Child of Africa

I’m not in a good mood… so, don’t expect me to be goodie-goodie today…I’m furious when it comes to people like the Montys of this world…and I know there are many of them…please, don’t be a Monty! Last night…or should I rather say…early this morning…1:35am… I turned the tele on…and was just in time to follow the last 2-3 minutes of this program on BBC 1…and Monty was in South Africa…wow! how “dare” he go there…it’s such a “dangerous” place…!! wonder if he had taken a private guard with him…. he used a word/phrase that immediately upset me… “the horrors of the apartheids-era”. He also said: “…because of those horrors… I didn’t want to go there, but when I arrived here, I was glad I came” … and I thought by myself, poor man!! what a narrowminded soul….Why are people so misinformed about “Apartheid”…ok…I don’t say everything was ok, as in every other country…things were also NOT ok! PS: All links in this post will open in a new window.

One of our best leaders…Dr Hendrik Verwoerd had decided it’s good for different black culture groups to have their own countries and to rule themselves…but the world called his vision “apartheid”… ..in a place like London…you get Turkish people in some areas…Somalians living mainly in another…Africans in a certain area….etc etc… and they reason it’s better for the different “culture groups” to be together in that area…..to find friendship amongst “their own” and to settle in the community…..and you get that in the USA/Canada too… certain areas were/are  allocated for certain groups…to settle in……In South Africa some people were less tolerant than other people…but there wasn’t “horrors” around every corner…and please, not ALL people were racists!! How unintelligent is it to reason like that!! You get racism all over the world!! some cases even worse than in SA! wow, if I have to start telling you how much racism I’ve seen/heard here in London…then I have to say that people in London are less tolerant towards other races than people in SA during “those” years or even today! We in South Africa lived in harmony and peace…(there wasn’t even ONE single gun shot in 1994!!) We lived in more peace than even today… believe it or not.. I lived there…all my live…I grew up on a farm… since my fifth birthday… I had black children as my BEST friends on the farm…Sannie is on my blog… she was one of them, she died recently and my mum and sisters went to her funeral on that very same farm! We used to love one another like brother/sister… Monty spoke in general as if SA is this country FULL of horrors…around each and every corner… hey… we are a peaceful nation…surely you – Monty – haven’t met South Africans here in the UK? You haven’t spoken to anyone… wake up Monty… widen your views… you should travel more to South Africa, meet more South Africans to get behind the real story…don’t read books/newspapers…they all blew up the stories about the past..to support certain groups…and hopefully your teachers were more informed too?? I guess not…… and those people who supported certain groups in the past.. you didn’t have a cooking clue what SA was really like… you just toi-toi with the others …like a lot of sheep…narrowminded/closeminded….you, reading here, did you also toi-toi on Trafalgar Square in 1980 when Mugabe was put in charge in Zimbabwe? and now?… No, don’t pull up your shoulders…and Monty…I’ve got a link for you…click HERE to see what horrors are taking place at the MOMENT in South Africa…this is far worse than the “horrors” you are referring to…wonder if you’ve seen any of it during your visit…no, you won’t, because it doesn’t get published! You won’t see it on TV either…all I ask you, Monty…don’t judge South Africa and South Africans…we are people like you…and most other people in the world…it’s only the small minority that was really racists…like in the UK too…and in the US and everywhere else…yes, I work with British people and we have conversations and from that…I can tell you the truth…I know Monty won’t read here…but this is also for all the “other Montys” reading here too…I play chess online against all sorts of people all over the world and I have play a lot of Americans…racists…and they say it to you as if there’s nothing wrong being a racist.
The following comes from the BBC’s site…about the program..
Around the World in 80 Gardens
Mon 7 Apr, 12:40 am – 1:40 am 60mins

South Africa

Monty Don continues his extraordinary journey Around the World in 80 Gardens with a journey to South Africa, one of the most plant-rich zones in the world.

At Cape Town’s world-famous Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens he revels in the impressive display of native flora, including the strange King Proteus, South Africa’s national plant before taking a journey to the Drakensberg Mountains to see some native botanical treasures in their natural environment. Along the way, he traces the garden-story of the Dutch colonists who settled in the nineteenth century and looks at what some of South Africa’s gardeners are doing today.

Monty’s discoveries leave him excited to find that South Africa is forging a new identity for itself through a fresh appreciation of its environmental wonders.

Source: Click HERE to read about his program.

Update: News about Africa… and I’m wondering… wonder if you wonder about the same thing….read this article and see if you can work out about what I’m wondering.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7852086.stm

This next song on the Youtube video is sung by Machiel Roets. One night I listened to a radio station and he was interviewed and asked a question..it’s about 2 years ago and I can’t even remember the radio station nor the question! but anyway…I sent the answer by email and was lucky to be one of the winners and received his cd…called “Afrika Kind”.. this song is on the cd and I translated it quickly so you can follow the words and see what a beautiful song it is. It’s just to give you an idea what it’s about. On the video there’s some beautiful images to see of South Africa. — enjoy… and if you want to go to South Africa…DON’T be a Monty…go there!! you will NOT regret it…just follow the rules of every country…don’t walk the streets at night, don’t go to “dark” places at night… be aware what’s going on around you…those kind of rules are the basic for any country…a bit common sense..hey..like in every other country.

As I’ve said before… I’m no translater… but do like to translate good poetry/songs so that English visitors can also enjoy the good/brilliant Afrikaans poetry/songs…

Child of Africa

Come take my hand
through this country of hardship
come let’s laugh
’bout the day of tomorrow
walk with me
through this wetland-region
hear the song
nature poured over you

Chorus:
‘ts here where the wind speaks to you
by the rhythm of the earth
and water that flows
and soothes you
suddenly there’s a voice that says
You’re my child!

Come take my hand
here in sunshine land
let’s carry together
what’s going on around us
walk hand-by-hand
here on Africa soil
come breathe the air
that soothes your soul

Chorus
It’s here where the wind speaks to you
by the rhythm of the earth
and water that flows
that soothes you
suddenly there’s a voice that says
You’re my child!
Repeat chorus again..
You’re my child!(2x)
My African child.
Translated by: nikita (c)

Another video about South Africa….enjoy…..
also for the Montys of this world!

…thought to blog this movie here after watching it on another blogger’s blog. Interesting what a black man says about SA.