I spent around 11 days in London during the festive Christmas season after being selected for the Abe Bailey Travel Bursary. With a full programme, every day presented fresh learning experiences and unique memories.
From watching Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre to exploring the colossal Gothic architecture of Westminster Abbey through an organ recital, I felt so fortunate to have absorbed the incredible gems that we were exposed to. At the Tower of London, the group of South African's, with whom I was on tour, plotted how we would get the crowned jewels back home, and later in the London leg of the tour, I found myself concerned about the way in which the South African High Commissioner represented the country, and more critical than ever about political deployments into diplomatic positions.
The Houses of Parliament day stood out as one of my most prized learning experiences. To have sat in the Brexit debate after a talk with Dawn Butler and lunch with Lord Bilimoria and Lady Chalker gave us a good insight British parliamentary system and dynamics thereof. Prior to the Houses of Parliament, we also got to hear from the Mayor of Camden about the challenges and objectives from a local government perspective.
I felt truly and wholeheartedly mesmerised by the theatre productions that we watched. As a musician and art lover, to go to the Tate Modern and watch award-winning productions such as Hamilton, Matilda and Les Miserables, the tour begun to feel surreal. In one of the rooms in the Tate Modern, an animated film by William Kentridge moved me through charcoal and pastel visuals that highlight the brutal history of South Africa. My musical background has nourished an appreciation for any form of art, so I found myself inspired in many ways by the artistic spaces of the tour. Art, by my personal definition is expression. And, I noted that in the busyness of life I had been neglecting my artistic side, so this has inspired me to go back to spending more of my personal-time playing jazz piano and occasionally picking up the paintbrushes.
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