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December 29th 2007

Published: December 29th 2007

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Melchior

Words?

SOuth WEst TOwnship

Bye Bye Bela

I was enjoying the long, interesting ride back from Bela Bela, on back roads, seeing less clean and organised areas, getting information from Johannes about the differences since the end of Apartheid and how there is still quite a ways to go.

Near Pretoria, back on to the Highway, four lanes in each direction at high speeds, we saw a man lying on the road with a car signalling for help...he had just been hit trying to cross eight lanes of fast traffic!!!

Unexplainable!
"This is Africa."
The explanation for anything out of the ordinary. Get used to it.

Make plans expecting everything to go differently, or don't make them and just go with the flow!

My shock was at the sillyness of the attempt, and at the nonchalance of the driver at what was possibly a dead man!

After this and my recent experience with directions, I asked him to drop me off at the airport, which relieved him greatly. I knew that the bed and breakfast would pick

Past & Present

History remembered as Life goes on.

me up from there anyway.

As a parting gift I gave him a 10 euro note that he had very cleverly asked to see!

Backpack By Bus

While waiting for my pick-up, a woman asked me if I needed a backpacker. I had no clue what she was talking about.

Turns out there is a whole chain of independent Backpacker Hostels or Dorms all linked together by a guide-book and a bus that does the tour of South Africa...the BazBus!

Cool! As I had already arranged for the night, I asked to be picked up the next morning. Now I had a place with other young adventurers and a much cheaper room!

I paid 8 euro's a night, had discounted tours available and got a week-long hop-on hop-off bus ticket to take me all around South Africa!
Wow!
I had to thank my Pakistani "friend" for sending me out into the path of another great, spontaneous adventure!

Soweto Burgers with Hiro

The next day, with Hiro, a Japanese backpacker and physics student, on the last leg of a round the

One Street, one tap

Waiting for real houses

world trip westwards, I went on a Tour of Soweto.

It was done in an old, rusty BMW, (the car of the township...also known as Beat My Wife) with Sonny as a cool guide.

He showed us all the usual stuff, downtown Jo'burg, the three different levels of class in the township, how 20'000 are waiting for 500 houses in a shanty town, four shacks to a yard and one toilet, with one tap per street, the neighbouring homes of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, the church of the Madonna of Soweto and the Hector Pieterson Museum.
All very emotional and rich with pride at the sufferings and injustices of the past.

How can humans be so inhuman to each other?
How do the brave that survive, manage to forgive and work together on creating a better future?

Real lessons in resilience, forgiveness and the gains to be made by going beyond revenge and judgement to a higher awareness of what is possible with union, collaboration and foresight.

There are still many differences to be ironed out and the different languages (there are 11 official ones in SA!), tribes, races

Madonna

Soweto Hope

and cultures will always stick with their own, yet, all have something to contribute to the growth of such a beautiful corner of paradise.

The highlight of the day came when Sonny asked if we wanted to eat anything and Hiro, silent until then, blurted out something about Soweto "Bergah", which sent Sonny into a huge white smile, "You mean burger?"

That is how we ended up talking about South African languages, culture and soccer players I knew from abroad, having a burger with cheese and egg in a square bun, in a small room with one Japanese scientist and three young black men of three different tribes and languages.

I poured Hiro some beer with both hands, like I had learned in Korea and he returned the respect without a blink, to the astonishment of our hosts. We burst out laughing and had a delightful and interesting lunch.

Passing the stadium in construction, we saw a sign that said 919 days to go...to World Cup 2010!

I will definitely be here. There is such a human element to the event, that curiosity is begging be satisfied!

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