Adventures of South Africa

Well, I just returned home 2 weeks ago to the States from South Africa. While home has been in the sweltering heat, it was winter time in South Africa! Again, I visited another country during their winter (Peru in 2011). I will not make this a habit.

South Africa is intriguing. Yes, it may have its social ills, injustices, economical woes, and political corruption like any other country, yet the humanity (and some of the places I visited) is what is beautiful. The diversity, as you know I love, stands out clearly. People are of all shades and colors, and simply identify as African or South African, as opposed to White South African, etc. For the most part, I felt the warmth and genuine sincerity of people, and others not so much. People also really know and understand their history, which was refreshing for me because it doesn't seem to be the case in the U.S. Something else that was amazing is that generally, people in South Africa appeared more open and willing to discuss difficult things, such as race relations, their traumatic history with Apartheid, race/sex differences, etc. It made me question why the U.S. seems so concerned with forgetting or "getting over" our traumatic history or neglect to acknowledge the current lingering effects. This is not a comparitive analysis of the two countries, as I do not like to do that, but rather it is a reflection of my experience. I appreciated also how people admitted that their perspectives or experiences were just that...theirs, meaning that it does not represent everyone. I strongly believe this because we all have different life experiences and viewpoints.The issue is when we attempt to impose those onto others or judge/mistreat them if/when different than our own.

I visited several organizations to see how they serve their populations, and to see how 'psychology' is viewed or done. I was in the affluent areas as well as the underserved areas. These organizations included schools, shelter for those without homes, community center for youth, etc. We had a group project to reflect upon that which we learned and offer interventions, part of International Psychology when consulting with clients. Traveling throughout the country from the north in Johannesburg and Pretoria all the way to the south in Cape Town (and the countryside) and back north, the biggest lesson that was confirmed for me is that people are just people...point, blank, period. If only we could recognoze this, perhaps there would be less division.

To be continued...