There’s no way I would live here
This country seems to have gone backwards instead of forwards when it comes to growth and progress as a whole.
Until the people stand up against crime the police are powerless
There is no such thing as a black South African who can’t dance
People here are unaware that a GP and a doctor are the same thing
If you want something done be prepared to do it yourself
It's all about who you know
The level of respect you receive depends on what class you fit into
In terms of the overall experience I have been having a good time. The experience that I have had so far can be split into two categories the first being the World Cup experience and the second being the Living Here experience.
My World Cup experience was fantastic and I’ve spoken about it enough so now putting that aside let’s go into the experience I’ve had here just as an immigrant living and serving in South Africa.
This experience so far does not make it onto my list of greatest experiences ever. It has been insanely difficult and very trying. I would like to sit and say it’s not the people it’s just the culture and rah rah rah but unfortunately it’s been a culmination of everything. I know service is supposed to be difficult and testing but I didn’t realise I was going to dislike so much about living and serving here. Now my mentality on life is that everything happens for a reason and that even the bad things that happen to you like being stuck in traffic or missing your train all happen because there is an opportunity somewhere that you are supposed to take advantage of or to keep you safe. You take a wrong turn and end up having to detour for 10minutes but in doing that you avoided being in a car accident. It’s a sliding doors kind of thing. So with that mentality, with a state of mind that doesn’t like the idea of regret, that knows there is purpose behind everything, that tries to make or find the opportunities behind situations that seem inconvenient I even broke down and wanted to leave. I wanted to pack my bags, call another country, leave and go serve elsewhere. People would ask me ‘What are you doing in South Africa?’ and I would stare at them blankly and think “What am I doing here?” This has honestly been the hardest thing I have ever faced in my life. I have had more bad days in the last 10 weeks than I think I had all of last year. Now I have not been wallowing in my own sorrow or anything like that, what I think has happened is that I went from total freedom and independence to confined and unable. My social life went from vibrant and energetic to almost non- existent and the worst thing of all is that service so far has not been meeting my expectations. I expected Vanuatu and I got South Africa... go figure.
Really I shouldn’t be complaining but I thoroughly enjoy complaining and this is my blog so I’ll just go ahead and do it.
This country is just so backwards in so many ways. Every day that I leave the house I see something that shocks me, still after all this time. And I’ve been exposed to so many things in this world that I didn’t think I could still be shocked like this but I am.. every day!
Driving down the street and having to give way to a guy in a cart being pulled by 2 donkeys. Travelling in a taxi that only has seats for 13 people with atleast 20 people inside. My friend telling me to be aware of the monkeys when walking down a road. Asking how much an average waiter gets paid and finding out it is less than $3 Aus an hour. Going to the townships and seeing the way some people live. Visiting a young girl and having her mother and her mother’s boyfriend come home drunk and the mother complaining to me that her daughter is involved with too many extracurricular activities that she won’t have time to cook for her and clean the house. Seeing children running around in the streets when they should be at school and no one doing anything about it.
I feel like there is so much that needs to change in this country and for someone like me who feels personally responsible for the betterment of the world it is very overwhelming. Sometimes I just don’t know where to start. It took me some time before I decided to step back and plan out for myself exactly what I can do to help here and that has helped immensely. Now I have a plan and it’s achievable and it gives me back a sense of purpose.
Ok so done with complaining, I am going to stick it out and try my best to be happy in this country and do as much as I can here but at this point in time I am seriously considering leaving South Africa when my 6 month contract is up and finishing off my service in another African country, maybe at one of the Baha’i schools.
So that’s my little rant, we start junior youth with the Kuyga school on Tuesday with 57 grade 5 kids. The prospect of teaching is the biggest thing that is keeping me motivated at the moment. I will update you all and tell you how it goes. I also want to show you what Kuyga looks like so you can be as shocked as me.
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