OVERVIEW
I gave this subject some serious thought and realised that it is a huge subject and I need to approach it one step at a time, therefore I decided to look at the broad picture first and then expand on a subject or section at a later date in further posts. It is always better to get your mind around the broad picture first before trying to learn about the detailed picture.
THE MAKEUP OF A PERSON
The “makeup” of a person is very complex, from birth they are exposed to various factors and these factors mould them into who they are. A few of the factors are:
Traditions/culture
Language
Religion
Education
Skin colour
Of course there are many other factors which will influence a person, but I have chosen the above as I believe that they influence each individual the most.
TRADITIONS / CUTURE
Let us take a look at just one “tradition” of a few nations or like-minded groups around the world and see how powerful they are in the mindset of that nation or group.
The Americans traditionally celebrate “Thanksgiving” every year and it is very important to them, why?
Religious Christian groups traditionally celebrate “Christmas” every year and it is very important to them, why?
The Chinese traditionally celebrate their “Lunar New Year” every year and it is very important to them, why?
I can go on and on with this list because everyone has traditions and knows why they are important to them, but that does not mean that the people outside of their group know or understand these traditions!
Now, what would happen if you tell each of the above groups that they must scrap their tradition and follow yours? There will be a huge outcry from all of them!
The point I am trying to make is that you must learn to understand the traditions/culture of a nation; group or individual before trying to communicate with them or you can walk into a minefield and lose a few limbs on the way.
LANGUAGE
There are many different languages and dialects in this wonderful world of ours, but that is one of the most prominent causes of misunderstanding in the world. If you cannot understand what a person is saying to you or the context thereof, then you are lost! Now you must rely on someone else to interpret the words for you and you become reliant on that person’s interpretation and understanding of the words. Therefore what do we end up with? Miscommunication and lack of understanding!
RELIGION
Every religious group strongly believe that their religious belief is correct and will die trying to defend that belief because without it they have no foundation, hope, etc.
EDUCATION
If you do not have education you are at a great disadvantage in this modern world with all of its technologies! If you live in a remote area and you can live off the land then you can get by without a formal education, but as soon as you start interacting with others outside of your area you need education.
SKIN COLOUR
As much as people say skin colour does not make a difference, they know that they are wrong because it does not matter what your skin colour is, if you come in touch with a person who has a different skin colour you view them in a different light, because they differ from you. Therefore, depending on where you grew up your view of another persons skin colour will differ.
OK now that I have shown that the abovementioned factors can shape a person, let me try and paint a broad picture of the African “mindset”.
TRADITION / CULTURE
In South Africa this is a very complex subject because there are so many different “groups” of people in this country and each have their own traditions and some have added traditions from other group’s to theirs over the years and made it their own. I am not going to go into this subject here in any great depth now; I will cover that in future posts. I will just briefly explain one tradition i.e. “Labolla”.
Many black people believe in having large families because a man is judged on how many children he has, they also love having girls because then they can ask for “Labolla” from a man who wants to marry their daughter. This is a negotiated price the suitor has to pay to the father before he is allowed to marry the girl. Unfortunately the effect of this system has caused fragmentation of families as numerous unwed mothers had to fend for themselves and their children because the father of the child could not afford the Labolla and therefore the girl’s father would not allow the marriage to take place.
LANGUAGE
In South Africa we have 11 official languages, that does not mean that there are only 11 languages spoken in South Africa, there are many, many more but the present government decided to recognise 11 of the main ones. Not all South Africans can speak 11 languages, in fact most white South Africans can speak either one or two (English / Afrikaans) and have some understanding of an African language, but most black South Africans can speak at least four languages, their own local home language, one of the other African languages, English and Afrikaans.
As the country previously only had 2 official languages some areas of South Africa are predominantly Afrikaans speaking areas (Free State) and others are predominantly English speaking areas (Kwa Zulu Natal).
We do have a communication problem in South Africa because of our diverse backgrounds and languages, therefore we all need to make an extra effort to make sure that when we speak to one another we communicate effectively and afterwards check that we have been understood correctly. All visitors to our country should also follow this advice it will make your stay so much better.
RELIGION
Once again, because of all the different groups in South Africa there are very many different religious beliefs.
Most black South Africans believe that their forefathers intercede for them in the hereafter and in view of this they give their relatives a huge send off when they die and perform many rituals and ceremonies during the time after death and at the actual burial and for many years thereafter. In view of this they do not believe in cremation. They still believe in witchdoctors, sangoma’s, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangoma ) etc. and will go to them to hear what their forefathers say, obtain medical advice and many other needs. The main-stream religions have allowed them to bring their culture into the “church” therefore they have now mixed the two into one where most go to “church” but they still continue with forefather worship.
EDUCATION
The education system in South Africa was good prior to 1994, even though there were separate schools for the various race groups, the children went to school, were taught discipline, values, how to read and write and any child in South Africa could obtain a matriculation certificate if they set their mind to it. Unfortunately this is not the case now, there is hardly any discipline in our schools, the literacy levels have dropped dramatically where a large percentage of learners do not know how to read or write properly, there is a lack of skilled teachers, the administration system within the Education Department has deteriorated so much that forward planning, using funds budgeted for to build and equip more schools, etc. has come to a grinding halt causing either overfull classes with up to 60 students in a class sharing desks or no classes at all where schools have been vandalised and wrecked. There are now a large number of black children who do not have any form of education because of lack of control in the education system.
SKIN COLOUR
In our country’s history we lived separate lives depending on our skin colour and the system was made law and called “Apartheid” which means “separateness”. Every race group lived in their own area, had schools, churches, etc. in their own area and married in their own race group and were able to develop their own way of life further. When this system was abolished it opened up all areas, schools, churches, jobs, etc. for all race groups. A new Constitution was written which gave equal rights to all; unfortunately reverse racism has now become a norm in the country whereby whites have been sidelined in many areas being replaced by unskilled black people, especially in the Government Departments and whites find it extremely difficult to gain employment in this country and most young white South Africans go overseas to find work.
CONCLUSION
As I said at the beginning of this post, it is a huge and complex subject but if you come back to this blog once a week you will slowly learn more and more about South Africa and its people’s and the African mindset.
My advice, for now, to any visitor to this country is to treat each person they meet in South Africa as an individual, do not generalise. As in any other country in the world you have inherently good people and inherently bad people and you should rely on your “gut” feeling when coming into contact with any person.
There are so many good, humble and law abiding citizens in this country but most tourists do not get exposure to them because of the “criminal element” in the country. I will write an article on hints for the tourist shortly so that any traveller coming to South Africa will be a little more equipped to take on the challenges of visiting Africa.
Thank you for your time.
I gave this subject some serious thought and realised that it is a huge subject and I need to approach it one step at a time, therefore I decided to look at the broad picture first and then expand on a subject or section at a later date in further posts. It is always better to get your mind around the broad picture first before trying to learn about the detailed picture.
THE MAKEUP OF A PERSON
The “makeup” of a person is very complex, from birth they are exposed to various factors and these factors mould them into who they are. A few of the factors are:
Traditions/culture
Language
Religion
Education
Skin colour
Of course there are many other factors which will influence a person, but I have chosen the above as I believe that they influence each individual the most.
TRADITIONS / CUTURE
Let us take a look at just one “tradition” of a few nations or like-minded groups around the world and see how powerful they are in the mindset of that nation or group.
The Americans traditionally celebrate “Thanksgiving” every year and it is very important to them, why?
Religious Christian groups traditionally celebrate “Christmas” every year and it is very important to them, why?
The Chinese traditionally celebrate their “Lunar New Year” every year and it is very important to them, why?
I can go on and on with this list because everyone has traditions and knows why they are important to them, but that does not mean that the people outside of their group know or understand these traditions!
Now, what would happen if you tell each of the above groups that they must scrap their tradition and follow yours? There will be a huge outcry from all of them!
The point I am trying to make is that you must learn to understand the traditions/culture of a nation; group or individual before trying to communicate with them or you can walk into a minefield and lose a few limbs on the way.
LANGUAGE
There are many different languages and dialects in this wonderful world of ours, but that is one of the most prominent causes of misunderstanding in the world. If you cannot understand what a person is saying to you or the context thereof, then you are lost! Now you must rely on someone else to interpret the words for you and you become reliant on that person’s interpretation and understanding of the words. Therefore what do we end up with? Miscommunication and lack of understanding!
RELIGION
Every religious group strongly believe that their religious belief is correct and will die trying to defend that belief because without it they have no foundation, hope, etc.
EDUCATION
If you do not have education you are at a great disadvantage in this modern world with all of its technologies! If you live in a remote area and you can live off the land then you can get by without a formal education, but as soon as you start interacting with others outside of your area you need education.
SKIN COLOUR
As much as people say skin colour does not make a difference, they know that they are wrong because it does not matter what your skin colour is, if you come in touch with a person who has a different skin colour you view them in a different light, because they differ from you. Therefore, depending on where you grew up your view of another persons skin colour will differ.
OK now that I have shown that the abovementioned factors can shape a person, let me try and paint a broad picture of the African “mindset”.
TRADITION / CULTURE
In South Africa this is a very complex subject because there are so many different “groups” of people in this country and each have their own traditions and some have added traditions from other group’s to theirs over the years and made it their own. I am not going to go into this subject here in any great depth now; I will cover that in future posts. I will just briefly explain one tradition i.e. “Labolla”.
Many black people believe in having large families because a man is judged on how many children he has, they also love having girls because then they can ask for “Labolla” from a man who wants to marry their daughter. This is a negotiated price the suitor has to pay to the father before he is allowed to marry the girl. Unfortunately the effect of this system has caused fragmentation of families as numerous unwed mothers had to fend for themselves and their children because the father of the child could not afford the Labolla and therefore the girl’s father would not allow the marriage to take place.
LANGUAGE
In South Africa we have 11 official languages, that does not mean that there are only 11 languages spoken in South Africa, there are many, many more but the present government decided to recognise 11 of the main ones. Not all South Africans can speak 11 languages, in fact most white South Africans can speak either one or two (English / Afrikaans) and have some understanding of an African language, but most black South Africans can speak at least four languages, their own local home language, one of the other African languages, English and Afrikaans.
As the country previously only had 2 official languages some areas of South Africa are predominantly Afrikaans speaking areas (Free State) and others are predominantly English speaking areas (Kwa Zulu Natal).
We do have a communication problem in South Africa because of our diverse backgrounds and languages, therefore we all need to make an extra effort to make sure that when we speak to one another we communicate effectively and afterwards check that we have been understood correctly. All visitors to our country should also follow this advice it will make your stay so much better.
RELIGION
Once again, because of all the different groups in South Africa there are very many different religious beliefs.
Most black South Africans believe that their forefathers intercede for them in the hereafter and in view of this they give their relatives a huge send off when they die and perform many rituals and ceremonies during the time after death and at the actual burial and for many years thereafter. In view of this they do not believe in cremation. They still believe in witchdoctors, sangoma’s, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangoma ) etc. and will go to them to hear what their forefathers say, obtain medical advice and many other needs. The main-stream religions have allowed them to bring their culture into the “church” therefore they have now mixed the two into one where most go to “church” but they still continue with forefather worship.
EDUCATION
The education system in South Africa was good prior to 1994, even though there were separate schools for the various race groups, the children went to school, were taught discipline, values, how to read and write and any child in South Africa could obtain a matriculation certificate if they set their mind to it. Unfortunately this is not the case now, there is hardly any discipline in our schools, the literacy levels have dropped dramatically where a large percentage of learners do not know how to read or write properly, there is a lack of skilled teachers, the administration system within the Education Department has deteriorated so much that forward planning, using funds budgeted for to build and equip more schools, etc. has come to a grinding halt causing either overfull classes with up to 60 students in a class sharing desks or no classes at all where schools have been vandalised and wrecked. There are now a large number of black children who do not have any form of education because of lack of control in the education system.
SKIN COLOUR
In our country’s history we lived separate lives depending on our skin colour and the system was made law and called “Apartheid” which means “separateness”. Every race group lived in their own area, had schools, churches, etc. in their own area and married in their own race group and were able to develop their own way of life further. When this system was abolished it opened up all areas, schools, churches, jobs, etc. for all race groups. A new Constitution was written which gave equal rights to all; unfortunately reverse racism has now become a norm in the country whereby whites have been sidelined in many areas being replaced by unskilled black people, especially in the Government Departments and whites find it extremely difficult to gain employment in this country and most young white South Africans go overseas to find work.
CONCLUSION
As I said at the beginning of this post, it is a huge and complex subject but if you come back to this blog once a week you will slowly learn more and more about South Africa and its people’s and the African mindset.
My advice, for now, to any visitor to this country is to treat each person they meet in South Africa as an individual, do not generalise. As in any other country in the world you have inherently good people and inherently bad people and you should rely on your “gut” feeling when coming into contact with any person.
There are so many good, humble and law abiding citizens in this country but most tourists do not get exposure to them because of the “criminal element” in the country. I will write an article on hints for the tourist shortly so that any traveller coming to South Africa will be a little more equipped to take on the challenges of visiting Africa.
Thank you for your time.
If a black single woman's father is dead, does her husband-to-be still have to pay Labolla to her family?
ReplyDeleteCurious. :)
I am sorry to be this way, but that is just how my mind works...
Yes Max, the husband-to-be still has to pay the Labolla to her family. It is great to ask questions that is how we learn about each others cultures!
DeleteYour post is so full of information, you stimulate many questions in me. All of my questions are sincere, though you might think some of them frivolous. For example. Before 1994, were there private boarding schools where both affluent black children and white children might attend together (and receive the benefit of knowing each other better) or was mixing of the races simply not done, even in a private situation? I am using the word "private" in the American sense. The British, and perhaps you, would use the word "public" for such schools. In other words, I'm talking here about schools where one had to be accepted and the parents had to pay.
ReplyDeleteWe also call them private schools here and as far as I know the criteria was different for them as they were private and could accept who they wished to accept and if you were an affluent person of color you could get acceptance for your child into a private school. The "public" or Government schools are where the problem was as they would not accept any non-white students by law.
ReplyDelete