Sunday, September 07, 2008
An old visitor with a new look at the new South Africa
From the RoundTable blog
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Gulser lives in Roanoke and is a city planner.
From 1948 to 1994, apartheid, the Republic of South Africa's former policy of mandatory racial segregation, aroused a level of scorn among humanitarians typically reserved only for bloodthirsty dictators. Sadly, a beautiful country became solely associated with its ugly laws. By the 1980s, apartheid might as well have been the country's name, as it had grown to be exponentially larger than the life of its benefactors.
During the waning days of apartheid, I sailed to South African soil and spent four months, time that is still vividly etched in my mind's eye. As a crew member aboard a 32-foot sailboat, we docked at three different ports in the country while rounding Capes Aghulas and Good Hope. I was in the midst of a life-changing journey, and the shaping of history that I witnessed made it all the more so.
We set sail out of Cape Town three days prior to the country's first multiracial elections, in part out of fear of civil unrest that was expected by many on Election Day. I got the news of Nelson Mandela's election while in Luderitz, Namibia, the old regime's former protectorate next door. Mandela's election and the end of apartheid were rejoiced all over Africa. The New South Africa was born and its wicked stepmother laid to rest.
The end of apartheid was historically significant for several reasons and certainly relevant to the post-Cold War global order. It was a turbulent time for many, but a jubilant one for the vast majority of South Africans. While I had great times and became quite fond of the country, befriending hosts of several origins, my timely experience also influenced my academic and professional career. I would finish my masters degree six years later at Virginia Tech with a study of the country's post-apartheid housing policy. While in grad school I envisioned a career abroad, and I'd always hoped to return to South Africa.
After graduation, though, I found myself overdrawn in attachment to my roots and called to live in the valley my parents grew up in. After getting two job offers in one day, I declined both with the hope of landing the job that I now thankfully have in Roanoke.
Almost eight years later, my daily routine of reading The Roanoke Times has led me back to South Africa, this time as a team member of Rotary District 7570's Group Study Exchange.
As I read Shanna Flowers' column on Jan. 31 in which she interviewed GSE Chairman Ernie Bentley, an instant rush of excitement struck me as soon as I read about the trip to South Africa. I called Ernie that day on my lunch break and applied thereafter. Thanks to the Rotary Club for sponsoring the trip and the city of Roanoke for allowing me to take time off from my job, this Tuesday I'll be returning to a country that is to me truly a literal manifestation of an old cliche: So close yet so far away.
Fourteen years is long enough to bring significant changes anywhere in the 21st century, but in South Africa things were on a rapid course of change well before the end of apartheid. It can only be expected that the legacy of apartheid is now even more ubiquitous than the actual social structure of daily life was under its rule.
Of course, I'll be bringing with me the past 14 years of changes in my life, and will be looking for more subtleties and nuances of local life than I was before.
On a structured agenda over the next month, I'll tour various localities in Rotary District 9320, in the heart of the country. I'll visit with local government officials and Rotary members, while touring some of the townships, neighborhoods and public places that comprise the host district. I hope to get a good sense of how the last 14 years have changed the country overall, how its institutions and towns have changed, and how individuals from different ethnicities and segments of society feel today about the places they call home.
With pictures of my wife, Melanie, and the largest man-made star in the world, I will also proudly share the beauty of Roanoke with my hosts.
I won't be alone in sharing the Roanoke Valley. There are five team members. One, Heather Austin of Salem, asked team leader Dave Segars of Waynesboro why Rotary sends people on these trips.
"To be better citizens," Dave replied.
In the Rotarian spirit of public service, I aim to return in such form.
