I got a chance to walk arou nd the area which I am staying. Godfrey, the caretaker of the commune we stay at, showed us around our neighborhood. We went shopping at the local "Pick and Pay" and we now have a modestly stocked refrigerator. We bought SYM cards for our phones but at this point we only have 12 Rand of talk time. Currently the exchange is 7.4R to $1.00. So 12R is about enough to make a 30 second call home. We also got a chance to get on the internet although only briefly, just long enough to tell everyone that we had arrived safely.
Godfrey is a great guy. Very friendly. He introduced us to all of his friends in town. At most of the shops we visited he knew someone behind the counter. Doris asked him how long he had lived here. He moved here from Zimbabwe about five years ago, he met all of these people by being open and talking to them. I asked him about the xenophobic violence that had occurred here over the last week. The violence is directed at people much like Godfrey. I asked him if he was in danger, he said that he could be. I asked him how he was handling the danger. He told me that he wasn't doing anything to handle it. He told us that he believed it was important to be open with people, he said that he cannot live a closed life. He saw the xenophobia as a way of closing out others. He seemed more concerned with this aspect than his personal safety.
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