From the past - South Africa

Sanibonani abangani! (Hello friends!)

I hope you are doing well, and enjoying good weather. It is very sad to hear about President Reagan's death, but I've been reading that it is going to be quite an event this week in DC. How long has it beensince a president last died? And was given such an eventful funeral?I wonder if "Gorbi" will be attending.

At any rate, life for me has been pretty good, and as always, full of entertaining and absurd experiences. It is the dead of winter here now… very cold, in our homes and outside. So last night, I went tothe opening of a new restaurant. It was a most incongruous time, as I was sipping wine and having French cheese, at a new sushi restaurant in South Africa listening to an "irish" duo playing downhome southern fiddling, all the while being huddled around a little fire – the same kind that the homeless people use to keep warm on the streets. I suppose the only real difference was that my wine was in a glass, and not a brown bag… :) Go figure.

Speaking about the homeless, I've been continuing to go once a week to a mobile soup kitchen and medical unit, which goes around the city center helping people out. The purpose of the evening is not to give out soup and bread, which we do, nor to supply them with some basic medical care, but to "restore dignity" to the homeless, by talking to them, finding out how their situations have changed recently, etc. But, last week, I joined the medical team for the first time, as I have the same skills and qualifications as those who regularly do it. It was a really difficult experience, because I had to come to grips with the fact that we weren't giving any kind of preventative treatment, nor even really treating the ailments they had, but justbeing compassionate and palliative. To give someone who has brokenher foot a few Advil and an ace bandage doesn't really cut it,but that is just what I did. A walking cast would have cost R1000, and even suggesting it is absurd, but even the homeless here do not trust the government hospitals to help them.

On a lighter note, about 3 weeks ago, before it got really cold, my housemates and I threw a party. But this wasn't just any party– itwas a proper, American style, house party with DJ's, a club quality sound system, chips and dip, and it lasted until 5am! For South Africa, it was a huge event, because I think we threw the most multicultural party many of the guests had seen in a long time. Granted, they only realized that once they got over the fact that "This is not a braai, It's a House Party." The title wasnecessary, because in SA, people expect meat at a party. (A braai is a BBQ). It may be 11pm, but they still think the grill will be on. Now, we cannot afford to provide beverages for the 80 guests, let alone meat… but that took some getting used to for our hungrier guests. It was, however, hands down the most successful house party I have ever thrown or attended!

You might wonder why I'm so excited about a party, but the thing is, it was a goal that my roommates and I had had for some time, as we were having trouble meeting people and making friends. Our goal was to make 1 friend a week, and throw aparty when we had a critical mass of invitees! :) With that in mind, 80 people dancing outside and in until 4am to the musical stylings of my friends E Plus, VS, G Sparks and "Jam Master" J ain'tbad. To prove that I do work, sometimes, I'll have to show all of you my South African TV debut, which occurred this Sunday. A few weeks ago, I organized a workshop for 40 young people from around the country,who have the potential to become social entrepreneurs. (I work forAshoka, the big daddy of all Social Entrepreneurship). One of our fellows is a TV star, so she brought along a film crew, and proceededto put the young people, and the workshop, on her show: "Spirit Sundae". So, yes, my TV debut was on a pseudo-religious Sunday morning talk show, that no one except old people probably watches. Unfortunately, the program was all about the soft stuff – the dreams and goals of the youth, etc… and failed to capture the intricacies of organizing a self-catering workshop at a camp in the mountains in Africa.

See, Africans don't think of camp food as sandwiches and hotdogs. No, sadly, they see camp as a chance to eat things like chicken curry, stew, fried chicken, and meat with every meal. Even more sad (or funny, depending on how you look at it) was that by an unfortunate turn of events, I was in the kitchen for every meal, cooking, supervising, and generally being a nuisance, since I wanted to make sandwiches, but others decided that we would be having pap and stew. The end result – I definitely broke and scrambled 120 eggs each morning for breakfast, spent 4 hours one afternoon fryingchicken, and was unsuccessful in convincing the (self appointed) camp matriarch that it would be much easier to have a meal of hot dogs and potato salad, than to defrost and hack up 10 whole chickens, make it into some kind of soup, and put the hot dog rolls on the side. :)

In order to fully embrace the non-profit experience, I went to an event a few nights ago where we talked about the "corporate game" –or the rules that are present and played by in the corporate world,and what changes each of us would like to see. The idea is to spur people into creating the change they want to see. One of the presenters was a young guy who is the head of "Corporate Social Responsibility" for Anglo-Gold/Debeers conglomerate. But, his path to such a fun, Santa Claus like position was a really interesting one. After he finished university and got a BCom, he worked for a mining house for a while. But he was wracked with all kinds of moral dilemmas and stuff. So, he decided to move to London, and explore the 3 stereotypes he had heard regarding `success'. His momma told him, when he was younger, that if he didn't do well in school, he'd end up as a street sweeper. So, he decided to try it out, and see how bad it really was. When he was in university, the running joke was that all of the social science students would spend a livingsaying `do you want fries with that?', so he then decided towork at a McDonalds. And lastly, when he was in the mining industry, all of the bosses used to say that they had worked their way up from the mailroom. Seeing as how this must have been the seat of power, he decided to check it out, and took a job in a mailroom of a large building. The only thing he found out was all of the gossip in the office… maybe that is the way to power. :) Well, I don't want to bore anyone with the adventures of Nirali,b utI hope you got a chuckle or two. Keep emailing me when you can –I really enjoy getting your messages, even if I can't always respond back very quickly. And, for those who are getting ready to plan vacations, I've become an expert at driving on the wrong side of the rode, and am getting good at my Zulu (although my English is certainly suffering!). Just food for thought. :) Peace!