Put Some Shoes On

Can some one please explain to me why it is that Afrikaners small and large do not wear shoes in public places? In the mall, in the parking lot, in the grocery store. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just didn’t wear shoes to work. Could you imagine a guy in a suit waltzing into work without any shoes to complete the ensemble? In my mind shoes have become a very necessary part to completing any fashionable look (and unfashionable looks). I mean people have entire closets dedicated to shoes. Maybe we need to lend some to these South Africans.

Maybe it is a cultural piece I am missing? It can’t be because they can’t afford shoes, because I regularly see people get out of very expensive cars sans shoes, or could it be that now they can’t afford shoes because they spent all their money on that car? Trade down, my friends, trade down. In order potentially come to terms with this very strange phenomenon, I have decided to look into the historical and current trends of shoe wearing, mixed in with a little germ action.

So we all know that the primary purpose of shoes is to protect your feet, though some may argue that stilettos do little if anything to protect your feet. For me they mostly destroy my feet, which is why you will rarely see me wear them. Anyways back on topic, did you know that the earliest evidence of protective covering for the human foot date because almost 40,000 years? Wow, that was a long time ago, so why haven’t South Africans picked up on their use yet?

Okay I am no scientist and I have not done any experiments or studies around this, but I am quite aware that most floors, parking lots, etc. are pretty dirty and quite germ infested. Hmmm, apparently there was some study done that recently identified a myriad of dangerous and health-threatening germs carried unknowingly on your shoe. So here is my conclusion, again you don’t have to agree with it because I am not an expert…but, if there are dangerous and health-threatening germs on your shoes, which you are trekking into your house, then I would guess that if you are walking around barefoot, there is a pretty good chance you are just sucking those germs up right then and there, no need for transference into your house. Oh, so maybe the South Africans are protecting to floors of their homes, or maybe they are still transferring them just without shoes. 

Alright in the study discussed above these are the germs regularly found on shoes according to Suite 101: “Escherichia coli (E. Coli) - causing symptoms ranging from severe stomach pain accompanied by diarrhea to kidney failure and potential death in 1 out of 50 victims. Klebsiella pneumonia – a gram-negative bacteria that can rapidly destroy lung tissue and in 25 to 50% of patients will cause death. Serratia ficaria – causing gallbladder empyemas and sepsis as well as biliary infections. The study also found that the transfer rate of bacteria from the shoes to uncontaminated tiles ranged from 90% to 99%. Given that most home flooring includes porous wood, throw rugs and carpet; direct transmission is virtually certain.” I’ll stop there with all of this disturbing information, but do note that there is more. Okay so while this started out a way of understanding the lack of shoe wearing I see here, I may have uncovered that even us people who wear shoes may want to consider taking them off upon entrance to our homes. Sorry.

Now, moving along to current trends of shoes, the most recent is the concept of barefoot running. Apparent benefits are that of better balance, posture, less joint stress, and more muscle tone. Barefoot running can be exactly as it sounds, running without shoes, or it can be running with a new type of foot covering with “barefoot technology” that matches your foots natural arch and contours without adding any additional support or cushioning. I’m not exactly sure I would enjoy running without my Asics, but I guess I can’t knock it until I try it. Almost coming full circle, from barefoot to shoes to barefoot, but I don’t think that the barefoot running idea will force people to ditch their other shoes, so that really leaves us still in the shoe category.

While mostly out of my research I have decided that shoes should be disinfected and removed upon entering a house (the Japanese have always had it figured out), I still believe that all South Africans need to start wearing shoes and putting them on their children. Just doing what I can to try to save some shoeless Afrikaner at a time. 

The Results Are In

Ok, now I need you to think hard…back to the time around the strikes when I talked about the concern for the matrics of the current seniors. For those of you who tried to think and still couldn’t remember the matric is more or less the Senior Exit Exam, similar in concept to the S.A.T., except it makes or breaks your chance of passing your final year of high school. If you don’t pass you have to endure more schooling in order to get the equivalent of a high school diploma. Anyways there was a lot of concern around the teacher’s strike because we were getting close to testing time for the seniors and no one was in school, plus the kids had extra time off this year for the World Cup; not a good combination for a winning matric record.

Well since I know you have been waiting in anticipation, matric exams results are out! And guess what? Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced triumphantly on Thursday morning that “it’s a whopping in increase in the matric pass rate.” Hmmm, so much concern and then an increase in the pass rate. Fishy if you ask me. Then again, no one is asking me, so it is necessary to say that it is also being questioned by education specialists. This year they experienced a 67.8% pass rate, beating the 2009 rate by 7.2% with increases in all 9 provinces. This is only the 3^rd time that there has been this large of a pass rate since 1994. Apparently this significant of an increase can be attributed to the efforts the government has put into improving the education in South Africa. Just throwing it out there, but it couldn’t possibly be that we are trying to make a case for S.A. to keep stepping up on that international platform, especially will so many eyes still looking here following the World Cup.

According to an article published on Friday by the Sowetan, the real pass rate is 57 percent, as opposed to the 67.8 percent announced on Thursday by the department. Oh, but don’t worry, there is a rebuttal. “During a live interview on Radio 702, Chief Director of National Exams, Dr Nkosinathi Sishi, maintained that the 2010 matric pass rate is 67.8 percent. ‘537 543 candidates wrote, 364 513 passed. If you divide those two numbers, you will get the same figure of 67.8 percent,’ Dr Sishi said.” Apparently the newspaper had used the number of students enrolled in place of the number of students who wrote exams. I’m still not to sure about all this. It seems to me that something needs to put in place so that you cannot accidentally calculate a much higher percentage or much lower percentage. Also it is sad that so many students did not write exams. Shouldn’t that number tell us something?

Okay, okay, here are some additional reasons why there is difficult making sense of all of this. In Umalusi’s (quality assurance body) standardization process, raw marks are altered, however, the public and higher education admissions officers are not told of the magnitude of adjustments to original marks. Also Umalusi said that several subjects, those key for further schooling (math, science, etc.), are operating on a reduced curriculum (whatever that means, but it doesn’t sound good) and that reduction is not clear. Additional the so-called “site-based assessments (marks awarded by the schools themselves) tend to inflate the results and finally the L.O. course (life orientation) has serious problem with marks that came out too high making it a difficult to attempt to standardize the marks. I really wish I understood this whole matric thing just a little better so I’d understand the arguments.

Here is the clincher and the part that gets me. While these results show an overall increase, the statistics have zero indication about what is happening in the townships and rural schools. These being the schools that we at GRS work at. Doron Isaacs, coordinator of Equal Education, a Cape Town-based NGO stated “The real inequality in our education system, which is so stark, is not being put before the public.”

If any country in Africa has a chance of bettering their educational standards, it is South Africa. But the important part is to make sure that they don’t just up the standards for those already receiving quality education, which would just continue to increase the gap between the rich and the poor in this country. Sometimes the severe differences between the urban areas and the townships here blow my mind. It is similar to going from a developed Western country to some of the lesser-developing countries, or even a failed state in less than 1 km.

Anyways I don’t write this because I have all the answers. I just write so you can think about it. We shall await the technical report, which will apparently really clarify all this. We shall see. But now a word from Jacob Zuma. "To those matriculants who did not make it, we urge you not to give up. This doesn't mean the end of the world. Many people have been in a similar situation that you are in today, and they emerged successful after another attempt. We want to celebrate with you soon when you have emerged victorious after this setback, we are fully behind you all the way," said the President. For any of you who have seen the comedic works of Trevor Nolan, I hope you will find this comment slightly amusing. 

BRICs or BRICS

I love the inquiry made by CNN on whether or not South Africa should be considered an emerging economy on par with the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). Should BRICs become BRICS? If you think I rewrote the same thing again, recheck capitalizations. Even more than I love reading CNN point of view, it brings me even greater joy to read the general public’s discussion on this subject.

The BRICs are the current markets that contribute to a third of the world’s GDP growth and more than a third of the world’s population. With China and India’s 2 billion + people and their growing middle classes, they are becoming the drivers of global consumption and proving to be the places to be or consider to be if you are in the business of selling anything. These countries led the global recovery following the economic fallout and then even better, at least from my athletic point of view, two of these countries secured positions as hosts to upcoming World Cups and Olympic games.

Maybe I only find any of this interesting to me because I am currently living in South Africa, but still it is definitely a point to ponder. Over my four years of college I had regularly seen the BRICs with the capital “S,” with a double “I,” or a capital “M” at the end. This signifying that South Africa, Indonesia, and Mexico, sat right on the edge of joining these other four emerging markets, all of which have good arguments. Did you know that Indonesia is one of the 4 largest countries by area? Oh, and so is Denmark. Think Greenland. So South Africa…the hosts of the 2010 World Cup and apartheid. Very interesting mix. Though to be fair, from living here, I am not sure it is okay to still completely hold the apartheid thing over their heads. While discrimination and racism still exists here, they are a far cry from 1994.

So Senor Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa has been invited to the next BRIC summit in Beijing the April. While many are in favor of South Africa’s rise on the world stage, some question it’s small fraction in population compared to other BRIC nations and the fact that it’s economy remains approximately ¼ of that of Russia. South Africa: -2. On the other side of things, South Africa does have a comparable equity market to that of Russia around $718 billion. Okay South Africa: -1. But, back to the other side, Russia is the only major energy exporter of the BRIC nations and unfortunately that does not help South Africa. Now, South Africa: -2 again. Okay, but South Africa sits in a position of serious importance on the continent of Africa, with 25% of all of Africa’s GDP. S.A. is also a top producer in the world for commodities like gold, copper, and platinum (every girl’s dream) and a producer of oil from coal and natural gas (that sounds like energy exports to me). Whoo into the positives, I’m giving South Africa: 2. That energy discussion has me slightly confused.  

Okay enough of the economic talk, lets discuss how South Africa is not only a powerhouse in Africa, it also works to combine the current divide between east and west. It is a liberal, democratic country, with a strong sense of history and culture (which I think could be slowly disappearing with its westernization), and from the World Cup a pretty strong infrastructural system in place. I mean I don’t count all those dirt, bumpy roads you have to take to get to their national parks and reserves; just the forty billion different highways running in circles around Johannesburg.

Okay time for the world’s commentary. One person says, “the answer is no, Africa is just a doomed continent.” Very eloquently said and obviously a well researched position. Another, “but yes, we still all ride giraffes to work and walk around with nothing but underwear made from reeds.” While this may be true for him, I currently ride an elephant most days, though when I am late I grab my cheetah. Instead of underwear made of reeds, I prefer butt-flaps made of animal hide and a coconut bra. Proud Africa responds, “YES!!!!!!!! SOUTH AFRICA DESERVES TO JOIN BRIC! SO IT SHOULD BE CHANGED TO BRICS! SOUTH AFRICA HAS DONE A FINE JOB WITH WHAT IT HAS…CONGRATULATIONS TO SOUTH AFRICA.” Wow, here we have some serious excitement. Okay and finally my favorite. “This is a joke, right? (S.A. being added to the BRIC economies) The Africans are still living in Jurassic Park. They have no abilities in all the crucial areas to be an economic powerhouse: No technology. No mass skilled labour. No financial (spelled wrong in her response) and marketing prowess. No nothing, except a lot of brawns to win Olympic medals in the events where brute force is the name of the game.” Oh, sweet sweet Sharon, you are so right, which is why I am sitting in Africa reading CNN.com and posting my blogs, checking my Facebook, uploading all of my work to Google Docs, and updating the office calendar in Google Calendar.  They also have no financial prowess, okay, so that would explain why I see the big four accounting firms everywhere I go and all the major financial firms. If I were you I would look out for those brawns because they most likely can out run you and beat you down with their pinky fingers.

Come on people, get it together. Maybe in addition to getting education for all, we need to consider re-educating some of the Western populations. Or, better idea, let's take some of the Western education and give it to those who cannot currently get an education. It might go farther. 

Education for All

Over the past 3 weeks I had an opportunity to travel through 3 different African countries and have 3 totally different experiences. While those experiences will be documented in my travel blog (because I was traveling), I wanted to take an opportunity to discuss some of the very interesting African people I met along the way. I bring this up because almost every person that I got into conversation with that was African in decent, fascinating, smart, and really sort of blew me out of the water.

My first day in Tanzania, amid the heat, the stress, and the craziness, I sought solace in an internet café where I met a 22-year-old Rwandan girl, whose family moved to Tanzania about 6 years earlier. For those of you who may have spent your life living in a hole, it is important to know and understand that Rwanda is a small East African country that was plagued by genocide ending in 1994, which at the very least claimed the lives of 800,000 people or as much as 20% of their population. It is a nation that for many years was classified as a lost cause, but in recent years has tried jump up on the world stage, finding some semblance of stability.  Through a quick blossom of friendship, I learned that this girl was heading for a job interview in Dar el Salaam with one of the major banks there. After talking I learned that she was just looking for a job at the time, but really wanted to eventually move into the non-profit sector and do something a little more meaningful. She really wants to give back to her fellow Africans and to the communities that need it the most.  Learning this piece of information even threw me off a little because of all of the stereotypes that exist about Africans.

On Zanzibar Island, off the coast of Tanzania, floating in the crystal clear waters of Ningwe, I met a man from Tanzania, who works as a non-profit lawyer in Dar Es Salaam and got his Master’s from a university in Johannesburg. We enjoyed a long conversation discussing the differences among African nations and people. We then met his friend, also Tanzanian, also working in law around the cause of HIV/AIDS, another friend from Botswana, and a third friend from South Africa working and living in British Columbia, Canada. In Swaziland, while reading a poem carved into a stone column explaining that while we all may look different on the exterior, deep down we all share the common bond of being human, I met a man from Zimbabwe. He was working for a John Hopkins medical hospital/project in Swazi. He did his medical internship in Texas and got his medical degree from a school in South Africa. Again we had a nice discussion about a bunch of different African nations and the people (a common theme). Finally in Clarens in the Free State of South Africa, I met a group from Joburg and together we enjoyed champagne and rang in 2011. This group included two sisters who grew up between Lesotho and Botswana, completed undergraduate degrees from universities in the Northeast of the United States and now lived in Joburg. One of the sisters, with a background in Chemistry, was working on starting up her cosmetic company (she explained that she was having fun, but was slow to start making money), while the other one got her Doctoral degree from a school in London in Economics and was working at a university in Joburg teaching economics. Her husband grew up in South Africa and studied at Dartmouth and began working with Morgan Stanley upon graduation and still works with them today. Quite an interesting, intelligent, and diverse group of people if I may say so myself.

There are so many people who believe that Africa is a lost cause and it is because of the people. Yes, I have actually seen that comment on different news articles I have browsed.  Luckily, I have had been blessed enough to meet and see for myself that if Africans have the means and the opportunities that they are just as capable as anyone from a Western country. I am not going to lie, for me it is really intimidating to meet a well-educated black person. The first time this really happened for me was when I met the inter-port student from Ghana on Semester at Sea. He was one of the most well educated and articulate 20-year-olds I had ever met. Something that fascinated me was that you could throw any question you had about his country and its history, etc. and he knew the answer. I am pretty sure if you ask me or most other Americans questions (I know this is true for me because it happens all the time) that we will not know the answer.

The Ghanaian boy, Rwandan girl, Tanzanian man, Zimbabwean man, the Sesotho (of Lesotho) sisters, and the South African man come from a families that were financially stable and economically able to send them to good schools throughout their lives and provide them with educational opportunities that will propel them ahead in life. Sometimes I believe that is what is really comes down to. Education. This is something that Nicholas Kristof, columnist and blogger for the New York Times constantly touches on, a deep set belief of Greg Mortenson who is working to educate those in remote villages of Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to foster peace and a cause that Queen Rania of Jordan works to promote.  If you haven’t heard of Nicholas Kristof, I highly suggest you google him and read some of his columns, if you haven’t heard of Greg Mortenson then again I highly suggest you pick up his books: Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools. While you are educating yourself of the education of the world, it would also be a great idea to sign Queen Rania of Jordan’s One Goal Petition that was started and rolled out during the 2010 World Cup in order to fight for education for all. Currently “There are 69 million children out of school across the world. That's more than all the children that are primary school across Europe, USA, Canada, Australia combined. The world has the opportunity to ensure that every child has an education, and the chance to beat poverty.” Anyways as Nike says “Just do it.” It will take 2 minutes of your time.

So the question still remains: Can Africa move forward? While my interesting friend from Stone Town in Zanzibar has his doubts, I think that he along with all of the other Africans I met along the way prove that with the right opportunities, healthy family lives, dreams and strong educational background, that Africans do have the means to head right into the 21^st century.