Bafana Bafana

Two very unfortunate things have happened in my budding literary career... 1) I’ve stopped writing in my journal. After faithfully keeping a journal since my teenage years, in the past two years I have somehow stopped completely. And 2) I’ve stopped writing blog updates. Equally as tragic, I haven’t written a new blog in ten months. And somehow it seems that my life is passing, unrecorded. I’m not sure why I’ve stopped writing. Perhaps it’s because life here has become somewhat less shocking and new than when I first moved here.

But now I will commit myself to at least attempting to keep the blog more up-to-date. There is a lot to update you on from the last 10 months. Many of you will already know much of this, so you can just skim this update part and go onto the rest.

Let’s see... in September I travelled to a conference on Inclusive Education in Germany to present a paper that I co-authored on education strategies for children with disabilities in developing countries. The conference was in Dusseldorf, which I loved, and then after the conference I hopped on a train to Berlin to spend a couple days there. I really enjoyed what little I saw of Germany, and even got to use some of the limited German that I remembered from my high school days. But as is often the case with travelling, this brief visit gave me an itch for travelling and I hope to someday return to Europe and do some backpacking. We shall see...

Then in October, my boyfriend Langa popped the question! We are now in the midst of planning an August 2010 wedding in Rochester, NY, which will be followed by South African celebrations here later in 2010. It’s funny that I feel comfortable writing about my feelings of homesickness, my experiences of culture shock, my travel adventures, and all other emotions that I experience, but when it comes to mushy things like love, I feel less inclined to share my feelings on such a public forum. So let me just say, we are exceedingly happy and I can’t wait to be Mrs. Mchunu.

In December, Langa and I travelled with his best friend Nkululeko (also known by his nickname Champ) to America for a visit. During our one month in the US we travelled to Las Vegas, Philadelphia, DC, Delaware, New Jersey, New York City, Denver, and Rochester. It was a whirlwind visit, but we were able to see a lot of wonderful people and visit a lot of wonderful places.

So those are the big highlights from the last 10 months. Work is going well. I continue to work as a researcher. I am currently working on two projects: one looking at special education policy in KwaZulu-Natal province and the other monitoring our new HIV prevention programme in high schools. I really feel very fortunate to have had the chance to work at MIET for the last 2 years and have learned more than I ever imagined I could have.

So that is a very abbreviated version of what has happened since my last update in July 2009. And now onto what is most of interest to me (and to all of South Africa) at the moment... The 2010 Soccer World Cup! For those of you who don’t know, the World Cup will be hosted in South Africa next month, and South Africans have spoken of little else for the last 6 years. The big looming question now is whether or not South Africa is ready... will the transport system be able to handle the tourists? Will crime run rampant? Will all of the games sell-out?

Many South Africans have very strong opinions of the World Cup. I am a bit torn. On the one side there is the sceptic camp... those who see the millions of dollars that are being poured into building “world class” stadiums and wondering whether this money might be better used addressing the health, housing and education concerns of the country. There are other development issues connected to the World Cup... like the buses that will drive around the city picking up street children, who will then be dropped off outside of the city centre to present a better picture of South Africa for tourists; aka one without hungry children begging for food on street corners. Basically, trying to hide the poverty, rather than addressing the real issues that cause the poverty. And then the question of why the country can spend money improving the transportation and policing systems for tourists. Shouldn’t they have done this for South African citizens in the first place? Why do we need to wait until there are some foreigners who need to be transported and protected to improve services?

And then there is the vuvuzela blowing, flag waving side of the story. Hosting the World Cup is a great source of pride for South Africans, and for the African continent (this is the first World Cup ever to be held in Africa). Perhaps the event will increase tourism and increase respect internationally for South Africa. Every Friday, South Africans are encouraged to wear Bafana Bafana jerseys (Bafana Bafana is the name of the national soccer team and means "boys boys"). It is wonderful to walk around on Friday and see many people of all races wearing bright yellow shirts to show their pride in their country. And to see the South African flags waving out of car windows. This has been a wonderful example of positive nation-building. But as has been pointed out, national pride and impressive stadiums do not feed the hungry...

After 6 years of preparation... the World Cup will officially open in about 2 weeks time. Games will take place in various cities throughout the country for one month, culminating in the final match in Jo’burg in July. I’m hoping for a US-South Africa face-off in the final, but only time will tell. But after spending 6 years of preparation and 6 years of talking about little else besides the World Cup, the real question is... what will South Africans have to talk about after the World Cup is over???