The challenge of racism

What is racism? And what are its implications?
Racism is a form of xenophobia. I might be biased saying that it is one the strongest and unforgiving form of xenophobia.
Post-apartheid South Africa society draws a final line about racism being essentially xenophobia. It is clear that the origins are rooted in fear of other people that do not share the same culture and have different set of value. Fear that foreign behaviours that one doesn’t understand can be threats to one’s way of life. The bigger the difference in culture, the wilder the fear is. It has nothing to do with reason or assessment of values it has everything to do with fearing for one’s own riches and invariably one’s wealth.
Racism is unforgiving because it gets imbedded in skin colour.
No matter what you can do or even how rich and successful you can become you will still have the same skin tone. There is absolutely nothing that can be done about one’s genes heritage. This is final.

However racism still finds its real roots in the wealth and cultural differential and most people that are victim of racism seem to understand this at some level.
The amount of German luxury cars driven by black people in South Africa is unbelievable. And this so similar to what is happening at the other side of the world in the Caribbean. People simply seem to buy these very expensive cars to climb out of their general condition and try to be acceptable in higher part of society.
But, and this is a big but, they buy these social status automobiles before actually getting there just to be more acceptable and therefore less threatening to the elite. And some of them are just doing it for impressing the opposite sex!
Nevertheless it remain undeniable that they use symbol of western wealth to try to climb up or at least get more “respect”.
I personally think they are just “jumping the gun” because a car is just going to do so much socially for its owner. The bottom victims of racism are historically tied to poverty and having more wealth indeed does wonders to prevent racism, by itself and better when it is coupled to openness. Lack of money is not the only thing that is historically tied to racism: lack of intelligence and belief in oneself are traits that have plagued victims and have became part of the racism world as well. But the latter came afterwards to victims after years of damage.

Then the main cause of all this comes from inequality in the sharing of money with one group having most of it. And this is actually good news in South Africa where now more people have access to more opportunities, more jobs.
I would bet my entire Canadian credential that this will help people become closer to each other and kill the fear.

Unfortunately, like a lot of things there will be a price to pay and this will be a loss of personal culture as more things will become the same. Is it worth it for living in a world without hate? I guess so.
Equality unfortunately seems to come at a price of more uniformity.

In an hypothetic future maybe we’ll be able to all stand together and we will go back to more ancient values and dare to be different again. However this requires, first, the end of all xenophobia and its ethnical form: racism.


Coming back to South Africa there is a very big divide between rich and poor people in nowadays and therefore racism is still present. But, as said previously, there is now a well-defined path for people to improve their situation and this enables us to tackle racism problems.

Post apartheid South Africa particularly never ceases to impress me by being so similar to other countries that didn’t have its infamous history.
This really encourages me to think that overcoming racism is very possible and is on the way. The people that I have been in contact with are quite wonderful. I talk about black and white people alike.
Blacks are not stuck on the victim speech. It’s been 2 months and I have never heard anyone complaining about history.
White people are very open. I live at a white woman’s house and this experience ended up to be inspirational. I met a friend of hers the other day and I have been repeatedly invited over at her place which is in another province. I accepted her invitation and, with my landlord driving, went there the next week-end!

Really the only thing that stands in the way of true equality, is what I bet started the whole thing that is the economic factor.
This is amazing how it is possible to recover from such a damaging and hateful regime, that great achievement paves the way for a better future for all of us. After all if we all get a chance to work we will be wealthier and richer than ever before and overcome racism once and for all!


My stay at Catherine’s (mu landlord name) was formidable.
In summary: it was difficult to get comfortable at the beginning. After a few weeks of knowing each other everything started to be easier proving that the more you know about the other the less irrational fears survive. Then she invited me and Marco to see her parents in the country side. Her parents are incredibly interesting and nice people and they get along with everybody. I mean not in the drunken kind of way but in a respectful and sincere manner. They don’t mind knowing more about others and sharing there own experiences. On my side I tried to listen and to get past my own fears the most I could and after this visit the last step in equality was made. Getting along with white South African was expected to be a difficult task and thanks to the people I’ve met here I can say that this is a success and it is definitely possible to overcome the barriers between our respective worlds both ways.

Thanks, thanks Sci-Bono, thanks Catherine, thank you South Africa. We are moving forward winning the challenge brought by racism!

Assignement 5 – Take Away

The main thing I will be bringing back with me from South Africa is knowing the exact size and how far divide between people can be in our world in the present time.

That was what I was looking forward to appreciate when I got selected to come and South Africa was everything that I hoped it would be and more in this regard.
The experience was intense, profound and a lot more challenging and tiring that I thought it would be.

Since the beginning of this trip it was clear that South Africa has the exact same type of society than the French Caribbean (where I come from originally). Please note that this view is the one of a French citizen of dark skin complexion. Situations remain the same from wherever ones looks at it but where one stands determines how everything is going to be lived.

Everything is very similar even the scenery but it is on a totally different scale: A LOT BIGGER.

The mountains are bigger, the economy is bigger, the population is bigger and the social dynamic is bigger.

South Africa is peaceful and so is the Caribbean and relation between what is still called races is on a passive-aggressive model that does not irrupt in violence in both places. However it is clear that the problems are deeper and more serious in South Africa. I find myself being feeling this intimidation in front of certain white people. An irrational feeling made of respect and fear that is still in me from my childhood the Caribbean that I seldom experience anymore over there and never in Canada. In South Africa it came back with a vengeance even after all these years (I have been living in Canada for 8 years) and the fact that I am well into my twenties now.
This will probably never leave me and now I am sure I know the limits of the reality at the origin of this complex and for that I’m eternally thankful to South Africa and its people.
It was always been that “if I can handle South Africa I can handle anything regarding race related social divide”.

Of course there are other things that I have learnt here. They are mainly work and language related ironically. Studying at York for 2 years really has helped raising my English-level however working is a whole different setting. At work there are co-workers that one need to greet and acknowledge, supervisors that give assignments and projects and to whom there are reports to be submitted. In a word there is a lot more communication involved that at university at undergraduate level.

So my english have been improved as well as my relationships with people in general. It is not very related to South Africa in particular and could have been done in any other place in the world but it is true.

This is the last post as far as blog assignments are concerned but stay tuned as I’ll finally publish this paper on race relation before the end of this month!

Thanks for reading

Assignement 4: Traveller or Tourist

What is a traveller and what is a tourist? It may be safe to say that as long as one is venturing outside of his/her home one is travelling. And by this definition a tourist is a kind of traveller.

Some may not agree entirely and want to assign a more prestigious meaning to the denomination "traveller" as oppose to the fast-food reputation of the "tourist" label but having one term encompassing the other does justice to both as well. Let me explain. A tourist is a very well known term that has been defining a very specific group of people over a number of years. This category or group of people has done everything from climbing the pyramids in Egypt to fuelling economies in places like in lots of Caribbean islands whose economies are geared toward catering for them. Tourists have done everything in between including abusing there powerful position in a lot of places from crazy behaviour in hotels to indecent conduct and outfit at the beach. There is no getting away from it. There is a bad reputation associated with tourism.

So more image conscious people call themselves "travellers". They avoid going into typical places that most foreigners visit, place labelled "tourist attractions" and they try to concentrate so called more "authentic" experiences. This has been a new trend for some time and an attempt to restart the activity of visiting foreign places from the basics but this is the same basic activity. This is why a tourist is necessary a traveller but a traveller might not be a tourist.

To simplify further the distinction between the two let's confine the tourist designation to pure recreational vacations and traveller to every other type of foreign journey.

Following this definition I have been both during this marvellous trip to South Africa! Most of the time I am working in my place of internship at the science centre and this falls nicely as a non-recreational activity necessary to differentiate myself from a "tourist". But I had the chance to go on a short "vacation" to the beautiful city of Cape Town and there was nothing in mind than enjoying the beautiful scenery, climbing the gorgeous "Table Mountain" and going to see Nelson Mandela prison cell on the nearby island with all the other tourists!

I think there is no inherent bad in being a tourist from time to time. As a Caribbean guy I was quite happy to finally being one and enjoy a week-end of care-free relaxation in a place that was truly exotic to me. It is like everything in life if it is not abused it's all good.

Since then I've been back to my placement and I have been working hard to make the most out of everything. Working for more than just a few weeks really makes me start to feel different about everything and by now I feel a lot more like a foreign worker than even a traveller let alone a tourist...

Thanks for reading!

Assignment 3 - To Change or Not To Change

Adaptation to life in Africa!

Well it is a special part of Africa as this is South Africa. The most developed country on the continent. Having reference points from back home like having a mall next to where I live does help a lot.

I also have to add the fact that I am not originally from Canada - I'm not even a citizen yet! - I come from a region in the "south" of our planet.

The culture in South Africa is new to me but every single component of it I can find in past experiences, the whole experience here being very similar to my home country in the Caribbean.It is simply bigger and for some reason has a bit of Mexican feel to it!!!

This is strange but true. And this is how I would describe Johannesburg to any Caribbean people: Exactly like home but bigger and if you ever been in Mexico city just add this bustling and busy feeling from there and that is IT.

Coming back to having to change to adapt the simple answer is not much. Not much at all actually.

There are some little practical things that require changes like staying alive when walking in the city or having to greet everybody coming into the workplace. The former is new to me and the latter I just forgot living in the North for so long.

Johannesburg is dangerous in at least 2 ways. First it is actually unsafe to be there at night even in a group so my nightlife do not include going downtown for a drink or some shopping like in Toronto. Here going out at night requires to stay in the suburb or to the bar very close to where you live (if you are lucky enough to have one nearby). this has been a big change in my way of life. the second thing is traffic. Cars have the right of way in South Africa. It is absolutely not legal and a real mess but everybody tries to push him/herself through here. When you are the wheel of a car you are a lot bigger and pedestrians don't matter to you. I find myself having to get out of the way of cars even when it is my turn to cross the road.

Needless to say I am a lot more aware of my surrendings in Johannesburg.

Having to greet everyone in the office is something that is also going on in my country. I just have to get back in touch with my education.

Other than that I didn't found the need to do adjustments to the way I think or see the world. It is so similar to what I know that I am considering South Africa as a possible next destination after I finish studying in Canada. I love the fact that it has the general feel of my own country but with a lot more opportunities for an engineer especially of my skin colour. I am Black and in post-apartheid era we are suddenly very welcome everywhere!

The people have the same general respect for the northern way of life that we have in the Caribbean. It takes a toll on who you are growing in such culture tormented environment but once this is settled with your own character (I settled that a long time ago) it is quite easy to known where to go : just "follow the north". Sad but at the same time so true. We went to a South African play the other day and the main character mother's reminded me subtly this urge that we have perfectly embodied in black women habit to straighten their hair and try to get paler. Very funny when white woman try more and more to get darker and have bigger lips!!! hahaahah (I love when african or caribbean women keep their short natural hair)

Anyway I find the world to be very similar all over nowadays. There are differences of course but if you already have a bit of experience in different major cultures you can find your way almost everywhere while respecting most of people beliefs and cultures. Travelling requires less and less change and adaptation. I must say that I love it and look forward to the time where everyone will be able to have unrestricted access to everywhere in the world and feel at home as I do here!

Thanks for reading!

The Wonders of Modern Global Communication

As much as I like engaging in internet bashing and various complaining about privacy issues like we enjoy so much doing in the northern western regions of the planet. I must say that I never saw the value of it more clearly than now that I am overseas in a completely different country in a completely different part of the world.
Cheap, reliable, familiar and readily available electronic communication means has completely altered the way travelling abroad feels like and in this regard alone is incredibly powerful!

It all started deciding to buy this cheap but lightweight and very convenient netbook. This occured 2 weeks before leaving for South Africa. I realized that most of my life and everything that I do as a Canadian resident and French citizen living abroad was done through the web.
I mean important stuff like registering to school, applying for loans, paying my phone bills, managing my money from accounts spread across our vast multi-provincial territory, paying taxes, exerting my right to vote in France, and I'm not even talking about emails. I simply realized that this was our reality and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's so convienient. So I needed a reliable personnal and secure access to the web that was purchased again at a very reasonable price for what it makes possible.

Going back to travelling in the world, flying from Toronto (CANADA) to Johannesburg (SOUTH AFRICA) is a long ordeal. The longest flight that I always known was going across the altantic ocean from the Americas to Europe. On this journey this flight was the shortest leg of the trip! Arriving in Paris airport early in the morning was unbeleivably boring. So I shell out this little computer and noticed that "wi-fi" was available (this is internet over the air). It wasn't free mind you but you could purchased airtime using your credit card directly from your own computer.
That's what I did and I am so glad. I could connect with a friend not asleep in Canada who who was preparing her own trip anxious to go back to Europe have a video conference and fool around. This was one of the nicest and most emotion filled chat I had in my life. On its own right this connection would have been worthwhile but what was almost priceless is being able to do things exactly the same way I am accustomed to. I felt at genuinely at home and didn't feel the distance separating me from my normal life and the 4 hours litteraly flew by without getting tired.

At this point I thought "well, ok France is my country and what if I don't feel jet-lagged I know I can handle this flight". Yes this must be it I have done taken these transtlantic flights before and I'm in my country: this is probably why I feel at home!
then I paid a credit card bill online and proceed to board the 11-hour flight to South Africa being just happy to be awake and ready for it.

I won't talk about the flight itself since it was a cultural immersion on itself and this is worth a dedicated entry.

Let's fastforward to Johannesburg. Johannesburg felt kind of familiar in the sense that it is made of cultural bits and pieces of places I have already lived in in the past so I immediately knew that I will be having a peacefull time adaptation wise.
However on my first day of being at work I came accross my internet again and found that here people are very fond of facebook. They use it the same way me and my friends do, on the same computers with the same softwares. There is no learning curve.
At this moment I felt the same feeling of being at home again, with different people yeah but people that could have as well been just from the next town.

and now i thought this is not Paris, this is South Africa i have never been here before. As a matter of fact Africa is very new to me. there is no way I am getting this homely feeling because of experience and right of citizemship. This is as foreign as it can be ... at least geographically and on paper but not in real life.

I have registered for my course in Toronto and begin applying for my yearly loan today exactly the same way that would have at my place in Canada and this feeling of being at home in "one-world" has not left me since.

This internship is taking shape!

Today the supervisor gave me the tasks she wants me to complete by the end of the placements and it cannot be better!

I know this is one of the more difficult and stressfull task interns can have for living with students from Waterloo who have to be on internships every other semester. You have a general idea about why you are at this placement, you know it somehow fits into your study plan but you actually don't know how to make yourself useful and even if the people at your placement really have anything for you to do!
Your mileage my vary a bit but fitting in is for sure a challenge for me.

But not this time! When choosing Sci-Bono Discovery Centre as my destination I had an idea about which one of my skills could be useful there and I went through the process based on that...

This skill was however a bit vague: the scientific knowledge that I accumulated while studying in Canada might be of interest to understand and explain exhibits in a science centre...

My first assignement at Sci-Bono was loosely based on that in the sense that I had to help introduce more academic knowledge in the presentation of the exhibits to young pupils.
I went on and devise a little manual for one of the floors here.

It turned out the people at the centre liked it so much that I now have to make little scientific manuals for most of the exhibits at the centre and that what I'll be doing for the remainder of the placement!
It couldn't have been better work-wise and it is so nice to have something useful to offer.

The condition here in South Africa is that science is somehow weak even with demonstrators so it is actually a big help to understand scientifically what is going on in a physics show and feed this knowledge back to the demonstrators.

There it is, I have my purpose and I couldn't be happier :D

Have a nice day and a nice continuation wherever you are reading this from!

Assignment 2 - New place to be for 3 months!

This assignment is supposed to be about our new country, new city, new place for our placement and the similarities and differences from our normal canadian life.

For Marco and me, it's Johannesburg a city in the other southern hemisphere of the planet. Beside being so far away from Canada, there is a major difference between the northern and the southern hemisphere: the season are reversed here!
So there you have it from June to August when this placement is taking place it is actually winter. I still c an beleive that I voluntarely gave up one of our so short Canadian summer, arrggg!
However this is not too bad because even if we are in the most southern country of Africa the temperature still remain easily above freezing with highs of about 15 degrees.

On the same note, something that is very different from Canada is the total lack of insulation whatsoever. This is making our lives difficult in the morning: I don't want to get out of bed!!!

Difference number #1 : The seasons are reversed

After a week of living at a co-worker's place, we finally found a lovely house to stay in a nice neighborhoud. My address is 100 3rd Avenue in Melville.

The landlord is this very sophisticated but very nice white lady Catherine. This is actually the first time I see these two quality go hand-in-hand this nicely.

As said the neighborhoud is great: it is extremely safe. The city itself is manageable but a bit sketchy so it is a major relief to come back home and know that we are safe even at night.

There is also a little strip of night life just outside our door with restaurants and bars that are very affordable!

here it is possible to treat oneself to fine restaurant dining for canadian fast-food money!

I have never been at restaurant so many times in my life!

Difference number #2: Restaurants are affordable on student money!

Speaking on a more general point of view, I don't really feel as being this far from any place in the world I would call home. I think this a remarkable acheivement from the people of our planet and it is due to a number of factors like language, our wonderful communication means and also my own experience but I'll elaborate on that in upcoming posts to this blog.

Stay tuned!!!