Article May 20, 2002 Issue

Gateway to 'the rainbow nation'

By Ari Denison and Kim Shippey Sentinel staff

The rainbow nation, South Africa, has come a long way on the road to tolerance in the eight years since independence. Violent crime, joblessness, poverty, AIDS, and a shaky economy still dominate the headlines, but the people you meet on the street give cause for hope.

Apartheid has gone, and we found genuine friendliness and relaxed cooperation among the people we shopped with at the Gateway Mall at Umhlanga Ridge, about 30 miles north of the coastal city of Durban. It's the largest shopping center in the Southern Hemisphere—the length of seven football fields from end to end—cut into the cane fields that once rolled down to the wide, white beaches of the Indian Ocean.

Let's face it. This is not the Africa many tourists expect at all. Nelly Furtado, Bob Marley, and Cake were being piped through the sound system. There were no wild animals scratching at the door, and there was little evidence of African customs, traditions, foods, or even dress. There were definitely no Zuluheaddresses, bare male chests, rawhide shields, or assegais to be seen.

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