Thanks for a thoughtful article. South Africa is certainly a complex society, and living here (though joyous!) poses many challenges.

What we find invaluable is that we can show our children such a diversity of experience even in one city (Cape Town, in our case) and they are growing up with their eyes open to others,

They see how individuals can act and make a difference, even if it seems small.

this is such a balanced and positive post!

We’ve been trying to change perceptions of Africa for a while over on http://www.CoreAfricanExperiences.com (while our focus is the adventure of Africa rather than a permanent living spot, this is a really helpful blog post).

Thanks!

Lorie, we plan to be here until 2011, more or less.

Mara, safety is definitely an issue. The rate of violent crime in SA is very, very high but your risk depends a lot on where and how you live – or travel.

Our house is alarmed when we’re out and at night and our yard is surrounded by a wall and gate. Many houses are surrounded by razor wire and have bars on the windows. All that is very daunting and the possibility of a break-in (and other crime) is very real.

That said, lots of people raise families here and lots of tourists have wonderful vacations. I think if you take reasonable precautions (no flashy jewelry; no walks at night; lock car doors when you’re driving etc) you can keep relatively safe. But there are no guarantees. It’s something I think about – a lot.

Certainly that winery sounds nice!