Report #3 - from South Africa

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has experienced some very dramatic changes: a democratically elected government, rule of law, freedom of speech, outlawing of discrimination, etc. The list is very impressive for someone like me who lived under those draconian laws for the first 25 years of my life. To see black and white talking and working without the strait-jacket of apartheid with its built-in superiority/inferiority, is indeed astounding. Not to say that all problems are solved; certainly not (and we'll talk about those in later columns) but the improvements in granting dignity are amazing.

  One visible area where you can observe this is in housing; the inequalities between black and white housing circumstances are still enormous, but to see black families with newly built housing is very exciting. Some of these houses are small by U.S. standards, but here they are huge improvements. Many more (millions) housing units have to be built, but some have seen an improvement in their personal circumstances that they could not have imagine possible while apartheid ruled.

Check out these photos; one of a commonly seen house, made out of mud, and a newly constructed one on my street.

Improvements in quality of life were largely what the struggle was all about. Here is some of that evidence.