Investments

When investors put their money into a business venture or organization, they expect to see some sort of return.

Many beautiful people put their time, energy, and, yes, money into making this South African experience possible for me, and until this point, there's not been much return for them. I have been living a lot down here, and they've not actually heard much about it.

As time winds down, I realize that they must be repaid somehow. Perhaps experience is the only currency in which I am currently affluent, so I will share my experiences with them in an attempt to repay the debt that I owe.

So, to you who have done so much for me: I will see you soon, and have I got some stories to tell.

Parallels, Pt. 2

Once upon a time, white men from Europe sailed some boats over to North America.

The white men found that there were already people in America, who had dark skin and lived in harmony with the land. But the white men wanted the land for themselves, and they knew it just wouldn't do to have these Native Americans running about, so they killed some with guns and diseases and chased some into the Dakotas and called them Indians, even though they weren't from India.

So a few years passed, and the land became British colonies, because the British were pretty good at taking land back then, and they started enforcing all these taxes on tea and paper and all sorts of other stuff.

When the old settlers (who started calling themselves Americans) decided they weren't happy about the British pushing them around, they fought a bloody war, and they would've lost if some French folks hadn't stepped in to help. So then the Americans won the land from the British!

 But the Americans weren't the only people living on the land in America. They had all this fertile soil that needed farming, so they went down to Africa and snatched up hundreds of thousands of black people to come work the fields for free.

The Americans didn't really want to acknowledge that the black slaves were equal human beings, because then they'd have to start paying them and treating them better than cows and pigs, so they came up with all sorts of scientific and religious reasons why the black people weren't really people at all, and why they had to be slaves.

So then the white men came up with all these rules about how slaves weren't allowed to read or write or speak any language other than English, and they whipped them and hung them up in trees when they tried to escape or fight back.

But then there was this big nasty war and hundreds of thousands of people were murdered, and in the end, the slaves were free (sort of) and all the states stayed together as one happy country (sort of)!

It wasn't over then, though. The black people didn't have any education or training, due to being slaves and all, and all they could do was continue to work the fields for the white men. Then the white men came up with these things called Jim Crow laws and segregation.

Segregation and Jim Crow laws pretty much tried to squish black people in America by making them use separate schools and public toilets and stuff from the white people. Also, black people weren't really allowed to hang out with the white people, or marry them, or look at them, or think about them, otherwise they got beat up and hung up in trees. And black people couldn't vote, or even really think about voting, unless they paid all this money, which most black people couldn't afford back then.

These Jim Crow things lasted a long, long time until black people started getting real upset and marching in the streets and sitting in the wrong seats on buses and stuff, led by some fellas named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X (and some of their mates), and they forced the white people to make some pretty big changes.

Then they wrote this thing called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and all the black people could vote for free and get the same jobs as white people and marry whoever they wanted! What a day that was, right?

Anyways, that was a couple years ago, and now everything is wonderful and everybody plays board games together and has a good laugh!

There have been some weird things going on, though.

This black guy named Rodney King got beat up real bad by some policemen, and we got it all on tape, but the jury said the policemen didn't do anything wrong, so I guess they didn't. Either way, people got so mad about it that they started breaking windows and lighting things on fire and stomping about in the streets.

And then this kid named Trayvon Martin got shot for wearing a hoodie and buying Skittles, but the jury said that it wasn't really a crime to shoot an unarmed black person, so I guess it's OK.

Also, some sad kids in Colorado grabbed a bunch of guns and silly clothes and went to their high school and shot a bunch of people. But then all these other people started going to schools in Virginia and Connecticut and other states and shooting people, too. One guy even shot a bunch of little kids. It was really sad.

Also, everybody figured out that they could sue everybody else for no reason, so everyone got lawyers and started suing each other for fun.

Then the public education system started falling apart. And then people started spilling oil everywhere. Then politicians started getting really stubborn and only trying to help their pals instead of helping the country. Then they started paying loads and loads of money for big guns and robot planes so they could point them at the Middle East.

Then those politicians were all like, "Poor people are lazy! Rape babies are God's will! Teachers need guns! Corporations are people, too! Sesame Street is from Satan," or something like that. Then they all decided to not ever do their jobs and just keep bickering about stuff because they know the American people will just vote them back into office again.

But, like I said, it's all puppy dogs and unicorns, really. Everybody's happy!

Parallels, Pt. 1

Once upon a time, white men from Europe sailed some boats down to southern Africa.


The white men found that there were already people in Africa, who had dark skin and lived in harmony with the land. But the white men wanted the land for themselves, and they knew it just wouldn't do to have these black men running about, so they killed some and chased some into the desert, but a bunch of other black men showed up, so there wasn't much the white men could do about it.

So a few years passed, and after the Portuguese and Dutch (and some French and German folks as well) had their go at the land, the British showed up and took it, which is basically what they used to do all the time.

When the old Dutch people (who started calling themselves Afrikaners) decided they weren't happy about the British pushing them around, they fought a couple of bloody wars, but they lost and the British kept the land, but they stayed good mates (sort of). They even fought wars as pals against the baddies in Europe and Asia.

Later on down the line, the Afrikaners won the land back from the British in an election (sort of), and the Afrikaners started changing the laws.

But the Afrikaners weren't the only people living on the land in South Africa. Remember all the black people? There were loads and loads of them! And Indian people, too, and this mix of Malaysian people with all the other races that they decided to call Coloured people.

The Afrikaners didn't really want to share all their land and stuff, though, since they'd worked so hard for it and had just got it back from the British. Also, they saw that black people in the rest of Africa were starting to chase the white men out, since the land belonged to the black people in the first place, so the Afrikaners started this thing called Apartheid.

Apartheid pretty much tried to squish all non-white races in South Africa by keeping them in designated areas and controlling their education and taking their culture and killing them if they stepped out of line.

This Apartheid thingy lasted a long, long time, until people from other countries and people from South Africa, led my some fellas named Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Desmond Tutu (and some of their mates - not all at the same time, though), forced the Boers to make some pretty big changes.

Then South Africa held its first real democratic election, in which all races were allowed to vote, and Nelson Mandela (and his crew, the ANC) won! And they wrote this new constitution, too! What a day that was, right?

Anyways, that was a couple of years ago, and now everyone loves each other and holds hands and sings songs!

There have been some weird things going on, though.

This one black guy, Andries Tatane, was killed a while ago at this rally, and everyone said these policemen did it, but the judge said they were innocent, so it's kind of a mystery how Mr. Tatane died in the first place. I mean, we have the whole ordeal on tape, but the judge obviously knows better than we do.

And then all these platinum miners got a bit peeved because they get paid (basically) next to nothing for doing all this hard work, so they went on strike and started shouting and waving signs and stuff, but then all these policemen and security guards tried to stop them and in the end a whole bunch of people were dead.

And then the current president, Jacob Zuma, was all like, "I hate gay people! Walking your dog is for white people! Women should have more babies! If you have AIDS, just take a shower," or something like that. And then he and his buddies (Nelson Mandela's old ANC) decided to write something called the "Secrecy Bill," which pretty much controls government info so they can keep secrets and not tattle and stuff like that.

Also, lots of the schools in South Africa aren't really that great. And most people live in these crowded neighborhoods with bad plumbing called townships, where crime and drugs and stuff are pretty bad. And also a whole bunch of people have HIV here, which is pretty sad.

But, like I said, it's all sunshine and rainbows, really. Everybody's happy!

Music

Jay Z gave $6,431 of his $63 million earnings to his own Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund in 2010, while Beyonce didn't give a cent of the $87 million she earned to her husband’s foundation.

On Friday I met four local rappers in a township outside of Cape Town who give most of their time and money to their community.

Today is Youth Day, June 16, and I've just returned from a celebratory student hip-hop show with Choba and Kritzi, two of the rappers.

For the uninformed, Youth Day commemorates the Soweto uprising of 1976 and the murder of 13 year old Hector Pieterson.

Hector's body carried to hospital by an older student, his sister mourning on the left.

On the day in 1976, thousands of Soweto school children protested the Apartheid-era implementation of an Afrikaans-/English-only school curriculum by marching, singing and carrying signs. Of course, under Apartheid, there was no possible way for the police to handle the situation without gunning down innocent children. They murdered upwards of 400 protesting students that day. Hector was amongst the first to fall.

Today, 37 years later, Pieterson's name is one of many shouted at rallies and celebrations across the country,  with the likes of Biko and Mxenge - freedom fighters remembered as heroes who helped create the new South Africa.

On this emotionally charged day, I was in the middle of Phillippi, a nearby township, at a Xhosa hip-hop show. There were about 350 black students in the high school court yard. And there was me.

I was there at the invitation of Khanyiswa Zangqa (known to her friends as Kay), chairperson of Beyond Expectations Environmental Project. She introduced me to the rappers after I spent the previous Friday working as one of her interns.

Choba, Kritzi and some other rappers were hosting the free show for the students, something they do regularly. Today was special, though, and many other local dancers, singers and rappers showed up to perform.

See, for these rappers, doing these shows is just a small part of their very concerted effort to give back to the communities that produced them. Free shows and time spent with the kids is the least they feel they can do.

Kritzi told me about how inspired he was in his youth by an interview he saw of Bob Marley. Marley said that there was no point in keeping wealth for himself. All of what he had, he gave away. Kritzi believes there's no other way to do it.

Choba added, "We can't just walk around trying to be fly with our success. You see these guys in the street trying to be cool, trying to be fly. But they don't understand that this life is a gift to us. It is all we have. We cannot waste it. We must give back."

They showed me their "studio." Down an alley, around the corner, over a massive puddle and into a house the size of my bedroom. Through the front room into an even smaller bedroom. And this was the studio. The walls were made of sheet metal and plywood, and they were adorned with paintings and sketches done by the rappers. There was an old PC, a mic, a mini mixer and an equalizer in one corner. Likely $200 USD worth of equipment (a drop in the ocean in the world of recording). But these okes were so proud to show me. They were proud of it, and what they had done with it.

And I can tell you, they'd done a lot.

Rarely have I heard harder, rawer bars spat so ferociously as I heard these Phillippi rappers rhyme. They are on another level. The intensity, the content, the flow. They murdered every track, brought them all back to life, then murdered them again. It was absolutely hectic. Really brilliant.

"My momma raised a good boy, coming up through the struggle," proclaimed one refrain.

And it hit hard. These aren't just words made up for a radio jam. It's real life. Every day of their lives, these lads were confronted with gang violence, drugs, abject poverty, abuse, racism and rampant crime. But they are so much bigger than all of that. They came out on top.

You have to think their parents had something to do with it. It can't all be Bob Marley's doing. And lo and behold, this Youth Day also happened to be Fathers Day, and one of the rapper's fathers showed up, came out into the performers circle and embraced his son with tears on his face as the crowd erupted in cheers.

His son could've been on the streets, in prison or dead. But he's not. He's creating something beautiful and sharing it with the world. He's a success story already, barely in his 20s. If his life ended today, he will have already done more with it than a million snotty college kids ever will. While suburbanites across the globe were complaining about their new iPhones, these township lads climbed mountains of adversity and emerged victorious. And now they're sharing their success with other young people, to inspire more success.

And that's really what it takes. The long journey out of societal disparity begins with one champion who turns to help others up the mountain.

At one point during the day, Choba got a phone call from his show promoter asking how much to charge for tickets. The promoter's ears were probably ringing for a minute after the call. Choba tore him up.

"It's not about the money, man! We do not f*cking charge! Especially not today!"

He was quite distraught.

"It's always about money with these guys," he sighed to me.

When I asked how they got by if it wasn't about the money, they told me they charge for shows outside of the townships, as well as selling merch and working other jobs. But they were adamant that the township shows are to remain free to the public.

These lads don't have much. They live in plywood houses. But they give so much time, energy and love to those around them. They don't keep much for themselves.

Now, this isn't meant to be my gushy realization that I should appreciate what I have more because others in the world are happy with less (though that's surely true). It is my recognition of the world's need for more givers.

In the U.S., there is this heinous idea that when you climb the ladder, you do it on your own, and you alone should enjoy the rewards. Jay Z was selling crack 15 years ago. Now he's got a net worth of about $500 million USD, and he gave $6,341 to charity in 2010. That's 0.001% of his wealth. Wow. Big heart, Hov.

Here in Cape Town, it's very normal to be asked for money. Everywhere you go, more or less, someone will ask you for something. Oftentimes they're peddling handcrafted trinkets or they'll help you find a parking spot, but sometimes they just walk up and ask you for cash. Hell, some people will ring your doorbell and ask for a buck.

It's been fascinating to watch the other UK students I live with handle it. They're often offended. In the U.S., it's quite rude to ask for handouts. But in this country, we are a few haves in an ocean of have-nots. And the truth is that while the R20 that I give them will only set me back $2 USD, it can feed them for the day. Or they might buy cigarettes. Or booze.

But I give to them anyways. Because I have, and they don't. Simply. There's no other reason. Of course, it's foolish to blindly throw money at Africa, especially in large quantities. But the truth is that when I have something that others need, it is my duty as a good human being to give.

When I'm broke, it means I'll be eating frozen peas for my meals next week. When you're broke in the township, you may be eating out of rubbish bins for your meals next week.

So perhaps Jay Z should come down and spend some time taking lessons from Choba and Kritzi. Maybe we all should.

Grass

Last week I wrote a post for my sister in which I said South Africa gives me hope. I intend to amend that post to clear up some things.

I am under no impression that South Africa is some promised land flowing with milk and honey.

In fact, the majority of problems in this country are glaringly obvious. They're in plain sight everywhere you go. The haves live behind walls and gates and electric fences, while the have-nots live in tin and cardboard shacks just down the road. Corruption, inefficiency and thuggery make front-page news every day.

But a realization I've come to is that it's not a matter of the grass being greener overall. It's a matter of green patches and dead patches. And there's very little to no separation. The green patches and the dead patches are so intermingled that the difference is almost difficult to tell. If you turn some of the green blades over, they're dead on the other side.

Every beautiful thing about this country is juxtaposed against the issues. For every majestic view of a mountain, for every amiable stranger on the street, there's a robbery or an electricity blackout.

But so clear to me is the silver lining around every storm cloud. Every issue is skirted by hope, even if it's a small amount. There has to be. South Africa MUST have hope, and it does.

I just keep thinking back to how my mother used to teach songs in minor keys to the choir in Maun, and they would automatically turn it into a major key.

When you drive around the townships, you see little kids and their older siblings playing and dancing and singing and laughing. They aren't moaning. They've not got flush toilets, but they aren't crying about it.

And this isn't some gushy story. I'm not trying to say that I've had everything put into perspective about how I should appreciate all the things I have because poor African kids are happy with less (though it's true).

This is about how the negatives are literally wrapped up right around the positives, and the positives around the negatives. It's difficult to choose whether positives outweigh negatives. In fact, I don't think it's possible or even necessary.

I think the ability to accept the positive hand-in-hand with the negative is a simple fact of life. And the continual drive to create a better world is a must. If you can't accept what is and work for something better, where can you live and what can you live for?

Watch this: http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_abani_muses_on_humanity.html

Tourists

My internship starts soon! On Tuesday, in fact. Really excited to have an opportunity to be useful. Never wanted to be one of those university students who goes abroad and comes back and says something hollowly dramatic like, "They gave me so much more than I could ever give them!" If I leave Cape Town having given back less than I received, it won't be from lack of intense effort. I'm here for a reason, and it's not just so I can feel good about myself. I have skills and abilities that should be of use to someone. No effort will be spared in making that happen.

I'm a bit nervous about the internship, but not much. There's one thing, however, that actually frightens me about the next eight weeks: being a tourist. I'm terrified of group tours and group photos and tourist hot-spots and t-shirts with stereotypical touristy landmarks printed on them and everything else that goes with being a tourist. It turns your adventure into some quasi-authentic experience. It's like traveling and seeing everything through a camera lens instead of seeing through your own eyes. You may as well not even be there.

I was walking through a museum the other day and I realized how many photos I was taking. My "photography" (the quotation marks denote my amateurism) was actually disrupting my visit to the museum. Instead of taking the time to read and learn, I was so concerned about photographing everything. The drive to document every artifact was taking away from the actual experience. So I'm making a rule for the coming two months: when out and about, I'm not allowed to take more than one photo per 10-minute span. Some pictures are fine. It's something to show your family and look back at down the road. But too many photos is bad news, so I'm really going to be strict about that rule. It may just help me avoid becoming a tourist.

Boulders

Mrs. Hudson took me to Boulders on Saturday to see the African Penguins, once called the Jackass Penguin for the donkey-like sounds they make. A rare bunch, they only live in a few places along the southern African coastline, and at Boulders you can get really close to them without disturbing their natural habitat much. The sights were beautiful, the penguins were nifty and Mrs. Hudson and I had a fantastic time. 

Stormers 20 - 15 Reds

Ryan took me to my first ever Stormers rugby match on Saturday, and it was lekker! Though the Stormers have been struggling this season, they put on quite a defensive show against one of the best teams in Super 15. The Stormers held the Reds to no tries, but fly-half Quade Cooper's boot was true, knocking all 15 of the Australian side's points in with his foot (against a decent wind, at that). The Stormers didn't have the same success kicking, but captain Jean de Villiers (also captain of the national team Springboks) put in the one and only try of the game with a magnificent long run right down our side of the pitch.

In all, it was a great time, Ryan reminded me of things I already knew and taught me a lot of new stuff, and the game was fantastic. I know the stadium looks a bit empty in some of the pictures, but that's because we were on the crowded, rowdy side.

For Ali

My sister really wanted another blog post, so here it is:

South Africa is a really special place, and its diversity is its strength. With so many different languages, ethnicities, socioeconomic classes and microcosmic cultures constantly mingling with each other, this country has a hard time sitting still for too long.

It's a heterogeneous mixture, seemingly always at boil, constantly changing balance. The mixture still needs a long time boiling before it's finished cooking, with the balance still off in many areas. But the key is that the boil is healthy, and hence change is always occurring, mostly for the better.

Something about this mixture makes it different, as compared to other mixtures (let's say the United States, for instance). Perhaps it's the ingredients. With 11 official languages across nine provinces, and ethnicities and people groups with long, distinct histories that deeply intertwine with each other, this must surely be one of the more diverse areas on the planet.

Though I've only been here several days, and only in the Cape Town area (which, I realize, makes me nearer a tourist than an expert), I have read in books and newspaper, heard on radio, watched on television, and talked with friends about change: strikes, protests, reforms, scandals, corruption, patriotism, racism, bitterness, graciousness, the old guard, the new generation, memories, expectations and hopes. Locals seem to recognize that there is a long way to go, but they also feel good about the capacity of the country to get to a better state.

I've also witnessed beautifully functioning journalism. Special journalism: community journalism. Each little community has its own daily newspaper, its own radio stations, and each outlet thrives. They report on issues that are truly newsworthy to locals, and they keep an ear tuned to what the local people have to say. Even on a national level, I've seen widely-read newspapers reporting factual news, as well as publishing commentaries written by level-headed reporters from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. For the most part, this is a constructive media machine that operates for the good of the people.

And there are the people. There are those downtrodden, helpless against the waves of circumstance that keep them powerless. There are also those who have more security and comfort, and they bask in that comfort. But there are also many who do not accept that the way the world is today must be the way it is tomorrow. There are those in gang-riddled communities who bravely stand up against violence and drugs. There are those who use their good fortunes to help others by starting NPOs and youth outreach programs to help change the negative spiral of violence that is always present where there is poverty. There are special people like these, and there are many in South Africa.

Though I recognize the issues that face South Africa (rampant crime, poverty, inequality and some corruption, amongst many others), there is much, from the diversity to the media to the individual people, that encourages me to see a positive future for South Africa, brought about by South Africans.

In short, South Africa gives me hope.

Kalk Bay

Erin and James took me out to Kalk Bay this morning, and it was a really good time. Loads of cool shops and restaurants and cafes. Had some good ol' Cape snoek and chips. Saw some seals. It was brilliant. Many thanks to Erin and James for taking me along!

The Flight

Just some pictures of the flight between Atlanta and Amsterdam. Also a couple of the songs/artists/albums that accompanied me on the trip.