Doing my Thing

Joint decision-making is hard. Particularly in many cases where two careers paths full of stakes in the ground are in competition. One advantage of my flexibility post work was that I could happily choose based on other constraints. 

Gemma was going on a tour of libraries to study how they were changing. Two of those stops were Scandinavian countries, and the balance in North America. I tagged along! (and changed/added a couple of stops). She would go to the libraries by bus, train, or car to get there quickly. I would walk to intentionally get there slowly. 

Urban hiking is cost-effective (money-wise) when you have the luxury of time (a different form of wealth). It allows you to experience places in a very different way. I could still write my blog (swartdonkey.blogspot.com), but it would be flavoured by the experiences of wherever I was. 

Instead of the rush of a traditional holiday which can be very expensive, where you feel obliged to pack as much in as possible, I could breathe. I didn’t view it as a normal holiday. I was just doing my thing in a different location. I didn't need a holiday from this way of life! 

I liked sitting in coffee shops and reading about the places I was in. Letting that inspire my next post. Seeing how that connected to and influenced the path my thoughts were on. 

While I was in Vancouver, I went to have coffee with an old colleague I used to ponder with in work breaks. He described the world as complex, random, and ambiguous. That struck a lasting chord with me.

Walking the Bridge

Fleet of Foot

No longer needing to apply for leave, my first act of independence post-work was to head off to Australia and New Zealand for two and a half months. I had sold all my anchors. I had a flat in Cape Town that I bought in 2006, but then had to move to Johannesburg for work, before I got the chance to live in it. It felt like what you are supposed to do according to the textbook wealth-building script. “Getting on the property ladder” as soon as you have a secure income you can borrow against. 

Having studied investments and having some political (are low interest rates transferring wealth from savers to borrowers?) and ethical (do we fundamentally want housing to get more expensive?) issues with property as an asset class, I believed listed businesses made for a better Engine. Equities also allow you to sell little bits rather than the whole thing (although there are property funds). Owning a house is illiquid. Turning it into cash, especially if you are in a hurry, can be an expensive challenge. Equities are part shares, easily exchanged for cash, if the businesses are sufficiently large with enough shares in the market. I sold my house and gave away a lot of my stuff to the charity store 400 meters down the road. 

The manager of the charity shop was pleased he had first choice of the DVD and CD collection I built up over the years. I was pleased I was more fleet of foot.

A Little Winey

When I was 19, I went to Europe for the first time. I was in the UK for 18 months before that working, and did my traveling in one big binge. 45 days camping tour around Europe with £20 a day of squirreled away spending money. Some of those days were traveling days where we spent almost nothing, and a few of the days were "Cultural Experiences" which cost more. It was more like seeing the menu of Europe than experiencing it properly, because we weren't in any place very long and I was surrounded by Aussies and Kiwis. It was a cultural experience in learning about those characters.

One of our early realisations, as we arrived in various new cities, was to restrict the size of our day-tripping groups. Any more than 3, or maximum 4, people and you spent more time waiting for someone to get back from the toilet than actually seeing the place you were at. It was important to limit the quantity of Whine consumed. People want different things. That is fine. Let the people who want to visit coffee shops go there. The Museum people do their thing. The Foodies binge out. At some point, it is more worth empowering people than trying to gain consensus. 

Even "gaining consensus" among two people is really hard work. You need to pare back your ambitions the bigger the group is. Ask any two people working on their relationship, and even seeing the world from the perspective of the person you love is a real challenge.

Then come together for the things you love to do together. Big groups were easier for events like the Oktoberfest, where the options are simple. Beer.

Too much whine, and you don't get to do any tasting.

Chichester

The first time I left South Africa was when I was 18. My standard holiday was to Johannesburg, either towards or welcoming my Vaalie cousins. After school, I spent 18 months working as an assistant teacher at a preparatory school in Chichester (on a 2 year working travel visa). Being on the south coast of the United Kingdom, it was the 'warmer' part of the country but I was still greeted by (very) light April snow. A novelty for a Durban boy. It did warm up, and the 9 week summer holidays were spectacular. It was a very different experience from my trip a decade later. Emails were letters on shared computers, and there were no cell phones. Just 50p a minute phone calls back to South Africa from the headmasters office. I stayed in a room next to dorms of boarders making sure they didn't get up to too much mischief. I assisted with Sports, Maths, Reading, English and Art lessons and helped paint the scenery for two school plays. Then I head back to Cape Town to study. A place that seemed as distant from Durban as England.

Village Cricket

Boarders

Extra Summer job as a waiter/porter

São Paulo

The urban area of São Paulo has a population of 36.8 million people. When Pedro Álvares Cabra of Portugal came to Brazil in 1500, the population of Portugal would have been about 1-1.2 million. Estimates for the indigenous population of South America before the arrival of Europeans range from 50 to 100 million. São Paulo remained a poor region until the discovery of Gold in the 1690s. The town then became a centre for explorers looking to venture inland to seek fortunes. Trade grew around providing accommodation and food for missionaries, traders and adventure seekers. After the gold ran out, focus shifted to sugar and later coffee. When Brazil became independent from Portugal in 1822, São Paulo was named an imperial city. Today, it is the biggest city in the southern hemisphere.

São Paulo

Virtual Community

Two alternative methods of forming a democracy are Proportional Representation and First-Past-The-Post. The advantage of Proportional Representation is that it protects minorities. Groups that don't bunch up geographically, can still be represented. The advantage of FPTP constituencies is accountability. There is someone responsible to a specific electorate. That electorate is local, and so the concerns can relate to that community.

Globalisation creates a physical disconnect between the people we live with and the community we share our head space with. I live in London, but I still spend a lot of my 'head space' in South Africa. Online, I try mostly be polite, and I keep my oozing to a whatsapp group with some friends... all scattered around the globe. Distance is one of the biggest barriers to the Utopia I dream of. I can't pop in to visit friends.

Before globalisation... we would have invested far more energy in our local community. Ken Robinson said 7/8 of his great-grandparents lived in the same neighbourhood. Mobility does make it more difficult to build things that are going to stand up to time. 

I have moved several times. I was born in Johannesburg. When I was two years old, my family moved to Durban. Age 18, I pressed the pause button while my brothers finished university and headed on a work-travel visa to Chichester, England. Then Cape Town for my studies, and a couple of years of work (6 years total), before going back to Johannesburg for two years. I moved to London in 2008. First Putney, then Crystal Palace. I am about to move again.

Leaving SA for the first time (12 April 1998)

I was lucky, work took me back to South Africa regularly. I probably saw more of some people because I didn't live there. When time is limited to trips, people make an effort.

I still have very shallow physical roots. I believe in being a Global Citizen, but this does mean I spread myself very thin. Being far from people I love is difficult. It is a difficulty I have to accept because there isn't one place I could even choose to go where they would all still be. Even if I go there, it doesn't mean they will stay. Jobs move. Homes move. Time moves.

More than that, despite London actually being very good at having people with very different circumstances living in close proximity, I don't spend enough time in the community to build roots. I get to know the people in the local businesses superficially. I haven't been around long enough for that to extend further.

Social Media does mean I feel like I have a constant community. I feel far more connected than during those two years in Chichester when the internet was just kicking off. (I would still have to arrange time in the computer room of the school I worked at to send emails. Back when emails resembled letters.) But, I am not as physically connected to that community.

I can see why Globalisation can make democracy challenging. The idea of constituencies is that there is someone who can engage with and get to know the community. If those communities are virtual, that can be difficult.

Genghis Khan was one of the most powerful people to have ever lived. His life very much resembled that of the rest of his community though. The food he ate wasn't distinctly different. His tent was a little fancier, but it was still a tent. The issues he faced became grander, but they were still tied to his community. Genghis was nomadic too, with shallow roots and interest in one of the biggest empires to ever exist. A big difference was they moved as and with a community.

Ger

As much new connections in the world are forming, older connections are being strained. We need to figure out how a balance between a local world and a global world.

Assimilation (Tim)

I want to start by taking issue with the tendency of dominant (i.e. white, western and mostly English) cultures to demand assimilation from other cultures, but not to reciprocate when the shoe is on the other foot. Recently, there has been a lot of hand wringing in Europe about the supposed unwillingness of Muslim immigrants to assimilate into the culture of European countries. Observe France’s battle with the burqa. And, the sentiment is much the same for many in the UK, as evidenced by the tabloid press. They make the superficially reasonable argument, ‘If you want to live in Britain, you should embrace British values.’ 

Tim embracing British Values

However, they seem to have forgotten that when our forefathers were living in foreign lands, they never assimilated at all. In the days of the British Raj, those Brits who lived in India merely transplanted their British culture to a new continent – tealeaves, cricket stumps and all.

You might think that such chauvinistic attitudes are all in the past, but as someone who has lived in an expat bubble for fifteen years, I can tell you that you’d be dead wrong. This is how it works. Fifteen years ago I moved to Taiwan to teach English. I answered an English job advert, my interview was conducted in English, my training was in English and if ever I had a practical problem, the bilingual staff at my school would translate on my behalf. If I didn’t feel like eating Chinese food, I had a range of western fast food to choose from, or if I was feeling picky, I could go to one of several expat-owned restaurants in the area. Since my school was staffed by other foreign English teachers, I could socialise exclusively with them if I felt so inclined. 

I’m happy to say that I didn’t totally isolate myself from Taiwanese culture, and neither did my friends. Most of us enjoyed a mix of Chinese and western food, and we got along great with our Taiwanese co-teachers. In fact, a lot of us dated or married Taiwanese people. In my case, I also chose to study Chinese, and after a couple of years, I could deal with most issues myself. Not a bubble at all, then? In fact, it was a very real bubble – a semi-permeable membrane, through which I allowed only comfortable and familiar elements to pass. I might have spoken reasonably fluent Chinese, but I couldn’t read the newspaper or watch local TV, and that didn’t bother me a bit. My life remained largely westernised and English speaking in substance, with the addition of selected Taiwanese elements. 

This isn’t some kind of Stalinist self-criticism session. In fact, I think it’s okay to live like this. I’m doing the same thing in Korea right now. We all want to stay mostly within our cultural comfort zone, and it’s fine to do so as long as we’re respectful and open-minded. In my years in Asia, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to criticise other cultures, but I’ve just as often been humbled by their brilliance. So, I’d say that wherever you are, you should stay open minded and curious about other cultures. Otherwise, you’re going to miss a great opportunity for learning.

Your Origin

When I arrived in my hostel at the port of Piraeus in Athens, my host asked me where I was from, 'What is your origin?'. On hearing I was from South Africa living in London, he asked, 'But how is that possible, you are not Black?'. I could have been cheeky and said, 'I am Trevor Black', but instead I said, 'In the same way as there are Black people from Greece (I had no idea how many that meant)'.

Historically, between the Greek colonies and empires, Greek people have wandered far and wide. South Africa has a chunky Greek community and the Globe a widely spread Greek Diaspora. The African Union defines the African Diaspora as "[consisting] of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union." The two power houses of the Diaspora are Brazil (about 56 million) and America (about 42 million). Africa is a continent, Greece is a country but the edges of continents and countries are both stories we tell ourselves.

Greek territories during the Archaic Period

Alexander's Macedon Empire (334-323 BC)

Countries with large Greek Populations

The truth is that the disproportionate number of South Africans I meet outside of South Africa are white, even though they make up less than 9% of the population. The South African Diaspora were not part of the Brazil and American contingent. Generalising, we are a smaller group of the more privileged recent wanderers. South Africa has similar inequality issues to the rest of the world, but the legacy of Apartheid is that there is a strong correlation to skin colour. When I was in Seattle, I overheard some South Africans next to me. Here in Athens, there are three South African travellers next to me. They were all white. Most of those who have moved elsewhere have chosen English speaking countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Canada.

The first time I left South Africa was when I was 18. My holidays were split between  family in Johannesburg, and just enjoying home in Durban. All my travels have been funded by having moved to work in London. Overseas trips are a pretty big deal if you are spending in Rands. Without exposure to the way things are elsewhere, we can think the way things are are the way things can or should be. 'White' is a much fuzzier concept once you have visited Europe. Europe is tinier than it looks on the map and empires and people have swept back and forth over the Old World land mass of Afro-Euroasia. From Portugal to South Korea, there is no point where white ends and black starts, and it certainly isn't the same as the relatively tiny but disproportionately noisy white population of South Africa.

There is some (embarrassing) irony that the most likely travellers outside of South Africa are the ones that will break the stereotype of a continent with a population of 1.1 Billion people; Speaking French, Arabic, English, Swahili and 1,250 - 3000 other languages; Christians, Muslims, Traditional Religions and those not practising any religion; a wide variety of skin-tones and a long history of cultural exchange with the rest of the Old World.

Africa's True Size

Missing Tooth

I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about how to build communities. I am reading 'Sapiens' in which it talks about the Cognitive Revolution which preceded the Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution and completely changed the way we organised ourselves. By being able to anthropomorphize groups, we were able to create communities that took on identities. Making stories into 'real' people. We speak of countries, religions, countries, companies, political parties, genders and all other sorts of stereotypes as if they exist separately. Creating communities is giving life in the form of a story.   

This morning Gem and I went on a Street Art Tour of Paris. One of the places was called the Missing Tooth. This is a name for where buildings are torn down, or fall down, or for whatever reason are left vacant. It reminded me of 'the $2 thing' in Christchurch, New Zealand. Christchurch responded to tragedy by coming together. In Paris, an area was turned over to artists after a building collapsed. People are resilient, creative and able to fill our lives, our missing teeth, with stories that bind us. This is most obvious when things fall apart. When all is okay, we can become complacent. We can get angry and throw stones at each other. We forget we are on the same side. It is the rough bits of life that seem to remind us of how much we care about each other. The difficulty that creates a story bigger than us. A beauty that binds us.

Kenya (Stephen)

Kenya

When many people think of Kenya, they think of safaris, the big five, wildebeest migrations, the snowcapped Mount Kenya, and golden tropical beaches. However, in addition to these stunning natural attractions, Kenya also boasts a warm and friendly people, determined to build a strong and prosperous nation. The country has had its share of problems since independence from Britain in 1963, including corruption, tribal conflict and terrorism. But through resourcefulness and determination the economy, education levels and standard of living are steadily rising. Through marriage, I am lucky enough to have an extended Luo Kenyan family, who consider me one of their own, and many of my best moments are shared with them.

Stephen Holt

Friend, former colleague, Global Citizen and moustache grower extraordinaire

We had a 'Bring and Braai' conversation, and he has written on 'Kigali' and 'Lithuania'

Lithuania (Stephen)

Lithuania

In 1990, one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and following 50 years of occupation by first Nazi Germany and then Stalin’s USSR, Lithuania proclaimed its independence. Despite Soviet resistance, this stood, and the country began a transition from planned economy to a western style free market, eventually joining NATO and the EU in 2004. Arriving in Vilnius recently I found a mixture of styles – the historic beautiful old town with its castle and café culture, suburbs with austere Soviet housing blocks, and a thriving business district north of the river with glass towers. Above all I found a friendly, welcoming and outward looking people.

Stephen Holt

Friend, former colleague, Global Citizen and moustache grower extraordinaire 

Also wrote 'Bring and Braai' and 'Kigali'

The changing territory of Lithuania since the 13th century

Trakai Island Castle

Morocco

Morocco

Morocco is across the straights of Gibraltar from Spain. It is one of three countries to have both an Atlantic and Mediterranean coast (with France & Spain). When I visited earlier in the year, I sent post cards to London and Johannesburg. One Stamp London - 2,300km. Two Stamps Jozi - 7,500km. Africa is huge. I am from the Southern Tip. Morocco was my first trip to the North. It reminded me of a former capital of Europe, Istanbul (then Constantinople). Morocco is home to 34 million people with its largest city being Casablanca. The official languages are Arabic and Berber, with French also widely spoken. I was left with lingering memories of mint tea, tagines, lots of colour & the sound of the call to prayer. 

Different World

Urbanisation

We know that 200 years ago, only 12% of the world's population could read. We know there were less than 1 Billion people till 1804. Now there are 7.4 Billion. We know they mostly lived on farms and we mostly live in cities. 'No country in the world has a lower life expectancy than the country with the highest life expectancy in 1800' says Our World in Data. We know most of the nations we now live in didn't exist then. California & 6 other states were mostly part of Mexico. The German Confederation only happened in 1815. The British Empire hadn't even started kicking into its stride. Shaka hadn't created the Zulu nation. If our reality is created by the way we see things and what we have seen, we have far more in common with each other than any one alive in 1800. The identity we claim from our ancestors is not the identity they claimed. We are starting again.

World Population

A different world from that of the Nation Builders

Hamburg (Kerstin)

Hamburg during the day

Second largest city in Germany. Harbour town with one of the most popular miles in the world: the Reeperbahn - the redlight and entertainment district. Beaches, parks, over 1100 years of history, funfair 3 times a year, architectural masterpieces and more bridges than Venice make Hamburg a city of contrasts. Between hanseatic coolness and worldopeness. If you get to know one of the “Fischköppe” (“fish heads” - lower german expression for the inhabitants) you’ll realise that a real northern light is first a little bit distanced and after you got into his heart you have found the best friend on earth.

Kerstin Dirks
We met as part of the Red Love Train 
running the Comrades Marathon for Unogwaja and Umsilinga Primary School

Hamburg at night

Kuala Lumpur (Ofentse)

I arrived with the movie Entrapment in my mind (glittering Petronas Towers etc). However, travelling by train through Sepang, Cyberjaya and Putrajaya, I encountered a jungle littered with some schools, a few shacks - things I would encounter in South Africa. I was convinced that Petronas Towers (my residence was close to that) did not exist. Disappointment! However, after 45 minutes, I arrived at the Central Station and I was greeted by the concrete jungle facade that I had seen in the movie. I was impressed by the friendly people who made me feel like a dignitary. My Malay taxi driver, who had great knowledge of Johannesburg, took me for a short tour of Kuala Lumpur on my way to my residence. I was particularly struck by the warmth of the people of Malaysia.

Ofentse Noah

a friend from Smuts, University of Cape Town

Safe. Warm. Loved. (Simon)

100 words? To write about a place and what it means to you? Naturally, my mind went to a pass in the Black Cuillin on the Isle of Skye overlooking Loch Sligachan. The place I'd like my ashes scattered. Or the Torres del Paine national park in Patagonia where my wife and I spent part of our honeymoon. But then I thought of the place I'd returned to most often in my life. A safe place. A place I'd been to in the high Arctic, 500 miles from the north pole, fretting about polar bears in spite of the high-powered rifle next to me in my tent; during an ice storm on Skye; a fitful night's sleep in the humidity of coastal Thailand; listening to dingoes yelping in the night at Uluru; in a hotel on the Left Bank. My father and uncles' old bedroom at my grandparents' house. On the end of a small terrace in a working class area of Bristol in the south west of England. Where the down filled pillow almost enveloped your entire head. In the furrow in the mattress left by my father. In the sodium yellow glow from the street lamp outside, the parallelograms of the windows sweeping across the wall and up over the ceiling as the occasional car turned into the street. Safe. Warm. Loved. And I can go back anytime I like. Wherever I am. And I often do.

Simon Heath 
Consulting artist. Illustrator - listener - facilitator - connector - writer. 
Murmuration - Musings on the world of work 
@ SimonHeath1 on Twitter

The Cuillin

Zambia (Julius)

Apart from the majestic Victoria Falls and various mountains that offer spectacular views, there is still one more thing I admire about Zambia. The people. Their humbleness and hospitality is just priceless. Wherever you meet them: on the streets, in the hotels, at the markets and bistros they all have a bright smile. Just as in many other African countries, in Zambia, greeting one another accompanied by a handshake is the order of the day and what's more it's something everyone gets absolutely for free. The unspoilt scenery and the hospitality of the people makes you to wish your visit could last forever.

Julius Bright Phiri

- also wrote 100 words on Malawi

Cheshire (Jim)

Delamere Forest

A well-kept secret in the north west of England. It’s not all lush green farmland, pretty villages, historic Chester – it’s industry and prosperity, too. If the outdoors is your thing, we have Delamere Forest and the Sandstone Trail; Snowdonia, the Peak District and the Lake District are close by. If you like the country life and big open spaces, but with access to the big cities, Cheshire has Manchester to the east and Liverpool to the west; London is less than 2 hours by train. International connectivity is great too - Manchester airport is a far better experience than Heathrow. Cheshire might not be the centre of your universe, but it’s the centre of mine.

Jim Steele

www.jims1world.com

@manlygumdrop on Twitter

Mozambique (Rob)

Sunny beaches and blue Ocean.

Don’t forget the factor 50 lotion.

Dolphins swimming, fish and chips

Holidays and great road trips

Scuba diving, coral reefs

Sailing boats with bright motifs

Friendly people, the odd road block

Local time... who needs a clock.

Portuguese history, and civil war

Potholed streets, and a broken door

Rampant poverty. Raw Materials

Are the Chinese their new Imperials?

Piri piri cashew nuts

Soccer fields, and tidy huts

Smiling selfies, Awesome tweets

Children running shouting “Sweets!”

Relax your bod, calm that brain

I can’t wait, to go back again.

Rob Grave

We lived and studied together at Smuts Hall, University of Cape Town

'Smile & Go Seek' by Rob 

'Purpose, Process and Perspective' with Rob

Kigali (Stephen)

I arrived in Kigali in 2003, nine years after the genocide, and was immediately struck by the beauty and friendliness of the place. The city is set on a number of hills, giving amazing views of lush green trees and homes from almost any location. I spent two weeks orienting in the city before moving to work in a village school, learning about the efficient but crowded public minibuses, sampling the nightlife, and learning the local language. Kigali of 2003 bore no resemblance to the horror days of 1994, and today is different again, with shiny new skyscrapers dominating the skyline. 

Stephen Holt
Stephen and I worked & grew moustaches together in London. 
We have done a guest conversation called 'Bring & Braai'.

Kigali, Rwanda