Our broken country

I was crying all the way to work again today, a local radio station was busy with a water collection drive for thousands of people in the Free State who have been without water for days.  The generosity of some corporates, small companies and individuals really got to me this morning.  A transport company will assist in getting all these bottles of water to the Free State and I wanted to cry.

My own Liam went to school with a five litre bottle of water today as the locals schools are also participating in the water drive.  My seven year old boy buckled under the weight of the bottle as well as his heavy school bag and his tog bag with his stuff for the swimming gala later today.  And that is the part that gets to me, in one bit of the country we are able to have swimming gala’s, kids can splash around to their hearts content and in the other parts people and animals are dying because of the worst drought that the country has seen in many years.

The bit that warms my heart though is the fact that South Africans are able to pull together in times of crisis and that massive campaigns like these can get traction without questions of race or colour.

It pains me that our country is still one of great divide although the divide these days is more on of class as opposed to one of race or gender.  The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer.  The poor seems to have been completely forgotten by our government whereas the rich benefit from yet more business deals available only to a select few.

The world is a broken place, terrorist attacks take place in tourist destinations that Gerhard and I have either been to or places still on our must see list.  Africa is drought stricken, rife with the rot of corruption and people dying because of a lack of education.  The world economy is on its head, and it is against the backdrop of all of this that you again need to ask yourself the question whether we are in fact raising our children in the correct country, on the right continent.  Should we stay or should we go seems to be all that people are talking about again in South Africa.  The internet is filled with classifieds advertising the entire contents of people’s homes as they are emigrating.  It feels like 2008 again when the brain drain was rather alive and kicking.

I want three basic things from a country, things that I mostly provide with my own money as the Government fails to provide for my basic needs.  These are a safe and secure place for us to stay, a world class education for my kids and a decent salary.  Lately I don’t know.  Whilst I am fully supportive of the #feesmustfall campaign, it is almost the second month of the year and the future of South Africa is yet to attend a varsity lecture.  When a #Zumamustfall banner goes up, people are branded as racists.  When our president opens his mouth, the Rand plummets even further and my hopes of then sending my children to foreign universities fades as fast as our president is able to replace ministers of Finance.

I want to scream and shout at someone, not quite sure at who.  We need to fix this country, all of us, it feels as if everyone is at least partially to blame for the chaos around us.  I see everyone trying, water campaigns, the opposition handing out leaflets in Sandton today, a colourful bunch of young and old, male and female that looks more representative than ever before enticing people to attend a march about unemployment.  I see communities standing together, supporting the security guards looking after them when they sleep, assisting with school fees and laptops and helping wherever they can. 

I see a broken country, but I see thousands of people committed to fixing it.  I see sunshine and blue skies and the endless white sandy beaches.  I see dying rhinos and people risking their own loves to save these colossal beasts representing Africa in all her splendour.

I really don’t want to leave South Africa again as I tried once before and failed miserably.  I am from Africa too, this is my country and the country of my children, I want to raise them somewhere where they can run barefoot in the rain, where they can sit around a boma in the African bush and see the stars, almost all of the stars!  I speak Afrikaans, it is the language that I live in, love in, shout in, learn in.  I know that I will survive anywhere in the world, but I can only be truly alive here, in Africa.

Those in power can carry on trying their utmost to destroy South Africa, we will carry on, we will send five litre bottles with water to help those living in drought, food parcels for those living in poverty, bags of dog and cat food to the abandoned pets, santa shoeboxes for those without hope.  We will continue to raise decent children who do not see the world according to colour, who always wants to help others.  We will pay our taxes even if it kills us, we will ply our trades and will continue empowering others and imparting our knowledge.  We will do good, and we will continue hoping that those like us will continue to grow in numbers, that people will start to think for themselves, that people will realise we are stronger than the Government, that South Africa can be the land of milk and honey for all of her people, not just a few elite politically connected persons.  

South Africa is our home.