The Importance of Soweto

We woke up before our alarms this morning. Good thing because we will spend time trying to remember where we packed the things we need. We ate a delicious meal of fresh fruit and eggs scrambled with fresh veggies. We were told to expect a driver by 9 am for a tour to Soweto. The delight on our faces was evident when we saw  Sibu would be our guide.

He started by showing us around the wealthy northwest area of Jo'burg (where we are staying). A new downtown section has been built with corporate offices, banks and high end stores. Sibu stopped and let us out at Nelson Mandela Square -- a shopping area in northern Jo'burg.  At one end of the middle courtyard is a large bronze statue of Mandela.

Along the sides of the courtyard are inspiring words by Mandela. Under his words are signs like "Forever 21" and "Trumps Grill House and Butchery".  It always feels incongruous when capitalism uses the voices of our social activists to sell its stuff.

From there we drove past the gated house given to Mandela after he left the presidency. He was not living in the house when he died but his many admirers brought painted stones with messages to line the tree areas around the house. 

We headed for Soweto and on the way passed the skyline of the old downtown area. Many of the high rise buildings have been abandoned for 10-15 years. An attempt to revitalize the delabitated buildings and encourage corporations to return has begun.

On the way to Soweto we spied the Orlando Towers. Originally built as cooling towers for a coal-firing plant. The power station was decommissioned in 1998 and it has become an entertainment center. One can bungee jump from a platform between the two towers. Sibu told us he had tried it once and didn't understand the attraction. One tour is a billboard and the other contains the largest mural in South Africa. The mural portrays township culture.

Our destination today was Soweto. When we arrived Sibu pulled over and took our photo.

Soweto is the birthplace of the revolution against apartheid. They are proud of their contribution. Extreme poverty lives alongside the upper middle class. Sibu made sure we experienced the extremes of the township. The government says that 2 million people live in Soweto but Sibu thinks it would be closer to over twice that many. People in the shanty towns live in very small tin buildings very close to each other.

Our second stop was on Vilakazi Street to the home of Desmond Tutu, the South African Anglican priest who is known for his work on human rights. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in1984. Mandela appointed him chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He currently does not live in Jo'burg but a plaque on this gated home commemorates his important contributions. 

Further up Vilakazi Street we stopped at the Mandela House.

Nelson Mandela lived here with his first wife Evelyn, his second wife Winnie and for eleven days after his release from prison for high treason. A student named Bennie gave us a tour.

We saw the bullet holes where the police would shoot into his home and the remnants of two fires that were attempts on is family.

It was a very small home now filled with artwork and awards.

Our next stop was the Hector Pieterson Museum. It is a museum that tells the story of the Soweto Uprising on June 16, 1976 when students took to the streets for a peaceful demonstration in response to Afrikaans being designated as the language of instruction for all schools. The police fired on the students and some estimate that 700 children died. Hector Pieterson was among the youngest to die. A photo of another student caring his lifeless body with Hector's sister running alongside went "viral" at the time, allowing others around the world to understand for the first time what was really happening in South Africa.

Pieterson was shot on Vilakazi Street...the same street where Mandela and Tutu lived.  Many years later, Mandela would declare June 16 as a national holiday -- Youth Day. The museum tells the story leading up to the Soweto Uprising, the events of that day and the violent aftermath. It ends with a walk into an enclosed courtyard where the names of all the victims are etched into bricks. The voice of these students is credited with the needed push to fight against apartheid.

Our last stop was the Apartheid Museum. Sibu encouraged us to try and make it through this large museum in 2 hours. That was a good call. It is exhausting and overwhelming to journey through such a painful history.  When you enter the museum you choose between the entrances designated for whites or non-whites. We both chose non-white and were led past the replicas of cards all non-whites carried to designate their race. We then joined with the white corridor up a long ramp of photos of current residents of Jo'burg, descendants of those who lived through Apartheid. 

First we moved quickly through a temporary exhibition about Mandela. We will have another opportunity to learn about him when we are in Cape Town. Then we began the long journey through Apartheid -- from segregation to laws to resistance to punishment for resistance to uprisings and the punishment for uprisings to more resistance to the release of Mandela to the four bloodiest years of reprisals to the vote for equality and reconciliation as one nation.

The journey was heartbreaking and hopeful. It was shameful and encouraging. It was devastating and inspiring. When I was through the museum I felt numb and unsure of how I felt. Sibu was waiting for us in the last room. He always asked us questions to help us unpack our experiences and help us fill out our learnings.

After a half hour drive back to our hotel we bid farewell to Sibu. He has a two hour commute each way to return home from work. We returned to our room to rest and unwind. We cancelled our dinner reservation and decided just to eat in our hotel and it was an excellent decision. Everything was delicious but the desserts were created in heaven. The citrus burst with creme Catalan, Nartjie granita and lemon leaf snow was beyond description.