Settling In

It’s hard to believe I’ve been here nearly a month now. Time is really flying by. I guess long days at the office will do that to you. But I don’t mind so much because ultimately that’s why I’m here. Despite the long days at work, I have been using the weekends to explore this crazy metropolis that I will call home for the remaining 11 months of this assignment.

To get more acquainted with this city, a new coworker and I took a "Hop on Hop off" bus tour of the city, which was both painfully touristy and surprisingly fun and informative. I’ve seen these goofy red buses around other cities, in both Europe and the US, but I’d never actually taken one myself. It’s a pretty good way to get an introduction to a new city. For those unfamiliar, the idea is that the buses run on a continuous loop around the city and stop at certain landmarks, museums, activities, etc, and passengers have the option of “hopping off” at any given stop to explore further then “hop on” a different bus later to continue the route.

Downtown Joburg Skyline

As evidenced in the video below, clearly this is the coolest thing you could be doing on a Saturday... 

During the drive, there is a prerecorded tour that you can listen to about the areas you are passing through. And I learned a lot about the city. For example, Johannesburg is the largest metropolis in the world that is not situated on a river, lake, or coast. So why, you ask, was this city founded here? Answer: Gold. Some 130 years ago or so, the city of Johannesburg was founded after the discovery of gold on what had been just a farm. A gold rush ensued. And there was A LOT of gold here – apparently about half of the world’s gold was produced here…but production petered out in the 70’s and not a lot of mining happens now in Johannesburg. But, you can actually still see remnants of the old mines while driving around the city – which pretty neat.

Old mine shaft

The surrounding yellow hills that can be seen everywhere in Johannesburg also have their roots in the old mines. These yellow hills are “gold-mine dumps” made up of all the rejected sediments and material pulled from beneath the ground while searching for gold. The yellow sand is high in metals though, so plants can rarely grow, which is why they almost look like yellow cliffs.

Displaced sediment from mining

 Something else I learned – Mahatma Gandhi lived in Johannesburg for ten years, and his experiences here with the system of apartheid greatly influenced his political activism and philosophy of non-violent resistance. Gandhi practiced law in Johannesburg as well, and the old location of the city's law courts has been renamed Gandhi Square in his honor. A small statue of young Gandhi looks out over what is now a busy commuter bus terminus.

Gandhi Square

We only got off at a few stops because of limited time, but the stops we made were worth it. First, we got off at the National Museum of Military History, which honestly is not a stop I would normally make.  It turned out to be pretty interesting though. The museum is a little chaotic and disorganized, but it tells the story of South Africa’s involvement in war, from pre-colonial days through World War II. Which, truth be told, I was unaware of South Africa’s involvement in either of the World Wars.

In terms of WWII,  although South Africa was still a British territory at the time, most Afrikaners felt closer to the Germans given many were of German descent, so there was a large split on whether to get involved, and which side to support. Eventually, South Africa did join the war on the side of the Allies, and participated in major battles in North Africa, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Italy. There are a lot of cool planes, tanks, and equipment on display at the museum, and many stories of South African soldiers. 

Reich Bomber Plane

Each swastika indicates a Bomber shot down by South African forces

The second stop we got off at was Constitution Hill, which is currently the home of the Constitutional Court, but back in the day served as one of South Africa’s most notorious prisons. The prison is now a museum, but at different times held both Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was arrested for refusing to carry a pass book and Mandela for his work with the ANC and accusations of treason. The jail also held South Africa’s famed female serial killer, Daisy de Melker, who poisoned two husbands and her own son before she was caught, imprisoned, convicted, and hanged.

Climbing Constitution Hill

The final stop we hopped off at was the World of Beer, for a tasting of local brews. Although it began as a local brewery named Castle, it’s now owned by Anheuser-Busch, which is annoying, but the beer still tasted good. I had a Castle Milk Stout, which was actually my favorite beer while living in Accra... largely because it was the only dark beer I could find. But I haven’t had one since! So it was nice to find this beer again. 

Mmm...beeeeer

So all in all the Hop on Hop off bus was a success, and gave me an idea of where I need to go back and explore further.

In other news, I FINALLY moved into my apartment and was able to unpack for real, which is such a relief. I was so tired of hotel rooms and living out of my suitcase. And the apartment is really lovely – nice and open with good natural lighting, in a safe location (stop worrying dad), and has the best view from the balcony. I’m 11 floors up, so it’s nice and quiet too, except for the LOUDEST pigeon I have ever come across in my life, who thinks he owns my balcony and coos obnoxiously outside my window. I’ve named him Humphrey because he’s a boggart. In the 36 hours I’ve been here, I’ve already chased him off three times...it’s a battle of wills I intend to win. Damn sky rat. 

Kitchen/Dining Room

Living Room

Master Bedroom

Balcony

The driving lesson also we very well! I have new found respect for my left hand, which did a wonderful job learning to shift in a short amount of time. Driving on the opposite side of the road was much easier than I anticipated. The only challenge I found was backing up, because it feels SO WEIRD to look over my left shoulder. I also had a little trouble with subconscious spatial perception on the left side of the car – I tended to drift left a little, I think because my brain still has me sitting on the left so there shouldn’t be as much car over there as there is. But I didn’t side swipe anyone or hit anything on that side. It will just  take a little getting used to. My company car should arrive this week – so I’ll get to start driving for real, which I am very much looking forward to! Ubering everywhere has been annoying and a little expensive, but mostly annoying.  Although Uber has been in South Africa for about six years now, Uber drivers still have conflict with the local meter taxi drivers.

Case in point, yesterday I was at Eastgate Mall to get some things for my apartment, and literally could not get an Uber to pick me up there. I tried three different drivers, and none were willing to come to this particular mall because the meter taxi drivers have staked it out and apparently will chase off Uber drivers trying to pick someone up. I asked an Uber driver about this later on after I figured out how to leave, and he told me the taxi drivers sometimes go so far as vandalizing vehicles suspected of being Ubers. So I understand why no driver wanted to come pick me up. I don’t know why this mall in particular is important to the taxis, but it took nearly a half hour to figure out how to get home. Made a mental note never to go back there without driving myself…

But, all in all, things are going well! And I’ve got some fun trips planned over the next month. Up first, Durban! Next weekend. Bring. Me. The. BEACH. J

Hi Ho Hi Ho.. Back to Africa I go...

It’s been about four years since I’ve been in Africa, which feels like such a long time, and a lot has happened since then. From the time when I last wrote a blog post, I’ve completed two masters degrees, worked in federal consulting, adopted the best furry friend a girl could ask for, made a career jump to the private sector, spent a year and a half working for an energy management company in Pittsburgh, and as of two weeks ago, secured a transfer with said energy management company to spend the next year in Johannesburg, South Africa.

But before we get to that.. I feel like I have some ‘splaining to do…

I get asked a lot about my circuitous career path and seemingly uncharacteristic life decision to join the private sector. And while it’s easy to brush off the question and say nonprofits and student debt don’t mix, the truth is much more complicated.

While I loved the nonprofit I was working for, and still believe in their mission, I found that the international development model of work in general, as I knew it, to be unsustainable, and, well…to be frank…wasteful in a lot of ways. I won’t bore you with granting structures and cycles, or business development models, but in a nutshell after 5 years working for nonprofits I came to four broad conclusions: 1) more effort and money is put towards winning work, than doing work; 2) a lot of impacts a project creates are eroded by the constant 3-5 year turnover that granting cycles create; 3) the amount of corruption in international development is disheartening; and finally 4) economic development cannot happen without the private sector.  

Now don’t get mad, I’m not saying there aren’t nonprofits doing good work, because there DEFINITELY are. I think nonprofits have made significant improvements around the world in health, education, and human rights, and have successfully responded to a number of humanitarian crises. But. If the goal is economic development (which leads to poverty reduction, catalyzes better health and education, etc)  I think little advancement can be made without the private sector. Yes, there’s waste and corruption in the private sector too, and not all companies are created equal for sure, but, I think business done ethically has the ability to create a broader and more sustainable impact in developing countries. And impact has always been my motivation. Maybe I’ll prove myself wrong in a few years and need to come up with a new plan, but for now, that is the theory I am exploring.

Rewind two years. Out of grad school, I was looking for a large company with a global footprint that would have diverse opportunities to help me figure out where I belong in the private sector. Several companies fit the bill, but I joined this company specifically because of their hard stance on ethics, and doing business correctly. And although I’ve always been more interested in the international side of business, I took this job with the assumption that I would need to put in a few years, gain some experience, and then start pushing for an international assignment. But by connecting with the right people at the right time, and to be honest, some sheer force of will, I have found myself with this international opportunity only a year and a half later. Huzzah!

So what am I doing here? Well that’s the best part of this story. I found a private sector job that leverages my international development past.

There’s this hot new trend in the energy world called a Microgrid, which is essentially just what it sounds like – a smaller electrical grid – but its typically self-contained, smarter, and more efficient than the traditional utility grid. Microgrids have a central control system giving it the ability to pull power from multiple sources, one of which is usually a renewable source generated onsite (such as solar or wind) and another is usually battery storage. To put it plainly, a microgrid determines which source of energy is most cost-effective and efficient at any given time and switches power sources to optimize the system. Microgrids can even operate independent of the utility grid power supply, called islanding, so if the utility loses power, you still don’t. The microgrid will just pull power from a different source.

Basic Microgrid Diagram

Why does this matter? Well, for one, it’s estimated that 1.3 billion people around the world lack access to electricity, and more than 600 million of those, or nearly 50%, are in sub-Saharan Africa. Microgrids have the power (no pun intended) to bring electricity to communities not connected to the traditional grid. Two, the existing electrical grid in Africa is both limited, and unreliable. Here, microgrids can ensure consistent supply of electricity at lower costs.

Think about the human impacts here. What happens at a hospital if the power goes out? How many medicines spoil? How many procedures cannot be performed because equipment is down? What happens when a school loses power? Can kids learn and study in the dark? How much productivity is lost at a business when there’s no electricity? I myself experienced this one first hand in Ghana, when the power would go out for up to 12 hours or more at a time. How much work can be done without a computer? I know what you’re thinking.. DUH, get a generator. Well, my friend, fuel for generators is expensive, and they’re horrible for the environment.

Enter, the Microgrid. A solution even better suited for Africa because of that glorious sunshine. Clean, reliable, cost-effective energy. Voila!

So my mission down here in Johannesburg? You guessed it. Marketing microgrid solutions. How am I doing so far? Have I sold you on the benefits? As you can tell, I’m a believer. And what makes this job so perfect for me, is that development banks and agencies have caught on to this energy trend, and there’s a lot of interest in funding microgrid projects. So it’s a great mix of my past and present, and it will be very interesting to engage with agencies I knew before from a totally different angle. So there you have it. A private sector approach and solution to an international development challenge that has potentially broad and sustainable impacts. Win – win – win.

Now that I’ve bared my soul a little, enough with the boring stuff. Let’s talk about South Africa! 

This is not like Africa I’ve known before… its... so… fancy? I knew before moving here that Southern Africa in general is more developed than West and Central, but it’s been even more pleasantly surprising than I’d thought. First things I noticed: working street lights, accurate road signs and street names, no hawkers (people trying to sell you things) in the streets, no open sewers, drinkable tap water, and malls everywhere. Yes, malls. Now I do want to asterisk the above comments, because I’m in a major city and have only seen the nicer neighborhoods, so I don’t know what the rest of the city and country will bring. Those are merely my first observations. Also it's cold. Not Pittsburgh cold, but cold nonetheless. Weird to have winter in July and August...

But, back to the malls. I've been here for two weeks, and I've been to five different malls, which is unlike me as I'm not much of a shopper, but the malls are where everything happens. Normal stores like clothing, jewelry, and housewares, but also grocery stores and pharmacies - really anything you could possibly need. And we're not talking strip malls, here, I mean fancy malls. For example, I was extremely taken aback to find myself in the corner of the Sandton City Mall where in one wing there is a Louis Vuitton, Armani, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Prada, Burberry, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, and Salvatore Ferragamo store literally within spitting distance of each other. I mean, damn! How much high-end crap do people need? It’s no surprise that Sandton City is the richest square mile in Africa. 

I’ve only had one weekend to explore so far, and I ended up going to Mandela Square, where the Sandton City Mall is located, and to the Apartheid museum, which was an educational and sobering experience. It’s crazy to me that apartheid was still in place when I was born. It’s so unbelievably recent. Mandela didn’t even become the first post-apartheid president until 1994. I was starting kindergarten…

Statue in Mandela Square

The museum is really well done, and gives you a good understanding (theoretical of course) of what it was like under apartheid. The different signage and restrictions, but also the violence and brutality. One of the most powerful exhibits showed actual videos from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the court-like body assembled after the end of apartheid to capture stories of anybody who felt they had been a victim of violence. Hearing the first hand accounts was haunting. 

Apartheid era Signage

International Response Posters

Scenes of Protest

I’m only two weeks into my one year assignment, and already I’m having anxiety about fitting it all in – there’s so much to do down here! But next on my list of Johannesburg adventures… learning to drive on the opposite side of the road! If you don’t see another blog post.. tell my family I love them.

Just kidding!

P.S. One of the taxi drivers wanted to talk American politics. I asked him for his best Trump impression. I'll leave you with this. Enjoy.