Spinning in Soweto

Hi all,

In late February, Adam and I took a tour of Soweto by bike with Adam's first cousins, Nina and Marc, who were visiting from NY.  It was a great way to get an eye-level feel for an area that has a rich history in the country and in the fight to end Apartheid.

Soweto stands for South West Townships and sits on the outskirts of Johannesburg.  (It took us about 45 minutes to get from Pretoria to a youth hostel in Soweto that puts on the tours.)

 Ad convinced me to ride a tandem with him. 

The New Yorkers went solo.

A hazy view of Soweto with its famous Power Station towers, which now offer bungee jumping between them. (See the suspension bridge?)  Aunt Harriet, here's your chance!

I wasn't sure what to expect when we got there.  I imagined squatter camps and street crime.  It actually was fairly sleepy and while the Embassy Security folks wouldn't recommend we hang around parts of it at night, during the day it felt safe.  Soweto covers a large area and while unfortunately there are still many very poor sections with people living in terrible conditions (typically corrugated metal housing), there are also large areas of free-standing homes and apartments, schools, stores and restaurants.  In recent years, there's been a lot of new development in Soweto, many of which seem to be fairly sensitive to preserving Soweto's history while improving living conditions and the general economic climate.  Here's one of those projects that involves rehabbing the power stations to make way for a retail, entertainment and residential complex: Orlando Ekhaya. (Of course what happens to the displaced people when land is developed/redeveloped in places like this is always an issue and one that I fear is largely ignored. I know SA is working hard to build affordable housing, but Dorothy has told me people can wait 10 or more years to gain access to a house. The government has long, long lists.  For another blog post...)

A quick history to give some context: Gold was discovered in Johannesburg and there was a steady need for labor to work in the gold mines.  The government set up townships as places to house the miners and keep them separate from the city's white inhabitants.  Racial separation went on long before Apartheid (which began when the Afrikaners took power in 1948), but under Apartheid it got worse and more brutal; more people (just not male miners, but whole families) were forced to relocate from other areas into townships, including Soweto.  Living conditions were terrible and Soweto quickly became the most populous black urban residential area in the country.  Not surprisingly, the area became a focal point in the fight against Apartheid and at the same time, a cultural epicenter for black music, dance and fashion. (A great webpage with more info and photos.)

We had an excellent tour guide who grew up in Soweto and seemed to know everything about the place and everyone we met along our route.

We began our tour in a poorer section which used to have prison-like dormitory buildings for mine workers. Here's a guy who sold vegetables.  In the nicer parts we biked through later, there were more formal brick & mortar shops.

Our guide (at right) took us to a local shebeen, a make-shift bar (apparently the word comes from the Irish word "sibin" which means "illegal whisky") and hang out spot frequented by the men who live nearby.  The guys were welcoming and didn't seem to mind having visitors.

As is the custom, we drank homemade beer out of a communal, ceramic bowl.  
(Note: It was about 10 am, so I tried to snag a few extra sips.  It's important to stay hydrated.)

 I think people were on to me, so I quickly passed it to Adam.

 Marc savored its aroma before taking a swig. 

 Nina charged right in.

 Our guide showed us the cartons (!) of beer that are also quite popular here.
(Noah's favorite skit on South African Sesame Street... "Loaf of bread, stick of butter, carton of beer...")

A note of caution.

The New Yorkers know how to hold their liquor so we hopped back on our bikes.

We met some really cute kids.  I think the guide asked them to raise their hands if they liked something.

We stopped again down the road at a small restaurant in the same neighborhood -- also in a make-shift corrugated iron building.

We had a snack of cooked beef that you dip into red chili power (at the ends of the planks) and ate with "pap" (a corn-meal mash in the bowl at right that is extremely popular here and is quite yummy).

 Ad by some communal toilets.  (This is one of the poorer sections of Soweto.)

We noticed our corporate pals in Atlanta didn't miss a chance to encourage the drinking of soda.

Soweto now has several museums and memorials to its political and historical past.  Here we stopped at the Hector Peterson museum.   Hector Peterson (the boy being carried in the picture above) was killed in 1976 while protesting with other school kids a change from on high to force schools to switch to teaching some subjects in Afrikaans.  Over 400 kids died that day when clashes with white police officers turned violent. The day is remembered each year as "Youth Day" and many claim it played a vital role in the fight to end Apartheid.  Here's some more photos and really good info about the uprising and national holiday.

Update: Youth Day is this Saturday (June 16th) and someone just posted today to Facebook this message from the Soweto Backpackers Lodge (who put on our bike tour): 

16 June 2012:  Youth Day this Saturday June 16!  Come and join us as we are commemorating the students of 1976 that took to the streets of Soweto in their fight for freedom. Dressed to the occasion - in school uniform - we will march from Morris Isaacson High School to Hector Pieterson Memorial where celebrations will take place.  A unique opportunity to take part of Soweto's and South Africa's history and heritage!  

 Photo Credit: Lebo Soweto Backpacker's Lodge

This is very real and recent history in this country and the photo captures it powerfully.

There's a memorial for Hector and others who died - dedicated by Nelson Mandela, two years before he was elected president of South Africa in the historic election of April 27,1994 (the first with universal suffrage and now a national holiday).

It was lunch time and we stopped at a local restaurant which served a famous sandwich (I can't remember its name, but it could be called "A Week Off Your Life."   Formed from a carved out chunk of bread, it's traditionally comprised of french fries, a hamburger, a fried egg and topped with a slice of cheese.  (Don't tell Michelle Obama.)  But the (caloric) saving grace was that they left the hamburger off all of our sandwiches because a few folks mentioned they were vegetarian. (It wasn't missed.)

The New Yorkers didn't bat an eye.

We later biked by Nelson Mandela's former house and now a museum.

And then stopped by Desmond Tutu's house, which he still occupies (though apparently he was busy because he didn't invite us in for tea).

Some neighborhood boys

(Other) boys in the hood. 

(I'm grinning like an idiot because we staged this photo at the end of the tour after we realized we didn't have any pictures of the two of us riding the tandem.  Note no helmets... as if Mr. Biker Adam would let us ride that way.)

Later that evening, we had a final (Shabbat) dinner with the cousins
before they departed for home the next day.

Get a bunch of New Yorkers (and a West Virginian) together and mayhem quickly ensues.

On to the dance competition

Nina and Lucy take silly photos with Photo Booth on our old Mac.

Who knew Nina *loves* to wrap things?  (Probably Amy and Debbie.)  She volunteered to wrap the goodie bag items for Lucy's birthday party to take place the next day.

The Safari said a sad goodbye to our North American guests. The next morning, they headed out for the national Apartheid museum and on to the airport, and we to Lucy's 6th birthday party (see previous post). 
All in a day's expedition.

xo,
Glenn