This is Africa

Life in Masi has been tense over the past few days.

On Thursday night we received calls from friends who live there and were hearing about the spread of xenophobic attitudes in the township.  One had attended a gathering of South Africans who determined to exert their nationalism.  They were pitching money towards the petrol they would use to burn the houses of foreigners.  My friend, who is Zimbabwean, kept quiet so that no one would know he was foreign.

Somalian shop owners were told by their customers that they would be returning later to loot their stores.

That night we drove in to pick up two of our friends, one Zimbabwean, one Nigerian.  The streets were lined with people and police cars.  Some were waiting for their bosses to collect them.  Others were plotting violence, waiting for an opportunity to loot, steal, and inflict pain.  Somalians, fearing for their lives, abandoned their businesses to looters.

Friday morning the police informed us that they had maintained peace during the night, “no one has been hurt.”

At the hospital we heard otherwise, “we had people in with knife and axe wounds.”

We went in search of Abdul and Maria, two friends of ours, and found a mass of their Somalian countrymen stranded outside Ocean View Police Station.  “Now you see what I was talking about.  You have to inform the international community of the way that our people are being treated,” said Abdi, a 60 year old Somalian man who had spent the night outside.

A church in Ocean View (the neighbouring township) who had opened their building as a haven for those fleeing Masi were upset to find Ocean View residents protesting outside.  “We don’t want these people here,” they were told.  Police had to intervene to stop the violence.

Our team has been trying to connect with the foreigners in Masi that we have relationships with.  Around twenty five of the ones we could find are now staying at our various homes while we wait for the violence to stop.

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Our balcony overlooks False Bay, which has a huge influx of whales between the winter months (May-August). We’ve been waiting in eager anticipation of our first sighting. Yesterday was the moment we’d all been waiting for. First we spotted one just off the coast, weaving up and down through the water. Today we saw two jumping.

Pictures to follow.

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I’m told that in Masiphumelele, the township where I currently work, the average monthly rent is 300 Rand.  That’s about £20.50.  The average daily pay for a housekeeper from one of the townships is 100 Rand, or £7.  There is very high unemployment, which has been linked with many an ugly issue, from theft to child prostitution.

Many people I know can afford to have a housekeeper or gardener if it will only set them back 100 Rand per week, and some see it as a great way of creating jobs.  I’ve been trying to figure out what I feel about this: is it exploitation to expect someone to work for a whole day for £7, when that represents 33% of their monthly rent?

On the one hand, without jobs people will starve or resort to crime, and jobs hold more dignity than handouts.  On the other, such a low ‘minimum wage’ forces people to remain in poverty: in sub-standard living conditions, with poor diet and limited life-prospects.

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On Tuesday I moved house.  Just when it seemed that everything had gone smoothly, the worst happened…

As we rounded the final bend, the 1988 VW Jetta (our only transport for the next 3 months) died and refused to restart.  Fortunately some friends came and rescued us, but we’re now without transport and 7km away from Masiphumelele - our outreach location!

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I signed a petition to Downing Street a few months ago to get the rate of VAT (Tax) on smoothies reduced, so that it matches that on other foodstuffs (including crisps and Hot Dogs).

Here’s the question:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to encourage people to get their five a day by cutting taxation on healthy fruit smoothies and juices to 5%.”

At the moment, all food (including things like hotdogs and crisps) is subject to a zero rate of tax. But people who want to make a healthy choice and buy smoothies and juices get taxed 17.5% VAT. It’s a simple step, and, as more and more people get their fruit in liquid form, it could make a big difference. Our research shows that at least 500 million more portions of fruit would be consumed each year if this happened. Since we all know that eating more fruit and veg is essential to being healthier, it makes sense to help people make positive choices.

And here’s the response from the Prime Ministers’ office:

To date the Government has been sparing in its use of VAT reduced rates and has only applied these where they are affordable, and provide the most effective and best-targeted support for the Government’s social objectives when compared with other policy instruments.

Dietary based taxes were considered by Derek Wanless in ‘Securing Good Health for the Whole Population’ -published in 2004. The report highlights a number of difficulties of principle and practice in any attempt to use the tax system to influence diet. Furthermore, European VAT rules require that in most cases, the same VAT rate is applied to all competing products. This limits the extent to which any new reduced rate could be targeted on the most healthy fruit drink. [Read More]

In other words: No.

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Over the past few days we’ve been finishing off the teaching phase of our training and setting our sights on the outreach phase. Many of us who have been working in Red Hill since the fires are moving on - some to Zanzibar, some to Transkai, others to Mozambique.

Thursday night we had a small farewell party at Red Hill - handed out chicken and cold drinks, opened the peace garden which one of the residents has built, and made known those who were staying on. It was emotional for many of us as we said our goodbyes and pondered the impact of our presence in the community.

For many of us Red Hill has been our first experience of working in a development situation, building from the bottom up and managing the various needs of the parties involved. It’s been stretching, but has really opened my eyes to a holistic approach to being a follower of Jesus.

I hope to visit Red Hill once a week, play pool with some of my friends at the Shabeen and visit Nick, Paula and Liana, who are going to be living in a shack there during the outreach phase.

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“If your start-up can only succeed by being a sweatshop, your idea is simply not good enough. Go back to the drawing board and come up with something better that can be implemented by whole people, not cogs.”

~A great post on the 37signals Blog.

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I’d like to introduce a site I just finished. It’s a magazine website that used to be called South of Sweden, but has just been renamed The Scandinavian Insider. It’s a Business and Lifestyle magazine focussed on Southern Scandinavia.

One of the biggest challenges was working with Expression Engine, a CMS that I’ve never used before. I’ve been very impressed with its ability to handle data, but there have been a few minor issues that took forever to solve.

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We spent today in Red Hill, a small township not far from where I’m living (in Cape Town) which has been devastated by fires over the weekend. 60 homes were completely destroyed. Our task for today was to clear away the rubble to make space for the new houses.

The task of rebuilding will be £400 per house. If you’d like to contribute, please let me know.

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