Soweto is huge--2 to 3 million people huge...it's made up of many different communities, which range from big houses to squatter camps, sometimes side by side. I was fortunate to be able to visit with Mary and Sweetness, two colleagues from Themba, who drove me around many of the areas. I met Sweetness's grandmother, who lives in a tiny government built house, went to two of the new, glitzy malls, had braai on Friday afternoon amongst the cars pumping out house music, groups of guys drinking away their public holiday, and piles of meat and pap...for those of you who have never had pap, it's a maize and water concoction that is eaten with meat, sauce, just about everything...and is eaten with your hands. I have photographic evidence of my poor pap-eating skills. At the braai we met a young man who had already consumed a lot of beer and delivered what must have been the strangest pick-up line ever...he looked at all five of us and said, "I like how you ladies chew!" Yesterday evening I attended a church service/concert for good Friday, it was very musical and very participatory. Today I went to some of the famous sites in Soweto--the Hector Pietersen memorial museum, on the site where the Soweto student protests turned bloody. I will never understand what motivated the police to open fire on children...then we visited Nelson Mandela's house, which is tiny. He has long since moved to more comfortable digs.
It was a fitting close to my time here in Johannesburg to see Soweto, and to notice the stares that accompanied me everywhere I went...apparently it's not too often that a white person hangs out there. I am grateful to Sweetness and her family and Mary for hosting me and allowing me the opportunity...
Tomorrow we're off to Botswana, a country with arguably many more animals than people...a completely different experience, but one I'm very much looking forward to.
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