Feb 21-07: Returning Home & Parting Thoughts on South Africa

Photos: all scenes from the Apatheid Museum

I have been thinking a lot in the past few days, of what I would say if someone asked me to sum up our South African experience. So many incredible words and statements have come to me, or I have read over the past weeks, that speak to the heart of this truly incredible country. As fate would have it, many of those words have been Mr. Mandela’s, as he is quoted in different places, everywhere you go. His words are often the most profound and visionary when speaking about the people of is country:

"It is our privilege as South Africans to be living at a time when our nation is emerging from the darkest night into the bright dawn of freedom and democracy".
"Had the new South Africa emerged out of nothing, it would not exist."

The central theme I keep coming back to is a “land of contrasts”, from the very rich to the very poor, white and black, so many languages and cultures represented, and as TK, our guide yesterday called it “the good, the bad and the ugly” all together. As incongruous as it seems to be, South Africans manage to fit it all together like some tapestry of experience that includes an incredibly painful (and very recent/raw) history, along with a capacity for forgiveness that I have never witnessed previously in my life. And above it all, everyone we met talked about the future, and their excitement about creating a new and better South Africa for all people here, regardless of colour. Their capacity for resolution, for hope for the future, it just amazed me. And its all the more humbling when one thinks of their incredibly painful history, and the still very harsh reality for many of its black citizens.

The mystery is, how do they do this, how can they keep this incredible attitude, hope and vision for the future? I think it has to do with South Africans themselves, there is something there is unique to this country that creates visionary thinking – call it national pride, whatever you like, its real and palpable, everywhere you go. And the impact of Mr. Mandela can never be underestimated – his presence is felt everywhere in the country, and his profound words can be found everywhere. I think there are few men than have been greater visionaries or better leaders than this man, anywhere in the world. And SA has the great fortune to be able to call him their own. It is very clear, after you see and hear everything, that if he had been a different man, he could have led his country into a bloodbath, from which it might have never recovered. Instead he chose reconciliation and forgiveness, and a commitment to document and remember the past and the country’s painful history, but not to be bound by it, and dragged under by anger.

"My country is rich in the minerals and gems that lie beneath its soil, but I have always known that its greatest weath is its people, finer and truer than the purest diamonds"
- Nelson Mandela

Its truly astounding, but perhaps in a way it fits perfectly with the general life outlook of South Africans... The core of this attitude for black South Africans is the ideology of ubuntu, which I heard spoken about in a number of places. It’s a concept that defies easy translation, but speaks to the concept of the place of the individual in the community, and responsibility that goes with that…some of the better descriptions are “I am because we are", or "I am what I am because of what we all are", and "A person 'becomes human' through other persons". It is not just words for Africans, but a way of living and interacting that is very much alive in their communities. And this sense of absolute inclusivity is all the more ironic when one considers the meaning of apartheid, which means to be apart or separated. The spirit of ubuntu extends to all races, and I was continually confronted with the fact that black South Africans feel strongly that all people living here are equal South Africans, with the right to be here, and a responsibility to make it the best country it can be.

"We do face major challenges, but none are as daunting as those we have already surmounted".
- Nelson Mandela, 1996

One of the signs at the Apartheid Museum, in the first section that talks about the discovery of the oldest human remains in SA, says simply the following:

Humanity was born in Africa.
All people, ultimately, are African.

Given how we were so warmly welcomed, everywhere we went, then I can confidently say that this is the way all South Africans make you feel, as if you belong here. We will be back, without a doubt. This place creeps into you, and I don’t think you are ever completely free of it. And I cannot think of anything more wonderful.