Soweto

As you've probably figured out, I can't get the video of my house to load onto my blog. I've spoken with a few people who know how to blog and everyone seems to agree that the size of my video is too big to load with the amount of bandwidth available. We have a temporary computer lab set up on campus with a pretty slow internet connection and my video keeps timing out before it can load, so my apologies that you can't take my house tour yet. But when the connection is permanent and quicker, I'll try it again. It's worth waiting for though!



So, we toured the township of Soweto on Wednesday and it was quite interesting. Our guide, Mandy, is a resident of Soweto and had a lot to tell our group about it, which made for a very informative tour. The population of Soweto is 4.5 million people, but it's estimated that up to 7 million people live there. The population of Johannesburg is 3.5 million in comparison, but Soweto is part of Joburg, so it's confusing. Soweto started as a place for miners to live and grew from there, but the name Soweto wasn't officially given until the early 1960's. Soweto is mostly comprised of black Africans and all 11 official languages of South Africa are spoken in the township.

Picture 1:
Rhobhi (l) and Mandy (r)-- our fun and informative guide. She wants to set me up with Winnie Mandela!






Mandy told us that Soweto stands for SOuthWEst of TOwn, but I've also heard it's from SOuth WEstern TOwnship. At any rate, one fascinating thing about Soweto is the largest hospital in the world (in terms of beds) is here, called Baragwanath, with about 3,800 beds and plans to increase it to 7000 beds. It's quite a diverse area, with some neighborhoods of nice homes that are considered rich, and very poor areas as well.

Picture 2:
left to right- Maria (works in ALA office and sets up our awesome tours!), Samburu, Dinah, Soweto resident walking by!, Michael, me, Alison, Sani, Beatrice





Picture 3: Soweto shacks













Also in Soweto is Mandela square, named after Nelson Mandela, of course! It was in this spot in Soweto that several members of the African National Congress (ANC) created the Freedom Charter, similar to the US Constitution, that was a document outlining what the ANC wanted for all South Africans. In this picture is the one for education, which starts off at the top as "The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall Be Opened!" It's quite an amazing, inspiring, and beautiful monument that houses the Freedom Charter.

Picture 4: Freedom Charter








Mandela Square is home to a market where vendors sell their goods. The man in this picture was selling herbs, among other things, and he wanted us to buy his products. One was an herbal viagra and the other was for tightening the vagina! Everyone wins!

Picture 5: Mandela Square vendor







We also visited Hector Pieterson Memorial Site, which commemorate the 1976 student uprising of black Africans against imposing the learning of Afrikaans in school. The students were demonstrating peacefully when police opened fire and Hector was the first to die at age 12. He is the one being held in the picture. Figures differ, but somewhere between 200-600 people were killed, mostly school children, and thousands wounded. One of the member of the kitchen staff, Thami, was in 3rd grade and was part of it.


Picture 6: Hector Pieterson Memorial Site
















Our tour concluded with several hours at the Apartheid Museum. We spent three hours there and it was nowhere near enough time to take it all in. Very powerful. Very informative. Very emotional. The Steve Biko exhibit was incredibly done and so interesting. I taught Biko this past fall in World History, so it was of particular interest to me. The picture is of Gavin entering the musuem through doors that were prominent throughout apartheid.

Picture 7: Apartheid Museum entrance

We also saw Nelson Mandela's house, Desmond Tutu's house, and where Winnie Mandela still lives.
We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Wandy's that if any of you visit, I am going to take you there-- one of the best meals I've ever had in my life. All in all, it was a very powerful and informative day.