Well my answer is yes, winter must be here, and it is freezing in the mornings, well not 0 degrees C yet, but getting closer and closer. Last week on my way into school, I would gaze over at Juli’s vehicle outside temperature gage in her dash and the temps read anywhere from 7 degrees to the coldest of 5 degrees. Burr, now I say it’s getting a little nippier!
Well it’s no longer May, but June now, can you believe it? Six weeks I’ll be in Akron and seven with my family, Yipee! Well maybe I shouldn’t get too excited yet; I still have lots of goodbyes yet to say in the next few weeks! I have already said goodbye to the school teachers since the school has now started their winter break. Their winter break is five weeks this year instead of the normal three due to the FIFA World Cup.
Yes the world is here somewhere, and all of you I am sure are getting lots of tv coverage reports of the Cup. Me I’m not too excited about it, actually its sorta making me feel a little blue. I’m not a real big sport fan, yes I’ll watch a bit of hockey here and there, but never gotten too serious into all the teams, games and the stats, so why would soccer be any different? PMB doesn’t play host to any of these big games, and the closest stadium venue is Durban.
The rest of my fellow SALTer’s and James & Joan all have tickets to see at least one game, but me on the other hand I do not. Am I disappointed? A little bit yes, but life moves on. There are other fun things to do and see before I leave. The people here have been getting excited for months, and since about the start of the 100 day count down, President Jacob Zuma, declared that every Friday would be Football Friday and people were to purchase a yellow and green Bafana Bafana shirt to show support of their South African team. Besides the sea of yellow and green shirts on Fridays, and especially the last few days, people have been blowing their Vuvuzela’s, attaching South African flags to their vehicles, and learning the Diskee (not sure of the spelling) dance. I have had the pleasure of watching the grade 5 students perform at school a couple times.
So why all this big hype? I guess it’s exciting for this country and something new. What I have been pondering over the past year about FIFA, what’s going to happen once it’s over and the all the soccer fans from around the world go home? There is going to be an influx of revenue flowing into the economy for this period, having created job creation in preparing the cities with new and better roads, updating and touching up stadiums, and businesses hiring extra staff to handle the extra customers. Hotels, and accommodations will be or already filled and tourist attractions will be steadily busy with these world soccer fans traveling across the country taking in other fun activities. All this is great, but what about afterwards when everyone goes home? How long will these jobs last for the citizens here; which has enabled them to put a roof over their family’s head and food on the table. I am afraid that it will end on a sour note and lots families will go back to struggling for the basic necessities.
Another concern that has been addressed at school is creating awareness of human trafficking. This is already a problem here in SA, and many children and adults have been snatched from their homes and force to work in sweatshops and factories, or in domestic homes, never seeing their love ones again. There is great fear of this activity during this period of the FIFA World Cup and last week the grades 5, 6, and 7 students watched a very serious video about the scariness and about being careful during this time of when the world comes to South Africa.
I just want to conclude that I wish all the world teams the best of luck in winning the FIFA Cup. All of you will probably see more TV coverage than I, even though I am living here. The TV in my home is not connected to any channels, but today businesses are closing early to allow the people to watch the opening ceremonies and the first kick off between South Africa and Mexico.
Signing off and Mach Gut….
Go Bafana Bafana Go!!
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