You'll also see why - we think, hope and pray - the World Cup is going to be an inspirational, triumphant, and yes, probably chaotic experience.

I used to live in Kenya and felt that South Africa was a land apart - sophisticated, developed, self-obsessed and not the "real" Africa. Now I find that many South Africans seem to feel the same way, and hold the rest of the continent at arm's length. Friends here - black and white - talk about going "to Africa" on holiday - meaning a trip to somewhere like Mozambique or Tanzania.

The introspection you find here is understandable. A generation after apartheid, this country is still going through the most tumultuous, absorbing, high-stakes transformation. Will South Africa muddle through, or triumph, or follow Zimbabwe's grim example?

In this blog, I'll try to give you my sense of that transformation, and an on-the-streets perspective of Africa's first World Cup; my reports will be untainted by any excessive sporting knowledge. I'll also be reporting from around the continent, from places like Sudan, which could well split in two next year and Somalia, which is still fighting to put itself back together.

There is, of course, plenty going right in Africa at the moment. This blog is my chance not just to reflect on what's happening - good and bad - but also to hear your views, complaints, and recommendations. Please let me know your thoughts. Starting, perhaps, with a little advice for anyone who's managed to find a plane ticket to South Africa for the football. What should they see or do in South Africa? And what should they avoid at all costs?