Africa 2006 Johannesburg Southern Sun Johannesburg Airport Hotel |
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After landing in Johannesburg we checked into our hotel and signed up for a tour (what better way to get on the local time zone?). Johannesburg is home to the richest and poorest people in South Africa. We headed out to Soweto (South Western Township) and saw a shanty town that is home to about 7,000 people. No electric, no running water and no floors. There was a day care center on the street that we visited so that parents could go to work. There is a water tap at the end of each street (if you live in the middle that is a long walk to water). And there are portable toilets placed along the street. Shanty towns like the one we visited came into being in the 1960s to the 1980s when the government enforced the tenets of the Group Areas Act by a system of forced removals, relocating racial groups to the areas designated by government. The most famous of these was the forced relocation of 60,000 individuals from Johannesburg into the township of Soweto. Not far from the shanty town is Vilakazi Street, home to two Nobel laureates. Desmond Tutu and Nelson Rolihlala Mandela. We got a tour of Mandela's house. It was a small, modest home with four rooms. The house has been turned into a museum, and there are letters and honorary degrees on most of the walls.
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Above, fountain memorial to Hector Peterson and others that died on June 16, 1976, protesting the use of Afrikaans as the primary language of education in Bantu (or black) schools. Hector Peterson was the first of many to die and a photo of his body in the arms of a friend made it into newspapers all around the world. There is a museum at this location with photos and news clippings on the events surrounding June 16. It is a moving experience to see what South Africa has been through (and not that long ago). I hope that this horrible period in history is not repeated anywhere. |
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On the way home we stopped at Regina Mundi, Soweto's largest Catholic Church. I've included a link to a history page on the church for those that are interested. The church has an interesting history and has one of the few black madonna paintings in the world, hung next to the altar. After a full afternoon of local history we were ready to go to bed and prepare for the next leg of our journey. |
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