Fortuitousness?

This summer I am interning at the Catholic Parliamentary Office in Cape Town (CPLO). Its role is to mediate dialogue on issues of public policy between the government and the Catholic Church through forums, round tables and position papers. For those of you who know me, you might be wondering why someone like me, who is pretty secular (albeit spiritual), would take such a job. Well, the reason I chose to commit heresy on my atheist beliefs is because South Africa is a special country in that civil society has had an unusually heavy influence in its past, present and for the foreseeable future. This main reason for this is the systematic disempowerment of Africans and coloreds, who are the vast majority of the population, over the years of colonialism and Apartheid.

However, I will talk more about religion in South Africa and how it compares to the states in my next post. Starting…dun dun dun…tomorrow we (my dozen or so fellow Robertson scholars and I) are moving to our township home stays. I will be staying in Langa Township and am really looking forward to it as a cultural experience and a chance to step outside of my comfort zone. To discuss religion in SA, I feel I need this at least partially under my belt as it will bring me head on with religion, race and poverty. For this post, I want to focus on the culture of interaction and how it differs in SA and the US.

I’ve already found out, through day-to-day interactions and my first few days at my NGO that this culture in SA is much different than that in the states. As we were told when we arrived, South Africans are very warm and friendly people. Yet, at the same time we were also told how dangerous certain parts and activities are. In my mind, this didn’t compute. In my home, DC, other cities and even in our national dialogue, security concerns breeds mistrust and a desire to shut oneself off for the sake of protection.

This isn’t to say that South Africans don not make efforts to secure themselves – far from it. In fact, barred windows and security signs with “armed response” clearly written on them are more pervasive than street signs. Yet, in person to person interactions, this doesn’t show. Instead they reflect genuine concern for well-being. For instance, as our program coordinator, Zed noted, when someone says “what’s up” to a South African, they actually answer it. Today I also experienced this culture. To get to work, I need to take a couple minibuses, which are said to de dangerous. But, I love them. For instance today, I was sitting in the back, talking to a few women next to me very, very poorly in Xhosa. As a yelled to the driver “yima,” meaning stop, he didn’t hear me. But, the nice women who were closer helped me out by conveying my desire to get out.

In addition to being friendlier, there seems to be a general more relaxed attitude to life. People in my NGO office show this and it has been quite a shock, strongly contrasting with my NGO experience last summer at the Carter Center. There it was much more hectic with schedules meticulously adhered to and people, especially my supervisor, often did not have the time to just chat. It seems that overall, an attitude not focused as much on efficiency but more on human connections pervades.

South Africa has had a long history of disaffection with government. Hence, South African government adopts this culture and prides itself on its transparency. Besides sensitive intelligence hearings, members of civil society and even private individuals can attend just about every committee hearing if they can navigate the bureaucracy (a universal theme). Security is surprisingly relaxed at parliament, considering how it would be in the states. I just had to show them my fake-looking student ID and go through a metal detector and I was free to wander around parliament. This is pretty neat considering that wondering the halls of Congress by myself would probably get me to a hospital pretty quick.

The CPLO is extremely close to parliament, a convenient fact that helps it pursue its goals and, coincidentally, has already been a boon for yours truly. On Wednesday, I had the fantastic opportunity to shadow a colleague at CPLO as she sat in on a Defense Committee hearing on a bill about prohibiting mercenary activities by South African citizens. There I was able to hear a fascinating discussion of the implicit and explicit implications of a bill. Yet, before it ended I had an even more exciting experience, one that showed me this culture first-hand South African.

As I entered into the small committee room, I saw a large, circular hardwood table in the middle with chairs positions around it, important-looking people contently occupying them with their leather portfolios. There were also chairs along each wall where the civil society and private observers sit, a fact I inferred from their casual dress, cheat spiral notepads and inquisitive grins.

When I walked into that committee room, much to my surprise, I discovered that it was a full house; all the seats around for civil society were filled. Yet, I did spy a seat around the conference table, between what I now know to be the Defense committee chairwoman and a senior Minister of Parliament (MP). So, after a few minutes of indecision, I went over, sat down and smoothly pushed my chair back a foot or so. While this obviously was a pretty good view of the deliberations, the moment of most interest occurred during the break.

As most of the room got up to stay true to their British colonial heritage by getting some tea, the man to my right, who I would soon learn is a senior MP for the Democratic Alliance (an opposition party to the ANC), casually and in a friendly fashion asked me what I was doing there. First off, I was stunned that an important looking man would even acknowledge the pretense of a casually dressed kid who is clearly out of place. However, I was amazed by how down to earth and friendly he was. By the end of the meeting he gave me his business card and suggested we have a theological discussion over lunch in the future.

I imagine that such an experience in the states would be extremely rare. I can more easily predict receiving a whole lot of disdain and possibly some indignation – I doubt a business card.

Most people at the CPLO were impressed by my “smoozing” with such an important guy, but this serendipitous encounter really isn't a credit to me. Instead, it reveals much about the South African culture; it reveals something that I believe the US can learn a lot from.

They aren't overly concerned with political correctness, formality or – as that MP showed – status. These all contribute to the general relaxed attitude that I have repeatedly seen through their apparent disdain for schedules.

Yet, this culture is not without its disadvantages. At work, I have been frustrated by how little I have been give to do so far. My colleagues are content to let me shadow them and just discuss issues. While this has definitely been a shock, I have definitely loved talking to them and picking their brains about the many problems South Africa faces.

This is all well and good, but it is not the drive for efficiency that I’m used to. It seems on this regard there is much room for cultural exchange. While America does have a very efficient system, I see much being lost in interpersonal connections we sacrifice for it. In South Africa, I’ve already met more representatives in one week than in living in DC's fast, impersonal culture for 5 years. It’s probably just luck, but not a bad first week!

All in all, I’m not quite sure how to evaluate how the pros and cons between these two cultures balance out. Hopefully as I listen, learn and experience more I will have a better impression of where the line is between efficiency and interpersonal relations. With any luck, I’ll be shown first hand that these are not mutually exclusive.