So-Where-To or South Western Township or Soweto, South Africa

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Fanu's House in Soweto Slum

To avoid the raining season soon starting in West Africa we decided to head south to South Africa.
Johannesburg was a culture shock coming in from Morocco - it's very suburb oriented and we found it hard to know where to stay. Staying in a hostel in the mid-northern suburbs we found it expensive to get around easily. Our trip to Soweto was definitely interesting, and our local Soweto guide, Mandy, was informative and a lot of fun. Four million people live in the black township south west of the central Johannesburg. This is the most famous township, and many blacks were moved to this location by the Apartheid regime. 
It seemed a very developed suburb with full services and facilities (the hospital was massive and gives birth to 120+ babies a day!) and we noticed a wide range of affluence. Everything from large homes to tin shacks. We noticed there was little security as opposed to other suburbs in Jo'burg - like barb wire and razor wire fencing. It felt safe in Soweto and we visited a local tin shack community. A young teenager, Fanu, guided us around his home and 'village'. He was very proud of his room in the tin shack that he shared with his sister. It had all that you really needed and was spotless.  It was Easter Sunday and we met kids and adults hanging

Super Cute little girl posing in Soweto

out or doing their Sunday chores. There were lines of washing everywhere. We played and danced with the kids as the followed us along the mud paths in-between their homes. The people were friendly and you could tell that they took pride in their small, yet clean and tidy homes. The well where they collect their water was sadly filthy around.
We visited the Hector Peiterson museum learning about the black student uprising against the abrupt introduction of the Afrikaans language in schools in 1976.  Hector Peterson was just one of many teenagers in the peaceful protest that were horrendously massacred by police. In all, over 1000 students died over the next while protesting this.
According to Mandy, Nelson Mandela's house had been modernized out of recognition, since he lived there.  We passed by Bishop Desmond Tutu's house also which was a block away.  Two Nobel Peace Prize winners' homes on the same block - pretty impressive. We felt safe and we visited a local market trying local snacks, and then onto Mandy's friend's new bakery / restaurant. It was an interesting, and eye opening morning!

Kids lined up in Soweto

We felt safe in Soweto, but were unsure what to make of the rest of Johannesburg. We walked around our suburb which seemed entirely black and felt ok. It seems though that the white people keep themselves to themselves and live in their homes secure as a fortress, venturing out only in their cars.  We did tour around the Hillbrow district in Joburg with Mandy - not a place I would want to venture out on my own.

Unsure about how we felt, we moved on to the capital of Pretoria. After searching for 2 hostels that now no longer exist, we came upon 1322 Backpackers.  This place was great, and we really enjoyed our time here getting plenty of info for the rest of our trip.  It was such a treat to feel more comfortable about South Africa, which we knew we would find, but it took time coming.
In Pretoria, we visited the Voortrekker Monument in tribute of the Dutch Afrikaans people who traveled into South Africa's interior to get away from the British ruled towns on the coast. Interesting and with great views over the city of Pretoria. We always like to catch local transport wherever we go so getting around was different and we got stared at quite a lot. We walked around town exploring the centre, again noticing that not many white people were out and about even though it was Easter Monday. The beautiful Government Buildings were more touristed and there was a lot of activity for South Africa's major holiday coming up - Freedom Day. * Mush