Go to South Africa!

Go to South Africa
Because you must
Go to that land that starts
At the Cape of Good Hope
And spreads majestically
Through the hopelessly dry
Kalahari Desert

Go south and see a land
So developed
It is in the first half of the First World
Lying side by side with the rest of Africa
That is popularly known as the Third World
The Dark Continent

Go to South Africa
To the land where gold and diamonds
Grow in the bowels of the earth
Yet here surrounded by all this wealth
A child dies
The cost of his death
A small platter of food

Go to South Africa
And see Sun City
So beautiful a man-made creation
It makes mickey mouse of Disney World
And there within a mile or so
Men live like rats and mice

Go to South Africa
And behold the beauty of a woman
And appreciate anew
God’s gift to mankind
Go and listen to the musical laughter
Of the children whom poverty has not robbed
The joy of living under the African skies

Go to South Africa
And see for yourself
What I cannot possibly put into words
For if you should die before you are awed
By the sheer beauty of the Victoria Falls
The magnificence of the African elephant
You will have missed, in life, more than I can say

Go to South Africa
And see for yourself
The sobering unreality of Soweto
Go hear the click sound of the Zulu people
The melody in their laughter
Go and experience the ironies and conflicts
In this land that has been home to peoples
From Europe, India and of course, Africa!

Go to South Africa
Because Oprah and Ms Belafonte said
Go!