Lost Innocence

My South African adventure was far more than a hunting trip or safari. It was like stepping back in time. I mentally took notice of many details of the people and their cultures on our trip. Even though Apartheid has been abolished in South Africa, segregation still exists within their society. This segregation is not the image of trying to maintain white ascendancy or separateness but that of the "blacks" and the "colored" segregating themselves from each other in practices, such as housing, etc. We got an education from our professional hunter that blacks were just that, a pure black race and colored's were a mixed race. The terms "blacks and colored" are used to describe each race in South Africa. I mentioned to Glen, our professional hunter, the term African American is used in our country and he asked why would they do that? I did not have an answer after all that I had witnessed in South Africa. We took a tour of the inner-city of Port Elizabeth, called the Real City Tour given by a black tour guide named Nelson. Yes, he was named Nelson after Nelson Mandella. Nelson took us to areas that could only be described as third world. These sites included: tin shacks made of old roofing material; children sitting in dirt; open markets with dead chickens laying on the ground for purchase; common water spigots for drinking water, bathing, bathroom, and laundry facilities placed periodically between the sheds; goats, chickens and dogs wandering between the sheds; new schools built by the state for the children; new houses being built to replace the tin sheds. Nelson, our tour guide, spoke with pride of the progress that has been made within his country to build new housing that consists of a concrete structure approximately 10' x 20' with an indoor toilet. All this housing is segregated by colored and blacks of their choosing, not the government. These houses are a vast improvement to the tin sheds and cardboard boxes currently used as housing. We were treated to dinner at one of their local pubs at the end of our tour. Although the meal was very meager, the hospitality was overwhelming. The pub owner asked us in very broken English where we were from and I was hesitant to respond out of fear because of all the media attention that somehow US citizens are hated worldwide. When I said we were from the United States, he stated emphatically that he loved George W. Bush. He said he loved Bush because our president freed the Iraqi people like Nelson Mandella had freed his people in South Africa. This feeling was echoed by our professional hunters who had also remarked that George Bush had saved the world from that madman, Saddam Hussein of Iraq. They remarked that they had seen the be-heading of the US citizen by terrorists on their TV sets and were outraged at the violence. These South Africans could not understand how our news media had sanitized our news and made the United States somehow seem evil in the eyes of the world when, in fact, the opposite is true. I will end by saying the innocence of the people of South Africa was truly refreshing and their humility was a virtue. This step back in time was a way to reflect on the United States and ask how we have lost our way and will be every regain that innocence again.