Living on a High

Angela Cockerell digests her experience of hosting the recent Soccer World Cup in South Africa. With her country in the world's spotlight, it is easy to feel strong feelings — both negative and positive — about her homeland. Angela shares her shifting attitude towards South Africa as it successfully hosted the first Soccer World Cup on African soil. -Editor

I was one of South Africa's biggest cynics during our build up to the 2010 Soccer Wold Cup. I was convinced that we would NEVER be able to pull it off. Our roads would never be ready, our airport was nowhere near ready, our stadium was still just a shell and the service was appalling! Every time I went out I was met with a long journey due to the roads being dug up, traffic lights out of order and unfriendly cashiers in the shops. We still had loads of crime, beggars, including child beggars, at every traffic light and corporate strikes.

Each day I was told new glum news by other cynics that would make me even less of a believer. Things like: No-one is coming from overseas, If we get 500 000 tourists for this World Cup we will be doing very well! We will NEVER be ready. Wonder how many tourists will be murdered?

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