Various Images in SoWeTo

After days in rural KwaZulu Natal we drove North and spent a day in Johannesburg, including Soweto.  Soweto stands for the South West Township of Johannesburg.  Started under the Apartheid regime government as a Black township.  Some townships were started as eviction sites others with residents building their own houses.  In 1956 the year I was born, they laid out townships in ethnic groups.

We checked out a future B&B site at Magora\’s B&B 4009 Senaoane St Orlando East, Soweto, Gauteng or http://www.bookaguesthouse.co.za/gauteng/soweto/magora_ase_africa/index.html

We drove by some very sad situations with high density per site to well kept sophisticated homes.  We walked by Desmond Tutu and Nelson Madela’s homes on the same street in Orlando.

We stopped by the Orlando East public library where Victor Mphela is the Head Librarian.

Visited Regina Mundi Catholic Church where many activists had meetings during the Apartheid era.

Drove near the power station cooling towers where they now do bungee jumping, then to see the Hector Pieterson Monument, it reminded me of Maya Lin’s Civil Rights Memorial in Alabama.

Drove by the 18 hole golf course.

It seems no one really knows how many or how large the Greater Soweto area is as everyone gives a different answer.    Anywhere around 1,300,000 people.

We walked around the freedom charter monument, in Kliptown.  Here we came just as an armored truck with guard stood in his flak vest with gun to insure that the bank money went to the correct place.

On the monument one of the statements says:  Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens.

Across the way was a sculpture in wood  no title maybe I will research it

The redemption of the new constitution isn’t about getting back to where they were before Apartheid but it is a new direction with the scars of the lost – a new change.  This is where Africa Classroom Connection is active in the redemption with the education of the young people in South Africa by supporting communities in building schools.

Africa Family Style

I am traveling with Ward Brennan, age 78, his son Mark Brennan, and our children, Molly and Peter ages 14 and 12 respectively.   We started our journey in Seattle, a short visit over in Minneapolis, and lay over in Chicago and D.C. before arriving 1 day late in Cape Town, South Africa.  

Our whirl-wind tour of Cape Town included staying near the V & A Waterfront, a Robben Island tour – viewing Mandela’s cell and peguins.  Then we met up with Paul Faure, Books for African recipient and Rotarian, for a tour of the Townships, a B&B in Khayelitsha, Kalky’s Fish and Chip Place – best in the world  at Kalk Bay, and  a quick trip to Cape Point. 

On the way, we had to jump in the Indian Ocean because my 12 year old needed to put his foot in a new ocean!    

Peter Brennan touches the ocean

For supper we ascending the hill to Bo -Kaap to a Malay restaurant where I had,Bo-Kaap Kombuis (which means kitchen), the best Ginger tea in my life – and I do drink tea!  Say hello to the owner Joseph and Ntzil for us.   They have a super view looking out over the city and we got a mini lesson on the Malay history and their role in Cape Town. 

We also saw the geography of the townships and how the trains impacted the city people by dividing people by where they live. What a great taste of Cape Town, we will need to come back to visit all the great things we missed.