Into Africa: The end of apartheid in South Africa is headline news, and it’s something Rev. Terry V. Swicegood, senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest, can hardly wait to observe firsthand.
This week, he and wife Barbara begin a three-month sabbatical leave and will be staying with longtime friend and civil rights activist Colin Jones, an Anglican pastor and the dean of South Africa’s prominent St. George’s Cathedral. They also will be renewing their friendship with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a champion in fighting the segregationist government.
“You hear about these people on the news, but they are real people to us. We know Desmond. We know what he’s like, what he has suffered,” Swicegood said.
Swicegood, who first visited South Africa in 1985 when on a sabbatical leave from a church post in Oregon and then again in 1988 and 1991, has witnessed soldiers shooting down civilians in the streets and friends being put under house arrest.
He will teach a course to clergymen while Barbara Swicegood works with a program to help street children. But mostly they will be observing the changes.
“Formally, I’m going to be teaching a course, `Growth in Preaching,’ to the clergy in the Cape region. But what I want to accomplish is spiritual renewal and get an update on what’s going on,” the pastor said.
And yes, Swicegood, who enjoys speaking about South Africa, will be happy to pass on that information when he returns. “I hope people ask,” he said.