Dave, Jimmy, & Racism

The last week has been a bit of a mess. A lot has transpired over the last little while. As many of you now know, Lynn and Jayme Chotowetz (the founders of Forward Education) are back in Calgary. They have decided to come home early to work out some personal things and to start to think about what lies next for them in terms of Africa and the coming years.
Needless to say, this has rushed my transition into Forward Education. It was a busy week as I learned about the budget and our financial situation which is a bit intimidating. Thankfully, Laura Pope from Calgary, and an American women named Lindsay have been working with me. With out them, especially Laura, I would me in deep trouble. I am truly thankful that she has decided to stay and help me run this program. We are currently in the midst of filling out university and college applications for the students. It’s a very busy time, however an exciting one because we will soon find out how the students hard work has paid off. I do feel bad for Lynn and Jayme right now because they are having to leave at a time when the fruits of their labor will soon me known. This is the time they have worked so hard to be a part of.
On a lighter note, I, along with a friend from Connecticut, Dave, rented a car and drove to Johannesburg to go see Jimmy Eat World play. It was a good day but the concert was not very entertaining. It was a full day concert event and for some reason Jimmy Eat World didn’t headline the show and they only had a 45 minute set. Plus, the South African crowd was lame. They just kinda stood there and watched. One guy got upset with someone who was jumping around and getting into it; it was weird. Plus, at the merch counter, the guy was writing receipts for people. What the hell is up with that?
One interesting part of the day happened while Dave and I were in the beer gardens. I asked someone for a lighter and as I did, a white Afrikaner noticed my North American accent. We started having a conversation and I quickly noticed he was a bit drunk. He then noticed I hadn’t received a free foam hand that they gave at the gate of the concert. He said that I could have his. I responded by saying “thanks, I guess am experiencing South Africa’s generosity. He responded by saying “Ya, well I have to be generous because you won’t experience it very much because of all the black’s that we have here.” I have heard from other people about the blatant racism that they have listened to from some Afrikaners but this is the first time I had really heard it so unconcealed. You are just shocked. You can’t believe that someone you have just met would be that bold. I wanted to punch the guy in the face but quickly changed my mind when I realized that Dave and I were slightly out numbered. The political structure of Apartheid may have been abolished but it’s going to take a few decades before the ideological construct is dismantled because it is still alive and well.
Sorry this blog post isn’t very interesting, however on Monday I will be living in the community of Masoyi for five days. It is now a requirement that Hands at Work staff spend a week in the community living with in a child headed house hold to get the full experience of what life is like of the orphans that we work with. I have been lucky enough to have been placed with M and B from my previous blog posts. I think M will still be at the initiation camp, however I will still be with B and his other younger brother P. I am sure I will have more interesting stories from that experience.
Finally, for those of you have been sending me messages and emails, Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to hear from all of you. Internet access has been a bit of a pain this week, but I will try and write to you all as soon as I am back from my community stay.
I miss you all and hope you are well.