Mandy's Trip to SA

'South Africa - First and Incomplete Impressions'
Mandy, GAGA UK Trustee

Surprisingly, perhaps, as a GAGA Board member, my first trip to South Africa was this year.  I was invited to join the GAGA Board through my involvement with projects in Tanzania and in particular Kilimanjaro Young Girls In Need, which GAGA has sponsored for four years now and brought about significant change in so doing.

Though timing did not work for me to visit the GAGA projects with Sarah this year, I did manage to get to Cape Town.  I don’t have enough superlatives to describe the beauty of this amazing city by the sea. The Cape Town vista is dominated by Table Mountain with the constantly changing picture depending on whether the ‘tablecloth’ (clouds) is on or off.  The flowers and birds basking in the sun in Kirstenbosch botanical garden are the most fabulous I have ever seen.  The high spot of the day was being up close and personal with a (species) owl.  And then there is the food and wine…..

In Cape Town the past feels close by.  The trip to Robben Island will stay with me in large part due to the ex-prisoner guide who showed us round.  He had spent seven years on Robben Island because, as a student, he had taken part in a protest demonstration against the imprisonment of fellow students who had also taken part in peaceful protests.  He was jailed as a terrorist and when released was constantly followed by secret police and had no chance of a job.  This man thanked us all for our part in whatever Worldwide movement had helped end apartheid.  I was humbled by his spirituality and stoicism. 

To make the most of my visit, I had read two excellent books before I went:  ‘Born A Crime’ by Trevor Noah which is the autobiography of a young ‘coloured’ man in the apartheid era whose very conception was a crime.  The second was  ‘My Traitor’s Heart’ by Rian Malan where the author evaluates his life experience as a descendant of the family that helped write and implement the apartheid rule book.  Yet these two very different accounts had not adequately prepared me.

I want to believe that Cape Town is now a place of hope where everyone can achieve their true potential.   Yet, I saw little evidence of a black middle class.  I saw children’s playgrounds which were frequented entirely by black children or by white children (one exception was in Kometjee).  I was almost always served in restaurants by black waiting staff whilst the diners were white.  The market stall holders were almost always black but the shops were run by white people.  Beyond all this,  I saw huge  townships along the route from the airport and extending way back beyond, where people are crowded together, living in shacks with corrugated iron roofs and walls that look about to crumble. 

Apartheid ended less than twenty five years ago.  It is very much in my living memory and I realise that these wounds will take a very long time to heal. I am aware that legislation to open up employment and other opportunities for black South Africans is in place – so there is a will at government level to force the pace of change.   I must also underline that this was my first trip to Cape Town and, as a tourist, ones impressions can be misleading.  My visit also co-incided with the deposition of Jacob Zuma and takeover of power by Cyril Ramaphosa.  I really hope that this will be part of a new chapter.




Thank you to Mandy Barrie for sharing her first impressions of South Africa with us.  It's important to us here at GAGA, that we share peoples' thoughts and views on a country we are so passionate about.

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