Good to Be back on Gather! From South Africa With Love!

 For the whole of February and some days in March, I was away from Gather and it felt really strange, not able to communicate with this group that has come to mean so much to me in a short while. 

I was away to South Africa on training and the schedules were so hectic, I could only steal glances at my gather space and do very little with it. I couldn’t even read a lot of my friends whose experiences help put so many things in perspective.  

South Africa is a beautiful country; a country with a soul. The skies are so blue they beckon the video camera every time you see them.

The cars are mostly new and screamed the streets with exuberant abandon. Nights - and the power bikes and powerful BMWs shred the silence into gasping shreds. We go to learn that you can take any car home so long as you are a hard working South African and your income allows you to pay the monthly instalments. 

For this I could change nationality pronto, but i remembered my wife and children! This is hardly the case in Nigeria. You’ve got to pay all at once – your car, 2 years rent on your flat or house etc. Recently, there are initiatives by the banks to make this more consumer friendly as it was decades back but it will take quite some time before it permeates every membrane of the society. 

The roads are well-planned and easy to navigate. Sometimes you’re in traffic for extended periods – something they have in common with the country of my birth – maybe this is not totally correct but still there.  

The economy is still largely controlled by the Afrikaaners but this is not unexpected given the checquered history of this land. When you meet the blacks who have made something of their lives, then you know why they strive so hard to race away from the past… 

There are definitely still nuances of discomfort in the different races; sometimes you see the resentment flash crazily past but in the workplace, you hardly see it boil over. This in itself is something to applaud but it just means they have to work at it harder… 

We met very warm people who were almost heartbroken when it was time to leave…  Mercedes, head of art department – having criss-crossed make-up, hair and wardrobe over a period of 22 years and still quite so serious about her sets… 

Selina, a black middle-aged woman living in Alexandria, one of the officials in the wardrobe department of ‘Binnelanders’, one of the soap opera productions we visited. Vivacious make-up artist Apolonia, Soweto resident, – young, defined and beautiful. “I take no shit from no one” she told me as she tried to impress me as a 'hard girl'

Warm Sipho – ever so eager to be recognised as a professional, a cameraman, and such charm! He was guide, friend and totally Alexandrian! He says he must marry eleven wives – one from every tribe/people in South Africa. The man actually speaks nine of the local languages fluently! 

Dudu-Rose went giggly happy when I told her that her name meant ‘Black Rose’ in my native language. Dudu-Rose, a portly interesting and kind woman who bossed the wardrobe continuity of ‘Generations’ – one of the other soap operas we visited. If you’re the reserved type, she soon sets you at ease with her infectious smile and charming personality. Or do we remember taciturn Bongani – Standby Props for ‘Binnelanders’? He’s so focused, he’s learnt to say as little as possible. But man, effective, very effective! 

Reality is there’s so much to say about the South African trip (my second) that I’m not quite sure how to tell it. One thing however is – it was totally worth it, professionally, personally… even as I remember the painted faces at Legotla (the African Dining Room a la Nelson Mandela Square and the massive 'backside' of the average south african woman! 

I will try over the next few weeks to bring some of our experiences to you; like the excess luggage palaver at the airport on the way out. Stay tuned!