Everytime someone asks me what my favorite thing about South Africa is, I say it’s how everyone is so willing to engage. My entire time here, I have encountered so many people, both before and after the start of our program, that are eager to talk, argue, and share. Most notable of these people, though, are the Uber drivers that have taken me from place to place in this beautiful country. Before the program started, I was here for a couple weeks by myself, and I was so eager to find people to converse with. I’d ask a question, usually “What do you think of the elections?” This was mostly to bolster my own knowledge of the subject, but I was fascinated, and in admiration of, the fact that people would share their thoughts so openly. I feel so many conversations I have in the US are mired in vague phrases and recycled opinions. Anyways, topics of conversation would spiral, ranging from Nelson Mandela’s contributions to the ANC, marriage, ethnic conflict, relationships, and immigration. I’m including my most memorable conversations here in no particular order (and definitely not chronological!):
- The Zimbabwean who wants all african Americans to come to SA, wouldn’t stop quoting Bad Boyz 2, and kept saying the n-word!
- The time we as a group were coming back from Montecasino, and the guy driving us offered to take us to Cape Town, told us (but didn’t tell us) about the “game” he was running, and wanted to marry me?
- The time we came back from Fourways, and the man driving us asked me for a beer, got slightly upset when I said no, and then proceeded to litter out the window?
- The Soweto lover who said “welcome to jozi” with the biggest smile on his face! This was at the beginning of my time in South Africa, so I felt really welcomed.
- The Somali man who literally could not drive. At all. I had to get out of the car.
- The Somali man who asked me for my number because we have the same noses (East African check!)
- The Somali man who CLOCKED that I was Eritrean!
- When I was coming back home from an art festival and the man driving me literally got a flat tire. This has quite literally never happened to me before, so a memorable experience. I had to walk home.
- The guy who was an MK party and Jacob Zuma supporter, but he “doesn’t like Zulus.” When probed, he repeated that statement. Do we think that’s contradictory?
- The man who asked me, “why don’t you move to South Africa? The US has nothing for you!” I think he’s correct.
Surveys with approved methodologies! Don’t ask!
- 5 uber drivers were sick of the ANC. Most of them were huge of EFF and DA supporters. One was ActionSA!
- 2 men liked the ANC! However, they did not want them to win the majority because “the ANC needs to be scared into doing something.”
- Oftentimes, I would get asked where I was from. Like, from from. I would say Eritrea, and interestingly enough, 95% of Uber drivers have never heard of Eritrea (shoutout the 2 Somali guys who did know. Yall are holding it down. But not really since we are all on the horn). But 100% have heard of Ethiopia! :/
Lovely story:
- Before coming here to SA, I was warned about the crime here. I didn’t really enjoy these warnings, despite their validity, as I felt they kind of added to this narrative of danger on the continent I didn’t appreciate. But, after being warned by LOCALS, I heeded the warnings. The biggest thing I was told? HIDE MY PHONE! A couple of days before I had to fly to Durban, I left my phone in an uber. When I realized, I immediately thought it was over for me. But I contacted him, and within MINUTES, he returned it to me. Tobias, you ANGEL, THANK YOU KING — <3
I don’t know why it feels so hard to strike up conversation in the US, and yet here I feel the people are so willing to learn and grow and are so ACTIVE (shoutout Emma)! When I think of Africans, and the type of person that carries this “Africanness,” I think of the word active. This word is what I think of when I talk to Elon, my roommate, every single night. This word reminds me of one of my best friends, Ushuu. She’s Oromo, the largest tribe in Ethiopia (and where the dance Elon and I did, Shagoyee, comes from!), and breathes life into every little action she does, and every conversation she has. I also think of another one of my best friends, Edwin. He’s Zimbabwean, Shona specifically, and he is bursting at the seams with ACTION! He is constantly eager to do, learn, engage. I love my best friends for their activeness, I treasure them for it — I want to be just like them! And being here in this country I have met so many people like them. What a gift! One of my favorite chapters I’ve read, “African Unity” in Towards the African Revolution by Frantz Fanon, has a passage that is what, to me, South Africans embody.
“…. But the sun is still very high in the heavens and if one listens with one ear glued to the red earth, one very distinctly hears the sound of rusty chains, groans of distress, and the bruised flesh is so constantly present in this stifling noonday that one’s shoulders droop with the weight of it. The Africa of everyday, oh not the poet’s Africa, the one that puts to sleep, but the one that prevents sleep, for the people is impatient to do, to play, to say. The people that says: I want to build myself as a people, I want to build, to love, to respect, to create. This people that weeps when you say: I come from a country where the women have o children and the children no mothers and that sings: Algeria, brother country, country that calls, country that hopes. That is the real Afirca, the Africa that we had to let loose int eh continental furrow, in the continental direction. The Africa that we had to guide, mobilize, launch on the offensive. This Africa to come.”
