Ten Days Discovering Jo-burg Ways

It seems like such a long time ago I was in New York awaiting the flight to Johannesburg. It has been about twelve days now, and I can say I am finally getting settled. I was living out of my suitcase the whole time at Jo-burg, and when we got to Windhoek yesterday, Jason (my roommate) and I were not able to move in due to construction on our room. So we stayed at a B & B last night, which was fine. However, I just finished unpacking, and I have to admit it feels great to finally settle in. I really lucked out by having only one roommate. It isn’t because I don’t like the other guys. Rather, it’s simply because it’s more comfortable and easier to live with fewer people, especially when you are in confined spaces.

Johannesburg was quite the experience. I soaked up so much information in those ten days there. We learned all about the brutality of the apartheid regime, and how the country is developing since. What makes it so interesting is the fact that apartheid was only ended recently. It’s hard to imagine that I was actually alive when South Africa was under apartheid. The Apartheid Museum was almost too much. We spent three hours there, but I didn’t feel like that was enough time. You cannot fully ever know what it was like. But the museum was informative nonetheless. We heard tons of speakers too. They talked on a wide variety of topics dealing with the government, history, and the state of the country currently.

South Africa is the country with the widest gap between the wealthy and the poor. There’s no mistaking that. In Jo-burg, you could be in one area with tin shacks cramped so closely together that a car wouldn’t be able to drive the dirt streets between the houses, and then about a football field away would be very elaborate, elegant houses. It is truly disturbing. That is what the country is dealing with now however. They have to learn how to distribute wealth evenly. It seems like some people are profiting greatly at the expense of others. Some of the residents of Soweto (one of the poorest areas in South Africa) were telling me that businesses would hire illegal Zimbabwean immigrants and pay them poor wages, rather than hire the educated and more qualified citizens of South Africa. That seems unfair, both to the Zimbabweans who get paid crap and barely scrape by, but also for the South Africans who have excelled in their studies and cannot break into the work force. Some employers simply seem to be greedy. If that country is going to continue to be stable, they will have to have a more equal distribution of wealth or all hell will break loose.

Those are just some of my thoughts on South Africa. I have more philosophical thoughts however. It seems that when you are a child, everything is black or white. It is right or wrong. They are innocently ignorant of intricate details. However, as we grow older, situations and decisions become muddled. There’s not a black and white. It is simply gray. And then we have to choose to do what is right, but sometimes it is hard to see what is right. Sometimes, it is easier to choose ignorance than to choose the hard road that leads to something better. I bring this up because the ANC (African National Congress) seems to be corrupt now. The majority of people are suffering, while the ANC leaders are becoming very rich. I sense much corruption amongst the leaders who claim to be fighting the same fight before apartheid was done away with. They are politicians and damn good ones. I ask myself what I would do if I was given power. Power corrupts. Jesus knew that, and that is why he denied Satan’s temptation that included all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus did not want worldly power. In the same way, I would not want it.

That’s quite enough for now. Let me know what you think. I’ll be updating more regularly now that I have internet. And I'll write about the first homestay soon. It went really well.