Johannesburg & Soweto

Hello all! I am here and overwhelmed but eager to share and at least write down a little of what I have learned and experienced here in Johannesburg. I would like to preface this entire blog by saying that I know nothing about this part of the world and will try not to pretend to. That said, all I can do is share what I see and attempt to convey how it affects me.

As South African Airlines flight 208 touched down in Johannesburg, after 17 hours of travel, a strong southern accent exclaimed from the seat next to me “after 17 hours in a plane, you bet your ass we’re not in America.” Although somewhat ironic, it was the first of many shocks to my system that I am in fact in Johannesburg, South Africa. We gathered as a group and met our two program coordinators Linda and Kristin, both of which have been in Namibia for over two years. Passat and Moketzi, our drivers, are the next two members of the Center for Global Education staff we meet as they dart up in two narrow vans followed by metal containers for our obnoxious American luggage. Immediately we are swarmed by what must have been 6 or 7 porters who are overly aggressive about asking me “their brodha” for tips. We arrive at our home for the next week called St. Peter’s place, which is essentially a church with guest rooms surrounding a courtyard in the heart of Johannesburg.

Our first full day in Johannesburg will forever remain one of my craziest first days of travel and also one of the most overwhelming days in my life. With the help of Molefi, a local friend and guide of the program, we set out to experience Soweto. Soweto is a sprawling township, with a population of 6,000,000 Soweto holds nearly 70% of the Johannesburg population. We started our tour by driving along the "government-enforced" route through the township, which is lined by quite nice houses only to be completely offset by the millions of shacks that lay behind them and in the distance. Initially, these nice houses were an effective way to show the world press that Soweto wasn’t as bad as it seemed, until people started exploring further in and realizing what was taking place.

After lunch we walked around a nicer section of streets in Kliptown which is a section of Soweto. Kliptown has very literally two different sides of the track. One side houses several Apartheid museums, Freedom Sqaure, as well as shops and restaurants. While the other side of the track is mind shattering. We walked over this very narrow rusty bridge as if we were climbing a latter into an entirely different world. As an American the first thing that stuck me was the smell and trash throughout Kliptown. The rock filled dirt pathways were lined with trash that was either at our feet or bobbing in the open sewage that ran downhill throughout the township. The moment I set foot in Kliptown two very young local boys accompanied me on my left hand named Piet and Dodo (not sure on the spelling). For nearly two and a half hours I explored, with the young boys on my hand, this incredible place that I am still having trouble digesting. For that matter I don’t have much to say about it but instead will try and post a few pictures that can attempt to capture my experience. What I will say is that the initial feeling is one of intrusion and guilt for stomping through this community, when it was clearly not our place. In fact a member of my group was feeling uncomfortable enough to ask if tours like ours were common, which our friend responded to by saying “well, we had a few Europeans through here last year.” I only share this to convey the curious, bizarre, and incredibly warm reception we received. Essentially Kliptown has been lost and taken over by poverty. After countless broken promises from the government, the residents are left begging for help. The most prominent government failure is surrounded by a document or policy called “The Freedom Charter” which was instituted by Mandela and the ANC when they came into power in the early 90’s (the document itself was actually created nearly 60 years ago, yet never brought to the forefront until Mandela). “The Freedom Charter” was an incredibly progressive document that would implement basic needs like water, education, housing, and electricity for all South Africans. Evidently, Kliptown and many of the other settlements have not seen any of these things happen. And in fact, for the first time I have begun to hear negative things about Nelson Mandela, who I thought was widely recognized as being such a hero to all. Yet much of the Kilptown community does not look at him that way at all, and instead as yet another person who left them behind.

Not only is the unemployment rate nearing 80% in Kliptown, but there is opportunity to change or improve their surroundings. They are, and have been, stuck in this haunting, static, gray area in which they are waiting for someone to flip the switch and let them live again. What I came away with from my experience to Kliptown was an oppressive feeling of sadness but more importantly the lack of opportunity for the residents to improve their lives. After talking to several residents the idea that seemed to resonate the most was that they do not want people to give them houses but instead teach them how to build their own.

View pictures above!