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Indeed South-Africa is maybe the most 'western' African country, but there exists a big gap between the 'rich' and 'poor'.

One Day In Swaziland

Worldtravelstories
2006-04-04 21:07:05

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SWAZILAND, OCTOBER 2000 - Arriving in South-Africa, especially when landing in Johannesburg, seems like arriving in a major airport of the USA. You see the same high-rise buildings, the modern airport buidings with parking lots, taxi-spaces and rental cars... But what you also can see from the sky is the vast 'townships' that are all over the place near the big city. Indeed South-Africa is maybe the most 'western' African country, but there exists a big gap between the 'rich' and 'poor'.

The Kraal

On my trip I also visited the Kingdom Of Swaziland, which is an independent country in the interior of South-Africa. As soon as you cross the border, you notice the difference. Houses are poor, mostly only clay huts with a straw roof. The main road is sponsored by South-Africa. Besides this highway, mostly only dust roads is what you'll find. You see people walking along the side of the highway. We intended to visit a typical 'kraal' (local family housing). Of course people are used to tourists and know you'll have something to give away - as soon as the car has stopped, tens of children come out of nowhere... After our guide asked the inhabitants of the 'kraal' permission to visit their homes, we could enter their houses and look at their furniture, their entire household, their bed, etc... At some point, this was quite embarrasing, mostly for us - imagine people stopping right now in front of your house and asking if they could take a look around, entering your kitchen, bedroom and bathroom !

Gifts

But on the other hand, the gifts (worn clothes we wanted to throw away anyway - these are still better than the ones they wear - soap, shoes, ...) make them happy - and you can tell this is not acted. "In a way these people seem a lot happier than we do", I thought. I gave some boy - of about 15 years old I guess ...

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