[imagesource:flickr]

For better or worse, the internet is forever. And what was ‘celebrated’ twenty years ago, might be frowned upon today. This seems to be the case after a 2013 clip of a white family who decided to live in a shack for one month resurfaced online.

The decades-old eNCA news piece about a well-off white couple, the Hewitts, resurfaced on Twitter this week and has received some strong opinions amongst today’s Saffa’s.

The couple, along with their two little children, moved into the shack for an entire month so that they could experience the challenges facing poor South Africans. At the time eNCA visited the family at their temporary home, where they shared how they want their children to always understand people from different walks of life.

But in the last twenty years, the rainbow nation has faded somewhat, and the clip has raised some strong opinions in modern South Africa, with some peeps even being unaware that it was an old story.

I can still remember this, and if I recall correctly (It has been a long time) most people’s reaction to it was fairly positive – from across the racial divide. To any privileged person, it can only be a good thing to experience the lives of those less fortunate than you – even for just a month. Perhaps in a way, it also showed that post-apartheid whiteys genuinely had the desire to get to know their black countrymen beyond what was force-fed to them by the Nats.

But our openness to each other seems to have disappeared along with most of my hair in the tumultuous decades that followed:

“White men who decides to experience a poor life makes news in South Africa but a black men who was forced to that life doesn’t make news. That is South Africa for you.”

“Empty both parents bank accounts, have relatives cut them off financially, and remove them from their current jobs THEN this a true test.”

“This is an episode of Survivor for them.”

It is true that these people will never really know how it feels to be black and live in a shack, but have we in the interim completely discarded trying to understand from our lexicon? Is there no space in these commenters’ imagination for the possibility that it was a good thing these parents did? After all, I doubt their children walked away from the experience with less understanding and empathy.

Other peeps seemed to be a bit more positive in their opinion.

“For a privileged person, it must have taken guts to do this. So, kudos to them for stepping out their comfort zone. I’m always more interested in the aftermath. Initiatives going forward after the ‘experiment’.”

“I honestly think this is an amazing thing and they can use this experience to enlighten their circle and help even if they help one family they had contributed good to humanity….God bless them so much.”

Have a look at the clip and make up your own mind:

White family moves into shack,

to experience first hand – the challenges facing so many SAns so they can better understand the lives of those less fortunate than they are.

Jessica Motaung Jub Jub Penuel #MissSA2023 J Cole Gert Shudu Oprah Home Affairs #ShakaiLembeMzansi pic.twitter.com/WkMHvd1IMt

— YaseBlock B (@ThisIsColbert) August 14, 2023

[source:thesouthafrican]