The Journey of Promoting Falun Dafa in South Africa [1][2]

[1] ---Preparation

In November 1999, some practitioners planned to travel to South Africa to promote Falun Dafa during the Christmas and New Year holiday. After this news spread among Swedish practitioners, a team consisting of 7 practitioners, L, R, M, B, P, N and A formed quickly and then started the preparations. Some of them were in charge of booking airplane tickets and reserving hotel rooms, others were in charge of copying audio and video materials and some were in charge of contacting people in South Africa.

However, many difficulties arose. For instance, it was hard for practitioners to get long vacations from their companies and this trip required a lengthy stay; the number of airplane tickets to South Africa was limited and the flights were not at good times; very little English material was left and Universal Publishing Company had sold out the English version of China Falun Gong. What should we do? Ask for help. In a very short time, Californian practitioners collected 72 copies of the English China Falun Gong and mailed these books to South Africa in time. Practitioners from Singapore also mailed out about 100 introductory cassettes. Practitioners from Ireland also supported us with introductory material. After a short time, our work settled down smoothly; more airplane tickets became available, and the times were also very good. Preparations were going quickly.

Shortly before we set out, we suddenly received an e-mail from Mr. R. He advised us that he would be unable to attend the 9-day seminar in East London, South Africa. He was on vacation with his children in another city. Despite Mr. R being the only person who showed interest in Falun Dafa, and he being the only contact person, we still decided not to change our plans, no matter how difficult the journey would be. Even if we could only meet one person who had an affinity with Falun Dafa, our trip would still be valuable.

On December 22 1999, we left for South Africa with a lot of Falun Dafa material. We flew from the North of the earth to the South of the earth, from cold Sweden to hot South Africa.

The journey of promoting Falun Dafa in South Africa

[2]---Johannesburg

On the afternoon of December 23,1999, we arrived in Johannesburg City, our first stop in South Africa. This city had been a business city in the past. However, it is quite desolate now. Due to frequent crimes downtown, many hotels and shops have closed.

The first person we met was Mrs. E. Mrs. E is a cousin of M in our team. They had not seen each other for 35 years. Before we met her, we did not know her situation, nor did she know why we came there. Upon listening to her lengthy introduction of herself, we felt very surprised, happy as well as funny. What made us surprised was that she used to use small knacks and techniques to cure others' illnesses as a career; what made us happy was that she was searching for a high level cultivation tirelessly. What was funny was that Mrs. M had also used small knacks and techniques to cure others' illnesses before she learned Falun Dafa. It seemed like something hereditary in their family.

After we told her why we came to South Africa and introduced Falun Dafa to her, Mrs. E was very happy and surprised. After being quiet for a while, she told us that a few months ago, a person with a little bit of the supernormal capability of Suming Tong (Precognition & Retrocognition) told her "she would meet a few people from Europe who would bring her one thing. It would become a turning point in her life and she would then be very optimistic." We came from Sweden to Johannesburg, to present Falun Dafa to her. We gave her some Falun Dafa books and other material and Mrs. M also told her personal experience to help explain the profoundness of Falun Dafa.

With the assistance from Mrs. E, we held a 4-hour-introductory class in her home. Four white people attended. Among them, Mr. K had not left the class before he finished learning all five sets of the exercise, although many guests waited for him to celebrate Christmas. A lady, Mrs. L bought a copy of China Falun Gong. Because her whole family will move to Melbourne, Australia, she had also insisted on buying a copy of Zhuan Falun who others also wanted to have, because we didn't have enough copies at that time. After we told her that there is more material in Australia and many people are practicing Falun Dafa, she left this copy for others.

On December 25, Christmas Day, we planed to promote Falun Dafa outside. But there were not many people on the street. Many residents had gone out of town for the holiday. Then, we decided to have a picnic in a park, read the books, and practice the exercises in the park on our own. After we sat down on a lawn, we suddenly found there were a few African families around us. Some of them were having picnics, some were resting, and some were watching the kids playing. The whole scene appeared so peaceful and harmonious. What a great opportunity for us to introduce Falun Dafa to these people! Practitioners L and A then walked over and greeted them and started to introduce Falun Dafa.

A black gentleman passed by and stopped because of curiosity. L walked to him immediately and gave him a Falun Gong introductory flyer. After he quickly read about it, he asked, "when and where can I start to learn?" Since we had to leave this place soon, we said, "If you like, we can start to teach you right now." The picnic quickly turned into a Falun Dafa seminar. Other families also walked over to us upon invitation. Soon, lots of adults and kids surrounded us. They studied the movements very seriously. Especially the innocent kids did the exercises very accurately. They looked very cute.

After we went over the five sets of the exercise, we told more about Falun Gong to Mrs. X. He said to us, "I am a social worker. I like this Falun Gong very much, which promotes both health and morality. Moreover, the teachings are free of charge. In South Africa, there are many black-Africans committing crimes under the high-pressure living condition. Their original natures are not bad, they are not evil beings. South Africa needs Falun Gong." Before Mr. X left, he gave us his address, hoping that we would keep sending him more material. He was very willing to introduce Falun Dafa to more people.

After we taught the movements, we continued our picnic. Practitioner B grabbed some food and went to sit together with a family. Immediately, we joined them. This family consisted of six people. It was a simple, honest, kind and shy family. Besides the parents and three kids (a six year old daughter and a two and four year old son), there was an uncle of these kids. When we talked about "Zhen-Shan-Ren (Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance)" and "Falun", they listened to us very carefully and kept nodding their heads. In order to let his whole family understand, the father explained the things we talked about to his kids and the kid's uncle in his local language. As we kept talking, our faces were filled with tears of happiness. Their faces were also filled with tears of thankfulness. Our hearts were moved by the Universal principle. The scene at that moment was really unforgettable. In order to learn Falun Dafa and keep in touch, we gave them Mr. X's address and our addresses in Sweden.

That night, some of us went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. A young servant named Mr. R gently guided us to sit around a table that was in the middle. While waiting for the food, R asked us which city we were from. After we told him that we came from Europe and we were Falun Dafa practitioners, he became very excited. Because during his vocation in China in 1997, Mr. R saw many people practicing Falun Gong and he wanted to learn it. However, he didn't get a chance to learn it for he was too busy at that time in China. After he got back to South Africa, he regretted it very much. He decided that he would learn Falun Gong next time he went to China. However, he had never thought that Falun Gong had been banned in China. He said happily, "We don't have Falun Gong here, it's so good that you guys have brought Falun Gong to my door!" Despite R was busy all the time, he still ran to our desk, asking us for the real story of Falun Dafa. He was very eager to learn Falun Gong. Upon seeing R's thirst for Falun Dafa, we didn't feel hunger anymore, no desire to taste the food we ordered. We told R that we would give him the books before we left the next morning. R was very excited and thankful after he heard that. He said that he would wait for us. The next morning, when we were on the way to the airport, we went to the same restaurant again. R had already been there waiting for us for about 2 hours. His hands were holding the Chinese version of Zhuan Falun, Lecture in Sydney, the English version of China Falun Gong and some other books, R kept saying "thank you". When we told him that the books were more precious than our lives, he held the books even tighter.

When we were eating, there were some other Chinese having dinner there too. There was a young man J always looking at us. We felt we had a great karmic relationship with him also. He looked at us frequently; we were looking at him also. He smiled at us, we were smiling at him too. After a while, he could not stay anymore. He came over to our table and sat down. After he realized that we were practicing Falun Gong, he felt a little nervous. South Africa doesn't have many reports on Falun Dafa, but he was confused by the Chinese propaganda. We told him our own experiences, the truth and why we came. He believed about Buddha and Karmic relationships. We hope that he would cherish this great opportunity when Falun Dafa is spreading. After we separated, he called us many times, and asked us some questions that he had from his reading of Zhuan Falun. We answered his questions patiently, we suggested him to read more, and the answers would probably be in next paragraph or next chapter. Even though Falun Dafa was attacked as evil, the power of mercy was still shaking and enlightening the righteous nature of mankind.

During the three days in Johannesburg, these White people, Black people and Chinese people's Buddha nature and their feelings of happiness after they obtained Falun Dafa really encouraged us. There are still many kind-hearted people in this world that haven't had a chance to get to know Falun Dafa. There are many ways of promoting Falun Dafa. However, we feel very lucky for having come here to give people a chance to know Falun Dafa.

On the afternoon of December 26, we left Johannesburg for East London to promote Falun Dafa there.