I've been in Johannesburg for a week now, in a rawtha splendid and upscale housing complex in the neighborhood of Melrose Estates. I'm being hosted by a very hospitable gay couple from the church at which I'm working. It's only been a week--and an interesting time already!
South Africa, I am finding, is a place of many contrasts. My experiences have been all over the map: visits to elderly house-bound ladies who love playing hostess, a safari drive on which I saw a herd of elephants just outside the jeep (see photo), a brilliant one-man comedy performance poking fun at South African life, about six church services, lots of nice dinners, heavy first-hand stories of apartheid's awful hand at work, a driving moment in which I lapsed into American mode and turned into the same lane as an oncoming SUV, many moments in which the gay-to-straight ratio has been 3 to 1 (i.e. me), liberal sermons, conservative worship styles, a church office in which three languages are spoken (English, Zulu, Afrikaans), a welcome speech in which I kept referring to "this summer" when it's actually winter here, and a lot of instant coffee.
It's a country that seems Western and African at the same time, both first-world and third-world. My experience thus far has been mostly on the first-world, Western, white side of things. I've spent my time primarily with well-off folks in nice houses in decent parts of town. On a cursory glance, you might as well be in the US--except that just about every house or housing complex is surrounded by high walls with electric fencing around the top. Big gates that open electronically are commonplace. It's comfort surrounded by poverty that's hidden well enough I haven't even seen much of it yet. Contrasts, contrasts--South Africa has so much going on all at once, all sorts of various elements and strains that together make up one nation. Rich and poor, black and white, present and past, eleven official national languages, all together in one country. The Rainbow Nation, indeed! Even the South African flag is vibrant with different colors.
Contrast makes for good and interesting art, they say. All told, I'm thinking it should make for a pretty good and interesting summer, too!
