| JOHANNESBURG--"Are
you Chinese?" inquired a young South African
man standing next to me in the elevator bank
of the Sandton Convention Center. "I have
slanty eyes too."
Normally,
I would have considered such a statement a grave
racial affront, coming from the United States,
where every group, whether racial, ethnic, political,
even farcical has politically correct designations.
However, he, like many of the amiable locals
I have met, managed to deftly disarm me with
an innocent smile and curious gaze.
After
introducing himself as Jonas Kgbela,
he explained that he lived just around
the corner from the Sandton Convention
Center and was trying to find his way
to the post office in order to mail some
letters for his mom. He beamed, explaining
that he was off from school for the duration
of the World Summit on Sustainable Development,
but was a little perplexed as to what
the whole hullabaloo was about. I threw
out some terms like "sustainable
development" and "neo-liberalism," but
if you have ever tried to explain nebulous
UN vocabulary to a stranger, you know
it is rather difficult to do over a cup
of tea. I noticed that he sported some
rather flashy and fashionable labels
such as a Diesel shirt, jeans, and polished
black boots.
"I have my own agent," said
Jonas.
Noticing that my eyebrows shot up like
geysers, he quickly explained that he
was a right wing striker on a youth soccer
team and received 200 rand per game (approximately
$20). Furthermore, he told me that older,
more experienced players earned up to
600 rand.
Jonas,
like many of South Africa's underprivileged
youth, has discovered they can find great
opportunity in competition sports such
as soccer, rugby, and golf. "All
my friends play soccer," he said. "They
all tell me to not do drugs and stay
in school." His interested are not
only limited to sports as he explained
that he was taking classes in information
technology in his private school, St.
Paul's. To a stranger, I imagine we both
looked rather ridiculous sitting in the
palazzo of the Sandton Center. He enthusiastically
spitting out information and I frenetically
taking notes, trying to learn all I could
about this foreign country that I had
landed in. But perhaps, among those larger,
more "important" initiatives
being launched by heads of states at
this conference, there is room to recognize
the smaller, more personal interchange
that occurs daily between sometimes slanty-eyed
foreigners and locals alike.
|
