Notes from South Africa, Volume 2
My keynote this morning went absolutely fantastically; I couldn't be more pleased. I had about 100 people in the audience - 25% of the conference attendees - and afterwards I had multiple people grab me in the hallway to tell me how much they enjoyed it and how useful the material was. Woo-hoo! Today is a very good day.
It's also the last day of the OpenMRS Implementers Meeting and HISA 2008, and I'll be heading home tomorrow morning. The whole crew from Regenstrief is heading out tonight, but I think some of the Partners in Health folks will be sticking around, so I'm looking forward to a beer or two with them. I'm even kinda sorta caught up on email, so next week shouldn't prove to be too insane.
Luggage still has not arrived. I am somehow not surprised given that a plane overran the runway at Durban airport on Wednesday. That fact combined with my having begun my journey on United pretty much leaves me suspecting that I may not see that suitcase for several more days, and there's a part of me that wonders if it's gone forever. I sure hope not - my favorite jeans and, in fact, most of my decent wardrobe was in there.
I didn't go buy clothes, though. The hotel staff offered to drive me into town several times, but I really own enough clothing and everything I bought when my luggage went missing in Brasil is still sitting in closet, unworn since my return. I'm too sentimental to it off to the Goodwill. Just seems like a waste, even at a 7 Rand / 1 US Dollar exchange rate. I may decide that was a supremely bad call when Ben comes to pick me up at SFO and I'm wearing the same outfit I was wearing a week ago. I am so looking forward to a change of clothes.
I ventured down to the beach briefly and splashed about a bit in the ocean. The recent storms have really made the waves huge and all the freighters I saw far out on the horizon on Monday night have moved in much closer to shore. The lights out on the water in the evenings have been a truly beautiful sight, and watching these multi-ton ships get tossed around so easily is quite the reminder of the awesome power of nature. Note that I didn't notice the warning sign letting people know that "shark nats" had been taken down due to the weather until I was on my way back from the beach. Ahem.
I have some more random observations about my experiences in Durban, but as I've managed to spend the vast majority of my time in the hotel, with a brief jaunt to the beach, the casino down the way about 3 km and the convenience store a block and a half away, I naturally feel like they're not quite representative. Oh yes, and the drive through town to get here.
When I arrived in Durban I'd missed my connecting flight from Johannesburg (Jo'burg if you're a native), so the driver that had been arranged for me was no longer waiting. I tried calling a few folks but had no luck getting through, and I really don't believe the helpful pre-recorded operator lady who told me repeatedly "the number you have dialed does not exist." The number most certainly exists. I was reading it. Whether or not I dialed it properly, who can say, but I tried every permutation I could think of and no luck.
Failing that, I wandered out to the curb wondering what the heck to do, since I'd been warned that hopping into a taxi when you're a tourist, not so much. I finally asked an older lady who was also waiting curbside what she suggested, and she directed me to the shared shuttle service and said it was safe enough. She then told me to just stay away from the blacks. Um. Wow. She seemed so sweet and gentle. Yuck. Generation gap, I hope, not that that's anything like an excuse. Her advice on transportation, though, proved quite good; I just wish she had been able to deliver it without the accompanying bile.
I cruised into Durban with two gentlemen heading to the hotels by the beach and two women heading back to their apartment complexes downtown. I'd been expecting much more evidence of poverty, but if the areas we drove through are any indication it's not that bad in Durban. Sure, every single apartment complex - and there are a lot of them, all clustered together and with romantic names like Sahara Sands - has heavy metal security doors on it and the lower floors have bars on the windows, but that's hardly worse than anything I've seen in the "wrong" neighborhoods in San Jose. There were the usual stores selling hopelessly unfashionable furniture. Not a single electronics/Fry's/Best Buy type store in sight. In fact, not much of anything but housing in sight, some building proudly advertising the security services they offered to their residents with huge signs outside.
Within a few blocks the neighborhood got considerably, though the bars remained on many windows and doorways. There were suddenly upscale department stores with huge perfume displays right inside the doors. All the department stores had names I didn't recognize and but I haven't found someone to ask if they're locally owned or part of a huge (multi)national conglomerate. The streets seemed much cleaner, too, though I have to say that there are more rubbish bins around this area than I've seen in any American city. Then again I am in a tourist area at the moment.
American brands don't seem to have really penetrated this market, with the notable exception of the three KFCs I saw downtown on my drive in from the airport. There was also a Nando's downtown and in the food court of the casino, though I haven't made my way there yet. Maybe tonight. Nando's is not to be missed, wherever you might find it.
If I was looking for an answer to the where the poverty problem comes from, I figured it out pretty quickly after talking to one of the door attendants at the hotel, which is supposed to be quite posh if you believe their website. Not that I've ever seen a website claim that their property is any way suboptimal, but this place just doesn't seem all that posh, rooms-wise. There are, however, two pools on the pool deck level, one of which overlooks the ocean. Location, location, location.
I digress. I asked Dennis, said doorman, how the place treated the staff, since I'd seen more than one upbraiding that didn't seem warranted. (Isn't that supposed to happen away from the customers, anyway?) He said the hotel wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. His take home after an 8 hour day is 96 Rand. Holy. Crap. That means that this gentleman has to work more than an hour to purchase one fo the hotel's 14 Rand Caffiene Free Tabs. No doubt things are less expensive away from the hotel, but holy. crap. I wonder how much of the staff's ability just to live is based on tips. Apparently minimum wage in South Africa is 1800 Rand per month, which everyone acknowledges is not enough to live on, and unemployment is a real problem.
According to all the magazines that have been left around the hotel, a major part of the South African economy is tourism. I'm sure it is, but, erm, I had to have a security guard walk me the block and half to the ATM at the convenience store because the front desk wouldn't let me go unescorted. I really didn't feel afraid at any time, but I'm also not necessarily chomping at the bit to return here as a tourist either following that experience. Apparently one of my colleagues at the conference was forbidden to leave the hotel by the Manager on Duty, even though she just wanted to take a brief walk to get some air. Hrm.
The food here has been amazing, even moreso since it was conference food. If I'm remembering the conversation I had with my hosts correctly, South Africa has the largest Indian population outside of India, and we've been treated to out of this world chicken curries and briyani and naan and these amazing chutneys all week. Samosas to just die for, with spicy sauces that are actually spicy. Truly sumptuous fare. Hence no need yet for Nando's, but with close of conference the free cuisine extravaganza has concluded.
I am so happy I came to this conference. It's amazing to see the idealism I so often associate with Open Source made manifest in such an obvious way. Every single person I've spent time with this week is dedicated to bettering things for the poorest of the poor, or as one gentlemen put it so well, "the currency of our transactions is the number of lives we save." I am so inspired, and I am so incredibly thrilled that they felt my thoughts on community building were useful and would be helpful to them long after they returned home.
Today is a very good day. Now I'm going to make it even better by hitting the Nando's.
It's also the last day of the OpenMRS Implementers Meeting and HISA 2008, and I'll be heading home tomorrow morning. The whole crew from Regenstrief is heading out tonight, but I think some of the Partners in Health folks will be sticking around, so I'm looking forward to a beer or two with them. I'm even kinda sorta caught up on email, so next week shouldn't prove to be too insane.
Luggage still has not arrived. I am somehow not surprised given that a plane overran the runway at Durban airport on Wednesday. That fact combined with my having begun my journey on United pretty much leaves me suspecting that I may not see that suitcase for several more days, and there's a part of me that wonders if it's gone forever. I sure hope not - my favorite jeans and, in fact, most of my decent wardrobe was in there.
I didn't go buy clothes, though. The hotel staff offered to drive me into town several times, but I really own enough clothing and everything I bought when my luggage went missing in Brasil is still sitting in closet, unworn since my return. I'm too sentimental to it off to the Goodwill. Just seems like a waste, even at a 7 Rand / 1 US Dollar exchange rate. I may decide that was a supremely bad call when Ben comes to pick me up at SFO and I'm wearing the same outfit I was wearing a week ago. I am so looking forward to a change of clothes.
I ventured down to the beach briefly and splashed about a bit in the ocean. The recent storms have really made the waves huge and all the freighters I saw far out on the horizon on Monday night have moved in much closer to shore. The lights out on the water in the evenings have been a truly beautiful sight, and watching these multi-ton ships get tossed around so easily is quite the reminder of the awesome power of nature. Note that I didn't notice the warning sign letting people know that "shark nats" had been taken down due to the weather until I was on my way back from the beach. Ahem.
I have some more random observations about my experiences in Durban, but as I've managed to spend the vast majority of my time in the hotel, with a brief jaunt to the beach, the casino down the way about 3 km and the convenience store a block and a half away, I naturally feel like they're not quite representative. Oh yes, and the drive through town to get here.
When I arrived in Durban I'd missed my connecting flight from Johannesburg (Jo'burg if you're a native), so the driver that had been arranged for me was no longer waiting. I tried calling a few folks but had no luck getting through, and I really don't believe the helpful pre-recorded operator lady who told me repeatedly "the number you have dialed does not exist." The number most certainly exists. I was reading it. Whether or not I dialed it properly, who can say, but I tried every permutation I could think of and no luck.
Failing that, I wandered out to the curb wondering what the heck to do, since I'd been warned that hopping into a taxi when you're a tourist, not so much. I finally asked an older lady who was also waiting curbside what she suggested, and she directed me to the shared shuttle service and said it was safe enough. She then told me to just stay away from the blacks. Um. Wow. She seemed so sweet and gentle. Yuck. Generation gap, I hope, not that that's anything like an excuse. Her advice on transportation, though, proved quite good; I just wish she had been able to deliver it without the accompanying bile.
I cruised into Durban with two gentlemen heading to the hotels by the beach and two women heading back to their apartment complexes downtown. I'd been expecting much more evidence of poverty, but if the areas we drove through are any indication it's not that bad in Durban. Sure, every single apartment complex - and there are a lot of them, all clustered together and with romantic names like Sahara Sands - has heavy metal security doors on it and the lower floors have bars on the windows, but that's hardly worse than anything I've seen in the "wrong" neighborhoods in San Jose. There were the usual stores selling hopelessly unfashionable furniture. Not a single electronics/Fry's/Best Buy type store in sight. In fact, not much of anything but housing in sight, some building proudly advertising the security services they offered to their residents with huge signs outside.
Within a few blocks the neighborhood got considerably, though the bars remained on many windows and doorways. There were suddenly upscale department stores with huge perfume displays right inside the doors. All the department stores had names I didn't recognize and but I haven't found someone to ask if they're locally owned or part of a huge (multi)national conglomerate. The streets seemed much cleaner, too, though I have to say that there are more rubbish bins around this area than I've seen in any American city. Then again I am in a tourist area at the moment.
American brands don't seem to have really penetrated this market, with the notable exception of the three KFCs I saw downtown on my drive in from the airport. There was also a Nando's downtown and in the food court of the casino, though I haven't made my way there yet. Maybe tonight. Nando's is not to be missed, wherever you might find it.
If I was looking for an answer to the where the poverty problem comes from, I figured it out pretty quickly after talking to one of the door attendants at the hotel, which is supposed to be quite posh if you believe their website. Not that I've ever seen a website claim that their property is any way suboptimal, but this place just doesn't seem all that posh, rooms-wise. There are, however, two pools on the pool deck level, one of which overlooks the ocean. Location, location, location.
I digress. I asked Dennis, said doorman, how the place treated the staff, since I'd seen more than one upbraiding that didn't seem warranted. (Isn't that supposed to happen away from the customers, anyway?) He said the hotel wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. His take home after an 8 hour day is 96 Rand. Holy. Crap. That means that this gentleman has to work more than an hour to purchase one fo the hotel's 14 Rand Caffiene Free Tabs. No doubt things are less expensive away from the hotel, but holy. crap. I wonder how much of the staff's ability just to live is based on tips. Apparently minimum wage in South Africa is 1800 Rand per month, which everyone acknowledges is not enough to live on, and unemployment is a real problem.
According to all the magazines that have been left around the hotel, a major part of the South African economy is tourism. I'm sure it is, but, erm, I had to have a security guard walk me the block and half to the ATM at the convenience store because the front desk wouldn't let me go unescorted. I really didn't feel afraid at any time, but I'm also not necessarily chomping at the bit to return here as a tourist either following that experience. Apparently one of my colleagues at the conference was forbidden to leave the hotel by the Manager on Duty, even though she just wanted to take a brief walk to get some air. Hrm.
The food here has been amazing, even moreso since it was conference food. If I'm remembering the conversation I had with my hosts correctly, South Africa has the largest Indian population outside of India, and we've been treated to out of this world chicken curries and briyani and naan and these amazing chutneys all week. Samosas to just die for, with spicy sauces that are actually spicy. Truly sumptuous fare. Hence no need yet for Nando's, but with close of conference the free cuisine extravaganza has concluded.
I am so happy I came to this conference. It's amazing to see the idealism I so often associate with Open Source made manifest in such an obvious way. Every single person I've spent time with this week is dedicated to bettering things for the poorest of the poor, or as one gentlemen put it so well, "the currency of our transactions is the number of lives we save." I am so inspired, and I am so incredibly thrilled that they felt my thoughts on community building were useful and would be helpful to them long after they returned home.
Today is a very good day. Now I'm going to make it even better by hitting the Nando's.
Labels: conferences, work
posted by Leslie Hawthorn at 8:24 AM
1 Comments:
You are an inspiration my dear. congrats on your continuing good works.
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