Hitting the Road

For the past two months I have been on holiday from university and have fully embraced "vacation mode"; sleeping in late, lounging on the beach, spending time with friends and family, and, yes, looking at my computer screen as little as possible.

In addition to these things, this December, I was fortunate to be able to go on two road trips from Cape Town to Durban. The first, I undertook with my boyfriend who had never been to any of the South African provinces other than the Western Cape, and the second with my mother and sister to visit our relatives in KwaZulu-Natal for Christmas.

Although our time on the road was excruciatingly long and tiresome, and flying would have been much easier, driving gives one a grounded perspective which I enjoy. Rather than jumping from one First World city to another, driving allowed me to see more of my beautiful country; the rugged tranquillity of the Karoo, the sunflower, wheat, and maize fields that stretch out for miles in every direction in the Freestate, the pristine coastlines of the Eastern Cape, the majestic Drakensberg mountains.

But driving also reminded me of the social and economic issues which persist in many parts of rural South Africa. Each small town we came upon presented a new, yet similar, set of challenges; hundreds of people lining up outside the banks to receive child, disability, and unemployment grants, dozens of men sitting on the side walk in the middle of the day waiting for some kind of work to present itself, children no older than five years old wandering on their own begging for anything.

These images are heartbreaking, yet important. I could have easily flown over them all and thought of nothing but my tan this holiday season, but driving reminds me that there is much more to South Africa than beaches, wine tours, and game parks. It reminds me of the reality which a large percentage of the population have to deal with. It reminds me of the importance of demanding social change for those who may not be in a position to demand it for themselves. It brings back into focus the necessity of pursuing utopia.

May 2012 bring you peace, health, and happiness and may we all be successful in our attempts to bring these things to others as well.