The sad side of Africa

I don't think I've talked much about the sad (and sometimes scary...) side of Africa yet. Mostly I think because we just talked about it in class today and is at the forefront of my mind right now. We talked a lot about poverty, unemployment and inequality in South Africa, and how even though the poverty rate has decreased since the end of apartheid, the inequality has increased, meaning that the gap between the rich and the poor has increased. It also means that 80% of the population is only making 30% of the country's total income, whereas 20% of the population is making 70% of the country's total income. Our lecturer told us that South Africa is one of the three most unequal countries in the world. About 80% of the population lives on less than 1000 rand a month (approx. $125).

It is insane to me that I am in a country that has such a large percentage of people living in poverty. The closest thing I have seen to poverty here are the townships, but those aren't even the poorest communities in South Africa. Our lecturer told us that the average poor person is a black African female who lives in a rural household with no employment, little education, and has been infected with AIDS.

This brings up the question of who is helping these people? We see organizations all the time in the states that are raising money to "save the children in Africa", but where is that money actually going? Most of the time, once this money makes it through to the country (which takes a LONG time, has to pass through dozens of hands), it is rarely used for what it was intended for, and of course there is no one there in the country to ensure that the money is used for it's original purpose. In order for aid to work in the first place, solid governmental institutions are needed, and the poorest countries have really bad institutions, so the poorest countries with the most need aren't even the ones to receive the aid. And aid has a lot of negative consequences... it fosters dependency on the donating country, protects bad governments from dealing with the consequences of their own incompetence, and food aid takes a huge tole on farming and agriculture. Giving free food to a country means that farmers will not be able to sell their goods, and therefore will be put out of business. This means that the local economy will suffer and growth will be halted.

Okay, enough of the economics lesson. I wish someone could snap their fingers and poverty would be eradicated, and everyone would at least have their essential needs met.

I've also experienced a bit of the poor community by encountering street kids and beggars.It is really hard to walk away when these little kids come up to you with outstretched hands asking you for money because they are hungry or cold. We were told not to give anyone any money during orientation, but it is so difficult. A group of us were at a restaurant last night sitting outside, and a little boy came up to our table asking for money or some of our food. When we first got here, that also happened but it was an older man asking if we were going to eat all of the food we had bought. The best thing to do is to not make eye contact, because then they don't go away...

When we first got to Stellenbosch, I was surprised at how many security and watch people there are, especially around the mall and campus. But now I am very thankful for them and I see why they are needed so much, because there have been a few incidences where a guard has come and taken the beggar away from us. I wish there had been a security person on the walk home from dinner tonight... There was a man and a woman standing on the corner of the street and came up to us asking for money, and the man was being really aggressive about it. The man stopped Euan (one of my South African friends) while the rest of us skirted around him, and was demanding money, but Euan kept saying he didn't have anything. I held Jeffrey's arm and hid behind him, I was a little scared.... Finally another member of our group gave the guy a few coins and he thanked us, and we started to walk away. We didn't get up the road very far before seeing two other girls from the summer school coming down the road, so we told them that they should turn around because there was a crazy guy that was asking for money, so they turned around and started walking with us. Well, apparently the man saw us warn the other girls not to walk down that way, so he started after us again, yelling in Afrikaans, which was really scary. But once we got far enough down the road he left us alone, but it was still a frightening experience.