By Bob Van Leer

  (PLETTENBURG BAY, SOUTH AFRICA, June 10, 1986) - Today a tour of South Africa's wine country around Stellenbosch was on the schedule but Betty and I decided to spend what time we had exploring more of downtown Cape Town. Betty found a whole store with nothing but beads and this kept her occupied for most of the time.

    In the afternoon we boarded a South African Airways plane for a short flight to George, still on the south coast. From there we were met by a bus and headed east, with our stopping spot for the evening to be the Beacon Island Hotel on Plettenburg Bay, one of South Africa's vacation spots.

  The scenery along the drive could have been any of a number of areas in the United States and some much resembled home, not at all what we expected to find in Africa. 

  Betty and I left the tour bus at Knysna, a few miles from Plettenburg Bay, and the home of Jeanine Marshall, now a Rotary exchange student at Gold Beach High. Her parents, Les and Bev Marshall, had invited us to have dinner with them and Bev picked us up at the postoffice in Knysna and took us to their home on a hill overlooking the town of 7000. 

  They had invited several friends over and after dinner we spent the evening discussing the problems of South Africa. We run across a general feeling that the rest of the world does not understand South Africa's problems and the news media get the principal blame. The Marshalls and friends recognize that people of whatever color have aspirations and are entitled to decent opportunity and treatment. But a universal suffrage is no part of the picture. A qualified franchise does get some support. A point expressed was that whatever the opinions of others, South Africa will have to do what it feels needs doing.

  Everywhere in South Africa there is a feeling that it is all coming to a climax soon. The Marshalls were kind hosts but we had to leave early for our schedule calls for our luggage to be ready to load at 6 a.m. Tomorrow we continue the drive along what is called the Garden Coast to Port Elizabeth where we will board a plane to Durban, where most of South Africa's Indian minority lives. Durban is the winter vacation spot for South Africa, a combination of Miami and Honolulu.