I’m Australian, and for 30 years (since I was 16) I’ve been corresponding with a South African girl (now woman) my own age. She’s coloured, which meant nothing to me when I was 16 (I thought all Africans had dark skin) but I found out recently it meant a lot to her as all those years ago she couldn’t believe that a white girl would want to be her friend. She taught me about apartheid through her letters at a time when Australia (or at least my family) didn’t know a lot about what was going on in SA – and we always talked about the day we’d meet. So when things began to change in SA it meant a lot to me.
Four years ago my mother and I traveled to Cape Town and stayed with Desiree and her husband and 2 teenage children. Their hospitality was amazing and we loved everything we saw in SA. After all the years of hearing how the coloureds and blacks had so few rights and so little respect, I was so surprised and pleased to see South Africans of all colours and walks of life treating one another with respect. I’m sure there’s a long way to go – but I think your beautiful country is certainly already well on the way. Two years ago, Desiree and her husband Eric came and spent a month staying with my husband and me – we also had a ball.
I’ve always believed that communication, friendship (and for me especially ‘breaking bread’ together, dining at one another’s tables) has to minimise war and strife – we fear what we don’t understand........once we open those lines of communication, we understand and have less to fear.
Thank you for what you’re doing for Desiree’s country. I’ll make sure she and all the people I know in South Africa know about your website.
