Work is picking up:

This week I visited the 8 schools I will be working come January. I have had warm receptions by principals. Some I have been amazed at their commitment and their attempts to support the needs of students, but many are burnt out and the schools show it. I get very strange looks by folks who see a white guy driving through the townships by himself.

I have only felt threatened once. On a Saturday afternoon I was taking a student home from Marimba practice. I had given him a bike that had been donated. As we pulled up to his place (he lives by himself at age 17 because both his parents died of AIDS), and I said hello to a 8 guys across the street who were walking up to the car he told me to start driving because we were about to be robbed. Well....nothing happened, and I learned a lesson about trusting your instinct and not your good intentions always.

I don't stop to ask for directions in the myriad of dirt roads.....I just keep moving untill I find the school or a police officer. I don't live in fear, but do drive a bit more cautiously. Within the gates of the school or amongst my amaxhosa friends, I am fine because people know what I am about. My best safety has been in the relationships I have built thus far.

Most folks that live in the townships are wonderful and kind people, however as poverty remains an issue and as people live within the trap of finding excuses and feeling they are owed something, there are an increasing number of desperate folks who see race as a reason to make demands or rationalize why helping each other is not an option. It is hard not to be racist in South Africa. Socio-economic status, cultural differences, and decades of hurt has put a haze of indifference to the real issues beyond race. Education, social engagement, and people taking ownership of the issues in their community both black and white are necessary to get past the race card that is played so often here.