Johannesburg tour

The upgrade in Addis was nothing short of amazing! All I really need to say about it is, king size bed, buffet...with cheese! When we arrived in Jo'burg, the owners of Bob's Bunkhouse picked us up at the airport and took us "home". This little hostel was vert clean and cute with a family vibe. The owners organized us a tour of Johannesburg that included the township of Soweto and the Apartheid museum. What an incredible day! The history here, is nothing short of incredible... And incredibly disturbing.

Soweto is an abbreviation for "the south western townships" and the area grew in the early 50's as the implementation of apartheid forced Africans out of so called "white areas". The township houses 4 million people today and is mostly composed of old "matchbox" houses, or four-room houses built by the government, that provided cheap accommodation for black workers during apartheid. Soweto hit the world stage on June 16, 1976 with the Soweto Uprising. School children left their schools in protest of the government's policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than English. This shift in policy forced the kids to focus on understanding the language rather than the content of their lessons and reduced their ability to think critically and engage with their curriculum. They planned a peaceful march to protest these changes to their education. When confronted, the police opened fire on the students killing many! The rioting continued and 200 people, including two white people, died on the first day in Soweto. The first to be killed was Hector Pieterson, who was 12 years old, when the police began to open fire on the students. According to wikipedia, The impact of the Soweto protests reverberated through the country and across the world. In their aftermath, economic and cultural sanctions were introduced from abroad. Soweto and other townships became the stage for violent state repression. Since 1991 this date and the schoolchildren have been commemorated by the International Day of the African Child.

On our tour of Soweto, our guide showed us where Hector Petersen was killed, as well as where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu had once lived. We also went to an informal settlement within Soweto. This area is full of temporary huts and shacks with drop toilets in the yards. In these areas, people pay no rent but also have no access to proper schooling for their children. We visited a daycare here and made a small contribution. I must say, the history of Soweto influenced my monetary gift to the kids... I have seen schools with way less in other areas of west Africa. The striking difference here, is the juxtaposition of rich and poor! Out in the "white areas" high rises, shopping malls, private schools and luxury items abound. After this, we went to the apartheid museum and learned about "pass books" that restricted travel of Africans between towns and cities. We heard about deaths and the many laws that confined Africans and ensured European control during apartheid.

All in all, my short stay in Johannesburg was shocking!

I had a man tell me "South Africa is the only African country that runs properly, because it is white run! those blacks, ruin everything!" A women told me, "they" are ruining "our" country. Another woman in her sixties told me she remembers the death of Hector Petersen and her father telling her " it was of no importance to her". She also reflected back and agreed, it had everything to do with her and that at the time, she was very sheltered from the realities unfolding within her country! Yet another lady said, apartheid happened in every country around the globe yet no one else got in trouble for it". Unfortunately, she was right, our own colonial history reads much the same. Many of these statements shocked me and came across as blatantly racist, but I don't live here. I cannot profess to understand the complexities of the situation after only one day. It is clear, people are still recovering, there is fear and anxiety in the air here, mingled with raw hope for the future. Hopefully the future is bright!