T.I.A (This Is Africa)………….

………..Or should it read …… OIA (Only In Africa)

I think one can write a book on things that you can’t make up but do seem to only happen in Africa.

Thought I would share a few that I have had the joy to experience and just feel like I want to laugh or cry over.

There is an advert both on TV and radio. The advert is for a whistle blower phone number to report Telkom (Telecommunications provider like BT in the UK) cable theft. Theft of phone cables is costing industry here millions and it’s also costing life where people can not place a simple phone call to the emergency services. This has been going on for years so nothing new there. But the bit that does make me laugh about this advert is at the end of the advert it says “Call 0800 ….. from a landline” hang on a moment from a landline – the very landline that your reporting stolen ? HOW! Someone did not give that much thought I feel. I am sure it can also be phoned from a cell (mobile) phone but why emphasize the landline bit I really don’t know.

Mom told me a sweet story the other day about a labour at the complex they stay in. My dad answered a knock on the door the other day to find Simon with a parcel in his hands. The parcel was wrapped up in paper and masking tape. As Simon’s English is not too good my Dad could not work out what he was on about. Dad’s first thought was that Simon was trying to sell him something. This was far from the case. Simon had been given some ice-cream and he was looking for somewhere to keep it till he went home. Mom explained to him that they could not keep it long as they were going out. He was happy with that. When it came for Mom and Dad to go out they found Simon to give him his ice-cream. As they were going out the saw Simon knocking on doors looking for another place to store his ice-cream. The story just reminded me of a scene from “Ice-Age” where “Scrat” it trying to keep hold of his cherished wall nut.

Been walking around the shops and meeting people here and every one seems to be so happy. Yes there is a lot of bad things going on. Crime is off the scale inflation is at 10%. But people here seem to just get on with it and smile. I got to experience load shedding the other day. Load shedding is Eskom’s way of trying to save on fuel for power. Basically Eskom is in a bit of a power struggle at the moment with the country not having enough power. They were warned years ago that this would happen but did not react. The power went off from just after 11am till around 15:30. People who had laptops carried on working till there batteries died. Others made appointments to see people who had power or did not need power to do what ever it was that they wanted to. But I did not hear any one complaining about it. Its just a way of life. Actually someone said to me that this was a good way to show that South Africa was growing too fast that Eskom could not keep up with demand. One way of looking at it I guess. Always the African way – look to the positive.

As a result of all this development South Africa is having to import cement to aid in the building of stadiums and infrastructure for the 2012 football world cup. Southern Africa has a shortage of cement as a result.

I think you will find that as the rest of the world try and find ways of taxing people for the power they use and there CO2 footprint and the likes. It will be a power saving/ clean energy idea that will come out of southern Africa and it will save the economic crisis and solve all our ecological power issues in one go. Just you wait – after all – THIS IS AFRICA! Stranger things have happened. PowerGen Wind up radios are made here (or where) Ok it’s a UK invention but South Africa helped make it happen and I think they will make it happen again.

On the subject of making it happen – it’s a very African thing that – “Boer maak ‘n plan” (A farmer makes a plan)

To see some views of South Africa click here.

Photos taken from Ballito and en route back to Johannesburg just past Harrismith on the N3

Click here to see where Ballito is

Click here to see where Harrismith is.