A second letter from Flic en Flac, Mauritius

I'm still in Flic en Flac in Mauritius and enjoying my visit immensely. As I mentioned previously, I'm attending a conference there till Thursday.

One of the things that struck me though is how similar Mauritians and South Africans are in some ways. For example, on the chalets we're staying in are thatched (see pic), just like African huts.

Different kind of shape of hut, different kind of grass, modern and sophisticated structure rather than the primitive, traditional African hut, but the basics are still there.

This afternoon I walked past a group of workmen, rethatching some of the huts. It brought back childhood memories of watching my grandfather do the same thing.

Dancers performing at the welcome function(on Sunday night) also brought back memories of childhood. They moved to the sound of drums, and I could have sworn I grew up to the same rhythm. And tonight, I heard a few waiters ululating during a dance show, just as my grandmother used to.

I expected this similarity, as we're part of the same continent. But it also reminded me that sometimes people from different countries place too much emphasis on how different they are ( and there we are in a lot of ways) rather than focussing on similarities. And yes, I am aware that I'm not being original in my thinking - many people have come to this same realisation at different times in their lives. I hope more people do so.

If you're interested in the conference proceedings, read my articles here and here. More articles about the events will be published on ITWeb tomorrow and Thursday.