I had three dreams

I recover my blog to tell you a memory of my beloved Africa, where I had three dreams, like three illuminations, three secrets of the night, three voices of kings. Three deep loves in the African continent. Each one builds one of the three dimensions of my beloved continent: the fauna, the flora, its history... and an extra: its present looking to the future, a fourth cornerstone.

The first was in the Sabi Sands Reserve, the best place in the world for a Safari. There I met the animal world for the first time, from the comfort and luxury of a privileged resort. Africa at a city girl's size. In the unmade bed, after having seen lions, leopards, buffaloes and elephants up close, I fell asleep watching the ceiling fan melt with trunks, claws, paws and tails.

"The place where the sun rises" is what Mpumalanga means. After immersing myself in its cliffs, caves, roads and waterfalls, I assert that it is not only the sun that rises, but the spirit. Before the power of this landscape, one feels tiny, but at the same time giant in the sky. Insignificant in nature, and tremendously powerful.

My third revelation was in Mali, an evening spent with a local storyteller, Griots, they call them, and they have been responsible since the middle ages for preserving legends, battles and traditions by word of mouth. Throughout the night and around the fire he transported us to the birth of the Mali empire, and the heroic figure of the Lion of Mali, who united the small villages against the bloodthirsty enemy.

And since there are no three without four, a nod to the present and future of my beloved continent. Mbombela, which means "many people together in a small space". This beautiful name is given to the soccer stadium built for the 2010 World Cup. A condenser of sporting values that enlighten the new generations: Respect, team, passion, commitment, responsibility, integrity, tolerance, trust, illusion, sacrifice, effort, humility... "many good things, in a small space".