Soweto

Soweto – “Backbone of the Struggle”

Under apartheid, black South Africans were segregated into townships.  Soweto (South Western Townships) is the biggest and probably the most well known township in South Africa.  This is where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu still live, and where so much of the political history we are learning about took place.  

We started at Freedom Square, where a monument stands to mark the place where the Freedom Charter was adopted.  I thought the cross at the top was a Christian cross, but Pumla said it represented the mark people made when they finally had the right to vote and cast their ballot for the very first time. 

 

It wasn’t on our itinerary, but we noticed people setting up a line of tables and merchandise to sell nearby, so we went rogue and wondered over to check it out.

I played peek-a-boo with this baby.

We visited the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum which is dedicated to those students who died on June 16, 1976 in a peaceful march to protest the mandatory change to Afrikaans as the instructional language in their schools.  One of the students was 12-year-old Hector Pieterson.  

Regina Mundi Church, where people met when political meetings were banned.  There are bullet holes in the ceiling.   

Mandela House, where Nelson Mandela lived until his arrest and imprisonment in 1962.  Our guide at the house told us that when he was released 27 years later, people didn’t know what he looked like.

The last picture of Nelson Mandela before he went to prison.

There is a great disparity in housing all over South Africa.  Some homes have no running water or electricity, and some are big brick homes with maids and gardeners, and some are in between.  And they are, many times, only a street or two away from each other.  But ALL were kept as neat and clean as resources would allow.  There is a great sense of community and pride and hope among the residents.  These are examples of Soweto homes.