Two Worlds in One

The other day I had an everyday, yet enlightening experience.  The country of South Africa has the greatest wealth gap among all the nations in the world.  It is most realized in the cities where slums are sometimes on the other side of a wall from gated communities where houses rival the grandeur of many in the U.S. (even the area I’m from).  However it is also around national parks and private game reserves that the magnitude of lifestyles is truly black and white.  Wealthy South Africans and foreign tourists spend upwards in the thousands of US dollars to stay at fancy resorts or rent gorgeous cottages with gorgeous views of wildlife and scenery.Yet just outside the guarded gates and electric fences (intended for both man and beast) local people are living the most basic of lives, most absent of income or employment.  

Living here you would think it would be hard to forget about the majority of the country living beside you in such poverty, a lifestyle none of us can imagine. However, admittedly it is easy to put that reality out of your mind and continue with your own life and troubles. 

 

The Soweto slum outside Johannesburg

The other day my friend and I pulled out of the cobblestone lined driveway rot ironed guarded gate of his timeshare to go to Kruger National Park, the music was blasting, the sunglasses were on, and life seemed euphoric.  So when the group of 4 young black boys, not older than 7-8 years old standing on the corner all gave us the finger and shouted Swati swears at us, our immediate response was astonishment and irritation.  My friend said a few things about them and then I had a moment of clairvoyance.

I don’t blame the kids.  I am the epitome of their envy.  Everything I have in my life is everything they desire and will most probably never have. 

I have more than one shirt, pants, and pair of shoes. I went to a school that I didn’t have to walk 5 miles to in the early morning and when I got there, there was a competent teacher and books to use.  I own a bicycle. If I get sick I can afford to see a doctor and receive surgery or basic medicine.  I had more money in my pocket than they may ever earn in their lifetime.  The list goes on and on. 

 

Boys in a slum I visited 3 years ago

But perhaps the saddest thing for me to consider was that these boys had probably never seen an elephant, which on the other side of the wall they stood next to there were some 17,000.  They likely would never get a chance to go into the park they lived next to and see the amazing natural beauty that they were born into. And because of that, why should they care about that world of exclusive entrance and magnificence.  Why should they not poach or be concerned with the wildlife issues that they are in the midst of.  Their whole lives a Garden of Eden and a land of plenty lay beyond an electric fence and a locked gate, to which they did not and would not have to the key to.

It’s a depressing reality that the world will likely never be a fair and equal place.  Where the happenstance of where one is born would not hinder ones experiences and quality of life.  However, the wealth gap in Southern Africa and most other countries around the world is only growing and with it rifts of misunderstanding, prejudice, and racism.  

Those boys did not chirp us because we were white, they did so because life isn’t fair, because they were born in a hut made of cardboard and stones and I in a top notch Yale New England hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut.  

It is experiences like this that few living in the modern world get to experience and the few who do likely will not carry with them everyday.  However I know I carry those boys with me in my mind.  While I may forget them from time to time, they remind me not to take two servings when I will only eat one and not to waste what could be used for something else. But most importantly I’m reminded that not matter how bad my life is, I will always have more than them and therefore I have no reason to be unthankful or entitled or upset….I am humbled by their existence and appreciative of every experience I have.