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www.The-Farmer.com ● April 2008
Viewpoint
A land of dramatic contrast
COMMENTARY
By KRISTIE PLOEHN
MAGINE this: You’re driving down
the road and on one side you see
million-dollar homes. This town is
the playground for the rich and famous.
Celebrities and millionaires have vacation homes here, right on the beach.
You look to your other side and see extreme poverty. People live in tin shacks,
I
with everything from tires to chicken
wire tossed on top of the tin roofs.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a scene from
a book or a movie. This image is burned
into my memory as it is exactly what I
saw in South Africa. Never before have I
seen such a dramatic contrast between
the haves and the have-nots.
I, along with 33 other Minnesota agriculturalists, recently completed a 12day study tour in South Africa. While
the primary focus of our trip was agriculture, we also learned a great deal
about the culture and social issues. (See
Page 5 for more on the MARL tour.)
In Soweto (Southwest Township), a
black section of Johannesburg, we saw
middle-class people living in moderate
homes: two bedrooms, one bathroom
and a kitchen. A few streets away, squatters live in tin shacks with no running
water or toilets, only buckets. You may
be asking yourself the same question
we did: Why do people live this way?
We asked our Soweto guide, and she
explained, “They know no different.
They are happy.” She also told us that
the largest hospital in the world (3,600
beds under one roof) is in Soweto, and
the unemployment rate is 45%.
We learned about health care, the
AIDS crisis and the crime rate. In South
Africa, if you do not have health insurance, you do not have to pay much for
medical expenses. However, if you have
health insurance, you have to pay more.
AIDS is widespread, and since 1994,
the U.S. has contributed $1.2 billion to
battle AIDS and other health problems.
Misconceptions of AIDS are rampant —
for example, some South African leaders
believe that taking a shower can prevent
you from getting AIDS. The crime rate is
extremely high, and the most common
crimes are rape, murder and theft. All
of the businesses and most homes had
bars on the windows and razor wire topping the walls. We were told that crime
is part of the culture.
Social division
Apartheid may have been abolished
more than a decade ago, but the division
between whites and blacks is still apparent. My classmates and I witnessed
several occasions that surprised us.
One classmate was going to use a pay
phone, and the black man sitting there
told him, “No, master, that one’s broken.
Use the other phone, master.”
I experienced this, too, during my
stay with a host family. I picked up my
empty cup to take it to the kitchen, and
my host mother said, “No, we mustn’t
spoil the servants.”
Don’t let me give you the wrong
impression. My host family treats
their servants quite well by providing
housing, wages and other assistance.
A neighbor takes all of the children to
school. During our home stays, one of
my classmates rode along to pick up
the children. They sang a song in their
native language (Xhosa) for him, and it
deeply touched him. Our host families
speak to their employees in their native
languages, rather than English.
We saw white and black teenagers
greeting each other with hugs as they
met for supper. In Soweto, we enjoyed
lunch at a local restaurant and were
entertained with singing and dancing,
and then were invited to join in! We
gave small gifts (crayons, pens, pencils) to local children, and their gratitude was heartwarming. The people are
welcoming, joyful and hopeful. We met
wonderful people who truly want to improve their lives and their country.
South Africa is a country full of contrast. Our class will never forget this
incredible experience, and we will be examining our own lives differently. As we
handle situations both in personal and
public roles, we will remember what we
learned and saw in South Africa.
Most importantly, we will remember
to appreciate what we have and not
take things for granted.
Ploehn, St. Paul, is a member of MARL
Class IV.