Ubuntu is ‘alive and well in SA’

 When a young woman left East London in a township taxi a year ago with R100 in her pocket and big dreams of seeing if ubuntu was alive and well in South Africa, most people thought she was mad.

“They all thought I had a few ‘skruse’ loose,” Sonja Kruse told the Dispatch yesterday.

Thousands of kilometres later, the 35-year-old is convinced more than ever before that the dream of South Africa’s Rainbow Nation – and ubuntu – is still on track, despite daily economic hardships, political uncertainty and other life challenges.

Not surprisingly, the common question Kruse was asked during her year- long adventure was whether she was scared of crime.

“I would tell people that fear is a choice you make – in the end you choose to live life with or without fear.”

Staying in everything from township shacks to mega-money mansions – with hard-line ANC Youth League militants to right wing separatists in Orania – Kruse saw the Rainbow Nation, warts and all.

“I went to Orania on the suggestion of a woman I met in Soweto called Portia. I did not want to go until she convinced me that I would find ubuntu there. I did – and I SMSed Portia to thank her for reminding me to keep an open mind.”

Walking and hitchhiking her way through all nine provinces, Kruse took rides in everything from tractors to taxis, and even long distance trucks. Sometime I would even take a lift for a kilometre or two – just to meet the people who stopped to help me along the way.”

A highlight for Kruse was arriving in Ventersdorp less than a month after AWB leader Eugene Terre’Blanche was bludgeoned to death – and being welcomed into homes in the local township with open arms.

“Although I always expected people to think that I was nuts for going it alone, I was surprised to find out how many people were envious of what I was doing.”

During her year-long adventure through all nine provinces, Kruse visited 114 towns, stayed with 150 different families from 16 different cultures and took 13000 photographs – without a single negative incident.

She also received several marriage proposals along the way before making it home safely to Eshowe in Zululand – with R42.50 more than the R100 she left East London with a year ago.

“You would think with all the crime in South Africa people would be cynical to open their doors to strangers in case they walked away with the silver candlesticks during the night.

“I went in with an open heart and an open mind, and people responded.”

One of the first people to help her a year ago in East London was a domestic worker called Nomi – who tried her best to convince Kruse not to take the trip.

When that failed, Nomi would send the pretty redhead R29.50 airtime every month to check on her friend’s progress across the Rainbow Nation.

“There was never a day that I went hungry … I even put on 5kg of weight during winter and had to wear my sarong because none of my clothes fitted.”

With a book in the pipeline and requests to give motivational talks , Kruse is fast becoming the ubuntu poster girl.

“Ubuntu is about having a positive mindset. Everything in life is just a situation – you choose whether it will be good or bad.”

(This story is courtesy of The Dispatch. Used with permission.)