The airport in Lesotho, South Africa
It is also super dumb to say the guy was stopped at the airport in Lesotho, South Africa. Where in the world is that? I hear this kind of thing a lot and it gets up my nose. Why does nobody ever say, at the airport in Zambia, Zimbabwe? Or at the airport in France, Belgium? At the airport in the USA, Mexico. At the airport in Argentina, Venezuela. At the airpot in Malaysia, Taiwan. It’s silly. I was having a translation of my papers done once when the translator (a sworn and legal one at that), said‘Crusading pop star BONO put his six-nation Aids campaign in jeopardy when he was halted at the airport in Lesotho, South Africa because of his bulging passport. The U2 frontman, who was scheduled to jet to Rwanda and Tanzania from Lesotho, was shocked to discover there were no pages left in the document for any more onward travel. The Irish Embassy rushed to Bono’s aid, issuing him with an emergency passport. Press photographer KIM NAUGHTON, who is chronicling the singer’s African odyssey, stepped in to help, capturing Bono’s image - without his trademark wraparound sunglasses - as a makeshift passport snap. He said, “I can’t believe we’ve been so stupid.”
22/05/2006 17:37 ‘ [http://breakingnews.iol.ie]
“What’s Lesotho?”
“It’s a country in southern Africa.”
“Let’s see this…” Consults worn encyclopaedia… “It’s in South Africa.”
“No, it’s near South Africa,” I whined.
“It’s Basutoland?”
And on and on we went. I left thinking I’d convinced her, but when I came to get the translated documents, I was suddenly born in Basutoland (Afrique du Sud). Just like that, with the Afrique du Sud in parentheses for good measure. I paid her and left, but I was fuming. On another occasion, I’d just had a motorcycle accident. When I came to, in the middle of the road, I was surrounded by cops and paramedics and sapeurs pompiers. They gently picked me up and transported me to one of the flashing ambulances on the side of the road. Once inside, the questions began: Date of birth? Address? Age? Country of birth? Ad lib…
“Lesotho,” I said.
“Pardon?”
So I went into my well-oiled speech about where Lesotho is and that it’s not a province of South Africa but an independent state, and that though Lesotho has no embassy in France, it does have one in England, in Belgium, in Switzerland, and in many other countries. And the guy who was filling the form went,
“Je vais marquer Afrique du Sud quand même.” Or, “I’m gonna write in South Africa all the same.”
Today if you look at my accident report, it says that I was born in South Africa. Fine, but I won’t accept the same treatment from a journalist. Those paramedics didn’t have Google at their disposal, and it is in any case less their business than it is for a reporter. Gets up my nose.
I can see how it can be confusing for someone who is not in the know. First, Lesotho is one of the few countries completely surrounded by another. In that sense, it is in SA. Also, to many South Africa sounds like a region in SA, not a state. Finally, I have encountered people who don’t take the statehood of African states too seriously, as many were recent colonial creations. When thinking of Harare, they would rather say it is in South Africa or just Africa. Or if you talk about Burkina Faso, they say “what was it called before?” If you say “Upper Volta”, they know what you are talking about.
It is annoying.
Comment by GV — 24 May 2006 @ 2:36 pm
Oh yeah. I think you’re absolutely right. My point is that the guy or gal who writes a paper article should bother to check. Nay, should already know. But otherwise the person in the street may have a hard time recognising Lesotho as a state within another state. I realise that it is a hard reality to fathom.
Comment by Rethabile Masilo — 25 May 2006 @ 7:30 am
I can see how that could get frustrating. It seems to be a combination of geographic illiteracy (which is appallingly common) and sheer arrogance. I imagine that I would start carrying a little pocket atlas around, were I in your situation. In the US, there are these periodic stories about the number of high school and college graduates who can’t find the states in their own country on a map, much less being able to locate a country in another part of the world.
Comment by Kim Pearson — 29 May 2006 @ 1:58 pm