| We drove all morning on a northward path, passing through
small, one street towns like
Springbok, and watched the land turn brown and dry. At the Noordower
border crossing, we left South Africa and entered
Namibia. We're sorry to say goodbye to South Africa, where we found
the best of First World affluence and the worst of Third
World poverty, often side by side. It was common for us to pass
dejected hovels made from discarded scrap as we made our way
to a glistening, modern, and clean shopping mall. People leave their
cars in parking lots or along sidewalks guarded by 'car
watchers.' Security is omnipresent. These are outward signs of a
huge gap in wealth between rich and poor. South Africa has
issues in the same vein as the rest of Southern Africa, wealth must
be redistributed in the face of simmering racial tensions and
a global economy that views South Africa as a regional powerhouse but
a small player on the world economic stage. |
