For the love — Ruan makes it home

Over the last two months I have had the most won­der­ful oppor­tun­ity to meet a coun­try and its people in slow motion. To look at everything and every­one at 25 kilo­metres per hour. I exper­i­enced a dif­fer­ent South Africa, one that has opened up its soul in its diversity and given me much more than a smile on my some­times lonely face.

The last 9000 km have taken me through 9 provinces and intro­duced me to 11 lan­guages. I have met so many dif­fer­ent people and exper­i­enced unique ways of look­ing at a beau­ti­ful coun­try that has taken its own with every person ...

In Johannesburg I star­ted a jour­ney seek­ing the prom­ised Ubuntu. The idea of shar­ing that is such a major part of what South Africa has become. I put my faith into the concept in the hope to find some­thing beau­ti­ful, some­thing that would unite as us a nation and some­thing I could share in return.

My jour­ney took me through the bushveld of the Limpopo, through its areas of trop­ical cli­mate with banana and orange plant­a­tions. I met people that smiled here even if though they have noth­ing. How they are will­ing to share the last mango because one can­not eat alone.

I have exper­i­enced the grass land­scapes and moun­tain­ous areas of Mpumalanga and the Lowveld. Where a woman will give you a cup of cof­fee and some con­ver­sa­tion if you ask for it. Where the land­scape invites you in and tree plant­a­tions give your ima­gin­a­tion a place to run wild if you dare tread the shade.

Kwazulu Natal showed me what it means to fight for some­thing you believe in. It also showed me what it means to be a friend. A friend to any­one that could need it at that moment, one without expect­a­tions and lim­it­a­tions. The over­grown forest here mim­ick­ing cloudy thoughts.

I have become part of new fam­il­ies that accept me for who I am, and who I could be, as they would you. New moth­ers that care and fath­ers that teach. Smiling my way through the Eastern Cape I real­ized what it means to give freely of ones own. I have seen com­mit­ment and pas­sion in people that aspire and believe in the impossible. Aspirations that con­sume their entirety and inspire any­one that come too close. I have seen dreams become a reality.

Blue oceans and stars have amazed me, the wind and rain have shown me a dif­fer­ent side of myself. I have seen people come together and unify because they believe in some­thing. I have slept on the ground with the sound of water by my side and felt the cold earth under­neath my skin.

The Free State showed me life that grows from the earth and Namaqualand, the power of water when it pours once a year and explains the desert’s beauty through the simple act of flowering.

I have come to real­ize what home means and what a smile and a hug means after two months. But most of all I have learnt that Ubuntu has many per­son­al­it­ies. It changes as the land­scape does and put together it forms on beau­ti­ful concept of love. People in South Africa love, they love their land­scape, their dreams, they are pas­sion­ate about people and they con­firm their being every day by not hav­ing fear of life.

This coun­try has shown me what it is to live, the road has taught me to look for­ward and I have exper­i­enced the sun warm­ing my skin on a cloudy day, much as a smile from someone who tried many times and got it right the first time. South Africa has shared its love with me, some­thing I will share for time to come...

Useful Links:
South Africa's Attractions
South Africa's 9 Provinces
Things to Do in South Africa
Accommodation in South Africa