Pretoria

I'm in Pretoria! I've been here since last Tuesday and will be here until next Monday...so a total of 13 days! I'm pretty excited. We're taking a much needed break from site.

Being in Pretoria reminds me of something that needs to be said about South Africa. The differences between the major cities (Pretoria/Jo'burg/Cape Town etc) and the villages is HORRIFYING. I hate it. Walking around Pretoria I feel like I'm back in the United States. People have front lawns, there are sidewalks, street lights, restaurants, shopping malls, MOVIE THEATERS. It is nearly impossible to believe I am still in the same country.

Each time I pull into Pretoria I find myself starting to sweat from nerves. First, it's one of the most dangerous cities in the world (crime wise) and second because it's so much like the U.S. I've lived in the village for almost a year now and I've become accustomed to donkey carts and mud huts and dirt paths. That to me is normal. Then, I board a khumbi and travel 10 odd hours and arrive in such a bustling first-world city. I find myself not knowing what to do, forgetting how to cross busy intersections (wait for the little flashing walk sign), forgetting the need to cling to my purse, forgetting where I'm going because of all the tall buildings. It's even worse when I first step into a mall. My stomach starts to churn and my palms sweat. It's truly that overwhelming.

Many returned PCVs talk about the culture shock they experience upon returning to the U.S. Some say it's even more intense than the culture shock they feel when they first get to their PC country. Well, in PC/South Africa we get that culture shock each time we go into the PC Office (which is in Pretoria). It is truly ridiculous.

What's more, I don't understand how people in these cities can comfortably live in such affluence knowing that more than 70% of their fellow countrymen live in utter squalor. That, to me, is the most unbelievable part.

Right now, I sit in the PC office and look out the window. I see a nice, green manacured lawn and several grand houses around me. Electric fences and 10 foot metal fences(which have large spides on the posts) guard these homes. If I were to look out the window of my little hut in the Northern Cape I would see dirt and chickens and donkeys, my neighbors rondevaal and people chatting under a tree. The simple fact that I am only 10 hours away from that life is almost too difficult to comprehend.

This makes me think of the saying that describes how people are unable to see over their fences at the suffering around them...it has never been more literal to me as it is when I am in Pretoria.

Yet, how many of us live in our own little Pretorias. Yes, it is true complete abject poverty does not exist in North America. But, for some of us who live in the Southern States, we are not too far away from it. Yet we all can live comfortably with that fact (including myself at times). I can't help but wonder what this world would be like if people in general felt compelled to redistribute wealth evenly?

Don't misinterpret, I'm not saying that we should each live every moment of everyday worrying about the less privileged. That would drive everyone insane. But, perhaps if more of us thought a bit more about the less privileged every now and again and actually DID SOMETHING about those thoughts change could be made.

And again, throwing money at problems, in my opinion, breeds more problems. Instead, perhaps we could donate of ourselves in whatever ways we are able...or support an NGO that strives to procure change in impoverished regions. It's just a thought.

These and other complex problems plague all South African volunteers. We were warned in our PC Welcome Packet of the great difficulty volunteers have with the shocking first/third world difference you see here. Like most things, you never realize just HOW difficult that will be until you experience it for yourself.

Well, that being said, Jason and I leave on our ooberly exciting vacation to Central and Eastern Africa one week from TODAY! Yippy!