Soweto, Johannesburg

As much as I know how superficial it is to sit in the comfort of a car "touring" around a particular suburb connected to significant history and poverty, I still wanted to see Soweto and didn't know any other way, so that is what I did. I did a "tour" of Soweto.

Souvenirs

Soweto is significant - it is one of the first and largest townships built for "natives" (i.e. Blacks) in the apartheid era. Blacks, coloured and other Non-Europeans were forcibly removed from their place of residence and relocated to areas designated for them. These groups were not allowed to mix within themselves either.

Kids

Many significant events happened in Soweto, one of them being the Soweto Uprising of 1976, when Black students revolted against having Afrikaans being the medium for instruction in schools. The protest led to a riot of which many people died.

Shoes on a hanging line

Apartheid didn't really end till 1994 - which isn't a long time ago. We should never judge history with current eyes... but how could something so ugly happened so recently? And what did we do about it then? I could only hope nothing like that ever happen again.

The Regina Mundi Church - the marble table was cracked by soldiers who ended up firing onto the crowd in one of the gatherings.

Soweto

Exhibit at the Apartheid Museum

We also dropped by at the Apartheid Museum - this is highly recommended. It is not a typically museum, it is very, very well done. Very creative. We could have easily spent three hours in there.