Greetings from Sandton (suburb of Johannesburg) South Africa! Our team arrived last Friday night after an overnight flight to Amsterdam and then an 11 hour flight to Johannesburg. Africa has definitely been an experience so far. Before coming to Africa I expected the traditional image of rural villages, lack of infrastructure, and low standards of living. That image was quickly dropped after a trip to Sandton City Mall and spotting the local Aston Martin dealership.
The story we found out behind Sandton is that after the fall of apartheid many of the businesses were concerned about unrest in Johannesburg and moved to the suburb of Sandton, making it the financial hub of much of the money coming into Sub-Saharan Africa. Even with the upscale stores, we have experienced two periods where we did not have running water in the hotel and are actually hoping the water comes back on today after going off yesterday.
The image of Sandton was quickly contrasted by our visit on Wednesday to an area outside of Johannesburg known as Orange Farm. Touring a youth center, a clinic, and a school reinforced that inequality is a huge issue and the rising tide is not raising all ships. Students spoke of not having enough food, and youth out of school spoke of the lack of opportunity and the burdens of poverty. When visiting the school we were treated to a debate between two schools discussing if all people should have equal rights even though they are so different. The students spoke with such confidence and passion it was great to hear the voices of the people who will determine the future of South Africa.
Our project is going well and we are looking at ways to increase the distribution of UNCUT, loveLife's magazine targeted to the youth population. In our visits to the clinic and youth center we spoke with people there and heard how much they liked UNCUT and the impact it could have and it gave greater meaning to the importance of increasing access and distribution to the information in UNCUT. This weekend we will be taking a quick break to visit Cape Town and hopefully ride to the top of Table Mountain and tour Robben Island.
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