Snowblinded_8th June, 2007

snowblinded

i have arrived safely in south africa and i have too much to say. culture shock is going from one extreme to the next. this is extreme. there are slums here worse than anything i saw in ghana or tanzania and they rest on the outskirts of a national park the size of israel or an estate full of white mansions. 99 out of 100 cars that you pass on the road have white passengers. 99 out of 100 pedestrians are not white. it is a place where it is socially acceptable to say "i am from london. 2 reasons i will never go back there are 1. the weather in africa and 2. i could never afford a house maid there." this seems like a harmless statement about $, but we all know what it means.

i have only been here 3 days and have also heard the following statement toward our black volunteer guide, "you are from bostwana, huh? lucky, that is one of the better black nations on our continent." on the contrary, i have also heard that, "people from bostwana are some of the laziest black africans there are." it is my belief that none of these statements hold any truth. they are said to be said...to keep the whites clean. they are said out of shame and guilt. they are spoken from the mouths of people who know they do not rightfully own this land. they are spoken from the conscience of the rich getting richer while they watch to poor, indigenous get hungry and angry.

we know from the history of the aboriginees in australia and the the indians in north america that this pattern can be patched but never fixed. on the contrary, i have captured wild animals to move them to a better home, seen my first slumbering lions basking in the african sun, begun to eat cheese again, and begun to mingle with my "kind" again. if you add all of these together, the reverse-culture-shock should be minimal when i get home. i have never been so sad.