SA Snippets

perThis post is just an amalgamation of thoughts I've been having for a while now, things you might or might not want to know, tidbits of cultural knowledge which I've picked up over the past 7 months (can you believe it?! 7 months!).



1. It is getting warm here. This is good, because I have been entirely unsure of how to dress during the winter. We typically have what you might call "Indian summer," except that it occurs all in one day. A normal day goes something like this: wake up--it's FREEZING. Usually somewhere around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Walk/drive to work in the cold. Still freezing. All morning, it's as cold as ice in my classroom which is made of concrete. Lunchtime--warming up. Generally around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Walk home--HOT. Now, it's not really hot--only about 72--but it feels hot because I had to walk to work in such cold that I am layered up to my eyeballs. Shed layers and go to class. Still quite warm. 4pm--in class. All of a sudden it's FREEZING again, and I have shed layers and left some of them behind in expectation that I won't need them again. Oops! By 5pm, it's back under 50 degress Fahrenheit. I don't know how people cope.



2. Schools in South Africa. Schooling in South Africa, and often across Southern Africa, is very different than schooling in the U.S. First of all, everyone pays for schooling, whether in a public (government) or private school. The idea behind this is that if everyone pays something, then everyone will be more invested in the education of their children. It is still a debate as to whether or not this is actually the case. In addition, everyone wears a uniform. In fact, I've never heard of a school here that wears civies (non-uniform). I actually really like this idea. At my school, McAuley House, we have students who are from vastly differing economic backgrounds; however, I have no idea which students fall into which category. Students often are tagged by teachers due to their socio-economic status, so requiring learners to wear uniforms reduces some of those tensions. I certainly can't speak for the inter-student tensions, but I imagine it reduces those, as well. In addition to uniforms and school fees, a major difference is the power differential between teacher and student. Let me give you an example: when someone walks into my classsroom, the entire room stands and says, "Good Morning, Mrs. So and So." Teachers seem to have a much more formal relationship with their students. This is likely due to the colonial-style schooling of the past from which we still have a few throw-backs, such as the prefect system. Very interesting.



3. At the moment, we're having a bit of a meltdown in the Ministry of Health. On August 8 (consequently the day before National Womens Day--a public holiday in SA), President Thabo Mbeki fired Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala Routledge on charges of making an unauthorised trip to an AIDS conference in Spain. Madlala Routledge contends she had verbal approval which is typically given far before written approval which usually arrives after the fact. Anyway, the whole thing reeks of set-up.

Backstory: Health Minister Manto Shabalala Msimang has repeatedly denied an AIDS crisis in SA, even though over 1 in 4 people have either HIV or AIDS. Many of you may remember that she went on public news two years ago saying that HIV does lead to AIDS. In addition, she made the claim that proper nutrition can be more beneficial to the fight against HIV/AIDS than anti retroviral treatments (ARVs). Of course, the health profession has been up in arms against Shabalala Msimang for years now, claiming that she has single-handedly spread HIV/AIDS by promulgating false information. Unfortunately, President Mbeki and Health Minister Shabalala Msimang go way back into the apartheid era when they were in the same group of exiled students sent to the UK for education. So, every time Shabalala Msimang has said something daft, Mbeki has defended her.

Continue story: So, Deputy Health Minister Madlala Routledge suggests that she has been set up and punished for speaking out against the AIDS epidemic and not "towing the company line" which is that there is not a problem. The public seems to agree. Now, there is public outcry for the removal of the Health Minister. The Democratic Alliance (the main opposition party within SA) has found records that Shabalala Msimang stole a watch and other medical items from patients while working in a hospital in Botswana during her periods of exile. In addition, the Sunday Times has purported that her recent medical records (after her much-publicised liver transplant) show evidence of an alcohol problem. They also seem to suggest that President Mbeki might have illegally arranged for Shabalala Msimang to "jump the queue" in getting a liver. So, it seems that we have a crisis on our hands. A very interesting, shady crisis.

And you thought US politicians were the only crazies out there! For some fun editorial cartoons on the subject, you can visit the following link which will take you to my favorite cartoon. Others are on the same site.

Wishing you all a good laugh!