South Africa & India - The Haves and The Have Nots

Assalaam Alaikum – Rich here ghost writing for Jennifer. Just had an interesting couple of trips to South Africa and India last month I thought you all might be interested in reading about/seeing as they are both very interesting places. The difference between the haves and the have nots in both cities is pretty unbelievable. Both have some very historic and luxurious parts of the city juxtaposed against some truly 3rd world/developing country poverty like I have never seen.

Let me start with South Africa…The picture to the left is taken from Table Mountain above Cape Town and over my right shoulder in the distance is Cape Point, which is essentially the place where the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean collide. The views were breathtaking and it was pretty amazing to stare out at the convergence of these two bodies of water and think about all the explorers trying to sail around this point.

Here is some video from the top of Table Mountain. I had to take a very steep/scary gondola up the side of this cliff to get to the top. Considering I got stalled with a group of about 20 going up and coming down, my level of confidence in the quality controls in South Africa weren’t exactly high.

Below are pictures of the beautiful scenery from downtown and some of the interesting animals I saw on my way out to a meeting at a hospital in the wine country. It was set against communities of shacks…literally whole towns of people living in shacks…representing the dichotomy that exists for people in Cape Town.

Now what is interesting is in the bottom right picture you can see the new houses the goverment is putting up to replace the shacks, but they face the problem that many people that qualify for the new houses sell their house or rent it and go back to living in a shack.

Another good example…the guy in the picture to the right was my driver for the day in Cape Town. Since he had been working all day for me and I was enjoying his company and figured he had to be hungry if I was, I invited him to the top of Table Mountain to have a late lunch with me before I had to head out of town. He lives in a shack behind his brother’s house and has lived in Cape Town his whole life. He has probably driven thousands of tourists up to this mountain, only to wait at the bottom for their return. When we got to the top I realized he had never been up to this point because after lunch he said, he had never seen anything like this and he would remember this experience for his whole life…just another good example of how we should all count our blessings.

India

India was similar in that it was amazing how quickly you could go from some of the most luxurious places I have been to utter poverty. Most people probably know that India has over a billion people, but I couldn’t believe when I learned they actually have 4 cities bigger than New York…some say Mumbai alone has 20 million people. Below is a great video from outside the hotel I stayed at that demonstrates the craziness against the serene with only a wall diving the two. And I thought the roads in Cairo were crazy. I actually saw in real time 2 accidents including a hit and run on my way from the airport and two that had happened just before I got there.

And below are a few good pictures taken from the cell phone. The one on the left is from the top of the Cerner building. The one on the bottom is a typical amount of traffic you see at a stop light…you see hundreds of those 3 wheeled taxis all over the city…it is almost like they are playing bumper cars.

Thankfully my flight took off 2 hours before the attacks started so I was home safe and sound when the proverbial fit hit the shan. And no mom…India is not currently part of the region I manage so I won’t be going back soon.

Miss you all...Maasalaamah,

H.H. Sheikh Richard bin Richard Al Berner