#freedomcharter

Driving by you may notice Alexandra appears to be a poor place, but it is indeed rich. Rich in history, personality, hospitality, character, and in spirit. There are no dividing walls like you might find in the partitioned upper-class suburbs of Sandton. Alex* is alive and connected. As much as it is a town of many separate stories, Alex is also a tapestry that tells its own tale.

Soweto (South Western Township) is an urban area of Johannesburg bordering the mining belt. It's a very poor area where black people were basically exiled to from at least the 1880s. I think the area currently has a population of at least 2 million people.

(Edit: I have been told that it is actually 4.5 million in Soweto)

We completed a tour with Felleng Tours. Agnes was a wonderful tour guide and we would highly recommend contacting Felleng Tours for any of your needs while holidaying in South Africa. Contact details are www.fellengtours.com, or email them at [email protected]

The tour we completed was called the Soweto and Apartheid Museums Tour. We travelled to Sandton via the Gautrain - that was fun - and Agnes picked us up from there. My phone has been playing up and saying the SIM is invalid for the last few days so we had a little bit of trouble while we were trying to contact Agnes. Thankfully, she's pretty on the ball and figured out who we were and waved us over.

As we drove into Soweto, we passed million dollar houses and estates that the rich black people live in. We then visited the old power station. The only thing left standing is the two cooling towers. These have been repurposed as a bungee location and are for the more adventurous among us.

We drove past Baragwanath Hospital. It is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and is the place to be if you are injured as it doesn't charge (unlike other hospitals). It's a teaching hospital and is attributed with being the birthplace of Doctors Without Borders.

We went to Walter Sizulu Square, which is basically an area in celebration/memory of all of the people being given the ability to vote (it was not previously one man one vote). All of the statues and decorations in the area relate back to this. There is also a monument that highlights the Freedom Charter that governs the current laws.

We visited a shanty town called Kliptown (the oldest residential district of Soweto). There are approximately 45000 people living there, with 50 taps (the only running water in the area that is used for laundry and personal bathing), and 1 toilet per 10-15 families. The toilets are port-a-loos that are only emptied twice per week (and are very full at that point). They have strong chemicals to keep them clean so children are encouraged to go to the toilet in a bucket to ensure they don't come into contact with the chemicals. There is no "legal" electricity as they are not recognised as legal dwellings (although the government rolls out a voting booth right outside whenever there is an election). The electricity used in their homes is connected illegally by qualified electrician friends but the wiring is exposed due to the living conditions so fires CAN break out (this can have a devastating effect due to the close proximity of everyone's houses).

I wouldn't let any children I know play anywhere near these streets. There is rubbish everywhere, there is contaminated water running through the streets, and there is no heating or cooling. But these are the conditions they live in daily. It was amazing to see the happiness and I loved the toys they had made for themselves. One boy walked past with a milk bottle on the end of a stick that he had put wheels on. He was so happy to be playing with it and had no other cares.

Our guide through Kliptown allowed us into his home so we could see the way residents live. He had a two room shack made of tin and any other collected building materials. One room had a lounge, TV, fridge and cooking utensils. The other room had a bed, wardrobe and dressing table. There was a paraffin lamp for when the power went out. The electrical wires were exposed all through the ceiling. There was no heating or cooling. There were holes in the roof that would let in the rain.

Our guide through Kliptown was a local who at age 20 had joined with some others of roughly the same age to create Kliptown Youth Program. The program fundraises each year (needing at least R5 million per year) to provide a life to the children of Kliptown not defined by survival. They have after school programs to help the children learn. They have a new computer lab powered by solar panels and a generator, and a vegie patch. They provide two meals per day to the children of Kliptown to make sure they are able to concentrate at school. They provide funding for people to attend university (even supplying a monthly allowance and a laptop). They look for apprentice or work opportunities for those that show aptitude for more mechanical or skilled work. They provide opportunities for the athletes in the community as well. The program has gone from helping 20 children per day to over 460 children per day over the last 8yrs. And the CEO received a Top 10 Heroes Nomination from CNN. He received $US50000, which is what paid for the computer lab.

If you would like to donate to the Kliptown Youth Program (a very worthy cause), you can visit their website at http://www.kliptownyouthprogram.org.za/ 

We entered Kwa-Khayalendaba Cultrual Village and learnt a little bit about the Zulu culture. The central initiation area still seems to be in use today for some customs.

We stopped briefly at the Memorial Acre, dedicated to the memory of the events of 1976 in Soweto when students protested against the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools. The police brutality is a hell of a lot worse than what was experienced recently when students were protesting fee increases that would reduce the ability of poor people to attain higher education. The Soweto Uprising is remembered on June 16 each year and is now called Youth Day.

We visited Vilakazi Street, where two Nobel Peace Prize Winners (Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu) have lived. We drove past the house of Desmond Tutu and visited Mandela House Museum. It was an extremely humble house that had burn marks and bullet holes still evident.

Then we had lunch!!!!

Our last stop of the day took the longest and was the most emotional. We visited the Apartheid Museum. We were there for nearly four hours and could have easily spent more time watching all of the videos and reading all of the plaques. The initial video is a good introduction into how apartheid came about. Most of the exhibits are harrowing accounts of individuals involved in the Soweto Uprising. There are some machines, gaol cells, and items that people would have used that put some of those personal accounts into perspective. Hard to not empathise with the terror people would have felt facing the police when you are standing in front of one of the massive vehicles they used, and can see the guns that would have been available to those police. It was difficult to watch the videos of police raids on the township that showed people just being gunned down in the streets. It is an extremely good museum and something that people should visit so that they can understand the history of this country.