Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Locals- questionaire

I'm writing this about my home town and country, even though I now live in England.


Where do you live? City/State/country? Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.





Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects? Majority of the population in this area speaks Xhosa 57%. Also English 12% and Afrikaans 30%. We have 11 official languages in SA - those three (which incidentally make up our national anthem), plus IsiNdebele, IsiZulu, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga. I speak Eng and Afr (and a very little bit of Xhosa).

Is this rural or urban? Rough size? Fifth largest city in SA, and third largest port - approximately 1,500,000 people live in the greater PE area - known as Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, which is the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the country area-wise - and just over 1 million in the city itself. The national population is about 48mil. I grew up about 20 min from town, in a rural suburb - big plots, but not farm land. Interesting bit of trivia: PE is sister city to Jacksonville, Florida and Palm Desert, California.

What do you like most/least about where you live? Likes: Lovely mild climate. We are rated as having the 4th best weather conditions in the world! Also, beautiful beaches. Having wildlife on your doorstep. There's a lion park just down the road from where my parents live - have had the privilege of handling lion cubs.



PS. That is not me! but that is the lion park. Note the lovely sunshine and Indian ocean in the background, Ann.

PE is known as the Windy City (and the Friendly City - locals prefer that one!), which is one downside to living on the coast. Also, it's a nice size city, but not too big - in fact small enough so you always find someone who knows someone you do! Dislikes: After having lived in the uk for the last few years, going home everything's a little bit third world to me - the appearance of the place, the services you have available to you, the occassional donkey cart in the street. Lol. You just don't have everything you take for granted here, eg I can't walk into a library and get free internet access. I'd have to go to an internet cafe, pay and then be frustrated by slow connections. Or, I can't walk into a shop and buy the dvd I want cos it's too obscure for them to stock it - things like that are v expensive relative to what people earn. Just little things like that. As far as the country is concerned, crime is a huge problem. People have razor wire on top of their walls, security systems, car alarms, etc. There's a different feeling when I go to SA. I wouldn't go for walk somewhere deserted by myself because I wouldn't feel safe, whereas in the uk I'm forever wandering around the countryside by myself with not a care in the world. It's not all bad though really, you just have to be sensible.

Most historically significant points about your town/country? The first european to come to the area was Bartolomeu Diaz in 1488. The town itself was founded in 1820 when around 4000 british settled there. It's named for the late wife of the acting governor of the Cape Colony at the time, Sir Rufane Donkin. Pictured below is the monument erected to her.

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5b/Port_Elizabeth_Donkin_Reserve.jpg/300px-[/img]

As for the country, the discovery of gold and diamonds. Apartheid (legalised system of racial segregation).

Climate? Mixed, but generally temperate. It's a world in one country as far as geography is concerned. We have montains, desert, savannah, woodland, and more. A lot of the country is very hot , the east coast is warm and humid, the south and west coasts are more temperate. My home town is on the south east coast, so the temperature ranges from low teens in winter to high 20's/low 30's in summer. That celsius btw. (50's - 90'sF I think.) Most of the rain falls in winter/early spring, and the wind blows a lot in Oct. (and nov through sept Lol!)



Type of government? Name of current leader? Govt is democratically elected every 5 years by national election. Each of the 9 provinces has a local government, separately elected, so not all represent the national ruling party. The country's leader is Thabo Mbeki, ruling party is the ANC - African National Congress.

What are the major industries? The major industry in PE is the motor vehicle industry. In SA, mining - we are the worlds leading producer of gold and platinum; diamonds; coal; agriculture; tourism

Major religion? Christian

Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College? Among the white population I would say most kids finish high school and a large percentage go on to university or other forms of tertiary education. The non-white population is not so lucky. Children of different races were educated separately during Apartheid. I went to a white's only school until I was 14 - integration took place in 1991. But poverty is a huge factor in education, as in most areas of life. The 'haves' will be well educated, the 'have nots' just don't get that opportunity. I've found some stats that say a little over 60% of high school students graduate - some provinces students perform significantly better than others though. The Eastern Cape has pretty poor pass rates.

Most popular sport? Soccer, cricket and rugby.

Most popular trend at the moment? I have no idea.

Most popular food? Again, because there are so many different cultural groups in South Africa, everyone has there own types of food. eg. There is a large Indian community in SA; the Afrikaner diet is more 'meat and potatoes'; the poor black population has maize meal as a staple in their diet. The wealthy might eat something else. The answer is, I don't really know. I grew up in an english household eating what I would describe as traditional western type food. Probably much the same as what you all eat. We have KFC, MacDonalds, etc which might surprise you. It always surprises me to know things like that, which is ridiculous since I've lived there, but when I think of Africa the pictures you see on the news of starving children and animals wandering down dirt streets is what comes to mind. Sure that's a part of it, but the cities are pretty first world.

What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live? Probably the cultural and ethnic diversity of my country, and the changes that have taken place politically and socially in the last 20 years or so. (unfortunately those are also a great source of frustration for a lot of people, but we're getting there slowly.)

We have one of the only three horse memorials worldwide, erected in recognition of the animals that died during the Anglo-Boer War(1899 - 1902).

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/52/Port_Elizabeth_Horse_Memorial.jpg/300px-[/img]

Hosting the soccer world cup in 2010. Winning the Rugby world cup last month. Springbok captain John Smit, pictured with Mr Pres, Thabo Mbeki.





Couldn't resist adding that!

Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? (My son's enquiring mind wants to know!) The tokoloshe is all I can think of - it's a little evil spirit of sorts that will get you at night if you're not careful, so people who believe in this sleep with their beds on bricks so it can't reach them and they'll be safe! Not really an urban legend, but thought he might like it. There are some alarming ideas about HIV and Aids, it's causes and how to cure it, which are prepetuated by the govt so they don't need to provide medication on a large scale. But I'm not going to go there.

If you feel like I didn't include something, please feel free to add it. Any links to pictures would be great. I'd love for them to have a picture of every place mentioned to add to their collage.

I've had enough for the moment, but I'll probably come back and edit this later. I've learned a few things filling this in too, so thanks. And if you want me to elaborate on anything SQD, just ask.