I'd feel a lot more hopeless if things were stagnating or getting worse. I can't imagine being a Syrian right now, for example.
I think the biggest change we've seen recently is English becoming more popular among the youth. That and technology which brings about education and positive influence from developed countries.
I'm very supportive of subsidized and ultra-low-cost smartphones and laptops. I think a lot of our issues won't be solved in the next 30 or 50 years, but as the world becomes more connected and social issues are democratized, ideas and efforts are spread through passion and action rather than advertising budgets..
Money will eventually no longer run this government and people will start to think for themselves.
Look at China, they employ hundreds of thousands of people to save their public image, they have a walled garden which they pluck and trim to fit their needs. But only half of their country (excluding rural and unregistered jurisdictions) has access to the internet. Is that going to be feasible long-term?
This is why things like Reddit, albeit very American-centric, have such a positive affect on the world. I want to see more countries get their "own" Reddit which is free of corporate interest and censorship. A medium that everyone has access to and uses.
That's not really what it's about for us. South Africans have become experts at making the most out of a bad situation so things are always "good" in a way that's hard to describe out of context.
When you ask if South Africa is improving you have to qualify that with: which class? Anything that the government controls is going backwards. The middle and upper classes, however, have in a way created their own functioning infrastructure.
* The police force is complete ineffective. Solution: build a fortress and hire private security.
* Continuous controlled blackouts because the power infrastructure is inadequate. Solution: buy a generator.
* Hijackings, muggings. Solution: lojack all cars (car insurance now requires it) and don't walk anywhere.
As I said, we make it good.