Cape Fusion

South Africa, the country in which everything was wrong. South Africa, the country about which only bad things could be told.

Watching the game, drinking the wine, buying its gold and even wearing its diamonds was wrong. Apartheid, the only Dutch word known all around the world, was ruling.

No, nothing was good in this particular country. And I, a Dutch kid 22 years younger than today, was even ashamed that the South African people were talking Afrikaans, the language which is originally Dutch. In my youth, South Africa was a country which was doomed forever.

The country was in the dead zone, it was dying of a terrible disease. But sometimes miracles do happen. Dead assumed people can recover and rise again. Okay, it might not have regained all its hair yet, and the skin still a bit pale, but the love that's working so hard to stay alive is finding its way,

The whole body and mind is believing in itself. The heart, longs, arms, legs, brains, muscles, everything is working together to make the best of what was left at point zero. And now its sees what potential it has. It starts believing in itself again.

It is cool to visit South Africa these days, students are looking for scholarship and wine is flying out of the country. South Africa is healing.

While travelling through this beautiful country I can see it happening. Since I came here for the first time in 1996, a healthy storm is blowing over this country infecting all its people. So easy would it have been to end up in mess, but no, the majority of them saw the change and took it with both hands.

We, Zulu's, Xhosa's, Indian people, former Europeans (white Africans), have to work together. The diversity of this country is enforcing the process of regaining its strength. That's what I saw back then and still see today.

Now, ending my trip here in this town, Cape fusion, all that South-Africa has to offer comes together in Cape Town. This beautiful harbour city, where the rainbow ends up in the Atlantic Ocean, telling the world its okay and working its way up to total health.

Bart Veldkamp

More dining & theshowroom restaurant:
Bruce's theshowroom on harbour's edge
More things to do at night in Cape Town
More articles on Wine and Dine in Cape Town

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