The investor meeting was very interesting for me as an outsider. I think we do meetings extremely well at United Educators so I have a very high bar on both governance and meeting flow. LeapFrog has added challenges to holding meetings as they are working across cultures and varying degrees of comfort in English. I tried to lead a lessons learned after the meetings, using UE's format of things that went well and things to improve upon. It fell flat and proves that point that what works for one group isn't guaranteed to help others.
I also went with a colleague to visit the call center for Allife, the insurance group that offers term life insurance to HIV positive South Africans. There are 15 languages spoken in South Africa so the call center reps are matched with the language of the prospect and go through a complicated process to get the appropriate underwriting information, medical tests must be done etc. After the policy is bound, there is ongoing follow up to ensure that the proper medical treatments are achieved, either through the government health insurance program which means long wait times or through private health insurance.
As with all big meetings, the LeapFrog team was exhausted by Friday afternoon. The perfect escape for me was a weekend in the bush. Rented a car and started my first ever driving on the opposite side of the road, opposite for me at least. Thirty minutes out of Joburg, I got a flat tire. Truth be told, I was finding my way to stay center on a narrow road and went slightly off the side of the road. There was a 4 inch drop in the pavement, a sharp edge drop and the right tire blew. A few choice words escaped and I realized I had to pull over. The background to this is everyone in South Africa has a story of crime. Either they or a close relative or friend has been a victim of crime, a car jacking, murder, attack something. It seems to be part of the collective experience. I pulled over and relied on the generosity and kindness of strangers. I've been taught to change my own tire, K has been insistent that both L and I are able to do this, but after being quickly surrounded by a large crowd out for Saturday shopping, a few men stepped forward and offered to help me with the tire. It was an efficient operation and the kindness of strangers prevailed. I gave the banana I had to a little girl who was close at hand and 100 Rand to the primary tire changer and drove away.
Knowing I didn't have a spare added some stress, especially as I passed the road sign "HIGH RISK HIGHJACKING AREA" I translated this to drive fast and don't stop if another tire blows.
Made my way to the Madikwe Game Reserve which is at the border of Botswana and South Africa. The final 20% of the trip was on dirt roads with the last portion in the Reserve really rough road.
Jaci's Tree Top Lodge, www.madikwe.com, was worth the hassle of the trip. I'll post the pictures which with all modesty are pretty good considering I just shave a pocket camera. The animals were wonderful to see in the wild, the highlight was a pack of wild dogs which are very rare and difficult to see. The African bush is a magical place. L was born in 91 and her generation grew up on Lion King. I must have seen this movie 100 times. It left such an impression I was identifying the animals based on the character in Lion King. Pretty pathetic but true. Timone and what was the warthog's name?
It is off season so I was the only person staying at the Tree Lodge Sunday night. Even the staff was a distance away at the staff quarters. A very lonely and sort of scary night to be out in the bush too far for anyone even to hear a scream. I was brave and kept my doors opened, hearing the birds and monkey calls and praying that snakes are not nocturnal and the gate to the Lodge was locked.
I've been asked my impressions of South Africa 25 years since my last visit, after apartheid. I can't possibly judge the country's progress after 10 days but some things are hard to miss. Twenty five years ago, except for a few "international" restaurants, I wouldn't see blacks as patrons at restaurants. I remember trying to having dinner with a banker from Zambia and we were denied admittance to a restaurant in downtown Joburg. Now there is no distinction. Like the US, segregation exists, whites with whites and blacks with blacks. But there are many groups of upwardly mobile blacks, a group that didn't exist 25 years ago.
The poverty and slums still exist in abundance, the area where I stopped to change my tire was desperately poor and all black. The whites mostly seem to live in houses with walls and gates. The whites who have stayed, made the conscience decision to stay in South Africa and not immigrate to London, Perth Australia, Israel or other places are committed to the success of the country and are optimistic. They believe the country is getting better and the crime issues notwithstanding, that this country is on the mend, that Mandela did a miraculous job of reconciliation and with someone else as the first president things could have been much worse. I have a good feeling about the country and the potential for continued progress.
I am spending a couple days in the LeapFrog Joburg office, finishing up a business plan for a project in the Philippines and pulling together metrics for measuring the social impact of investments. These are my final projects. Another 12 hour flight, more jet lag ahead but I'm counting the days until K arrives and I begin to see more of Australia, the part outside of Sydney and to show off Sydney to my sister, brother-in-law, K and L.
The pictures are amazing. Pumbaa: the name of the wart hog. Aren't you glad your sister has all of this useless information in her head! Can't wait to see you and K. Love ya.
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