Friday, September 19, 2008

The reluctant tagger- Proudly SA- the last i promise (maybe)

"A Proudly South African meme inspired by EXMI
Rules:
Link back to the Meme creator - Caz
Link back to the person who tagged you - this girlie here.
Give at least 5 reasons why you love SA
Let me know once you've done it."

Our country is a troubled teenager. Its soul wrestles and sweats with the burly demons of crime, poverty and corruption. It thrashes with poor service delivery, reckless political mouthpieces, unemployment, class struggle and HIV/Aids.

But it still believes; this teenager harbours hope.
And I still believe, though on some days, it gets a bit hard to. But that is the nature of Faith.

And with that, I give you 5 reasons why I love South Africa:

  1. Our freedom of expression/religion. I can be Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Taoist, Bhuddist, Wiccan, whatever. I can wear the symbols of my faith freely and there is no obstacle to my practice.
  2. We all go on about what a beautiful country this is, because, what do you know,  it really is a beautiful country. Click here for pictures the husband took over at Chapmans Peak, Cape Town. That's just one place.
  3. Our internet access is not censored or restricted. (But we'd really like more bandwidth please)
  4. We managed a fairly peaceful transition into democracy back in 1994, when the world thought we'd burn each other up. And that gives me real hope for our future.
  5. We are a nation of creatives and achievers: in the arts, technosphere and on the sports field. 
Your turn.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

a nation of creatives and achievers indeed.

well said SBM, well said!

ZK said...

nicely said indeed
and our country has areas that are still unexplored...beauty from heaven!?!?!

Anonymous said...

a country of conformists where all the muslims want to be the same! :P

Saaleha Idrees Bamjee said...

@anon: elaborate please.

Anonymous said...

elaborate...sure! visited south africa a few times, and EVERY muslim over there just seems to be about material things. gotta have a better house than the next person, gotta have a better car then so and so. all the muslims cruising in the same branded clothes, everyone looks the same...like little robot clones. egos are through the ROOF. around the world...SA muslims arent even taken remotely serious, because it's all just a front. muslims there are just out to screw each other over to get to the top. muslims over there have no morals or standards...no where else in the world are MUSLIMS having to take HIV tests before marriage to prove that they weren't screwing everything that walks before marriage. your country will never improve...look around you...how many of your rich muslims are actually giving back to your country?? most of your rich ppl are just figuring out more ways to screw your country over before they jet off to australia or england. so save the we got potential crap, we are acheivers. you're just a bunch of clones. hello my name is south africa and i am just another third world statistic. :D

Saaleha Idrees Bamjee said...

Dear Anonymous:
That's quite a diatribe you've got going over there.
I'm curious to know how in the 'few times' you've visited South Africa, you managed to meet or at least greet EVERY single muslim who lives here.
Your generalisations are scathing, my Canadian friend.
I maintain that if you can't put your name behind what you believe strongly about, then what you have to say has no substance at all.
If you would like to continue this dialogue, feel free to email me.

Anonymous said...

saaleha bamjee-mayet - your creativity, intelligence and faith - truly enlightening!

Zahera said...

There so much beauty in South Africa that you can only appreciate as time goes on. This is coming from someone who has moved from one world to a completely different world.

Although i must admit- Home Affairs just sucks! There have been plenty of times where if my husband hadnt grabbed my hand and pulled me out i think i would have clobbered someone in! (not that it would make a blind bit of difference). Its the incompetence and the lack of organisation that gets me! :-( otherwise its a beautiful place.

Interesting people too-seems Durban people are the most friendliest- with Joburgers (no offence) come across quite stuck up.(Either theyre really nice or theyre just plain snobs). And as usual, the attitude and "fakeness" seems to stem from the females rather than he men! Maybe this isnt exclusive to SA though- although girls back home for me are much more open minded, not judgemental or stuck up. This is just my observation- its not a judgement call or a generalisation- so if anyone is offended, dont be :-) im not trying to offend.

Have been meaning to do a blog about this but ah well.

Anonymous said...

We live in a young country.
A country torn apart by racial conflict.
I agree on your tag points, those are the same things I would've said.
I am glad that we're not judged for being muslim like in some "1st world" countries...i.e. France.

Anonymous seems to not like South Africa, yet still visits.
Quite funny.

Anonymous hasn't heard of the Quraanic ayat where when you give in charity it should not be public.
Trust me anonymous, there are a lot of rich muslims that give a lot, some of them just don't like to brag about it.
Gift of the Givers was started off by Rich SA Muslims and today it's the SA Government's go-to foundation when they need relief in a crisis.

All countries have issues, so don't make as if your beloved Canada doesn't.

I once watched a Canadian program and they depicted muslims in an awful light, and for a moment there I could've gone the other way and thought, "the muslims in canada are just muslim by name and not really 'practising' muslims" however, i knew that was absurd as i have family in canada and i know that's not the case.

Anonymous, the HIV thing is a precaution as HIV is something that affects EVERYONE and isn't barred by religion! Educate yourself oh person from 1st world country!

po said...

Nice list!

as far as I know, rich people in SA tend to love material things regardless of religion, we are an increasingly material society, but one that cannot be called "conformist"!

Profane. Profound. What's your poison?