makes you think, doesn't it

There's a very apparent split in SA right now between those who are bubbling with excitement for the coming elections, and those who go "when is it again? really? oh.". I suspect - but don't hold me to it - that that split also follows a similar line to that between those who support the ANC and those who don't. I could be wrong though.

What I've encountered is the latter - people who are resigned to the outcome of an election that has yet to happen. People who accept that Jacob Zuma will be our next president. And even if they are determined and excited about South Africa as a country, the opportunities it represents and living here - they're finding ways to do it in spite of the ANC being in power. Not because of.

I've read two articles this morning that again highlight for me the disparity between our country and what is effectively the first world. The world out there. I live here, and make my life here, and make the best of what we have here (it is a beautiful country with many opportunities, don't get me wrong). But I can't help it on days like today letting my mind wander to what it would be like living in another country...

The first article made me smile, and made me think about how something as simple - and universal - as childbirth can be approached so differently in different countries and cultures. I marvel at a culture that can make it seem so hip and inviting. This article makes me want to *be* French.

And while I'm musing on how fabulous this one little (but not so little) change in approach to something so intrinsic must make your life if you happen to be a French woman as opposed to, say, South African, I read this. A scathing portrait of our next (let's be real, shall we) president. A president with four wives, a rape charge, an angry dead wife. A portrait of a country not heading closer to the first world, but further away.

In less than two weeks I will cast my vote. And do what it may, the election won't take my mind from wandering elsewhere... Wondering if it can't all be done just a little differently. A little better. As a young woman living in South Africa, I'm unlikely to be offered la rééducation périnéale après accouchement or given a prescription for abdominal muscle training after childbirth. But that's what I want dammit!

So, a state that labours over discussions on the "true" causes of HIV and whether beetroot helps or not? Or a state that's moved on to other pressing matters, like getting my tummy back in shape after kids?

Flippant? Yes. But that's how I'm feeling today.