28 February to 2 March 1987: My Final Days in South Africa

May 1987, Computer Lab, UB Environmental Science Department

My Saturday in Durban was relatively uneventful.  I shot some photos at the beach and later at the Indian market in Durban Central.  Helize joined me for a big curry lunch at an Indian restaurant near the beach.  I learned that Helize is working on a masters in English because she feels Afrikaans is a dying language and thinks she may eventually be unemployable without another teaching specialty.  Spending time with Helize made me realize the extent of one’s internal conflict and subconscious guilt as a liberal Afrikaner.  In the eyes of most of her fellow Boers, to be liberal and an Afrikaner is to be a traitor to the Volk.  In the eyes of many non-white South Africans, to be a liberal Afrikaner is irrelevant.


South Beach, Durban.  The only non-white I saw there was the black nanny in the blue dress on the left who was walking with a little white girl.

 

Helize’s gay friend, Kevin, came by for dinner.  The three of us had planned to see a one-man socio-political satire playing at a treater downtown.  It was sold out so Kevin took off leaving Helize and I to see “Heartburn”, a perfectly awful movie starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.


 

Indian commercial district in Durban Central.

 

Helize was getting a bit crabby.  Probably having me around for a couple days was putting a crimp in her normal routine.  I think she was happy to deposit me at the bus station on Sunday morning.  I don’t blame her! 

Recently I was trying to remember how many people I’ve met in South Africa through Helize.  I lost count after 40.  Hope I can return the favor someday.  She is slightly neurotic, very brainy, a great conversationalist, and a truly interesting character.  I wish her the best.

 

View of Durban Central and the harbor from Helize’s flat in Glenwood.

 

The bus ride from Durban to Johannesburg took most of the day and was dreadfully boring.  It reminded me why I prefer the ambiance and comfort of a train.  Upon arrival in J’burg late that afternoon, I took a walk to capture my last photos of the city.  An overnight train got me to Zeerust in the wee hours of the morning.  Around 6:00 AM, my friend David, the British accountant, picked me up at the station on his way back from a weekend with his family in Rustenburg to his job with the Botswana Development Corporation in Gaborone.  I was back home at my little flat on the UB campus flat in time for breakfast.     




 


  

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