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Since cruising around all over the globe and turning into something like – even though it sounds a little cocky – a global player, so far I have lived and worked in two less developed countries. The countries I am rambling about are South Africa and Mexico. My first career in law and business led me to South Africa. My second career in college teaching has led me to Mexico. As living in the less developed world is not necessarily the same as living in Gringolandia and Western Europe, it may be worth chatting a little about living in the less developed world. What makes living in emerging markets/less developed countries different to living in the developed world? Poverty One point to be mentioned in this context is poverty. Forty per cent of the population in Mexico live in extreme poverty. Seventy per cent of the population in Guatemala live in extreme poverty. Eighty per cent of the population in Honduras live in extreme poverty. South Africa appears to be turning from a race society into a class society. Whilst a tiny upper class and a small (upper) middle class enjoy a truly pleasant lifestyle there, the overwhelming majority of the population in South Africa faces poverty or even extreme poverty. Of course there
is also severe poverty in countries like the United States and New Zealand.
Nowhere in the developed world is the gap between rich and poor as fast
growing as in New Zealand, according to some findings by the OECD. However,
it goes without saying that the portion of the population living in poverty
is a bunch more significant in countries like Mexico and South Africa than
in New Zealand. What makes the difference is the percentage of the population
that faces the consequences of poverty every day.
The informal sector of the economy in South Africa also consists of taxis without licence and shebeens. Shebeens are bars in black townships without a licence. Needless to mention that I graced a few shebeens in Soweto with my presence when black friends of mine took me to Soweto. You have got to have some fun in life. Unemployment The existence of a significant informal sector in the economy leads us to another serious issue in quite a bunch of less developed countries. The issue I am rambling about now is unemployment. Let us use South Africa as an illustration here. According to official statistics, the unemployment rate in South Africa hovers around twenty five per cent. Everybody who knows the country and lived or lives there can confirm that this statistic deserves to be called a whole load of bloody rubbish. Trying to get a more or less realistic handle on the situation there, the unemployment rate in South Africa presumably hovers around forty per cent. Most of the
unemployed there are blacks without any useful qualification or experience.
To quote Paul van Eeden who reflects exactly my stance: “I don’t think
many people who have not lived in a third world country can fathom what
forty per cent unemployment is like”.
Even though crime seems to be a serious issue in Mexico City and Guadalajara as well, smaller places in Mexico like Colima do not seriously suffer from it. They are peaceful and quiet. By the way, a rather unusual feature of crime has unfolded during the last ten years in South Africa, about which you do not hear a bunch in lots of mainstream media outfits. I am talking about the slaughter of white South African farmers and their families. During the past ten years, more than one thousand farmers in South Africa have been killed. To put things a little into perspective, during the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya no more than thirty two civilians were killed. During the civil war in Rhodesia, which lasted fourteen years, exactly two hundred and sixty nine white farmers were killed there. Cooking up
some sort of conspiracy therory may go a little over the top. These farm
murders are likely to be explained by ordinary crime. But they reflect
very badly on South Africa.
Assessment Taking these drawbacks into account, is it worth living in a less developed country? Yes, it is. Of course terms like “less developed country”, “developing world” or “emerging markets” imply that there is some development going on or that something is emerging there. To rule a misunderstanding out, we are talking here about countries like Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa etc. We are not talking about failed states like Afghanistan and Somalia. Once more, my answer is an unequivocal yes. However, what are the reasons for my unequivocal yes? Based on my own experience in South Africa and Mexico, there appear to be less rules and regulations that dominate your life, both privately and professionally. The individual – at least the individual who has something between his ears that deserves to be called brains – often enjoys more freedom in terms of what you can do and how you can get things done. In a nutshell, there are more opportunities to make your mark. To illustrate
the claim with an example, there are a bunch less constraints at colleges
and universities in Mexico as far as curricula are concerned. It means
that you have more freedom to do what and how you want to do things in
the classroom. Needless to mention that this sort of freedom also entails
more responsibility to do things properly. To be a little provocative again,
this sort of freedom is presumably not the cup of tea for folks who – how
shall we say – are not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Anyway, why does that region offer some splendid ground floor opportunities? Quite simple. The economies of these countries are based on natural resources and commodities. Western Brazil and eastern Bolivia are situated in the Amazon basin and are blessed with timber, coffee and cocoa. As far as my humble self has been able to get a grip on the situation there, a Trans Oceanic Highway is being constructed, on which these resources and commodities can be delivered to the coasts of Peru and Chile. Moreover, Bolivia may turn into a significant natural gas producer. However, that region falls into the category of a real frontier, which means getting things done there will take years, not months. But frontiers do offer ground floor opportunities. As often in life, it does not make sense to look for guarantees. Instead, look for opportunities. There is a difference between making a living and making a life. We have not exhausted our frontiers. We often just fail to recognise them. New Latin American Literature Students sometimes ask me what my favourite music is. When I tell them, their facial expressions clearly indicate that they do not have the foggiest clue what I am talking about. When I ask them what their favourite music is, my facial expression presumably tells them that I do not have the foggiest clue what they are talking about. The music at the few sudents’ parties that I blessed with my presence gives me the impression that I may give that sort of music a miss. However, things tend to be a little different with Latin American literature. Latin American literature made inroads throughout the world with novels that reflect the magic of tropical worlds. The novel “One Hundred Years Of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez may serve as an example for the literary style called “magical realism”. But the wind of change seems to be blowing. The Mexican writer Jorge Volpi was born about a year after “One Hundred Years Of Solitude” was published. He and fellow Mexican writers – e.g. Ignacio Padilla and Eloy Urroz – are developing their own style. They refer to themselves as the “crack generation”. They mean by “crack generation” that they have abandoned literary conventions that dominated Latin American literature for quite a while. It may be worth keeping an eye on things. Things are happening in the less developed world, in terms of business and literature and .... The following is a list of articles written by Jurgen for the magazine:
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