Free A Man from Another Land: How Finding My Roots Changed My Life by Isaiah Washington Page A

Thami was a very nice South African man who was quick
     with a smile, and who gave me a fast education on where not to walk after dark. He seemed to be quite good at and secure in
     what he did. He was very knowledgeable of the current events and political upheavals that plagued South Africa. As we drove
     through the airport gates en route to the hotel, he pointed out a huge shantytown directly outside the entrance of the airport.
     There were hundreds of shanties built alongside the road, row after row of rickety little shacks. The level of abject poverty
     was shocking. The sight of it made me sad.
    Thami talked of a new group of extremists called the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD), a group of Arab Muslims
     who resided in Cape Town. The group had taken it upon themselves to rid Cape Town of its drug problem using terrorist acts.
     Their primary focus was the complete destruction of the drug dealers’ “fronts” and “camps.” Unfortunately, many innocent people
     had died in the crossfire.
    The PAGAD members were fully armed and at the time numbered five hundred strong.
    According to Thami, they made it known that if the police ever tried to intervene in their activities they would declare war
     in Cape Town. The irony was that while we rode, and I listened to this story, I thought about, and could understand, why the
     Boers and Cecil Rhodes wanted to kill every Zulu in sight and take over this land for themselves. It was easily one of the
     most beautiful, green, lush places I had ever seen. I was there only for a short time, but driving through the streets of
     Cape Town gave me a nirvana-like feeling, it was almost mystical.
    I arrived at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town, a wonderful little place with lush gardens, trickling water fountains, and a
     patio area overlooking Table Mountain. To call this setting beautiful and serene is an understatement! I called Jenisa to
     lether know I had arrived safely. Fatigued from the long trip, I decided to lie down to catch a bit of a nap. As I began to drift
     off to sleep, I was startled back to consciousness by a ringing phone. It was someone from the production office telling me
     that Elaine Proctor, the writer, producer, and director of
Kin,
the film I was there to work on, would be delayed for thirty minutes.
    Kin
is the story of a female conservationist who is an Afrikaner, and a corporate lawyer who is African American. While hunting
     elephant poachers, they fall in love with each other, despite the disapproval of the local people.
    A few minutes later, just as I started to drift off for a second time, the phone rang again. It was Elaine calling. Elaine
     is a very beautiful, intelligent, and good-hearted woman. She said she was waiting for me in the lobby and suggested we have
     dinner. I agreed. I cleaned up some and went down to the lobby to meet Elaine and Miranda Otto, an Australian actress, also
     in the film, who seemed very nice and was quite pretty in an odd kind of way.
    We dined at an East Indian restaurant called Bukhara. There I also met other film crew members Amy Vincent, the director of
     photography, a self-described American vegetarian, and her camera operator, a splendid, seven-foot-tall African American man
     named Brian Pitts. The love and respect they shared between them was a joy to watch; even if the image of the two of them
     walking side by side gave a whole new meaning to the epithet “Mutt and Jeff.”
    I was particularly excited to work with Amy. She did a great job shooting Kasi Lemmon’s
Eve’s Bayou.
Amy was an intense woman with a very warm smile. She wore a trademark straw cowboy hat and in temperatures of 120 degrees
     would outwork every single man on the set. Her fearlessness, stamina, creativity, professionalism, and focus behind the camera
     were remarkable to watch.
    After dinner, we all were driven to a club called La Med near the beach, where it was drag queen night. The place was complete
     with cross