SA Rocks

This video gives me insane nostalgia and fantastic goosebumps. The memories are still fresh in my mind but will definitely last a lifetime for me as I am sure they will for many South Africans.

[via Blacknotes]

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The video below was originally distributed via email in powerpoint format (or at least that’s how I received it first).

I received this email about 10 times in the space of 3 days. Impressive by any viral email standards I think. If you haven’t seen the video yet, watch it. It’s not half bad and definitely sums up the way forward fairly well for this world cup.

Now, here’s the story behind the email as told by HomeComingRevolution:

After Bafana Bafana’s exit at the first round of the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the support that they had received from South African citizens, Rebecca Sehloho wrote a poem. The poem captured the importance of being fantastic hosts which goes beyond the soccer and
deeper into what the tournament is about.

Rebecca and her colleague Anthony Prangley harmonised their proudly South African voices with memorable images to inspire the nation to look at all the positive that has resulted from the World Cup. They saw the need to remind South Africans that it does not matter if Bafana Bafana didn’t win. It’s much bigger than that – South Africa has won!

Martine Schaffer, Managing Director of Homecoming Revolution said: “Anthony sent it to us on the morning after Bafana Bafana were eliminated. We realised the potential of this viral message and the stronger uniting message that it had for South Africans. A few emails were sent out and within the space of an hour, we were receiving it back into our inbox. The creators had no idea of how quickly this message would spread and we are thrilled that they chose to associate it with the Homecoming Revolution. As a nation we are seeing a growth in our identity with our soccer team, our country and our amazing achievements in hosting this World Cup. This is also stirring up heart-sore emotions amongst our South African Diaspora. We have so much to celebrate and this succinct, emotional, visual message sums
up how we are feeling. Proud.”

Let’s keep it going. The World Cup is about being friendly hosts and fantastic fans of all the teams. Each of us can do something. This is our chance.

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Yes, Bafana Bafana is out of the Fifa 2010 World Cup. Yes we are the only host nation in the history of the World Cup to not make it through to the 2nd round of the tournament but it just isn’t that simple now is it? Bafana blew out of the tournament bit did not crash and burn as they did this, they climbed the ranks of football in a rising fireball.

My friend Prudence sums it up perfectly:

Yes, let’s just run through that again shall we; Bafana did not qualify for this World Cup and competed on the basis that we were the hosts. We are ranked 83rd in the World right now. We drew with Mexico, ranked 17th. We lost to Uruguay who are ranked 16th and we beat, yes that is correct, we beat the French who are World Cup winners and currently ranked 9th in the world.

I am extremely proud of Bafana Bafana and must say that they played world class football yesterday against the French. The deserved a win and proved that they can compete with the best in the world and come out on top. I also believe that Frances internal politics cannot be an excuse for the French. They are a world class team with world class players and should be able to rise above their own rubbish and win. Their fans must be bitterly dissapointed and they owe their fans an apology.

I’ll still be pulling for the African teams along the way and hope that a few of them manage to make it through and give us Africans something to cheer for.

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Hurrah for Wines of South Africa (WOSA) for coming up with one of the most meaningful 2010 programmes that I certainly have come across. The plan is to train 2,010 wine stewards by 2010. And to fund this initiative, they have pulled the wine industry together to produce a new range of wines called Fundi.

Profits from the sale of Fundi will go towards training up the 2,010 stewards. Half will be pulled from existing hospitality staff, and the remainder will be from currently unemployed people. There are so many wins to this formula: upskilling people, improved wine knowledge and service levels in time for the influx of tourists around the 2010 Football World Cup, improved service levels for locals almost immediately, and a fabulous new range of wine locally and abroad.

The wines for the range were selected by a blind tasting of the Cape Winemakers Guild. We tried the Stellekaya (50% Merlot, 30% Pinotage, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon), Anwilka (very elegant but a hefty 15% alcohol) and The Company of Wine People at the launch – all of which were outstanding, but given my current hankering after fairly in your face, feisty reds, the Stellekaya Cape blend was my favourite. Also in the pipeline are blends from Hartenberg Estate and Waterkloof. The sixth wine in the line up still needs to be chosen and announced.

The first two wines – the Stellekaya and The Company of Wine People versions – will be available from the beginning of August, with a price tag of R 120 in the shops and R 150 in restaurants. The bottles are easy to spot, with a cheerful sunflower motif and a handmade bead neck tag. 17,500 Bottles are available and need to be sold here and abroad to raise the R 4.5 million needed to fund the training.

The cheap and cheerful side of me wonders if there should not also have been an entry-level wine available. I am far more likely to try something new if it is a bit more accessible price-wise, and why shouldn’t people who buy wine at the more affordable end of the market be able to contribute to this great initiative? However when I see this in a restaurant I am sure to order it by the bucketload (why is it that I will happily pay over the odds for wine in a restaurant, while um and ah over an extra R 5 in a supermarket?)

The other thing that I am not sure about is how do you know which wine you are ordering, or is it pot luck? The label at the back identifies the producer and the blend, but I can’t work out if you can tell one from another in any other way – the bottles were kept well away from my grubby paws at the launch so I didn’t get to study them. This could be a problem in a restaurant where you don’t see the bottle in advance, and also if you aren’t familiar with the range.

According to Dalene Steyn of WOSA, they are comfortable that wine connoisseurs will be clued up about the story of Fundi and will know what is going on, while for the rest, it’s not going to be a big issue. I do hope this isn’t confusing for people who are new to the wine world and are trying to work things out for the first time, or even for more experienced wine drinkers who just aren’t paying attention.

Fundi of course means learner in isiZulu, and means an expert in South African-ese. The training initiative has been dubbed WOSA Laduma and will be run by the fabulous team at Lets Sell Lobster. I have been lucky enough to attend one of their champagne and popcorn tasting and it was great fun. The team has got the balance right between making wine fun and accessible, while still sharing accurate and useful information. In Lets Sell Lobster’s version of wine tasting, a Cabernet Sauvignon is like an elephant: big bodied, thick skinned, lots of backbone and lasts for a long time … you get the picture.

You can read more about the Fundi project here.

[Vanessa Clark writes for WineCountry, a blog that focuses on bringing the fun in wine, food and lifestyle to the people of South Africa.]

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