Post Apartheid South Africa
Shortly after her youngest child turned 18, Molly did something she had been unable to do for twenty years. She left the kids at home alone for the first time and joined her husband, Doug, on a business trip to Capetown, South Africa.
"It was one of his regular business trips," says Molly, "but it was a big trip for me and a trip down memory lane, too, because I once visisted Capetown before I married."
"I felt that an incredible burden had been removed from my shoulders when I was able to shake off the responsibility of childcare," confides Molly. "It has been twenty years since I last felt so free. You see, I really took my mothering duties seriously and would never leave the children with relatives or sitters. I just didn't trust anybody to take care of the kids."
"Capetown was just one of many South African cities Doug had to visit for business," says Molly, "but Capetown was the place I'd come to see and I marveled at how much it had changed since I had first visited the city as a young single woman during the apartheid regime."
"At that time, it would have been the most beautiful city I had ever visited were it not for the fact that apartheid put a black cloud over the city that was far more striking than the mountain that loomed over it," confides Molly.
Positioned at the farthest tip of the west coast of Africa, nestled between the ocean and the mountains, Molly says that Capetown is breathtaking in its beauty.
"So beautiful is the scenery that it is perhaps a pity that a city was ever built there," says Molly, "and especially the type of city that existed prior to apartheid being abolished."
Molly had been warned to expect the worst when she first visited South Africa as a single woman, and she was disappointed that everything she had been warned about was true.
"During the apartheid regime, the divide between blacks and whites was not as stark as the divide between the haves and have-nots in India - in that I saw no black people lying starving on the roads, or maimed children begging." explains Molly, "but there was definitely a barrier between the races that I found quite upsetting."
"That terrible political system has gone now," says Molly, "but with some of the older white South Africans the race barrier is still quite evident. They really do think of themselves as being superior to black people."
"Black people still live in one part of town, white people the other, and in between live the Indians," says Molly. "At first I was very surprised to find so many Indians in Capetown, and then I remembered that during the British Raj the Indians had acquired British nationality and went wherever the Brits went."
"Actually," adds Molly, "Gandhi lived in South Africa for a while and it was there that he formed his views of the world. If South Africa was unbearable before Mandela came to power then imagine how awful it must have been in Gandhi’s time when even the Indians were treated as inferior beings."
Molly has no idea why so many Indians came to South Africa, and stayed, but she says that they are definitely a major racial group in Capetown.
When she first visited Capetown as a single woman, Molly was forbidden to walk around on her own - it was not considered safe, or even a respectable thing for a white woman to do - and Molly was also advised against hiring a car and going places by herself.
"My first visit to Capetown was thus heavily circumscribed by the politics of the day," explains Molly, "but my second visit with Doug was also heavily circumscribed by his business activities."
"It looks like I am destined to be captive in Capetown whenever I visit," laughed Molly.
Just like her first visit, Molly spent her time in Capetown browsing the shops, particularly those selling African artifacts.
"I thought it very strange," says Molly, "that there I was in Africa - just hours away from areas where wild beasts roam - and all I was permitted to do, or had time to do, was to remain within the 'white area' looking at things that white merchants had bought or plundered from the Africans."
On her first visit, Molly’s eye was caught by a wall hanging depicting a Massai warrior.
"The warrior, of course, was totally black and was silhouetted on a stark orange background," explains Molly. "It was not the same as actually experiencing the real Africa, but that wall hanging gave me a taste of what I might one day see in person. It graced a feature wall of my apartment before I was married and I cannot remember what happened to it."
"Well," sighs Molly, "I am still waiting to experience the real Africa. This time around I didn’t buy anything. I just browsed, waiting for my husband to finalize his business meeting."
The day Molly left Capetown for the second time, she looked up at that enormous mountain that seemingly protected the small, predominantly white population from the real Africa and the real Africans beyond it, and made her husband promise to take her back one day for a real visit.
"I want to get over that mountain and see what lies beyond it," explains Molly. "If I can wait twenty years to be free of mothering duties, then I can wait another twenty years if needs be to free myself of the experience of always being captive in Capetown!"
"It was one of his regular business trips," says Molly, "but it was a big trip for me and a trip down memory lane, too, because I once visisted Capetown before I married."
"I felt that an incredible burden had been removed from my shoulders when I was able to shake off the responsibility of childcare," confides Molly. "It has been twenty years since I last felt so free. You see, I really took my mothering duties seriously and would never leave the children with relatives or sitters. I just didn't trust anybody to take care of the kids."
"Capetown was just one of many South African cities Doug had to visit for business," says Molly, "but Capetown was the place I'd come to see and I marveled at how much it had changed since I had first visited the city as a young single woman during the apartheid regime."
"At that time, it would have been the most beautiful city I had ever visited were it not for the fact that apartheid put a black cloud over the city that was far more striking than the mountain that loomed over it," confides Molly.
Positioned at the farthest tip of the west coast of Africa, nestled between the ocean and the mountains, Molly says that Capetown is breathtaking in its beauty.
"So beautiful is the scenery that it is perhaps a pity that a city was ever built there," says Molly, "and especially the type of city that existed prior to apartheid being abolished."
Molly had been warned to expect the worst when she first visited South Africa as a single woman, and she was disappointed that everything she had been warned about was true.
"During the apartheid regime, the divide between blacks and whites was not as stark as the divide between the haves and have-nots in India - in that I saw no black people lying starving on the roads, or maimed children begging." explains Molly, "but there was definitely a barrier between the races that I found quite upsetting."
"That terrible political system has gone now," says Molly, "but with some of the older white South Africans the race barrier is still quite evident. They really do think of themselves as being superior to black people."
"Black people still live in one part of town, white people the other, and in between live the Indians," says Molly. "At first I was very surprised to find so many Indians in Capetown, and then I remembered that during the British Raj the Indians had acquired British nationality and went wherever the Brits went."
"Actually," adds Molly, "Gandhi lived in South Africa for a while and it was there that he formed his views of the world. If South Africa was unbearable before Mandela came to power then imagine how awful it must have been in Gandhi’s time when even the Indians were treated as inferior beings."
Molly has no idea why so many Indians came to South Africa, and stayed, but she says that they are definitely a major racial group in Capetown.
When she first visited Capetown as a single woman, Molly was forbidden to walk around on her own - it was not considered safe, or even a respectable thing for a white woman to do - and Molly was also advised against hiring a car and going places by herself.
"My first visit to Capetown was thus heavily circumscribed by the politics of the day," explains Molly, "but my second visit with Doug was also heavily circumscribed by his business activities."
"It looks like I am destined to be captive in Capetown whenever I visit," laughed Molly.
Just like her first visit, Molly spent her time in Capetown browsing the shops, particularly those selling African artifacts.
"I thought it very strange," says Molly, "that there I was in Africa - just hours away from areas where wild beasts roam - and all I was permitted to do, or had time to do, was to remain within the 'white area' looking at things that white merchants had bought or plundered from the Africans."
On her first visit, Molly’s eye was caught by a wall hanging depicting a Massai warrior.
"The warrior, of course, was totally black and was silhouetted on a stark orange background," explains Molly. "It was not the same as actually experiencing the real Africa, but that wall hanging gave me a taste of what I might one day see in person. It graced a feature wall of my apartment before I was married and I cannot remember what happened to it."
"Well," sighs Molly, "I am still waiting to experience the real Africa. This time around I didn’t buy anything. I just browsed, waiting for my husband to finalize his business meeting."
The day Molly left Capetown for the second time, she looked up at that enormous mountain that seemingly protected the small, predominantly white population from the real Africa and the real Africans beyond it, and made her husband promise to take her back one day for a real visit.
"I want to get over that mountain and see what lies beyond it," explains Molly. "If I can wait twenty years to be free of mothering duties, then I can wait another twenty years if needs be to free myself of the experience of always being captive in Capetown!"
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