Who’s on first?

My anger and dissatisfaction with the first and third worlds.

I am very aware of the fact that I come from, and though I am currently abroad I usually live in, a third world country. I come from South Africa, but I think many people just hear the Africa and create a world in their minds. What does that look like to you? Wild animals that prowl endless deserts, jungles or empty land? Perhaps you are an avid documentary watcher and your Africa is filled with the stories of lions, meerkats, warthogs and eagles. Or maybe your Africa is a paradise, a land filled with beautiful waterfalls, beaches, mountains, but totally devoid of people or cities. Maybe you are so unaware of Africa that you forget the fact that it is a vast and complex continent rather than a single country or culture, as bigger, more powerful countries like the United States so often do.

One issue I face is that, yes, there are wild animals in South Africa. Yes, we do have beautiful beaches and huge pieces of land that are totally unoccupied by people. But South Africa also has cities and airports. And malls and McDonalds. And bougie coffee shops and iPhones. And trash and poverty and incredible food and gorgeous hotels. My country is so wildly complex. It is broken and struggling and beautiful and, in places, wildly wealthy. So yes, it is a third world country, but I think that it may differ from what you expect a third world country to be.

Of course, I am guilty of the same assumptions. I am familiar with all the beauties and shortcomings of my country, but first world countries are foreign to me. All I have in my mind is the idea of what a first world country should look like, not what the reality of one is. I remember being 18 and flying to London for the first time. I genuinely believed that I would be taking a flight into the future. I thought that I would disembark and the wealth and advanced technology of London would overwhelm and excite me. Okay, the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream vending machine at the airport is quite impressive, but I was disappointed with what I saw. I very clearly remember driving to my aunt’s home (where I stayed while visiting the UK) and thinking that the roads were just roads.

I think holding first world countries in such high esteem has lead me to some disappointment. Cellphone coverage in London was awful. New York stinks. I was outraged in Germany when I discovered that they regularly overbook trains. I had a ticket to travel across the country by train. When booking, I was offered the option to book a seat, but I don’t care where on the train I sit, so I didn’t book a specific seat. I didn’t realise that that might mean I would not be allocated a seat at all for the four and a half hour journey that spans the country. If I didn’t race to a seat, I might have had to stand or sit on the floor for the entire journey, as several people did. I beg your pardon? Absolutely unacceptable. One thought spun through my mind again and again: I thought this was a first world country. In South Africa, full of lions, bats, spiders, unbelievable mountains and untouched land, you get a seat when you buy a ticket. How totally and bitterly disappointed I was.