a new city...

Hello from Pretoria!

I apologize for the lack of updates this past week—no good excuse other than that I’ve been trying to make the most of all my time in South Africa :-)  Last Friday, Leah and I hopped on a bus with the men and women’s basketball teams of Cape Tech University (Kita from H4H is the head coach) and drove 19 hours north from Cape Town to Pretoria. College teams from all over the country have come to the capital of South Africa to play for a national championship. It’s been really fun and interesting to see all these games… I can tell you that the level of play in South Africa is nowhere near the level of D1 basketball in the States. Most of these schools don’t even offer basketball scholarships as the majority of money goes to the high revenue sports of rugby and soccer. 

The best part of the week has been spending time with these girls and guys who come from all over Africa. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to Caroline, a first year student who moved to South Africa from the Congo where her dad is a big exec at a diamond exporting company. She has helped me to understand the complex politics of the diamond mining industry and the conflicts that have led to political and economic instability in the country. Then there’s Neho, a grad student at the university and the oldest player on the roster. Leah and I snuck off to Johannesburg yesterday morning before the afternoon games to see the Apartheid Museum, which I would absolutely recommend to anyone visiting South Africa. We made it back in time to see the end of the men’s game, in which they won big over a team that had beaten them earlier in the season. But when we came back to our lodge after the game, as excited as Neho and his teammates were about their win, they wanted to talk about what we had seen earlier in the day at the museum. Neho, having living through 10 years of apartheid as well as the country’s transition to democracy, answered all the questions we through at him. He told of how he and his family were relocated to a new township outside Kimberley, described the day that Mandela was released from prison, and shared his insight on how the South African view of white people varies throughout the country. Everyone has a different view on race relations and the future of the country, and I so appreciate Neho and everyone else’s willingness to share pieces of their life story to help me understand life in South Africa as well as other countries in Africa. 

I guess what I’m getting at is that I have seen for myself and tried to describe to you how the game of basketball is similar across the globe—it is taught and played very much the same way. But it also has the power to bring together people who may have otherwise never had a relationship. Apartheid legislation lasted for 47 years and ended merely 20 years ago, and yet Matt, an Afrikanner and Neho, a native South African, not only practice and play together everyday but have a friendship and a real respect for each other.

Our stay here in Pretoria has been great. I’ve fit in some quality basketball workouts with the guys, seen new areas of the country, and made new friends that I hope I’ll keep in touch with when I return home.  But I’m ready to go back to Cape Town and the H4H programs. Next week, Leah and I (just the two of us..ah!) are running a 4-day elite girls basketball camp. All-female camps are not common in South Africa, and we are hosting it free of charge to the girls in hopes of bringing out the best talent in greater Cape Town. Our goal is to not only improve individual basketball skills but also to impart a few life lessons throughout the week.  Promise to let you know how it goes!

Lindsay