South Africa In Review ...

Well, we're back in Nigeria and we're living on our fantastic South African memories. Here are some thoughts in review.

If it weren't so far away from all of our people (like Nigeria isn't far or something!) we'd move there in a heartbeat and stay there forever! There is another reason to hesitate and that is that the economy is declining and corruption is increasing -- a topic I'll get back to in a minute!

The things we loved the most?

Of course the astounding beauty! And the fact that the terrain and vegetation changed every few miles -- savannahs, rocky beaches, cliffs, rolling hills, cacti and palms, pines (not native), eucalyptus (also not native), rivers, streams, deserts, ... always something new to appreciate!

The friendly people -- everyone -- blacks, Afrikaaners, British, tourists.

The shopping :-)!

The amazing restaurants with incredible food for give-away prices! Beef fillet that you could cut with your fork! It was more meltable than chocolate, ... truly!

The cleanliness ... wow ... amazing contrast to what we usually see!

The pace -- everyone seems to appreciate where they live and takes the time to sit by the pool, enjoy the view, climb on the rocks to watch the sunset over the ocean, enjoy a good meal for 3 hours, ...

The amazing Guest Houses and B & Bs and hotels we stayed in ... we are very spoilt folks!

I am totally incapable of choosing my favorite area of this incredible country! I could EASILY live in the Kruger Park area and I could EVEN MORE EASILY live along the coast in Victoria Bay (along the Garden Route) or in Camps Bay or the like. And I could JUST AS EASILY live in the stunning Stellenbosch valley, shopping and eating my way down the charming streets! Probably we would not choose the Joburg area and the western coast -- northwest from Capetown.

Of course, Victoria Falls was spectacular but that's not in S. Africa, so ... it can't go in my list!

All-in-all, God was shouting at us from many vistas. His presence was impossible to miss!

So, did we have any negatives?

The politics is a bit worrisome. I definitely left there feeling very conflicted. Obviously, apartheid was a terrible thing -- inhumane for sure! We visited Robben Island -- where many political prisoners were kept, usually separate from the criminals. Nelson Mandela was there for many years, along with many other good people who were on the wrong side of apartheid. However, since the change in government in 1994, things have gone downhill.

I risk sounding like a racist and I thought whites that lived in Africa were racists before we moved to Nigeria so I will totally understand your concerns. But ... I'll say it anyway. When things are left in the hands of the blacks, corruption increases and quality decreases. This is consistently what has happened across this continent and S. Africa is a stark example. The reason that it is so obvious there is that it was a very developed nation. It still is considered to be the most developed nation on the entire continent -- even more so than Egypt. So, with the whites in control -- though in totally hideous ways for sure -- things prospered. And now, with the blacks taking over most public sectors -- it's going down hill. The police cannot be trusted, I guess; it's much like here in NGA. White flight and brain drain has begun in a huge way as whites are moving to other countries -- Australia being their top choice.

Yet it's sad to still see the hold-overs from apartheid. Whites only make up 10% of the population and blacks 80% (coloureds and Indians and others are in the other 10%). We rarely saw a poor white and we rarely saw a middle-to-upper class black. "Townships" are areas where thousands of blacks are crammed into dumpy shacks that remind us of Nigeria. Many still lack electricity and running water.

And so that's why we feel so conflicted on the whole race thing. The major reason that the nation is so fantastic is the many generations of contributions from the Europeans -- especially the Dutch. That was followed by the English influence when it was a British colony. Infrastructures were put in place. Quality construction has caused buildings to withstand time. Educational systems progressed. If only ... if only they could have embraced the indigenous people groups who lived there instead of using them as cheap laborers and never educating them. But the solutions that are being utilized today are not real solutions -- throwing money at a problem never takes away the problem and just requiring reverse discrimination doesn't help either. The whole "teach a man to fish ..." thing still holds true! So ... the economy is going downhill and corruption is rising. And what appears to be segregation is still the dominant culture.

I have no solutions to offer ... only a sense of sadness at yet one more reminder of man's inhumanity to man and the fallout that often comes from attempts to repair history's damage. God is certainly long-suffering with the whole of humankind!

Back to Nigeria ---
So, we've now visited the northern-most part of the continent and the southern-most part of the continent yet unfortunately we find ourselves stuck living in the armpit of the continent! The northern most, the tip of Tunisia, was gorgeous. We stood on the southern most point of the continent and were wowed by the beauty -- not the Cape of Good Hope but Cape Agulhas (we were at both points but Agulhas is further south.) Of course I am intentional in that statement about the armpit -- wherever you go on this continent, people really hate Nigerians. They are the scammers, the drug dealers, etc. They are being blamed for introducing all sorts of trouble to other countries. Amazing, but we totally agree!