Jo'burg for friends

I left yesterday morning on an eleven-day trip to South Africa for a training course on Public Financial Management. I had been looking forward to it, even though I played it cool with colleagues, saying that a course in Brussels would really have suited me better… In the meantime I was having visions of fine dining, South African wines, safari day trips…. I landed safely with both feet on the ground the day before my departure when I received an e-mail with a massive package of ‘light reading’ for the weekend, to be discussed on day 1 of the course. So I have spent several hours now slogging my way through a curiously passionate article about the pros and cons of traditional line-item budgeting… This, by the way, is the stuff I will spent four full months on in the course of the MSc degree studies that will start end of May.

I arrived in Johannesburg (Jo’burg for friends) this morning, after the usual torture of a sleepless night flight. It’s been quite a trip from our host country’s capital. First a short flight to Douala, Cameroon, spent a day in a hotel, then night flight to Nairobi. Kenyatta Airport struck me as quite sophisticated, but then again, I am easily pleased. I marvelled at the phonetics of the Swahili that I heard spoken on the airport intercom, until I realised it was a Kenyan lady doing her utmost on some flight announce;ents in French. But I ded hear real Swahili too, and thought it sounds quite beautiful. It was great to see it written everywhere, also in the plane: choo - lavatory; inatumika – occupied; kutoka – exit; kwa usalama wako – for your safety.

In fact I am always relieved to see any place in Africa that seems more dynamic, organised and self-confident than our host country. Douala fits that bill, and so does Nairobi. But South Africa seems in a different league altogether, something I knew of course, but the contrast is particularly stark when coming straight from one of the least developed countries in the world. I will write down some more impressions in the days to come.

A. and the children will leave tonight for Holland. I hope she’ll be all right.