I saw this on Reddit and found it truly breathtaking. A high-priced resort has created a make believe Shanty town so that the upper class can experience the feeling of utter poverty. It is reminiscent of the failed effort of Disney to create an an attraction where people could “feel like slaves” by picking cotton under the eye of white bosses. After a long and intense fight, Disney abandoned the plan. The Shanty Town vacation is available at Emoya Private Game Reserve, Luxury Hotel, Conference Centre and Spa. For the record, the picture at the left is a real Shanty Town.
The resort proclaims the fun of living in a Shanty Town with such luxury elements as wi-fi and heated floors:
Millions of people are living in informal settlements across South Africa. These settlements consist of thousands of houses also referred to as Shacks, Shantys or Makhukhus. A Shanty usually consists of old corrugated iron sheets or any other waterproof material which is constructed in such a way to form a small “house” or shelter where they make a normal living. A paraffin lamp, candles, a battery operated radio, an outside toilet (also referred to as a long drop) and a drum where they make fire for cooking is normally part of this lifestyle.
Now you can experience staying in a Shanty within the safe environment of a private game reserve. This is the only Shanty Town in the world equipped with under-floor heating and wireless internet access!
The Shanty Town is ideal for team building, braais, fancy theme parties and an experience of a lifetime. Accommodates up to 52 guests. Our Shantys are completely safe and child friendly.
It is not clear if the experience will include the fact that one in nine people in South Africa are infected with HIV or that roughly 30% is unemployed or that more than three million children (nearly 4%) are orphans. It should also reflect an average annual salary for black South Africans that is $7,500 — probably a bit less than needed for heated floors.
What… no shakedowns? stabbings? shootings? … not for me. I want it REAL.
So there is a future for Detroit.
Hey, a new use for garbage dumps just came to mind.
Scuse me, gotta run down to the patent and copyright shop … be right back.
I didn’t watch the short video…. Is there some kind of educational component to all of this? Do they go through what those that actually live in the Shanty Towns deal with on a daily basis? Do they discuss the crushing poverty and lack of access to, well, just about everything? Do they plan on taking any of their profits and giving them to organizations that are working with the people that have to live like that every day (sans heated floors), provide better shelter, food, employment, care for the orphans, medical attention, and the list goes on? So much can come of introducing those who are completely removed from living in these conditions when they are exposed to it, learn from it, and are extolled to be a part of the solution to it. To do otherwise (and I am guessing they are doing otherwise), is disgraceful and sickening and should be widely dismissed by anyone with an ounce of human decency and compassion.
This wouldn’t work in South Central LA!
This just makes me sick…..
as if being poverty stricken
is a NOVELTY ?!?!?!
This is a disgrace and mocks the people who live in poverty…..
I can see it now….
(in my best snobby girl voice…)
“Ohhhh Bif, We can pretend to be poor.. what a hoot..
should we take our Private Jet, or
slum it and fly First Class??? I’ll start packing my Hermes
right now!!!! I hope the rooms have air conditioning……
This will be so much fun!!!! Perhaps, next year
we should bring some of the members of the Yacht Club, they will simply
love it there!!!! ”
Whom ever came up with this, should be FIRED and
hopefully will have to live in a Shanty for REAL….
and as a NOVELTY…..
Heck…. We can out do em….. We have parts of the smoky mountains….. That resemble this…. And these folks are mostly happy….. Then again… Every state has something similar….l but not as perverse as Rio…..
Sick and disgusting.
A disgusting attempt to cash in on poverty and entertain the wealthy.
I have had the benefit of touring the shanty towns in South Africa, in 2008. It was a true mirror for me. I considered myself anti-entitlement, and thought that I understood something about resilience.
The spirit of the South African black families is humbling and inspiring. The emerge from these shanties each day with clean bodies and smiles; hair combed and teeth brushed. The go to work, traveling from the third world of their homes to modern buildings and abundant resources, and then they return. Without wanting to sound odd, I must say that it was my pleasure to leave the cities and be among them. I still draw from that well of inspiration when I am complaining about something related to my privileged life.
As a one additional note, their ability to overcome the hatred of white and black was also noteworthy. As a generalization, the black South Africans that we experienced were hopeful about their country. They wanted to be united and were proud to be one South African people. One of them was even a former prisoner of Robben Island, and now a tour guide of that former prison that held Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners.
I find this resort in bad taste on many levels.
In the history of bad ideas, this isn’t the worst one I’ve ever heard, but it is certainly noteworthy.
Reblogged this on Brittius.com.
Dredd, I hope they don’t catch my watching Fritz The Cat.
Don’t watch any porn while there:
(War on Dissent). The military NSA is not only planning assaults a la J. Edgar Hoover, they are actively doing them now (The Queens of Stalingrad – 2).
Reminds me of political hack, Jane Byrne, former Chicago Mayor, moving into the high rise project, Cabrini Green. She did so w/ a platoon of cops! Harold Washington beat her the next election.