South Africa 2011-2012

South Africa continues to be beautiful and interesting. At times being here seems almost too easy, and at other times everything seems to take much more energy than at home: driving, communicating, shopping, using a cell phone, drinking water, etc.

The people who buy the produce from Siyavuna Development Centre (the brand is called Kumnandi) appear to be very diverse. The whites who buy the produce seem to be genuinely interested in it for its quality and are by no means buying it out of pity. It is interesting to see manifestations of a sort of generosity or “white guilt”, if you want to call it that, however; often the white people who buy Kumnandi produce will tell use to keep the change. (The most someone has left us in change so far was R84.00, or $10.51. To put that in perspective, we’re currently selling bananas for R7/kg and onions for R8/kg). If “white guilt” leads white South Africans to such random acts of generosity, then all the better, but of course that’s not enough by itself. In my experience, though, when privileged people make such relatively small sacrifices for those who are much less privileged, they tend to feel more or less absolved of their guilt.

The fact that POR is a Christian organization which has some expectation of volunteers making time for spiritual activities has turned out to be a good thing for me. I didn’t think I wanted to volunteer with a religious organization, but then again, I didn’t think I wanted to go to a religious college, and then I ended up being one of those Oles (aka St. Olaf students) who majors in religion and goes to chapel every day. It seems to be something I can’t get away from. I am enjoying the religious opportunities here: groups of volunteers go to church together most Sundays, and we’re also sort of expected, though not technically required, to go to home group meetings (smaller groups within the church) on Wednesday nights from around 7:00-9:00 pm. These church experiences and home group meetings have been interesting. The church next to POR (Gates of Praise International Church) is most definitely the Pentecostal/charismatic sort, and never lacking for passion and enthusiasm, though probably not how I would want to worship all the time. Already I’ve sometimes left home group meetings with my head spinning, and I can tell there will be many interesting discussions with these new church friends in the months to come.

A lot of friends have asked, understandably, about the ethnic diversity in South Africa, languages spoken, race relations etc. Here in KwaZulu-Natal the most common African language is Zulu, and most of the white people speak Afrikaans, though there are also whites who speak English as their first language. There are eleven official languages in South Africa, with most South Africans (it seems) speaking more than one. There is an incredible income gap in South Africa (the country has the highest, or second highest, Gini coefficient in the world) and I’m continually shocked at the handful of fancy houses in the undeveloped areas. In few places is it so normal (though it is not really normal) to be in a rural area that gives one the feeling like one is on the edge of the earth, and then to be in a mall not unlike one that would be found in the U.S. 20 minutes later. Needless to say, the potential for misunderstanding between people here is tremendous. I feel like I have to make a constant effort to communicate myself clearly here because most of the people I talk to here speak English as a second (or third) language, and also because most South Africans have a picture of Americans that is mostly or entirely derived from TV and movies and is often very stereotyped.

One of the hardest things for me to get used to here, culturally, has been “African time”. The things that seem to consistently run on time are planes, buses, church, etc. However, when you’ve made a plan with someone to meet at a certain time, any time up to half an hour after you agreed to meet is fair game. I can be very obsessive about following schedules, so this continues to be quite an adjustment for me. Of course, the time difference between here and home has been an adjustment too; since South Africa is six hours ahead of U.S. eastern time, finding a time to Skype with people back home can be complicated.


We’ve been having time for fun in addition to the work-related activities during the week, which is great, though I generally want to spend as little money as possible. So far I’ve gotten to go on a hike, to one of the beaches, shopping (shopping centers here are as extensive as any western country, for better or worse), to a Crocodile Farm, to the houses of some friends of POR/former volunteers, and out for food/drinks a couple times. The kinds of activities that I’m really excited about doing here, though, are cultural/historical things like music, museums, etc. I’m not sure how much of those sorts of things I’ll get to do here in Margate, but I’m pretty set on going to a concert in December with the Drakensburg Boy’s Choir and Ladysmith Black Mambazo (see link below). Experiences like that one would make the entire trip here worth it for me, if that turns out to be as awesome as it sounds.

http://dbchoir.info/index.php/choir/festivals/christmas-in-the-berg

That’s about all that’s on my mind this week. As usual I’d love to hear from any and all of you.