SNIPPETS OF LIFE AND OBSERVATIONS ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA

For this post, I am going to jump around a bit and provide some short clips of our life, and impressions of South Africa, as we got settled in and as we understood a bit more of this wonderful and exotic country. In many ways and because of policies in place at that time, and as a result of sanctions imposed because of these policies. South Africa appeared to be lagging in modernization (as we foreigners understood modernization).

In other ways, the progress towards self sufficiency developed to combat these sanctions was impressive. The focus of the people about what was happening inside Africa. Was far greater, than the focus on what was going on about them on the outside of Africa. Some things lagged behind, while others I believe were far ahead of other parts of the world. I will try to explain some of these differences if I can.

The police force in South Africa was sorely understaffed. Because every household employed private security to protect their own property, it had created a huge industry that required young, professional bodies. The biggest source of people for this industry came from the national armed forces. Every child had to serve time in the armed forces as part of their birthright. On completing their service the obvious employer for many was the police force. However with the emergence of this new industry, that paid better than the police. Resulted in, the private security forces, sucking up all of labour pool for new recruits. Policing for many property crimes was left for the Private Security Forces. Because the police force did not have sufficient personnel to deal with non-violent crimes.

The advances in computer technology, that had been made around the world in the few years prior to the late 80’s, had basically missed South Africa. Advances were slow, infrastructure not state of the art and technology lagging. When we arrived we carried with us a recent development in computers. It was a 16 bit Atari 1040ST with 256 colors and a tiny graphics card. This was something unheard of in SA. Along with it, I slipped in my virtual golf simulator.

We also brought along computer games for the girls. Which became an immediate hit with my new found Afrikaner friends from the neighbourhood. Whenever we had a get together at home, and sometimes, even, when we didn’t, my neighbour friends (the males) would gather around the computer to play hours of simulated golf. They yelled, screamed, cursed, bet, drank and acted pretty much how men do when left to their own devices. They absolutely were in love with this technology.

The next thing that was a great difference was the availability of foreign entertainment. Again because of the sanctions, many of the most contemporary movies, programs and trends were not available in South Africa. Well Deysi had prepared very well for this. She had collected and otherwise gathered up 200+ VHS movies, children’s shows, some sporting events and cartoons and brought them with her goods into South Africa. She had also brought a TV from the States, videotape player and transformer.

You cannot imagine how popular these shows were with, not only our children, but with friends from the neighbourhood and from school. There was something playing all of the time. Ange watched some of these shows so much, that she memorized all of the words. She would kind of walk around in front of the TV and play all of the parts and voices out loud from memory. The girls had time for dance lessons, horse riding lessons, and piano lessons to name a few. Deysi had time to take them and enjoy their growth.

Fuel, the import of which was restricted by sanctions, necessitated the development of a Synthetic Fuels Industry, in order to satisfy the needs of the South African peoples. It was very effective and running well by the time I accepted work in South Africa. The expansion we performed was already the third or fourth upgrade of these facilities that had been done in this emerging industry. I would say they were leaders of this technology at that point. Prior to us leaving they started an offshore synthetic fuels project to further increase their capacity and further reduce any remaining dependence on imported fuels. Many other industries developed ahead of their time, necessitated by international sanctions.

This one may seem like a surprise inclusion in our observations about life in SA. It goes like this. Everyone, and I mean everyone had a dog or two dogs in their property in South Africa. That included us. Because of our lifestyle as travellers, I was always against the girls, forming attachments to pets, that we may have to abandon if another move came up. On this I did not have a choice. At that time in SA you could not leave your house unattended for any period of time, no matter how short. The maids nor gardeners were not going to interfere with any form of intrusion into your property if you were gone. I do not blame them, danger was not part of the job description. Hence the need for guard dogs which also became our pets.

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Apartheid, in my mind anyway, was an economic differentiation of people in this society. Although it may have been implemented to divide the races from each others’ territory, by the time we arrived it was a way to keep people of different economic means away from the places where your economic situation allowed (or didn’t allow) you to live. Ron and Ange’s school was a good case in point. Children from many diverse backgrounds attended. It only depended on whether or not you could pay the tuition.

In the neighbourhood next to us, where properties were very very expensive and where we could not afford to live, lived many of the politicians, sports celebrities, and major business owners from the Indian or African communities. If you could afford, you lived there, or anywhere else you chose to. Our work was a mixture of many cultures. Advancement depended on qualifications, everyone was paid on an equal level, no matter your origin.

It seemed like families had more time to get together. TV was not a distraction. South Africa was not allowed to participate in international sporting, fashion, technology, economic or educational events. TV was, in equal parts, broadcast in English, Afrikaans and Zulu, none of them particularly interesting. There were no computer distractions (except for ours), one mall only, and not many big sporting events to fill up the weekends. Live plays as opposed to movies became the norm. It meant that families spent a lot of time together, around the pool, playing games or in the yard. I believe that many of the places where we lived prior too or afterwards would have been well served to have had family life in this style.