Strike!

“There are only 12 countries in the world that supply tap water that is fit to drink, and South Africa is one of them. Our tap water quality is third best overall in the world.”

This is simply not true. Not right now.

You see, the workers at the water purification plant that supplies our region are on strike! (STRIKE is simply too emphatic a word to ever NOT be followed by an exclamation point.) Some days there is no water in our pipes, and when there is, it looks more like milk than water.

i like it this way. Yes. It sounds funny, but i am glad to not have water, because it means that the strikes are effecting me. This makes me feel like i am a part of something. i am.

Many of the public workers here have been on strike for weeks now. i have been happily going about daily life just a few kilometers from the masses of protesters and the burning tires and all that jazz, rather unaffected.

But now, i feel a something, and for this i am glad. So also, am i glad for the strikes. One of the major demands that the strikers are posting is in regards to resource management.

Since the days of colonialism–which in a way still continue, although to put it in Darwinian terms, COLONIALISM as evolved into CAPITALISM on a global level. The mentality has been for centuries, we come from the west and we take, tae, take.

In the present day, this mostly occurs with resources. The strikers are demanding that the government aid in the building o production facilities. This would create lots of jobs within the nation. Also, the country could make a LOT more money off of products rather than raw materials.

As it is now, Western powers swoop in and abscond the raw materials for next to nothing and refine them and make fat profits.

The South African workers and unemployed want a piece of this pie. That makes sense.

If you read the news, you will see stories crazy uprisings.

(but, fear not. This stuff is happening in Pretoria, but Pretoria-central. I am in Hatfield, Pretoria, a couple of kilometers away from the heat of the action.)

And, an update on the King of Swaziland. He did NOT choose a new wife this year. i suppose he is happy with his current 13 ladies.

A friend said to me, “I can’t even handle one girl, how can he manage 13!?”

i replied, “i don’t think he can handle any of them either–not even a one–that’s why he gets a new one every year.”

Anyways, i wanted to post a few of Thomas’s pictures of our time in Swaziland. First is this soccer pith (the more global way to refer to a soccer field):

You can see here in the background behind these perspective queens the soccer pitch in the first picture.

And here, in the foreground is the Swazi flag.

And finally, here are the chiefs. Each tribe sends all of its eligible virgins each year. The chiefs sit in the front rows of the stadium and look on the festivities. The one on the left had a glorious bald spot that closely resembles the shape of the CONTINENT of Africa. (Did you know that Africa is a CONTINENT, and NOT a COUNTRY!?) Anyways, i don’t mean this is disrespect; we thought it was pretty cool.

And in final news, my soccer team (LINK THE UNITED NATIONS) is now in a league! Our first game is this Saturday. We are playing a team formed by the South Arican Embassy or something like that. it’ll be good times.

Also!! In final-final news, i have a gig at a recording studio this weekend. It is a 2-day recording session with a big band that plays at the State Theatre and was in need of an English singer with good diction. i am flipping excited, and we’l see what comes of it. i go Saturday afternoon and stay over at a friend’s house in the township and then go again on sunday.

And sorry if this post is typo-full! i have no time to prooooof read.

Peace.