A paradise called Pondoland ... and cigarettes

As an assignment for one of my courses we have been asked to keep a blog over the next 10 weeks that ties in our lived experience with the coursework we are exploring. I am excited to share these experiences and this perspective with you because I am currently living in a rural village on the East coast of South Africa doing youth leadership and activism training at a local high school. I have no doubt that much of what we discuss in my course will show up in my daily life over the next few weeks.

I have to drive 45 minutes to get to the nearest high school and on the way I am often asked for lifts (or hikes as they call them) as the villages in this area of South Africa called Pondoland are large and very spread out. Kids walk for 2 or 3 hours to get to their schools, and people will easily walk a couple of hours to visit a family member or friend. I love giving people lifts since I am already driving a long way to get to the school and I feel like my carbon footprint is minimally reduced by giving rides to people who have such long journeys to undertake all the time. It's also a great chance to attempt to chat with the lovely local people in this area.

In our course this week we have been talking a lot about consumption and the roots of our current ecological situation. One thing that came up was that conspicuous-consumption (or over-consumption) is something that is restricted to the leisure class, or those who have all of their other needs met. But a classmate of mine pointed out that often people don't look after their own needs before attempting to consume unnecessary goods. Advertising is so powerful that it seems people believe that they need certain products more than they need basic necessities like clean drinking water.

When I drove to the school yesterday I witnessed an example of this when a man waved the car down for a lift. At least I thought he wanted a lift, so I was happy to stop and chat with him. It turns out that he actually wanted money. When I said no, he asked for a cigarette. I am sure that was what he would have spent the 10 Rand that he was asking for on anyhow, and I drove off feeling so sad that the most significant thing that he thought I could do for him or give him was a cigarette – not only something that wont enhance his quality of life, but instead something that will negatively effect it.