I cannot believe that there is less than a month left of my time in South Africa. I have only begun to understand the complexity and truly appreciate South Africa in the last week or two. On 1 November, I was supposed to move to Chatsworth to stay with a family in an Indian community where one of our programme partners was going to set up several interviews. Unfortunately (well, now I’ll say fortunately), this programme partner is rather flaky and our plans fell through. I ended up saying in the Tekweni Backpackers (a backpackers is the same as a hostel) with two other girls. This backpackers is right on Florida Road, which is a hot spot for restaurants and things to do. It’s a 20-minute walk from the beach and our office- the ideal location! The best thing about this place is the atmosphere, which is fun, relaxing and incredibly chill. It’s run by a bunch of locals and the people who stay here are so interesting! It’s also a local hang out spot so I’ve finally met a lot of locals who are more than excited to talk to us about Durbs, take us surfing and show us around. It’s amazing how incredibly friendly everyone is.

The other two girls who were staying with me were both quite sick. One had a stomach bug and had to return home from the rural home areas and the other had some crazy bacterial infection and ended up in the hospital for a few days. Needless to say, I was on my own for making friends at first. This was intimidating in the beginning; I would just walk up to a group of people and introduce myself. So far, I have met only incredibly friendly people, so it has worked out quite well.

The other day I was thinking about what I love so much about Durbs and I came up with a few conclusions. I love how diverse it is. South Africa truly is a rainbow nation and with the “most inclusive/liberal constitution in the world”, it is truly a country of hope. South Africa has only been a free and democratic country for 20 years and while it still has a long way to go, people (for the most part) are hopeful. They have a strong faith in humanity, I mean, South Africa turned over one of the most oppressive regimes in world history without a civil war. Mandela and Tutu’s Peace and Reconciliation Commission is considered one of the most profoundly successful justice initiatives. For an aspiring development/health person such as myself, Durban has it all. It’s absolutely stunning aesthetically, with lots of cultural events and things going on but it also has a long way to go developmentally. The socio-economic divide is striking. The upper class and predominately white area of Umshlanga is like Newport Rhode Island, with restaurants, shops, beautiful beaches and a posh atmosphere. This is within 10 – 15 minutes of some of the poorest townships where HIV, TB and other diseases are rampant. Then in another section, also next door, is the largest diasporic Indian community in the world (although SSB would disagree with the word diaspora as it is used here – there is no desire to return home to India in these people – for the most part – and they consider themselves South African, not Indian).

It’s so fascinating that twenty years post-apartheid, the effects are astronomical and still ever present. Apartheid is still apparent in a structural sense; the Black townships, Indian communities and White areas were created by this government and even though the government was overthrown, the areas remain the same. The townships were strategically placed with very limited access from highways and main areas; they were often hidden over a hill or in a forest- out of sight out of mind. This has had incredible implications on development. You could presumably live your whole life here and not see the squatter camps (informal settlements) or townships. Apartheid also created the perfect recipe for HIV and TB. The mining industry was established and was staffed by Black South Africans, mostly from the rural areas. They lived in poorly ventilated and overcrowded housing with poor nutrition and were frequently visited by commercial sex workers. This is the ideal situation for both TB and HIV to spread. THEN, to exacerbate this, the men return home to their families in the rural areas, bringing TB and HIV with them. Now we’re faced with these structural limitations of development and these social determinants of healthcare. So far, the most effective TB prevention method has been to reform housing (as seen historically in London late 19^th century), unfortunately South Africa doesn’t have the infrastructure to completely redo all of the housing (not to mention, the government already built all of the houses in the townships).

I have been exposed to the incredibly complexity of health. I really enjoy the slogan of public health, “providing the greatest good to the greatest number”, but it’s really hard. How do you break such a pervasive cycle of poverty and disease? Also, where to the Whites fit in? A lot of White South Africans whom I have met are really struggling to find jobs because of a “Blacks come first” mentality. Then, where do the Coloureds and Indians fit it? They face similar problems as the White populations, but they feel as though the struggle is always labelled as black versus white, when there are far more ethnicities. This isn’t even mentioning the MASSIVE immigrant population from other African nations, which is clashing with South Africans and resulting in Xenophobic violence. It’s really mind-boggling.

On the other hand, the 1994 Constitution is incredibly liberal and is the only constitution in the world that addresses all people, not just the country’s citizens. Legally, every single person has equal rights, gay marriage is legal, everyone has the right to shelter and other things that the U.S. and many other counties consider privileges. The only problem is that none of these rights are upheld because of corruption, capacity limitations, logistical problems, societal norms, or in my opinion, a constitution that is too idealistic in nature. While I agree with most of the rights listed in the constitution (that also has a really difficult task of combining traditional and modern rights/laws), they are unlikely to be implemented because of their extreme idealism.

Another complexity that I have come across in my research (and you’ll hear more about this if you read my ISP when it’s complete) is that funding for HIV/AIDS and health related NGOs from foreign governments is drastically decreasing. These donors believe that other African countries are more desperate for aid in areas that the South African government has the funds and capacity to fulfil. Now the funding is drying up and the SA government is overflowing with corruption and a lack of effective local capacity building systems. It’s also nearly impossible for grassroots organizations to even apply for funding.

Anyways, I’ll stop ranting about the complexity of South Africa. I honestly barely started this discussion; the complexity runs SO deep. I’m not sure how this country is going to be in the future, but I certainly hold a great amount of hope for it. They have an election next year and there is a strong opposition to the ANC. A common perception is that the ANC is very corrupt and the elections are not really democratic because there hasn’t been competition against the ANC. We’ll see what happens!

As Paul Farmer says in Haiti After the Earthquake (a great read about the complexity of disasters), “Doing good is never simple”. And, as Nelson Mandela says in A Long Walk to Freedom (another must-read. The Boston Globe said that it is “a manual for human beings…should be read by every person alive”), “it is a long walk to freedom”.  From the time in the backpackers, I’m really learning to chill out and enjoy life, something I sometimes forget to do- stop and smell the roses, if you will (hehe). I’m learning about incredible resilience, similar to what I saw in Kenya, but with even more structural enforcement of oppression. In the beginning of the programme I was feeling disappointed because I didn’t feel challenged. I still haven’t been challenged like I was in Kenya, but right now, what I feel like I have learned is how remarkably similar humans are across the globe. In the Zulu township, the Zulu rural areas, the Indian community of Chatsworth, the fancy Umshlanga Rocks, and my wonderful little backpackers, everyone loves, laughs and cries the same. I feel much more connected to people whom I had never met and see myself looking at people as individuals, not just strangers. Perhaps it is a strange thing to take away from the programme, but I’m enjoying it for now and am going to be so sad when I leave.