Soweto

Today this old history teacher got a real lesson in history by traveling to Soweto.
Our trip got off to a late start due to mechanical problems, but we soon arrived in the South West Township ( I didn’t get the significance of the title until today) Our
driver, a young African, showed us a large variety of homes in Soweto from very nice middle class homes to shanties to new government housing to apartments. Soweto is a very large city of 3.5 million people (s0me estimate 5 million) and, like every city, has much variety. We went into one of the large shanty towns (as far as the eye can see in all directions) and visited a day care center. It sure was hard to see 50 little children crammed in a 10x12 room with no books, no furniture, and no toys. But they could all say “cheese” for us, while we took their pictures.
After lunch, we went up to the area where the 1976 uprising occurred. We went to the neighborhood where the young man, Hector Pieterson was killed. There were more than 600 citizens killed during the uprising and several thousand arrested. We also went to a small museum about the uprising. It was heartbreaking to see the visual evidence of that very difficult time in South African history. We also visited the homes of Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu. And for those of you who are paying attention, one of the soccer stadiums for the World Cup 2010 is being built in Soweto.
Now we are back and preparing to go to the Carnivore Restaurant for dinner. This is the second Carnivore Restaurant in Africa, the first being in Nairobi. Many years ago my mom and Peter at there when they went to Kenya on safari. We are looking forward to an entertaining evening and some delicious food.

It is very late and I need to go to sleep. More pictures tomorrow.
Hope all is well with you