Today was a very full day. They is just so much to see here in Joburg and we are here for such a short period of time. Today we visited the Apartheid Museum for three hours. That sounds like a lot of time but many of us could have spent an entire day there. After that we were greeted by Arthur who showed us around his hometown of Soweto. He shared with us the various financial class neighborhood as well as the joys and hardships that go along with each. You could tell in his presentation how proud he is of the district and his home area.
He then took us to visit the Regina Mundi Catholic Church. This is a very significant church during the transition time period of Apartheid. This was followed by a visit to Credo Mutwa Cultural Village, Mandela’s House, and the Hector Peterson Museum. It was wonderfully packed afternoons that gave each of us a lot to process and reflect on.
Here are some more images from the day.
As we learned today, the name "Soweto" simply refers to (SOuth WEst TOwnship). It is an amazing place: the site of extreme poverty as well as the site of 'Soccer City' where the 2010 World Cup Championship game was held, a place where 4 million people must share 4 public swimming pools, and yet a place that is home to two nobel prize winners who lived on the same block (Mandela and Desmond Tutu). It was surprising to learn about the amount of economic diversity in Soweto. There are 73 millionnaires living in the township, and there are upper, middle, and lower class areas. The most run-down parts of the township are the squatter villages where illegal immigrants live. Since they are not legal residents, they are not eligible for better housing, and thus live in slums without access to electricity or clean water. This is a huge challenge for South Africa in that it is a relatively stable democracy in a region of the world that is quite tumultuous - refugees from Zimbabwe stream by the thousands into South Africa, and many wind up living in Soweto.
ReplyDeleteWe gained some greater context into the major political challenges facing South Africa, and they are truly daunting: HIV/AIDS, unemployment, crime, corruption, and Xenophobia. Hovering above everything is the question about how to create greater conditions of equality when, under Apartheid, the 9% of South Africa's population that was white owned over 50% of the land, while the 80% of the population that was black was confined to less than 10% of the land. One becomes aware of Mandela's importance when recognzing that he helped create a nation where the whites that used to be in power did not face the retaliatory actions that many former Colonial powers faced - yet, it is a precarious peace. South Africa has beautiful aspirations written into their constitution: to ensure dignity and equality to all citizens. Yet to realize these aspirations presents an immense challenge.
I was struck by the relevance of the phrase we encountered at the Consitutional Court--A Luta Continua (The Struggle Continues) and how relevant this remark is when we consider Soweto in tandem with the Apartheid Museum
ReplyDeleteI think that xenophobia is overdone. South Africans of all enthic groups are very welcoming. It is migrants from Zimbabwe and other poorer African countries that trigger the reaction when they compete for jobs, housing and other services. Doctors, nurses and other highly skilled persons from other African countries seem quite welcome, although at times they may encounter hostility when they are mistaken for illegals.
ReplyDelete