Life in South Africa……28.02.12 ………. Sam

         These are some of the things I have found

 Out about South Africa so far…

History

·       For a long time people here had to live separately to others until the 1990’s when Nelson Mandela was elected president and he changed everything so that people could live together, this was called apartheid.

Houses

A house in a township

·       Most people still seem to live in separate groups. Some houses are too small and look like shacks.

·       Most toilets near small houses don’t have running water and some toilets they would call long drop toilets because there are no sewage pipes. (You get the picture?)

Currency

·       The currency of South Africa is called Rand and there are 12 Rand to the pound.

·       The notes have all the big five on them (Lion, Rhino, Leopard, Buffalo and Elephant and the big seven (extra two) are Cheetah and Giraffe plus we’ve seen all of them in one day last year!)  there’s a new note coming out with a picture of Nelson Mandela on it.

Population

·       Approximately 55 million people live in South Africa which is less than in Britain because there are 60 million there.

Roads

·       There don’t seem to be as many roads as back in England but there are quite a few more fast straight roads.

·       The roads are measured in kilometres instead of miles.

·       You can drive at 120 kph on the fastest roads. This is about 75mph.

·       The roads can go through mountains or past farms.

·       Lots of roads don’t have tar on them which makes them very bumpy.

Farming

Dirk  digs up some potatoes with Andrew and Sam

·       On one farm where we stayed in the North West Province the farmer grew maize and potatoes. He had just planted some pecan nut trees to sell abroad. We saw sunflowers too.

·       In White River the farmers plant maize, bananas and avocados. We have also seen other fruit being grown such as oranges, lemons and mangoes.

·       You can’t grow bananas in North West Province because the winters are too cold.

Shopping

A roadside stall

·       There are big shops in towns but people also put up stalls to make money for their family. We have seen brushes made out of twigs, macademia nuts, birds carved out of wood and drinks made out of marula fruit.

Schools

·       School starts early at about 7.30 and finishes around 2pm. Lunch is at about 11am.

·       The school year starts in January and ends in December.

Dimakatso and Betty

·       Children are taught in English, Africaans, sitswana, siSwati, Tsonga, Zulu, Xhosa or any other of the 11 or 12 official languages.

·       It can be a long way to school. Dimakatso is 6 and he walks 12km to school every day.

·       You only move from one grade to the next if you pass the test at the end of the year. So you could be years older than some of the other children in your class.

Nature

·       The weather, animals, birds, insects and trees are different but I might do that another day because I am tired.

Bye for now,

Sam