South Africa Day 10

Day 10 (Monday)
Arriving at the Happy Hippo backpacker’s hostel in Durban at 2pm left us famished. We took a stroll outside in the quest for food. As we walked through the city we quickly realized that we really did not belong in this area. A lot of energy was spent keep aware of our surroundings and any people that got in close proximity of us. So after a mile or two of walking thorough the bad part of town we found access to the beach and found food in that proximity. We decided to walk back along the beach back to the hostel. Inside the hostel we saw a very nice map indicating the area we just walked through as a red “no go” area. That was mighty nice of them to tell us that we just survived a really rough part of town.  

That evening we would find another backpacker in the hostel who took the same route as us and was accosted by two thugs trying to pickpocket him. He was walking by himself.  

The next person I talked to that evening was an ex-volunteer police officer. His training sergeant told him that his type got the worse deal with getting shot at for free! So one would really have to want to serve to volunteer for this duty. His examples of the lack of technology of the South African police force was so far behind it made them seem like they were stuck in the 70’s. He said that the police dispatcher was not connected to the other emergency services (fire, ambulances, search and rescue, coast guard etc). They could not communicate with each other. He said that they were lucky to have a radio in 25% of the vehicles. He said that the pay is pitiful for the normal police force. The cops that start off as straight are heavily pressured to join one of the corrupt “gangs” of cops or never advance in his career. He stopped volunteering because the he was asked to report the corrupt cops. He did this until his superiors revealed to the corrupt cops the identity of the informant. The locals seem to think that the cops are not to be trusted and will not do anything if there is a crime, especially at night. If you were a lowly paid public servant that gets no respect, would you risk your life to try to stop a violent crime in the dark of night when you know that you can not call for backup?  

I also met 3 American Peace Corps Volunteer and they told me that they had been offered la bola. La bola is the dowry offered to the father of a woman the man wishes to buy. Traditionally it comes in the form of cows but these days it also comes in the form of cash. So we figured a normal la bola is 8-11 cows. That is our new joke: “How many cows is she worth?”