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That’s Afrikaan for “Good morning!”
When I first visited Midrand in 1985, our hotel
and two other small
buildings were all you can see amid vast tract of open land, not
even
planted to anything. And this was true for most other cities,
including
Pretoria, Joburg and Pietersburg (now Polokwane) and townships here,
except Soweto where about a million Blacks were relegated to live
during the Apartheid. South Africa then to me was a huge country
needing people.
But now, Joburg is full of life as the
country’s business and financial
hub; capital city and seat of national government Pretoria is a
lively
melting pot of all kinds of people, pretty much like Washington, DC,
and Midrand is a bustling industrial center. There are people
everywhere, a big number are refugees from troubled African
countries. Many Africans from Zimbabwe came in droves even if they
had a very arduous trip coming here through desert and forested
routes.
I asked Gladys if she is going back to her
country, Zimbabwe, to vote.
She said that it is easy to go back, the problem is going out again,
especially if President Mugabe will win (as of today, there is going
to be a run-off elections because the winning opposition candidate
did not capture the requisite). They went through the back yards,
which are mostly thick forests populated by wild animals like lions
and all those we only see in zoos and Discovery and National
Geographic channels. She yearns to go back one day and be reunited
with her child and marry her boyfriend.
I’ve been going to malls and shopping areas
and I noticed that there are also a few products made in China (e.g.
shoes that cost about the same as in Divi), but most products come
from Europe, other African countries, India, Pakistan and South
America. There are also restaurants catering to the needs of various
peoples from different parts of the world. They serve some of the
best Italian, Mediterranean and English food here. Most Blacks, even
those who could afford, still prefer home cooking and they eat only
one big meal a day.
Apple computers are not popular here. The guy
who installed my Internet connections here was curious about my
Macbook Pro.
Apparently, Africans are averse to most anything
American.
I’ve invited the three housekeepers here at
Waterhouse to accompany me for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner and
I noticed that they eat very little and said that eating sparingly
was part of their culture. And they were teasing me that I was
getting fat because I eat heartily. I tell them to their amazement
that Filipinos eat a lot and frequently so food is big
business industry in the Philippines.
The other evening, we dined in a steak house at
Menlyn Mall and a friend from Cape Town was surprised to know that
there were about 10 restaurants all in a row in one place. He would
be shocked when he visits our country and sees not only rows, but
floors of eating places and also on every nook and cranny and that
our favorite topic of conversation is, what else, food.
So far I’ve not met a single Filipino here,
not seen any product made in the Philippines nor eaten any food that
is at least similar to our sour-sweet cuisine. In my spare time
I’ve been cooking my favorite Filipino food here and the three
girls are loving it. In Pretoria, I’ve been to small Chinese
restaurants that seem to be popular among the Blacks.
Last Sunday, we went to the Rand Show, an
exposition of food, clothing, furniture, houseware, construction
materials, home appliances, organic medicine, tourism and culture
from England, China, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Syria, Egypt,
Greece, and others from this region. The exhibits were colorful,
varied and, at the same time, similar. The South African biltong (tapa)
and dried mangoes are very good. My friends tell me that their dried
mangoes are naturally sweet, but ours is laced with lots and lots of
sugar. Their mango variety here is very sweet, similar to our Indian
mango but big.
The important implication of all these is that
South Africa and other African nations are potentially big export
markets for Filipino products and entrepreneurs. Africans like
Asians.
inovationcamp@yahoo.com; www.learningan
dinnovation.com
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