| Living
On The Edge |
| Bolts From
The Blue |
| by Jurgen Klemann |
| June 2005
Colima,
Mexico
A while ago,
the World Bank published a report on the most dangerous places to live
on earth. That report by the World Bank defines places as dangerous to
live when they’re threatened by natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes
and hurricanes. According to that report, the award of being the most dangerous
place on earth to live goes to Taiwan. Seventy three percent of Taiwan’s
population are threatened by at least three natural disasters. |
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| Ninety percent
of folks in Bangladesh, Nepal, Haiti and Malawi are threatened by at least
two natural disasters.
Do you reckon
now that I recommend to stay away from those dangerous places? I’m tempted
to answer in Spanish “ni madres”, which means more or less “no
way” but sounds a little dirty in Spanish. That’s one reason why I
like the phrase. The reason for my “ni madres” is quite simple.
No matter which
part of the world I grace with my presence, natural disasters occur. My
track record on attracting natural disasters and calamities doesn’t leave
a great deal to be desired. Where yours truly pops up things do happen.
During my stint
in Miami in 1992, I left Miami for a week on vacation/holiday in San Francisco.
At that time, I was still comparatively innocent and worried about earthquakes
there. Nothing happened. After returning to Miami and spending exactly
one night in my apartment, I got evacuated because of hurricane Andrew.
Since that experience, I no longer worry about that sort of thing. |
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| When South
Africa was going through the transition from Apartheid to multi–racial
democracy I lived and worked in Johannesburg. One morning the Inkatha Freedom
Party organised a march to the Shell building, the ANC headquarters. About
fifty thousand Zulus in full combat gear were marching in the central business
district of Jo’burg. The march led to a shootout. The South African army
had to virtually reconquer the central business district. At the end of
the morning, more than two hundred folks were dead. And I couldn’t leave
my office for lunch.
While doing
whitewater rafting on the Zambezi on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia
I managed to fall into the Zambezi. There are said to be little crocodiles
in the Zambezi. But nothing really happened. This little episode doesn’t
really count.
When I lived
in Auckland the city of sails suffered from a power cut (if memory doesn’t
fail me it was in 1997). |
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Offshore
Resources Gallery
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| Auckland had
no electricity for more than a week. When this sort of thing happens in
New York a bunch of riff raff starts a riot and goes looting. Auckland,
however, was peaceful and quiet.
During my
second year in Colima, while spreading my wisdom in the classroom, a serious
earthquake hit Colima. I
reckoned afterwards that we could continue with the class outside on the
lawn. But students insisted on going home. I went home as well and slept
like a baby. During my first year in Colima a friend of mine sent me an
Email because the volcano here was getting active. I hadn’t even noticed.
The World Bank
report itself makes sense for me. It includes ideas about preventing damage
to the economy and infrastructure caused by natural disasters. However,
at a personal level, my attitude may be summarised with “I don’t give
a row of beans”. After going through a few of the experiences I’m rambling
about you get a little more relaxed. As a result, there are no longer a
bunch of things that manage to make you lose your composure. |
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| Moreover,
at the end of your life you can’t complain about having had to endure a
life that was dull and boring. In a nutshell, looking at those events in
hindsight, they contribute to making your life more colourful and interesting.
In the course of time, you turn into a more rounded personality.
Folks who spend
half their lives in front of the box and join the ranks of the departed
while being sound asleep in bed can’t honestly make this sort of claim.
The Less
Developed World
A while ago,
a thought sprang to my mind. All of a sudden, I was comparing my life –
in particular my quality of life – at the various places on earth where
I’ve lived so far. It then dawned on me that my quality of life may be
classified as choice in South Africa and currently in Mexico, in short
in the less developed world. |
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| Needless to
mention that the reasons are different. South Africa deserved to be described
as exciting during the transition period – e.g. bombs exploding and Zulu
marches in Johannesburg. Even outings to other African countries added
to the thrill – e.g. a rhino in front of the jeep in Namibia and being
only a few meters away from a wild elephant in Botswana.
At the same
time, there are choice places to live in South Africa. Just deviate from
the main tourist tracks. There are marvellous low key residential areas
in East London, for example. Private gardens there directly border on the
Indian Ocean. There are also choice places to live in low key places
in Latin America – e.g. in Colima, Mexico. I live on the outskirts of Colima
in a rather posh neighbourhood with loads of open space and nature. Watching
the sunset there and listening to animals in the darkness on my roof terrace
contribute significantly to my quiet, peaceful, mellow lifestyle in Colima.
These are just a few reasons why yours truly feels – at least for the time
being – rather disinclined to live in the “more developed world”.
There – in
the “more developed world” heaps of multinational corportations
are headquartered that shiploads of opponents to globalisation and other
do gooders accuse of ripping off the less developed world. That black and
white scenario appears to be changing now. There are now more and more
multinational corporations headquartered in the less developed world that
are keen on investing overseas, in both the more and the less developed
world.
Louis Wells,
a professor at Harvard Business School, is fond of naming these outfits
“third world multinationals”. These outfits come primarily from
so–called middle income countries, such as Brazil, South Africa, India.
For example, the Indian outfit Tata acquired in 2000 the British tea company
Tetley. Pepkor, a South African retailer, has started to open shops in
Mozambique and Zambia. South African brewery bought a significant chunk
of Tanzanian brewery.
These examples
illustrate that there are increasingly more and more multinationals headquartered
in the less developed world. They hop across borders and expand globally
because they feel confined within their national markets.
It appears
to be particularly easy for South African companies to break out of their
national market. Challenging new markets are located just north of South
Africa, virtually all over Africa. The SA Foundation, a South African business
lobby organisation, recently pointed out that South African outfits are
preferably inclined to conquer countries that have opened up their economies.
Those economies offer stability and transparency. I can’t claim to be surprised
by that preference.
All this indicates
to me that the worldview of loads of do gooders often tends to be a little
simplistic. Things aren’t often as black and white as they reckon that
they are. Gaining a little experience in the real world may help them develop
a more profound perspective.
The following
is a list of articles written by Jurgen for the magazine:
To contact Jurgen
Click Here |
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