My first impression of South Africa came about 5 minutes after getting in a taxi on a journey from the Cape Town airport into town. There’s a section along the highway on the left as you drive into the city that’s made up of shacks similar to the temporary shelters made of scrap tin Haitians were living in after the earthquake. The difference is that, in Haiti, those structure are (or are meant to be) temporary. A bit further up the highway were some more respectable houses that were almost identical to the transitional shelters we were building in Indonesia. Again, a temporary measure in Indonesia but seemingly permanent in South Africa.
A few days later I found myself in a car with a couple of friends cruising down the Garden Route between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. The scenery was beautiful but really struck me was the amazing houses along the way. So many huge places with fancy cars in the driveway surrounded by electric security fences. Then as we drove on, on the outskirts of each town… more shacks.
I spent couple of days in Durban walking around, one day I was searching for a specific cafe, and the other I was looking for a street full of cafes (I love my cafes!) Each time I strolled for about an hour, passing through some ghetto-looking areas with people passed out on the sidewalks or begging on the street corners. When I found my destinations, I was suddenly met with pristine little communities full of white people in SUVs.
I had a conversation one night with an English girl who was volunteering in a rural community inland. She was spending her time doing different kinds of work including spending a few days teaching in a local school. She said that some of the students were over 20, that they didn’t have desks and chairs, and that they were pretty well behaved because, if they acted up, they were struck with a stick that had thorns in it. The fact that a 22 year old, unqualified volunteer was asked to teach basic classes is also a bit alarming.
Then there’s the conversation I had in South Africa with a local Capetonian (is that the right word?) telling me not to take the minivans because they stink because ‘those people’ don’t have showers. Then there was the airport transfer guy who dropped me off about 10 minutes ago. He was telling me how the Durban waterfront used to be filthy and then went on to say ‘for some people, cleanliness is not an option’ and then immediately after that asked me if many blacks stayed at my hostel, and then went on to say ‘some of them are good people.’ Not sure what that was all about but it certainly left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
These are just a few things that have caught my attention since I’ve been here although I have to admit that I haven’t delved too deeply into South Africa or the issues it faces. I’ve either been watching football games, driving around the country, or hiding in my room working on my websites. The conversations I’ve had so far with locals have been short and shallow and I haven’t put much effort into understanding the things I’m seeing and hearing. But this country fascinates me and you can be sure that when I get back in however many months, I will make a big effort into learning about this place. I wonder if most white people over a certain age are racist. I wonder what the younger generation think of their country. I want to know what black people think has changed and what else needs to happen before they’re firmly on equal footing economically. On the surface, the rich/poor divide is appalling and I want to see how bad it really is.
It’s probably naive to think that I will be able to get the sorts of answers I’m looking for but I’ll have a crack at it when I return. I want to Couchsurf with South Africans, do work exchanges on farms and volunteer in rural communities. But, for now, South Africa will have to wait. I’m off to Tanzania today to catch up with my Aussie friends who are in Zanzibar on the end of their overland tour. Then it’s off to Rwanda, another country I find fascinating, to visit an aid worker friend. If I like Kigali I might look into staying for a few months. Otherwise, it’s off to Uganda to do some volunteer work on a farm with a guy who is working with local communities on food security issues.
I’m excited to get up into the heart of Africa but sad to cut my time in South Africa short because there’s so much I want to know about this place. Have you been to South Africa? What did you think?
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