Have you ever heard a joke so many times that it stops being funny?
That’s how I feel about South Africa, I’m afraid to talk about it now,
What can I say that hasn’t been said already?
I don’t mean South Africa is a joke that I’ve heard so much, but it’s strange to be in a situation where you are basically repeating yourself regarding the same basic issues: poverty, disease, death and most importantly, justice. That’s what it comes down to in my meagre opinion, Justice, who’s fault is it that it’s them, and not me, or you?
I can’t point any specific fingers anymore, the government? Yeah, of course, but it’s not today’s government, this is inherent of decades of a form of social brainwashing, and I’m not sure if it’s forced anymore, it does seem to be slightly inherited.
A sort of ‘I am therefore I, well, I’m in this situation and that’s it’
Very hard to describe, I’m poor therefore I’m poor, is that good enough? No obviously it isn’t, yet is there a point me writing every single blog about the hardship I see? Probably not. Yet here we are, Why?
It’s strange, but when you hear a joke enough times it stops being funny, My Dad is a fantastic storyteller, never tell him I said this, he’s allergic to technology so he will most likely never read this, but he is, he can tell a great story, stories about his friends, who are mostly mad so it does aid the story telling ability when the characters are, well lets just say, interesting. But Dad can tell a story I’ve heard a dozen times before and I’ll still laugh, so no, sometimes the punch line can revert to humour, in the same way that sadness and the need to highlight this lack of justice can be reawakened.
I have a Godson, Dylan, he’s damn class, Ok, I realise that I’m biased, but in fairness he is, he’s a little dude and I am crazy about him, very smart child with bright eyes and a lovely smile, just a joy, except that he’s got more energy then a Duracell factory in a lightening field. But I think he is the business, the bee knee’s, the cats pyjamas and the dogs, eh, curtains.
He’s just 10 months now and his room over Christmas reminded me very much of the late late toy show (With Gay obviously) now I won’t say I didn’t donate to that situation myself but what can you do, if you can’t spoil your Godson then something something.
10 months of age, with two parents who love him, grandparents (He’s the first on both sides so he’s spoilt atm) His Aunties and Godparents adore him, he’s a pretty happy kid, and you know, he’s a pretty lucky kid, or is it that all the kids in South Africa living in rags, in small smelly dank cells are unlucky?
Is it lucky to have parents alive and healthy, qualified in their professions, with a comfortable 2 or 3 bedroom house, grandparents and aunts and uncles all about him, tv’s and books and bedclothes and bath stuff and all that other crazy stuff that he loves, and the forward planning, good schools and good advice from parents and others who have been, external tutoring and grinds, giving him idols to aim for, showing him the world that is so very accessible to him, where he can be happy, hopefully, do well in school , get onto college and do what he wants, get involved in sports, maybe Karate like myself and his Dad, or Public speaking like his Mum and, (Cough, me) or a very average soccer player like his Godfather then move onto to qualifying and getting a lowish level position in his profession where over time he’ll do well and grow, meet someone if he hasn’t already and settle with them.
That’s what we’re used to with children, we take it as the norm that the parents, the extended family, the friends and all other stakeholders will do their utmost to encourage the child to get on to it’s very best in this life. It’s part of our psyche to want the best for any children that we are in someway related to, to be honest I think any children we come into contact with, we want the best for, why wouldn’t we?
But what if we didn’t have that choice? In South Africa for millions of families, wanting their kids to get a decent education and get a qualified job is the same as Dylans parents deciding that they want him to become the next King of Wales, really not going to happen, and that’s what these people carry around with them every day of their lives. It’s like you’ve heard of the ‘American dream’ where any American has the potential to “Be all that you can be”, They should coin the phrase ‘South African nightmare’, cos that’s it, even Mandela was given a hand up as a young boy to a level of education and status in society, but normally that is not the case, somewhere in Kokstad there is a little boy born on the same day as Dylan who, if he’s lucky is still alive and doesn’t have HIV or TB, that’s if he’s lucky, but obviously it’s all relative and he’s not, not at all.
Have you ever heard a joke so much that it stops being funny?
I don’t care,
The kids that will never read this because the internet will never be something they could even imagine, Dylan will, but I suppose that answers my issue for me. It’s not their fault, it’s not Dylans fault, it’s not my fault, it’s not your fault, Yet I do believe that someone has to take some responsibility for something,
What Respond!/Sivile! do in South Africa with TLC and Yondlabantu is very important, if you can give time, money, clothes or anything else please do.
Kevin.Conway@Respond.ie
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Size does matter!
John Hannigan is a nice guy, he’s also my line managers line manager, so basically I’m going to say that, but he is really a decent guy, Is that enough can I stop now? Anyhoo, John has one very interesting trait, He thinks that any place in South Africa, is exactly two hours away from anywhere else in South Africa.
Honestly, Durban to Kokstad is two hours as far as he believes, Kokstad to Johannesburg also two hours and so on, which leaves me to believe one of two things:
A: John has a mastery of time and space, and he can bend the fabric of space and time (Yes I swapped them) to ensure that he is always two hours away from any destination that he chooses to travel to, this is an obviously subtle rouse to ensure people don’t get suspicious to his manipulation of the fabric of life,
or B: His grasp of the geography of South Africa isn’t fully up to scratch.
Either way it brings up a very interesting aspect of life in South Africa, mainly, IT’S HUGE
Honestly, it’s massive,
It’s times like this that words aren’t really enough, it’s very difficult to describe the feeling of driving through this environment and knowing that you ain’t in Kansas anymore, although if we replace Kansas with Clonmel it may be more apt.
I once complained that I had to drive to Durban airport and back, which between the jigs and the reels (might have been quicker if I hadn’t danced so much) took me seven hours, which is a work day roughly, I mentioned this to a South African who laughed quite heartily in my face, explaining that it is nothing for a South African to drive for fifteen hours on one journey.
From a size perspective, South Africa is 17 and a third times the size of Ireland, and I’d roughly estimate that has about 12 times the population maybe more. Of course that all brings it’s own problems. If theres no work in Kokstad and there is plenty in Cape Town, then what are you gonna do?, you obviously will go to Cape Town, but how do you travel the 1,513km to get there? Fly? Probably not an option considering costs, you could try and drive there, but as is testament to the Joe Bloggs South African’s mechanical skills more cars and jeeps are passed on the side of the road then you’d see in your average demolition derby (You have a demolition derby?, Nice), the way a lot of the local people operate with the vehicles is, drive them till they won’t drive anymore, then get them back working and drive them till they won’t drive anymore then (See step one), this is a pretty arduous way to go 1,500 odd km, but whats the alternative option?.
Thumbing, yes, thumbing is an option, but that’s one of the key reasons why HIV/AIDs has spread so relentlessly, people, especially truck and long distance drivers travelling the length of South Africa and to a certain extent Africa in general, stopping off, acquiring HIV through a number of ways and carrying on, decades ago rodents were to blame for this, but this time with this virus, it seems we sowed our own seeds of destruction.
So you get to your destination eventually and you start work, your not coming home every weekend, I would doubt that people even travel home on a monthly basis, its just too big and too awkward to get anywhere, If I have a job interview in Cork, I can get a bus or a train, mainly because Ireland is comparatively small and I can afford it, but if Cork was a three day drive away and I had no money, it’s just another major obstacle for anyone who is trying to get out of their state of poverty, if the work isn’t local, which it generally isn’t, you have to travel huge distances, if you can get to your destination then your stuck there more then likely, which means even if you do get a foot on the ladder it is to the detriment to seeing your family and friends, and this applies to tens of millions of people who just want to work, but the job may as well be in Birr for the amount of effort and will power it is to get to it. Of course there are buses but the cost of utilising them and the frequency of them makes them generally a non option considering the majority of people who find themselves in this predicament.
After rereading I realise that once again I am meandering quite a bit but the point I’m trying to make goes back to people saying things to me about, “If they wanted to get out, they’d get out of their situation”, it’s just not that simple, even if you have the drive and will to see beyond the sprawling poverty that surrounds you completely and has done so since birth, if you can go and somehow using the limited services, find a job somewhere, you still have to get there and that isn’t just your normal Irish, pain in the backside, butterflies in the stomach first night moving into college digs or house, it’s a destination that’s a three hour plane journey, but you can’t afford the fee, you may be lucky enough to own a car and if so your in the 10% that do, and even if you do, the chances are it won’t get you there, or you could of course put your life in your hands and thumb the 1,500 kms, now considering in Ireland how frowned upon thumbing is due to the dangers, I can only surmise that it’s slightly more dangerous to do so in South Africa, often referred to as the most dangerous country in the world that isn’t at war. If this all somehow works out and you manage to complete your journey without being beaten or raped or abused in some way, your now basically abroad for all the time you see your family.
It’s crazy that even the size of this country has such a profound effect on it’s inhabitants and deals another hammer blow to keep them in their slums and deprives them of opportunities that we take for granted with a smaller country and a much better public transport system, I also find it quite amusing that I had to travel to the other side of the world to finally appreciate the 46A.
Honestly, Durban to Kokstad is two hours as far as he believes, Kokstad to Johannesburg also two hours and so on, which leaves me to believe one of two things:
A: John has a mastery of time and space, and he can bend the fabric of space and time (Yes I swapped them) to ensure that he is always two hours away from any destination that he chooses to travel to, this is an obviously subtle rouse to ensure people don’t get suspicious to his manipulation of the fabric of life,
or B: His grasp of the geography of South Africa isn’t fully up to scratch.
Either way it brings up a very interesting aspect of life in South Africa, mainly, IT’S HUGE
Honestly, it’s massive,
It’s times like this that words aren’t really enough, it’s very difficult to describe the feeling of driving through this environment and knowing that you ain’t in Kansas anymore, although if we replace Kansas with Clonmel it may be more apt.
I once complained that I had to drive to Durban airport and back, which between the jigs and the reels (might have been quicker if I hadn’t danced so much) took me seven hours, which is a work day roughly, I mentioned this to a South African who laughed quite heartily in my face, explaining that it is nothing for a South African to drive for fifteen hours on one journey.
From a size perspective, South Africa is 17 and a third times the size of Ireland, and I’d roughly estimate that has about 12 times the population maybe more. Of course that all brings it’s own problems. If theres no work in Kokstad and there is plenty in Cape Town, then what are you gonna do?, you obviously will go to Cape Town, but how do you travel the 1,513km to get there? Fly? Probably not an option considering costs, you could try and drive there, but as is testament to the Joe Bloggs South African’s mechanical skills more cars and jeeps are passed on the side of the road then you’d see in your average demolition derby (You have a demolition derby?, Nice), the way a lot of the local people operate with the vehicles is, drive them till they won’t drive anymore, then get them back working and drive them till they won’t drive anymore then (See step one), this is a pretty arduous way to go 1,500 odd km, but whats the alternative option?.
Thumbing, yes, thumbing is an option, but that’s one of the key reasons why HIV/AIDs has spread so relentlessly, people, especially truck and long distance drivers travelling the length of South Africa and to a certain extent Africa in general, stopping off, acquiring HIV through a number of ways and carrying on, decades ago rodents were to blame for this, but this time with this virus, it seems we sowed our own seeds of destruction.
So you get to your destination eventually and you start work, your not coming home every weekend, I would doubt that people even travel home on a monthly basis, its just too big and too awkward to get anywhere, If I have a job interview in Cork, I can get a bus or a train, mainly because Ireland is comparatively small and I can afford it, but if Cork was a three day drive away and I had no money, it’s just another major obstacle for anyone who is trying to get out of their state of poverty, if the work isn’t local, which it generally isn’t, you have to travel huge distances, if you can get to your destination then your stuck there more then likely, which means even if you do get a foot on the ladder it is to the detriment to seeing your family and friends, and this applies to tens of millions of people who just want to work, but the job may as well be in Birr for the amount of effort and will power it is to get to it. Of course there are buses but the cost of utilising them and the frequency of them makes them generally a non option considering the majority of people who find themselves in this predicament.
After rereading I realise that once again I am meandering quite a bit but the point I’m trying to make goes back to people saying things to me about, “If they wanted to get out, they’d get out of their situation”, it’s just not that simple, even if you have the drive and will to see beyond the sprawling poverty that surrounds you completely and has done so since birth, if you can go and somehow using the limited services, find a job somewhere, you still have to get there and that isn’t just your normal Irish, pain in the backside, butterflies in the stomach first night moving into college digs or house, it’s a destination that’s a three hour plane journey, but you can’t afford the fee, you may be lucky enough to own a car and if so your in the 10% that do, and even if you do, the chances are it won’t get you there, or you could of course put your life in your hands and thumb the 1,500 kms, now considering in Ireland how frowned upon thumbing is due to the dangers, I can only surmise that it’s slightly more dangerous to do so in South Africa, often referred to as the most dangerous country in the world that isn’t at war. If this all somehow works out and you manage to complete your journey without being beaten or raped or abused in some way, your now basically abroad for all the time you see your family.
It’s crazy that even the size of this country has such a profound effect on it’s inhabitants and deals another hammer blow to keep them in their slums and deprives them of opportunities that we take for granted with a smaller country and a much better public transport system, I also find it quite amusing that I had to travel to the other side of the world to finally appreciate the 46A.
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