Port Elizabeth - Musings

Poverty is concentrated in the townships of South Africa, the inverse of what we see in the US where central city areas are often poorer.  Here, the central cities hold the wealth.  For example, in Port Elizabeth - a city of one million - approximately 150,000 people live in the first class tourist town we experience.

Port Elizabeth seascape

And. Port Elizabeth is gorgeous.  With beautiful beaches and weather, it offers a natural playground.  The area we live in, called Summerstrand, is in the heart of the tourist area.

Recently, a tourism development called the Boardwalk opened nearby.  I haven't visited, but it's advertised as offering "Western appeal" --- it has a casino, arcade, candy shop, mini-donuts.  This makes me sad.  I wish that eco-tourism, and visits to township homes, and opportunities to make cross-cultural friendships would as readily be considered to hold Western appeal.  (I know many Americans who would be interested.  Maybe I should go and talk to the tourism board...)

An aspect of Port Elizabeth that seems striking to me is that virtually every private home is surrounded by a cement wall.  And, the high wall is the least of it.  On top are often metal spikes, or barb wire, or an electric fence, or a combination.  Signs on the wall announce which security company watches the house.

Electric fencing and armed guard

One of the authors I've been reading here is South African Nobel Literature Laureate Nadine Gordimer.  While not a light read, she's a good read.  One of her short stories called Once Upon a Time speaks of these fences:  "When the man and wife and little boy took the pet dog for its walk round the neighborhood streets they no longer paused to admire this show of roses or that perfect lawn; these were hidden behind an array of security fences, walls, and devices.  The man, wife, little boy and dog passed the remarkable choices: there was the low-cost option of pieces of broken glass embedded in cement along the top of the wall, the iron grilles ending in lance-points, the attempts at reconciling the aesthetics of prison architecture with Spanish Villa facades (spikes painted pink) or with neoclassical facades (spikes finned like zigzags of lightning and painted white)."   

Sharp stars atop tall wall

This is not purely fiction; I have seen each wall-top she describes.  Because of fear, the people with money literally lock themselves up.  Gated communities in America feel the same to me.   Surely, there's a better way to achieve security for all...