Africa Institute of South Africa and the Department of Foreign Affairs

5 08 2008

Children outside the Africa Institute of South Africa

Children playing soccer outside the Africa Institute of South Africa. They gave me permission to take their photo.

Today we visited a number of places: The Institute of South Africa, South African Department of Foreign Affairs, The US Embassy in Pretoria, The University of Pretoria, and we even had an evening discussion at the hotel on Elections, Electoral Society and Democracy. Yes, five lectures! These five lectures will become a point of contention later on in the trip but, for this post I think I should begin with the morning. alignnone

I woke up to the sound of something resembling a crow being choked. When I looked outside the window I saw this bird on the roof of the opposite section of the hotel which we were staying. I will try and get a recording of the call so you can hear it, but here is a picture of the bird. If you check on you tube you can hear its call. Look for Hadeda Ibis.

Our first meeting was at the Institute of South Africa. When I first walked into the building I was automatically bored… sorry to say, but there was something about the decor of the place that made me feel gloomy, dreary and sleepy. Since I knew I was in for a day of lectures I braced myself while going up in the elevator and became immediately drawn to the buttons on the elevator… take a look.

The button does not say Basement after the first floor, but it says O instead. I thought it was different and cool at the same time.

But enough of my distractions, at the Africa Institute of South Africa, we were warmly received with tea, cookies and coffee and then we learned about all they did there at the institute. This organization writes, publishes, and distributes materials about Africa and South Africa in particular. They told us that they were the oldest and smallest “science” council and that they were around for 60 years. Through their presentations, I found out that there is a growing concern with publications.

According to the mangers and officials there, school book publications is such a huge business many countries in Europe have almost a monopoly on the system. This means that many African schools use books that are published in Europe. So not only is Africa subject to European views of their own countries iwithin Africa, but African countries also have to pay the shipping costs to get the books to their individual schools. Also, when some schools can not afford the fees for purchasing and shipping books it is tougher to teach students in schools.

Their solution to some of these problems is for South Afica and Africa in general to produce and publish their own books, maps and educational materials for teachers, schools and students. That way they can provide others with first hand knowledge about Africa. They also act as another way for African researchers and writers to publish their research findings without having to be published in an European journal. So after that great information about publishing (not boring at all) they showed us some of the maps they created, published and often sold. I was so excited that I bought 3 maps:

a road map of South Africa,
a map that looks at diseases, adult literacy, population, vegetation within Africa & more, as well as,
A map that gives fast facts of Africa.

I love them all!

Our next stop was at the Department of Foreign Affairs. There we were warmly welcomed again with not only tea this time but also muffins with butter and jelly. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is a part of the government that makes sure South Africa has good relationships with other countries around the world. When a country wants to permanently keep a good relationship with another country they would choose a site for a building and call that building an EMBASSY. Then it is up to the DFA to manage the South African embassies in these other countries/ host countries (like Angola, Brazil, the United States, India and many others) and make sure they are doing all they can to have good relationships with their host country.

While we were there we talked briefly about South Africa and more about Lesotho. According to the officials Lesotho is a great country with a lot of problems. Lesotho

has a population of 2.03 million
Is a CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY which means that the government is run a lot like England with a Prime Minister who mainly runs the country and a King or Queen who often has little to no power.
The King is called Seiso Letsie III
The GDP is 1.43 billion (it is 13 trillion in the United States)
Their greatest natural resource is Water (according to South Africa)
Their major export is their water, yes, their water, followed by sheep’s wool and textiles (which means cloth) to the US (if you have an Old Navy shirt or jeans check the label to see if it was made in Lesotho).

They also mentioned that the relationship between South Africa and Lesotho is a great one where South Africa does not take advantage of the small and land-locked country. Remember that little bit of information because it will come up again in other briefings.

Next we talked about some of the major issues occurring within Lesotho and how many of the skilled workers of Lesotho are traveling to and eventually living in South Africa because there is a greater chance of finding jobs (Lesotho has a 50% unemployment rate). Lesotho also has a huge problem with HIV/AIDS; at least 30% of the population is in danger of getting HIV and South Africa, although its rates are better, they are not far behind Lesotho, hence, the posters in the lobby and throughout South Africa.

Then they talked about some of the good things about Lesotho and a few ways in which Lesotho could make money so they would not have to rely on other countries. Of course one of the good things they mentioned was that Lesotho could export more of it’s water to South Africa and other countries (Pay close attention to that detail because I will go to Lesotho and ask a number of people about Lesotho selling its water to South Africa). Another thing they mentioned was that Lesotho could make more money by boosting their tourism industry. I bet there are not too many people who knew that Lesotho has ski resorts (one which claims it is the largest in South Africa). Maybe advertising its skiing capabilities may bring them more money as a country. Finally, they mentioned that Lesotho may want to find a way to benefit from the 2010 world cup coming to South Africa.

In looking at the relationship between South Africa and Lesotho and Lesotho’s dependence on South Africa, one wonders how self sufficient a completely land-locked country could be. Well, this is what we are here to investigate and it is really great to get South Africa’s opinions on Lesotho’s economy so that when we go to Lesotho we can ask its government officials what they themselves believe. So I can’t wait to hear more information and compare.

I will continue the rest of the day later or tomorrow. I have a feeling that I’ve talked some ears off ; ) and this is a lot to take in if you are an 11 or 12 year old student.

Next is my trip to the University of Pretoria. That was fun! Here are some preview pictures…