...I would have joined them," he stated.

No doubt, language instruction is a complex issue in South Africa. There are eleven official languages here and teacher shortages, along with inadequate teacher preparation, ensure the problems will remain. The South African Constitution forbids any devaluation of any of the official languages. The languages are: Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, and isiZulu.

If African languages were introduced at Norkem Park High School, it would please Phillix Phaho. He knows that then anyone taking Afrikaans would be doing so because they want to learn the language. But then again, with some of his learners struggling with Afrikaans, and a strong parent governing body at the school, he doesn't see African languages happening here soon. He said, "All our learners take several years of English and Afrikaans and indigenous language instruction would only enhance the total curriculum."

As far as I know, Afrikaans is the only language in the world to have monuments erected to honor its history and useage. One has to wonder why a people would build such huge edifaces to a language. Do they fear the downfall of their time-honoured, valued language?

In a strange way the granite and concrete structures symbolize an evolving language that, despite its unenviable links to the anguish of the apartheid era, will remain strong and vibrant. It is certain Phillix Phaho would have it no other way.

49TH ANNUAL WORLD PRESS PHOTO CONTEST IMPRESSES...JUST ASK IVAN J.J., OUR SON!

Canadian photographer Finbarr O'Reilly of Reuters won the World Press Photo of the Year 2005 premier award, which was exhibited at the World Press Photo contest this year. The stunning exhibit took place at the Africa Museum in Johannesburg. Ivan was captivated by the winning photo, which shows the emaciated fingers of a one-year-old child pressed against the lips of his mother at an emergency feeding clinic in Niger. A devastating swarm of locusts and the worst drought in decades left millions of people short of food in the African state. It was only one of a hundred or more photographs at the museum that left me hard-pressed in attempting to explain to our seven-year-old the ravages of nature and the lack of humaneness in war-torn areas of the world, resulting in death and destruction for humankind. Not an easy task...

STREET JUSTICE: ON FISHMARKET STREET, DURBAN, S.A.

This photograph should be viewed after the previous one. In it, this same fellow is trying to excape the grasp of "citizens" who have decided to administer "street justice" to him because he was caught stealing something from a street vendor. Poor chap. You can see the terror in his eyes--he knows what's coming. Actually, he might not have known what was really coming: a guy approached him from behind and gave him three whacks with a club. It was one of those thick, wooden sticks with a large, twisted thob on the end. The thief didn't stand a chance. Blood was all over the place and I decided not to take his picture as he crawled away...to a citizen chorus of name-calling/laughs.

RUN FOREST, RUN! ONLY THIS GUY WASN'T FOREST GUMP!

No, he sure wasn't Forest Gump. This was a side street in Durban, S.A. I heard loud screams, then the commotion of people chasing this fellow. It was confusing at first and then I learned that the guying running down the street was actually trying to run away with something he had stolen from a street vendor. I snapped this photo as he was streaming by. Within an instant a crowd caught up with him and the beating began. I wrote on this in a previous blog posting...they beat him silly. But it really wasn't funny. As I indicated earlier, at first I felt sorry for the chump. That changed after we came home and found our home had been burglarized...

JUST ONE LAST TIME: IVAN J.J. AND VIC FALLS

Hopefully, Ivan will remember his 7th birthday forever. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, would do it for me. If you read this photo posting, please leave a comment on what you remember about your 7th birthday celebration. Hell, I can't even remember last year's birthday for me and my twin brother, James. Our 7th birthday? Did we have one? Total blank for me, for sure. How about you? Click on comments and tell the world about your recollections...