In to the Wilderness of South Africa- Day 1 Joburg

I was told that the best way to document an experience is to blog about it. I know I haven’t maintained this blog properly. Oh well lets blame it on the job J

I was given the chance on visiting South Africa, which is a once in a life time opportunity for me. If someone asked me to summarize my feelings of when I was told about the trip, would be almost the same as someone telling me that I was to go for dinner with Chef Ramsey and Abishek Bachchan.

Wait! Damn, I just got sidetracked thinking about that.

On way from Dubai to SA, I sat next to a lady who was a native South African. After 3-4 hours in to the flight I asked her, “Are you visiting?” She turned and said. “No I am from South Africa. I am going home after a year of working in Dubai”

From there the conversation started, and she seemed nice enough to tell me about her life in Dubai as a soft ware specialist (or something like that).

I turned the conversation around to talk about life in South Africa. She sighed and said “did you Google White Genocide? The first name that would come up on top in South Africa”

Startled, I looked at her with so many questions, not knowing if this was a can of worms I wanted to open. But it was already done. For the next 3 hours she spoke about how she, the white people, were marginalized by the government and how race has become a pre-requisite for every job, every education opportunity. She spoke about how bad the crime rate is, and how when she drives in the night she doesn’t stop at the traffic light, but only slows down until the light turns green, because she is afraid of being shot at by someone for her car.

I mean for heaven sake, all I wanted to know was what they eat for breakfast, and the cheapest place to shop!

Whether these things were true or not was not my question, but how angry she was at her country was a thought process I could not comprehend. For me if someone asks me what I thought of Sri Lanka as a holiday destination, I sell my country like it’s the paradise for second to heaven (no, but it really is). We have problems, bad governments, bad rulers, yahapalanes, but we don’t ever say these problems to a visitor to our country.

When I asked this lady “If you and your family are so unhappy, why don’t you leave?” She looked at me and said “But that’s where we are from”

I asked her “well what are the good things about the country?” and she replied and said “it’s one of the most beautiful countries in the world, with weather incomparable. You have dry lands and rain-forests with beautiful animals.”

She still loves her country. But these conditions are clearly damaged her love and passion for the country. She doesn't want to, or cannot seem to look beyond these issues. We don’t know what she has been through and her situations.

But we can only judge her by her words and actions.

So that was my entry to this country.

But I forgot all about that after coming to this beautiful country house just outside of the airport. It’s amazing how Joburg goes from having high rise city buildings, to country houses in the middle of nowhere just with in a few miles.

I was told once, a very long time ago, during my first year or second year of college by my anthropology professor, that when traveling what’s important is not seeing tourist destinations, but to be able learn about your self, add value to become a better being. The only way to do that is to talk to others who are in different situations from different continents.

So that will be my goal. It will be to talk to one person each day and to learn more about myself.

So..

Lesson 1: I am more appreciative of my country than I thought.  

A few pictures from the trip so far. This is only from my phone, so there will be much better visuals once camera pictures are downloaded.