I am extremely disturbed by the very negative tenor of the article on Dr. Rosetta D’Angelo’s trip to the Republic of South Africa.
Such articles give a marvelous country — the only truly modern one on the African continent — a bad rap. Such articles do a grave disservice to the government and people there. The impression left is that South Africa is a backward country with few modern amenities. And this is just not so.
It is truly unfortunate that the People to People Ambassador Program seemed to concentrate on the negatives.
Earlier this year, I spent five weeks traveling throughout South Africa — a modern, dynamic, remarkably clean country with a sound infrastructure. As a journalist who has lived in India and other very poor countries, I have to say that South Africa is far ahead of all other African countries in what it has and what it offers its people.
I traveled by car throughout the country, and even in the boondocks saw many schools with uniform-clad youngsters learning. I even visited one college miles and miles from any sizable city.
Do all schools there have all the amenities that most of our schools have? No. But no developing country can even come near our standards. It is important to accept that there are many similar, very poor schools with little equipment or supplies in our own country. We also have similar language problems. This does not make our basic school system bad. Perhaps Dr. D’Angelo should travel around our country.
It just is not right to portray pockets of problems as representative of an entire country.
In fact, the current government, originally under the direction of Nelson Mandela, deserves many gold stars for the achievements in just a few years. Much progress has been made in all areas. Do they still have a ways to go? Yes. But our own country also has education problems that need to be addressed.
Carol Abaya
Marlboro