Football,Freedom and Forgiveness

Couple of weeks back I saw this documentary on BBC called Football and Freedom, which chronicles two South African teenagers who aspire to one day become pro footballers. The documentart which covered the boys for a soan of five years ,featured Seth ( white, from financially well off family,lives in a wealthy Johannesburg suburb) and Phuso (black, lives with his single mother and three sisters in his granny's kitchen in Soweto). Both are talented young men looking for their big break. Seth comes from a very well off family with connections while Phuso's mother struggles to put him through private school. Seth gets noticed by Ajax Amsterdam talent scouts and lands a much coveted spot in Cape Town's Ajax Amsterdam Academy,Phuso is spotted by his hero Lucas Radebe and ends up with a local premiership side.

What amazes me though is not the different standard of living the two boys experiance, the economic inequalities brought on by apartheid will take decades to bridge...it is the racial prejudice shown by Seth from his early teens, voiced through his comments throughout the course of the documentary. He even broke his contract with the Ajax Academy as he could not get along and stay with his black team mates. He regrets his choice later on, as he struggles to find his ticket to stardom. Ultimately both boys go pro with Seth landing a contract in the United States and Phuso playing for a Premiership side. It amazes me a fourteen year old gives up his big break just because he can't get along and live with his black teammates. After twelve years of freedom racial integration is still very minimal, even with the younger set. With the opening up of schools to all races, it was hoped that young people will at least get to know one another, but sadly people of different races lead very different and separate lives. Racism is not only rampant among the whites but also among the blacks. One scene in the documentary shows a group of black boys who are singing an old apartheid era anti-white song.

I also got the chance to watch the film Forgiveness,starring Arnold Vosloo and directed by Ian Gabriel, which tells the story of an ex policeman from the apartheid era security forces who seeks forgiveness from the family of an activist he tortured and killed in prison. It was an emotional and moving tale about revenge, remorse and ultimately closure. The movie brilliantly portrays the hardships and emotional trauma suffered by the family, and the remorse and guilt suffered by the ex cop. The mother of the activist killed towards the end says " if you belive in God, you will believe in forgiveness., ultimately forgiveness brings about closure and enables people to move on with their lives while hate is a just a tool of self destruction.

As for prejudice, a man I consider wise once told me " no child is born with prejudice, they just acquire it through their surroundings".