Another part of the globe, an ocean apart, a different world.

Still, one Orangeburg resident and public servant found the people of this foreign land to be little different from those people here.

"It was the most rewarding experience of my life," said Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Lt. Loretta Davis. "So much happened, but the people of South Africa were so wonderful."

The 41-year-old Davis was part of this year's Rotary Club Group Study Exchange, a program aimed at fostering learning between different communities throughout the world.

The annual exchange is sponsored through donations collected by Rotary District 7770, which encompasses roughly half of the Palmetto State, said District 7770 Assistant Governor Mary Scarborough of the Rotary Club of Orangeburg Morning.

"The purpose of this is so non-member, business professionals can learn, basically, about other countries," Scarborough said. "This also serves as a culture exchange."

Made up of three other members and a leader, the all-South Carolina team traveled to South Africa Aug. 30 and remained until Oct. 8.

The team members were made up of professionals or business personnel. On this trip were members of the education and medical fields. Davis represented the field of law enforcement, studying police guidelines in several South African cities.

"Big difference, big difference," said Davis, the ODPS supervisor of juvenile and victim's services bureau. "Especially in the juvenile courts."

A juvenile charged with a crime here in the U.S. may go months before seeing anyone connected with the courts. In South Africa, Davis said, the accused offender will be in front of an attorney. Within weeks, he or she will be judged by a panel of three magistrates. There are no jury trials.

"One thing I like is when a child, who is a victim of, say a CSC (criminal sexual conduct), they never face the accuser" in court, Davis said.

Police training was studied in several towns and cities throughout the country. The training begins with what Davis described as "six months of college." After, six more months of study precede a probationary period before a candidate is declared qualified for duty.

"So, it takes you two years before you become a certified law enforcement officer," she said. "It's like you're in the military."

As chief of the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety, Wendell Davis said the loss of an officer for an extended period was a sacrifice on the city's part.

However, Chief Davis said it was also an "opportunity to see law enforcement in other countries, and, frankly, glean from her their ideas or policies."

"We felt the experience could make her a more rounded officer," Davis said. "Part of what she did was visit law enforcement facilities, and she witnessed the conditions in which people live."

The DPS chief said Davis' firsthand account of people living below what might be considered a poverty level here "motivated her and us to appreciate what we have."

The visiting Orangeburg officer said she saw towns as wealthy as any here in the States, particularly around the gold and diamond mining towns.

But there are also entire neighborhoods consisting entirely of fragile structures that hardly qualified as shacks. Some had only three walls, some didn't have that. For others, running water is simply a luxury of the rich.

"It was a life-changing experience for me," Davis said. "I always thought I was a person who was humble. Seeing how people live in South Africa, and to see how we live in the U.S.? And to see poverty at that level? It made me realize how blessed I am."

While the biggest social struggle in the United States may concern illegal drugs, in South Africa it's HIV, a disease that affects more than a third of the entire population, Davis said.

At the Morning Star daycare in one village, Davis learned that part of the requirements of admission to the facility is the child is HIV positive. Lining the walls of the daycare are stars bearing the names of children who have died from the deadly disease.

"There, birthdays are a big deal," she said.

There was down time for the Rotary team, which stayed with South African Rotarian hosts in each of the 11 cities they visited. There were visits to a diamond mine and the beach, including the white sands at Port Elizabeth.

In the town of Bloemfontein, Davis learned the municipality was once connected with Prince William of Orange, the namesake of Orangeburg. Bloemfontein also celebrates a rose festival.

The table fare could be described as different for the Americans. Entrees often included spring buck, impala and wildebeest.

Davis said she had no problem with any of the meals until she ran into the black soup served with a sh.jpgnglqutes head and feet.

"I just couldn't bring myself to eat the sh.jpgnglqutes head," she said.

Fortunately, there was a back-up if needed. In the wealthier cities, a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant was on every corner.

But while the American restaurant serves up 11 different herbs and spices, the local language was just as saucy. In South Africa, there are 11 different national languages.

Back home in Orangeburg, Davis has given presentations to her sponsoring Rotarians featuring the different cultures and the various works Rotarians are doing for the country with little or no middle class.

"It's changed my life," she said of the time spent there. "I may even become a Rotarian."

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-533-5516.

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