SOuth WEstern TOwnship = Soweto

Starting from top Left: 1. Kids playing with dirt in Kliptown. 2. Group walking through shacks of Kliptown. 3. The 10 tenants of the Freedom Charter.

As a note I spent half an hour editing this post to give you some history about South Africa but then the internet cut out so I am going to just give you some really basic history.

In 1948 Aparthied was formally introduced into South Africa. It was very similar to the Jim Crow laws of segregation. Blacks were not allowed to work in the cities without a passbook. They were forced to live outside of the cities in large townships where they were just thrown together. They were segregated and discriminiated against. There were raids in the townships and beatings. If a Black person was found in the cities like Johannesburg without a passbook they were sent to jail for a long time. Soweto the main township outside of Johannesburg was where we did a lot of our traveling. Soweto is literally an abbreviation of South West Township. In 1976 there was peaceful protest of students against Aparthied, which police officers fired upon killing several people. From there more protests continued throughout the 70's and 80's. A snowball effect gradually took place. The Afican National Congress (ANC) was the main opposition to Aparthied. Nelson Mandela was the figurehead of the ANC during these times despite the fact that he was in jail. As protest and violence continued Mandela was released in 1990. In 1994 South Africa (SA) held its first free elections in which Mandela was elected president and the ANC as the leading party. Althought Aparthied has been outlawed on paper one will soon find out that paper means very little. Econcomically and socially the Blacks are still on the bottom rung of society despite that fact that there has eben some improvements. Hopefully this will give you some orientation as you read. I will try to explain more as I post.

The first day of traveling was a hard one. We did a lot of it. We heard a speaker Moelefi talk about Apartheid and then went to see where the freedom charter was created. The Freedom Charter was the consolidation of a list of wants obtained by the government from the African people, a starting point against Apartheid. Wants included things like free health care and dignified housing. A stones throw away from the monument which housed the basic ten of the charter was Kliptown, a South African Slum. It was literally across the tracks from brand new 5 star hotel. It was not easy to see but it was very similar to Nicaragua. This time I actually got to get a good luck at the inside of a house. It was probably half the size of my room and shared between 5 people. The town itself smelled like fresh bathroom making it hard to believe that people lived here but at the same time making the idea that people did live here all the more real. The guy who showed us around was campaigning for his residents. He told of the problems with cholera, TB and basic sanitation. The government doesn’t want to admit that there are cholera and TB problems and therefore the people suffering don’t get the drugs they need. He also showed us a zest pool coming from a sewage pipe and explained that kids swim in it sometimes because they need places to play. Convincing kids not to play is a very difficult thing to do. They need something to keep them occupied but they have nothing. Putting in a swimming pool is probably out of the question.

Tuesday morning we went to the a semi-private school in Soweto and had the chance to speak to kids there. We told them about out culture and they theirs. We danced with some and played games with others. A lot of them were very excited about Obama. The school was catholic and run by the church which resided in the center. The most interesting aspect to me was a handwritten poster that was giving different prompts for students to write an essay. One of the prompts was “South Africans are poor losers” Please write about this.” You would never see this in america either and if you did I can only imagine the difference between the responses from America and Africa. It was good to see.

Driving around, another thing I saw as written on the wall outside of hospital. It said make sure that you get your CD4 count so that if it is high you can receive “life-saving ARV (anti-retroviral) drugs” The fact the no drugs are life saving when it comes to AIDS is ironic. Also the fact that anti-retroviral was already abbreviated shows how much country is affected by the disease.

Later on that day we went to the Regina Mundi Church. A place were a lot resistance against apartheid was talked about. During one service the police came in to break it up because they believed that it was instigating resistance, which it probably was but in a peaceful manner. The police told the people to disperse but when the couldnt they fired bullets in the ceiling and one soldier cracked the alter. The bullet holes and an alter cracked with the butt of a gun are reminders of the south African police breaking apart a peaceful service. Although they may have been resisting Aparthid in some way 2000 people cant leaving a building in 2 minutes.

One of the most interesting parts so far has been talking with one of our SA guides, Molefi. After watching the inauguration which they took us to a local bar in Soweto to see, I got to talk to him. As an aside the inauguration was good to see and I am happy that Obama is president but I have to say that I wasnt exactly bowled over with his speech. Any way it was great talking to Molefi. We spoke about everything from people in SA needing counseling after Aparthied, to the drug problems, the economy, racism, homosexuality, etc. It was really great to speak to him and learn all these things from.

As this is the second time I am attempting this post I think I am about done for now. More to come.