Being abroad makes me aware of how different life is back home. I read local news on-line and keep up with family and friends via facebook and Skype.
Politics is almost a religion in South Africa. We have been through difficult times and being aware is very important. I find the casual disinterest of people who live in safe and stable countries strange. But then I will admit, I envy that these people never worry. The news in the UK tends to be pretty bland. It’s almost as if they have to dredge up stories and sensationalise them. And foreign news plays a much bigger role here. A brilliant South African on-line newspaper is The Daily Maverick. Click here for a link – The Daily Maverick
Back home corruption is eating away at opportunities and becoming entrenched. News of attempts to stifle the media covering these stories breaks my heart. We live in a dynamic and changeable country. I vacillate between hope and disappointment. One sobering reminder of how far we have come is this. Black South Africans have only had the vote for 16 years. That’s not a long time. We are a baby country if you think about it. I hope the right people step up and take the right steps. I would like to be able to know, like they do in the UK, that all will be well when I am old one day. But then can we really know anything?
