Web diary

Today was the day of the Men’s March in town. I had arranged to meet Moshodane in Braamfontein as he was to be my support person for the day. I waited for half and hour and left three messages on his cell phone but he didn’t show. I was very upset, worried, disappointed, and scared. Should I do it on my own? What had happened to him? Why didn’t he at least ring me? Finally I decided to have courage and do it on my own. I went to the start of the march and spoke to the police and the organisers of the event and asked them if they thought I was foolish to do it and they said no, and they would look after me. So I strapped on the camera, took the digital camera and some water and set off with the march. There were only a couple of hundred men at the start but it grew as it went through town and by the time they got to the Library gardens there would have been a thousand people in the march. It was very colourful, joyful, energetic and I got great footage. The speeches, dancing and singing went on until 1pm and I got quite sunburnt and felt exhausted at the end. But the organiser of the SA men’s Forum who organised this event arranged for me to be driven back to my car and I was very glad I went. This felt like the final frontier for me – walking through the streets of Jo’burg on my own with the video camera and being safe.