So I remember something of note from the wedding. People had guns. Well, at least one person had a gun. Tucked into his pants. He was a very fat man. I did a double take. It was weird.
And in other news, today I took a tour of Soweto. Soweto is the famous township here in South Africa. It's an interesting place, not really like other townships, but it's famous because it's one of the older, more established townships and therefore played a huge role in the end of apartheid. When you think township, generally you think shantytown, as most of the townships in South Africa are. But Soweto has actually developed into just another neighborhood. It does have shantytown bits, but it also has super rich bits as well, so the first time I went it was not at all what I expected having seen other townships already.
I went when I lived here with a friend who grew up there, but she just took me to some of the famous sites and shared some of her stories from growing up there. This time I went on a proper tour, so we got an entire history lesson, which was great. Basically, it was a majority black and poor are of town historically, and it's where a lot of the famous anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela, lived and were active. We got a view into the various parts of town and were able to see both the most affluent and the most poor neighborhoods, which are often right next to each other, like in Diepkloof. Contrary to what you might think, it actually does not increase crime in the township, but, according to our guide, gives hope to people who see that it's possible for them to move up in the world and be successful.
We also stopped off in Kliptown for quite a while. This is a normal stop on most Soweto tours, as they have a big square there called Freedom Square (although officially it's called Walter Sisulu Square) which is where people of various ethnic and political backgrounds got together back in the 50s to create a charter by which they wanted the country to be governed. It was more interesting for us though because some of the people on our tour grew up there like 50 years ago. The tour was organized by the bride and groom, and it was mostly the groom's family, plus me and one other friend. The family is Chinese South African, but most of them left South Africa for Australia or Canada back in the 70s and 80s. But one of his aunt's lived and grew up in Kliptown for the first twenty-some years of her life, and with the help of a local guide we were able to track down the house she lived in, her father's business and her uncles business and home. It was pretty awesome to be a part of, and also great to see this part of Soweto that actually felt like a real township and which most people who visit never get to see. In fact, it's probably an area that isn't safe for most people to go to on their own, but we were with locals so everyone was respectful, they just stared a lot.
The last couple of stops of the day were in the Orlando section of Soweto, which is where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu both lived. Actually, Desmond Tutu still lives there, but Mandela hadn't lived there for years. But the home he and his family lived in before he went to prison was there, and they've turned it into a museum. Then we went to the Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial. Hector Pieterson was a 12 year old boy who was shot and killed by police on the first day of the student uprisings back in 1976, and he became a symbol of the struggle, so they've made a memorial in his honor and named the museum about the uprisings after him. The uprisings started because students were opposed to a new government policy which said all education had to be in Afrikaans. This became the final straw for them because they realized that it meant they would be limited in all opportunities to only South Africa, as no other countries used Afrikaans, and so they protested against it. Then things got pretty violent and ugly. These uprisings are actually seen as the starting point to the end of apartheid. I think it's also worth mentioning that these students were in high school and middle school. I imagined university students when we started speaking about it, since they are usually the politically motivated ones, but in South Africa they were even younger. Our guide said that they really were just students, probably from about 12 upwards, with the oldest being no older than 17. That is just crazy to me.
All in all, it was an awesome and extremely informative day. I'm really glad I got to go on the tour. It's not something I would have thought to do, since I've technically been to Soweto, but it was on such a different level this time and I loved it. Plus the guide was great, so if you go and need a good guide I can recommend one.
As for music, I was listening to I Forgot Where We Were again yesterday and today. It's Ben Howard's 2014 album, which I remember being underwhelmed by when it first came out last year. I remember thinking that the music was all good, but not great, kind of sleepy, and all a bit too similar for my taste. I still feel that it's all pretty similar and there are a some sleepy tracks,but I was wrong in saying it wasn't great. There are a couple great tracks. The best of which is Rivers In Your Mouth. I actually really want to go back and listen to his first album, Every Kingdom from 2011, but it seems to have loaded improperly on my iPod (along with most of the B artists) and so I need to delete and reload it. I've needed to for a while now, actually. But I will. Soon. I hope. I should also give credit where credit is due and say that my sister introduced me to Ben Howard back in the day. Usually it's the other way around, but this time she found him first. So good job, Hanna.
And in other news, today I took a tour of Soweto. Soweto is the famous township here in South Africa. It's an interesting place, not really like other townships, but it's famous because it's one of the older, more established townships and therefore played a huge role in the end of apartheid. When you think township, generally you think shantytown, as most of the townships in South Africa are. But Soweto has actually developed into just another neighborhood. It does have shantytown bits, but it also has super rich bits as well, so the first time I went it was not at all what I expected having seen other townships already.
I went when I lived here with a friend who grew up there, but she just took me to some of the famous sites and shared some of her stories from growing up there. This time I went on a proper tour, so we got an entire history lesson, which was great. Basically, it was a majority black and poor are of town historically, and it's where a lot of the famous anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela, lived and were active. We got a view into the various parts of town and were able to see both the most affluent and the most poor neighborhoods, which are often right next to each other, like in Diepkloof. Contrary to what you might think, it actually does not increase crime in the township, but, according to our guide, gives hope to people who see that it's possible for them to move up in the world and be successful.
We also stopped off in Kliptown for quite a while. This is a normal stop on most Soweto tours, as they have a big square there called Freedom Square (although officially it's called Walter Sisulu Square) which is where people of various ethnic and political backgrounds got together back in the 50s to create a charter by which they wanted the country to be governed. It was more interesting for us though because some of the people on our tour grew up there like 50 years ago. The tour was organized by the bride and groom, and it was mostly the groom's family, plus me and one other friend. The family is Chinese South African, but most of them left South Africa for Australia or Canada back in the 70s and 80s. But one of his aunt's lived and grew up in Kliptown for the first twenty-some years of her life, and with the help of a local guide we were able to track down the house she lived in, her father's business and her uncles business and home. It was pretty awesome to be a part of, and also great to see this part of Soweto that actually felt like a real township and which most people who visit never get to see. In fact, it's probably an area that isn't safe for most people to go to on their own, but we were with locals so everyone was respectful, they just stared a lot.
The last couple of stops of the day were in the Orlando section of Soweto, which is where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu both lived. Actually, Desmond Tutu still lives there, but Mandela hadn't lived there for years. But the home he and his family lived in before he went to prison was there, and they've turned it into a museum. Then we went to the Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial. Hector Pieterson was a 12 year old boy who was shot and killed by police on the first day of the student uprisings back in 1976, and he became a symbol of the struggle, so they've made a memorial in his honor and named the museum about the uprisings after him. The uprisings started because students were opposed to a new government policy which said all education had to be in Afrikaans. This became the final straw for them because they realized that it meant they would be limited in all opportunities to only South Africa, as no other countries used Afrikaans, and so they protested against it. Then things got pretty violent and ugly. These uprisings are actually seen as the starting point to the end of apartheid. I think it's also worth mentioning that these students were in high school and middle school. I imagined university students when we started speaking about it, since they are usually the politically motivated ones, but in South Africa they were even younger. Our guide said that they really were just students, probably from about 12 upwards, with the oldest being no older than 17. That is just crazy to me.
All in all, it was an awesome and extremely informative day. I'm really glad I got to go on the tour. It's not something I would have thought to do, since I've technically been to Soweto, but it was on such a different level this time and I loved it. Plus the guide was great, so if you go and need a good guide I can recommend one.
As for music, I was listening to I Forgot Where We Were again yesterday and today. It's Ben Howard's 2014 album, which I remember being underwhelmed by when it first came out last year. I remember thinking that the music was all good, but not great, kind of sleepy, and all a bit too similar for my taste. I still feel that it's all pretty similar and there are a some sleepy tracks,but I was wrong in saying it wasn't great. There are a couple great tracks. The best of which is Rivers In Your Mouth. I actually really want to go back and listen to his first album, Every Kingdom from 2011, but it seems to have loaded improperly on my iPod (along with most of the B artists) and so I need to delete and reload it. I've needed to for a while now, actually. But I will. Soon. I hope. I should also give credit where credit is due and say that my sister introduced me to Ben Howard back in the day. Usually it's the other way around, but this time she found him first. So good job, Hanna.
No comments:
Post a Comment