As Duo Penotti through South Africa

I looked around. Not one black or coloured person. (I use the words black, coloured and white without meaning to use any racial or categorised indication. But I guess you’ll understand that). I was the only coloured person in the fancy sushi restaurant in the Victor & Alfred Waterfront. I watched the other guests if anybody was looking at us, the only mixed couple in the place. They didn’t. The reception by the restaurant staff had been as polite as could be, so nothing indicated that people might have taken offence that a coloured person was in their midst. I felt at ease.

 

Our experience with being white & coloured

It happened often, that one of us was the only white or black person in the venue. In the bus, in bars, hostels or restaurants, the public was often predominantly one-coloured but still a little bit mixed, so we felt comfortable most of the times. In the metro, where we rode 2nd class, Cornelius was the only white person. He never felt misplaced though, and although some peoples glanced at our Duo Penotti (The German brown and white Milky Way spread) performance from the side, we didn’t read any criticism or other value in their eyes. We never got a comment.

We were one of the very rare mixed couples, or mixed groups. The first week, the only mixed couple we saw looked at us in the mirror. In these 3 weeks that we have been in South Africa, we haven’t seen one mixed, local couple. Impressive. The same goes for groups of friends. Perhaps we saw two groups in total, even in the student town Stellenbosch. We expected to see more mixed groups here, because here are people who haven’t experienced Apartheid themselves and would have a more liberal, non-racial view on the world. Which might well be the case though, one cannot make any conclusions based on what you see on the streets only. Besides that, what doesn’t help I guess is that the majority of students is white. And I have to admit, how many black, Indian, Moroccan or Surinamese friends do I have myself? So I guess separation is obviously not per se based on colour, but, just as in The Netherlands or Germany, based on factors like level of education, social class and cultural habits. Not that is necessarily needs to be, but that’s how it goes naturally.

One of the few times that I felt a hint of discrimination, or at least I imagined it had something to do with selection based on colour, was when we out with a group of friends we had met in the hostel in Cape Town. When we came at the door, the bouncer let everybody, man and woman, enter without any problem. Until I wanted to enter. I was the only one who had to show my passport (which I didn’t have on me for safety reasons). When he asked for my ID, I felt a slight anger growing inside. “Why?” I asked while folding my arms across my chest and leaning back. “Just to make sure you’re old enough.” I frowned. How flattering it might be that somebody would think I’m still under age, it is very unconvincing. I looked at the others. Most were between 24 and 30, there were a couple of oldies and at least three people of 20 and 21 who looked considerably younger than me. “Are you kidding me?” I asked, trying to suppress the annoyance in my voice. Yes, he was serious. “Sir, I am 32. And I am definitely not showing you my ID.” He kept looking at me for a few seconds more in silence, and then waved coolly at the door. Without giving him another glance, I walked in.

The next day I asked people from the hostel, who go there more often, why I was the only one being checked. I got two implausible explanations. The first: ‘he thought you were hot and wanted to know your name’. Right. Why not just asking my name then? The second: all women get asked for ID the first time. But none of the girls at the hostel had ever showed theirs. So what to make of this? Anyone a better explanation than then the bouncer looking for a reason or backup to keep me out or kick me our later?

We didn’t know what to expect with regard to racism before coming here and we had to base our image on opinions from others, ranging from ‘no problem at all, being a mixed couple’, to ‘be prepared to get refused admission in places, or even being harassed on the street’. Off course we haven’t visited all areas nor the rest of South Africa yet, but our first impressions are very positive.

Development

South Africa is the most developed country in Africa. With Western companies enforcing their investments during Apartheid where an economical stable environment further drove foreign investments. When you’d exclude the townships, SA is not typically African. Except for a few things.

HIV/Aids rates are among the highest in Africa and life expectancy is among the lowest. In 2012, 18% had HIV/Aids. Partly as a result of the disease, SA counts 2,1 million orphans (4% of the total population).
Average life expectancy is 49 years. For blacks its about 47 years, for whites around 71 years.

Like many African countries, their economy is growing. However, this hasn’t been the case for a long time. After Apartheid, the economic situation worsened. Off course there was freedom with the first democratic elections in ’94, but that didn’t mean that everything turned for the better overnight. Unemployment rose, the number of formal jobs decreased, whereas the growing number of informal jobs was a clear sign of hidden unemployment. The ANC struggled with the redistribution of wealth and many programs, meant to achieve an employment situation reflecting actual society, have proven unsuccessful.

Also typically African are the consumption priorities. Let me explain just by giving you an example. As we walked through a mall with the typical mall-shops: telecom, shoes, bags, snack bars, sport etc. There were only queues in three places. Guess where? Correct: the telecom shop for airtime, the doughnut shop for a healthy snack and the snack bar selling fried chicken & French fries.

 

 

About abortions

 

What caught our eye were the hundreds of stickers in the metro, promoting cheap abortions. People like Doctor Amos, Molly and doctor Chris promised easy abortions with pills, same day results. Guaranteed pain free. Some doctors offered their services during the pregnancy from 1 week up to 8 months. 8 Months. Did our eyes cheat us? Unfortunately they didn’t. All clinics offered the incredibly low price of 300 Rand (20 EUR). A resident told us that these services are booming. It is both fortunate and terrible.

Fortunate that these services are available to women who have no money who get into trouble, either through their own ‘fault’ (condoms are available for free everywhere) or because they were assaulted.

Terrible that South Africa is the country with one of the highest rape percentages. It’s not safe for women to walk around alone and assault within the family is also very frequent. Numbers vary, but it is said that about 40% of women in SA were raped or will be at least once in their lives. In an anonymous research, 25% of the men in Eastern and Kwazulu and Natal regions admitted to have raped a woman at least once. Now, if you read these statistics, you are thankful for the fact that doctor Amos will help you for 300 Rand.

 

Visiting the Matthijssens

Okay, let’s end this blog in a bit more upbeat tone, I don’t want to depress you too much with horrible statistics. We were invited by our good friends Annemieke & Maurits to stay with their family in Knysna. The Matthijssen family enjoyed their holiday in this magnicifent villa on a golf estate where we parked the bushi on the driveway, but slept in a large, hotel-like bed for the first time in 6 months.

It was wonderful to be there. Mainly because it was great to talk to and laugh with friends from home and have some different conversations that are not superficial, like many conversations you have with other travellers who briefly cross your path. Also delightful was to be in this comfortable clean house, lie on a clean couch in front of a 150 inch TV screen and cooking with an oven. The Matthijssens showed us around, invited us to nice dinners and we cruised around the premises in a real golf buggy. Hilarious! The bushi looked very much out of place in this luxurious surrounding.

Mick, Mau, Marianne, Peter Hans, Arnoud & Charlotte: thank you very much again for inviting us to your home and talking such good care of us!

The coming days we’ll discover the rest of the garden route before heading to Durban. In the next story I’ll tell you about this and my terrifying bungy jump from the highest bridge in the world.

Bye!