The time I spent in South Africa introduced me to businesses and cultures that are very different from the United States. The main differences are the same that I gathered during my initial impression of the country. Businesses struggle with a lack of common resources such as power and water. However, after visiting larger companies I learned that not all businesses are effected in the same way. The smaller companies that we visited were forced to pause operations during load-shedding, which has even led to some businesses closing. However, larger companies are able to afford generators large enough to continue operations through the outages. This is not cheap to do, but the larger companies are able to withstand the cost in order to continue operations, where smaller businesses cannot. However, one thing that both small and big business owners agree on is that the government needs to take more action to help the people. Large businesses such as Veldskoen Shoes works hard to make shoes affordable for South Africans. Similarly, much smaller businesses such as Siki?s Coffee Shop sells coffee at lower prices for residents. Both companies are trying to help the local people because they feel the government does not make the effort to do so.
The people of South Africa do share some different views on what they as citizens can do to help their situation. There are two general philosophy?s that are similar to America. There are those who sit and wait for the government to help them, and there are those who decide to work their way to the life they want. We were able to meet with people who worked their way from poverty to successful business owners, and we also met people who remain in the same situation. Although every set of circumstances are different the people proved to me that if you are willing to work for what you want, it can be achieved despite the circumstances around you. This trip showed me that similar to anywhere in the world, there is good, bad, and everything in between. The country is not made up of just one economic class, but rather people in all economic classes who are still figuring out the best way to move forward in the still fairly young country.
