The World Cup

As most of you know, I'm on a little vacation down in South Africa (Sowth Affriiikka as the white afrikaners say). Its been about 8.5 months since I moved out of South Africa and I must say it feels GREAT to be back.

Whats really amazing to me is that despite all of the concerns, despite all of the supposed corruption, despite all of the strikes, South Africa has delivered. They massively overspent ofcourse (as almost every host nation of a World Cup or Olympics does) and yes, some of that money could have been spent on schools, housing, etc for the majority of the population which still lives on less than $2 per day.

But this is the price (no pun intended) of wanting to host one of the most significant (if not thee) sports events in the world!

The Cape Town Airport and Joburg Airports are completely different from when I left. They are absolutely incredible and hopefully will assuage concerns of visitors on arrival. This country is serious about tackling its problems, and weak infrastructure was one of those problems.

Dad: By the way, they did manage to finish the Guatrain - which connects the Joburg Airport to Sandton, Johannesburg. 15 minutes!!! Not even NY has a direct train from Manhattan to JFK that takes 15 minutes!!!

Now obviously if scratch beneath the shiny white surface, you see that the problems that have infringed on SA's development are still in fact there. Quite honestly, if all the money had been spent on social development and housing for the 25m+ in poverty, it would have been helpful, but I gather it would have still not solved many of the problems that SA still faces.

But instead of getting into the argument of where the money could have been better spent - I'd rather just talk about what having the World Cup means (on some level) to both South Africa and the broader continent of Africa.

When I left Sierra Leone last week - the excitement was already building. With Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Algeria, etc all in the World Cup, there was a sense of joy and excitement as some of the be continent's best footballers would be able to showcase their stuff on a world stage, that was for the first time, in their own continent!! Africa is filled with tribal differences, 47 different countries and religious differences. But Africans still rallye behind each other when the opportunity presents itself. Obama galvanised the continent, not because he was Kenyan, but because he was AFRICAN-American.

And I guess in an Obama-like way - the World Cup being in South Africa has provided one very significant emotional outcome. It has provided HOPE. Yes, its cheezy and yes it sounds a bit stupid, but in many ways, thats what this continent needs.

No country, no individual is just going to fork over billions of dollars and be able to fix everything.

But at least for a month, people can get excited by something, which will hopefully be the first of many other World Cups in the continent. Tickets remain expense for the average South African, but at least the games are taking place in their backyard and at least for a month that is usually quiet and slow (economically) things will be exciting.

Africa is the new frontier, not India, not China, not Russia, not Brazil. There are more problems than anyone is willing to admit - but hopefully South Africa's World Cup will be a good one and at least show the world that the continent is serious about business, serious about advancement and serious about becoming a player the world of the future...