Centurion

OK, a quickie. In Centurion, a suburb of Pretoria, for a USAID workshop. The isolation is unsettling and uncomfortable. This is a suburb that has sprung up in the last fifteen years, an oasis of affluence in a high crime high poverty area characterized by carjackings, kidnappings, etc. No one goes outside. Lots of security in the mall next door (the second largest in Pretoria), which closes early. I think no one wants to be in their car after dark. And no public transit. I can take a shuttle or taxi somewhere for about 120 Rand, or nearly $20. SO I am essentially stuck at the hotel, eating expensive and rich hotel food. No fitness center. This is starting to feel a bit like Baghdad, but without the rockets.

All of this makes me eager to return to Burma, where I have the freedom of the streets. The shortcomings of a place like Burma are obvious. But there is no war, little crime, and an infrastructure, however crumbling and inadequate, that serves the masses.

My workshop participants are wonderful! I would return just for them, but not in this suburb, if I can avoid it.