IMPRESSIONS OF AFRICA - THE DARK CONTINENT

Mention Africa and the image that conjures in my mind is Kurtz's haunting whisper : "The horror ... ! The horror...." to describe his experience in Africa. (Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness") Of course that was in Congo but somehow, I often associate that book to all of Africa - dark, mysterious, depressing, hungry children - Remember the line we used to tell our children ? "Don't waste your food - think of the starving children in Africa!!"  And one smart alec child cheekily retorted : "You can give my food to those children." CNN contributed to my negative perception of Africa through the images of war, political unrest, Islamic insurgencies, famine and diseases that seem to forever plagued this continent.

Now that I've visited South Africa, I realized that this large continent is so diverse in terms of its geography, climate, cultures, economy and geopolitics. Of all the countries in Africa, South Africa is by far the most advanced politically and economically.

Indeed I was pleasantly surprised by the Mediterranean climate, the prosperity and the general peaceful atmosphere of Capetown. The town was a cross between Sydney and Melbourne. When I was in the shopping mall, I thought I was in Melbourne. and when I was in one of the suburbs, it was exactly like Jesmond in Newcastle. The town was practically dominated by whites - from hotel staff to supermarkets and shops. One hardly see the blacks - except at the roadside stalls with its 'pasar malam' atmosphere.

The Victoria shopping mall with their branded items far surpasses the ones in Malaysia.

In contrast, the 'pasar malam' stalls offer all kinds of intricate handicraft and souvenirs.

One of the suburbs - so clean and orderly. I love browsing in their shops.

The dramatic landscape that seem to engulf the coastline. Howling wind add to the drama.

The grandeur of those cliffs makes me think of Charlotte Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights.'

Johannesburg was another experience altogether. Here the town teems with blacks. The streets were crowded and chaotic. The parks littered with rubbish.

Here the mini vans followed their own laws. Worse than our mini van drivers in KK. Rubbish strewed everywhere and nobody seemed to care. Puddles of water add to the depressing sight. We stayed in a 5 star hotel - "The Maslow". Here we see the well-heeled black Africans living it up - much merry making and drinking even till the wee hours of the morning.(Probably civil servants or people with political connections). Because of the BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) policy, one hardly see the whites here.

There was obviously inequality in wealth distribution. We were told that corruption is rife in the government circle. The ordinary blacks were rather poor inspite of the BEE. However, the Africans are an artistic people. Very good at wood carving. I checked to see that the handicrafts were not 'Made in China', Indeed they were 'Proudly African Made.'

     

Another thing I noticed about the black Africans is that they are a cheerful lot ( so different from the sullen gun-totting images in CNN.) They laughed a lot -whether in the lobby of a hotel, up in the plane, in the parks, cleaning the toilets ..... I always hear peels of laughter coming from them.

Here we are with children from Limpopo region on  school tour. They were happy to sing for as when we request for a song. Indeed they sang throughout the whole train ride.

Dad had written extensively on our South African tour so I will not repeat. But my impression of South Africa is that it is a country with vast potential. It is a resource rich country. It has a wide range of climatic condition - from Mediterranean to arid landscape. Unfortunately, corruption and poor quality education and poor management has caused the country to slide, prompting many top brains to migrate - causing serious repercussion to its economy. With good governance, this country could easily reclaim her place as the top African country equal to the Europe or America.

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