So, How was South Africa?

First, let me say that I regret some of the typos in these posts and fully acknowledge that additional editing work is necessary. Students, don't do as I did. Double check your spelling. Also, while this will be the last official post on this blog, I will maintain the site for some time and respond to any questions as they might be posed.

With that said, how was South Africa? Is it truly a new country? This is a hard question to answer. South Africa, a physical paradise on earth, is certainly much more varied and unique on the continent of Africa than I had originally thought and certainly provides one with a different sense of what Africa is. It is not a black country nor is it white, Indian or colored. It is not Christian, Hindu, Jewish and/or Muslim, etc. It is all of these things as most South Africans have had family living there for over six and/or seven generations. As like the United States, it is a country of both indigenous and immigrant groups and is a product of the entreprenurial spirit brought by the polyglot peoples that developed it. While the hope and sincere interest in a better, more democratic tomorrow is there, and, indeed, people of color are moving into the upper middle class socioeconomic brackets and the country as a whole is celebrating unprecedented economic growth fueled by its mineral wealth, technology, and tourism, crime and HIV infection rates must be abated. Gender equality is also necessary as a large percentage of those raising the next generation of South African leaders are single parent, lower-income females. Modern immigration into South Africa, from other parts of Africa, and the fear this brings, is also fostering challenges.

Although I personally did not experience any violence in-country and South Africans, whom I met, were unabashedly friendly, relaxed and genuine, one senses a palpable tension over growing insecurity. As someone told me, South Africa is both a first world and third world country wrapped into one. Until South Africa can reduce its unemployment rate, ensure equal educational opportunity for all and develop confidence/self-esteem in all of its people, so long denied to a vast of number of its citizens during Apartheid, break-ins, carjackings, kidnappings, and muggings will continue. How much government intervention and social engineering versus the individual initiative in taking advantage of existing opportunities that will be necessary to improve South Africa's lot will, necessarily, be a discussion for some time to come. This is a tall order - it has been over 40 years since the American Civil Rights Movement, and, yet, the United States still has many of these same issues with which to deal albeit perhaps on a slightly different scale. The United States has made progress.

However, given the amazing strides towards true democratization made in South Africa, in just 14 years, South Africans are certainly up to solving these challenges. The positive pressure placed on South Africa, due to its upcoming hosting of the 2010 World Soccer Cup, can only help motivate its people to continue to look at solving these issues. Indeed, South Africans are very much aware of this. Given what has already been accomplished in 14 years, since the end of Apartheid, perhaps, soon, the United States will be looking at South Africa to guide it through its socioeconomic dilemmas.