Trip to South Africa

February 8th, 2011

Well, I'm back in Africa or at least that's what it says on the map. After a 10 hour flight from London I landed in Johannesburg at 6:30 this morning. (Which was 10:30 p.m where my family is). I have to say that so far since I've landed in South Africa it looks a lot more like the States than the Africa I've traveled in and before and blogged through in 2009.

This time I am in Johannesburg to set up internship experience for 2-3 students from ISU. Students will spend three weeks in country in and around Jo burg with 2-3 SA students. Funding for this provided by an SA foundation and benefactors interested in attracting talent into the risk management area in SA.


From airport I took a multi-lane freeway to Sandton City, then on to MonteCasino Hotel. It's owner is one of the benefactors supporting program. I caught a glimpse of Alexandra, an historically impoverished black and mixed race aera that Mandela spent time in. There they were building brick homes along the freeway so it was hard to compare to what I had seen in other parts of Africa.

The hotel/casino is an enormous 80 hectare complex made up to look like a Tuscan village on the outside and the inside. (It is quite surreal). The inside looks like you are walking through an Italian village in the evening or the afternoon depending on which side of the complex you are in). The ceiling is painted and lit to look like an early evening sky. Students from US and SA are going to be blown away by this place. I am.

There is a Piazza (square) right outside my window with a water fountain that has synchronized water and light show. There is a connected performing arts theater that is currently featuring the Riverdance (next week Dreamgirls)and inside the hotel is a 15 screen cinema including the largest 3D screen in the world.

There are several other live comedies and plays going on inside in smaller venues in the complex. And oh yes there is a casino in there somewhere but it wasn't easy to find with the dozens of shops,restaurants, bowling alley, bookstores, etc.












Later morning I met with our hosts Gert and Naresh to discuss the details of the student internship. They showed me around the area including a wild bird sanctuary that the hotel hosts as part of it's corporate social responsibility. Some really pretty birds in there. There were groups of school kids there when I went through. It's a popular field trip for schools. Social responsibility it built into every strategy of every company I have encountered in SA.





I went out to dinner with Naresh at Sandton City in the Nelson Mandela Square and found a huge shopping mall but still only a few signs of Africa as I know it.

Tomorrow I will be meeting with Gert and Naresh and other risk managers to discuss the format and learning objectives for the internship.

I'm still trying to figure out the culture myself (its very different than anything I have experienced before) but everyone has been wonderfully friendly and helpful. I think that first assignment for students will be to report on the culture and how it interacts with risk maanagement goals of organizations here. I think it has a huge impact just as it does in our culture in U.S. which I had not really considered before. Need to come up with a way to measure that on national basis.

Well, it's 8 hours ahead of Chicago so I better get to bed. Long day tomorrow. Will try to answer individual emails tomorrow.

Cheers,
Jim