Nation of contrasts

People love 80's music in South Africa; one can hear it all over: it's playing in the airport upon arrival to the country, in the public bathrooms, shopping areas, from homes. This begged the question: what does South Africa have about this music?

In retrospect, South Africa seems to be a nation of contrasts, the most striking being the division and distribution of wealth. Huge mansions with walls around their borders and caged doors sit next to (and sometimes even a block away from) miles and miles of "informal settlements," which is a very "nice" description for the millions of homes that have been build by the people (illegally) that grip to hillsides and areas just outside of major urban areas. The informal settlements do not have government-supplied sanitation or electricity, and people use plastic trash bags as roof-tops. It is rumored that the government has begun a housing project, where a sturdy home of wood or brick will be built for every family in a settlement; however, according to a South African I met, "it will take over 100 year at the rate they're going." I am not sure of the proportions of people living in informal settlements to those living in mansions, but I would suspect that it mirrors the ratio of those with health care to those with none: 5:1.

Another contrast: in the few settlements I observed and in other communities throughout the country, people were pulling together. South Africans are very proud of where they live, and they identify with and want to help others around them. Florence, a "retired" nurse and dear friend of Inge, works day and night for her community; she runs a soup kitchen that feeds hundrend of the sick and injured daily, and she is building a health center for AIDS and hospice patients. People love her, they trust her, people want her near them as a leader. Then, we have the counterpoint: crime rates are extremely high in South Africa. Theft and rape are major problems, and they are crimes diametrically opposed to the neighborhood trust I just described. It seems to me that the crime in South Africa is directly related to poverty and to the lingering sting of apartheid. Despite these problems, I never once felt threatened or scared, and if I did, I believe that a mere "yelp" would have garnered the help of many.

The next conrast has to do with racial tensions in the aftermath of aparthied, which ended only 11 years ago. I think that South Africa has come a long way, especially in terms of equality in politics and law (at least on the surface). In the cities especially, the populations seem to be more diverse and integrated than in smaller, more rural towns. That's not to say that the urban areas are completely intergrated: they aren't, but neither is Chicago, New York, LA, etc. However, there still exists extreme racsim along with major differences in income, academic and employment opportunities, and access to resources, like healthcare, between races and gender. Hopefully with time these discrepencies will diminish, as they are slowly doing in our country. Just talking to people elicited different responses about the situation in South Africa since Apartheid; several people I spoke with think that they have come a long way but still have a long way to come. On a good note, at the various healthcare settings we visited, from small clinics to large hospitals, the workers and patients - of many races - worked together and were treated side-by-side as equals.

Sub-sarahan Africa in general and South Africa in specific have been struck by the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Admist the pain, sorrow and difficulties that surround the impact of HIV, hope, altruism and love are clearly evident and seem to outweigh the hardships. And that gives me hope. I think that is why people love the 80s music in South Africa: to me it is a music (corny at times, yes) filled with compassion (remember "We are the world?") and messages of community, love, and hope for a better future.

Courtney