9-year-old Hjalmar and his younger brother, Simon, have travelled to South Africa with their father. Hjalmar attends various schools and makes new friends. The country he meets is not the country of his dreams - there are no friendly bushmen waiting to welcome him, only a society in the midst of violent upheaval. Hjalmar befriends children who have lived half their lives under apartheid and the other half in a period with new-found liberalism, where everybody from beggar and president must find a path for the future. Racism is still very much an issue as Hjalmar discovers when he begins to question the motives of his African friends who have come to visit him at the great, imposing house where he lives.
Hjalmar er 9 år og er med sin lillebror Simon på rejse i Sydafrika, hvor deres far er på filmoptagelse. Hjalmar går i forskellige skoler og får nye kammerater. Det land, han møder, er ikke hans drømmes Afrika om søde buskmænd, men et samfund, der er midt i voldsom forandring. Hjalmar får kammerater, der har levet halvdelen af deres liv under apartheid og halvdelen i en periode, hvor alle fra tigger til præsident forsøger at finde deres nye roller. Raceproblematikken er stadig aktuel, og Hjalmar får den helt ind på kroppen, når han tvivler på sine afrikanske venners egentlige motiv for at besøge ham i det store fine hus.
Co-funded by the European Union
