An Afternoon in Soweto

It is hard to describe the feeling you get when you do something you have always dreamed about. Ever since I was a little girl, I knew Soweto. I read about it, people talked about it, I saw it in documentaries, I listened to songs about it, I saw it on TV and in pictures. I always wondered when I would finally get the chance to see it with my own eyes. 

Two years ago, I went to Soweto and left without seeing anything. I drove to Soweto with some friends and it POURED rain so we gave up and left. A few weekends ago, I set out for Soweto again and it started to POUR. I wondered if maybe God was trying to send me a sign. The rain was very bad and the drainage system in Soweto was even worse. Roads were flooded and there was traffic everywhere, I was started to feel disappointed that once again, I would have to leave Soweto without really seeing anything. Luckily, my cousin was more optimistic than I was and he said there was no way we were leaving until we saw it all.

So, in the intermittent rain, my tour of Soweto started. First, we went to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital which is apparently the largest hospital in Africa. We visited (from a distance, for safety reasons according to my cousin) Jabulani Hostels. These were hostels built by the Apartheid government to house black labor cheaply (aka in deplorable conditions). The current government recently renovated them and turned them into family housing to try rehabilitate the area. Next, we drove around just seeing. Soweto reminded me a lot of the "Western suburbs" of Bulawayo. Just a bit bigger and more developed, in some parts. It felt very familiar. 

The iconic image (shot by Sam Nzima) of Hector Pieterson, being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo, after he was shot by South African Police during the June 16, 1976 Soweto Uprising.

At the entrance of the Museum

After seeing "regular" Soweto, we decided to move on to some touristy things in Orlando. The first stop was the Hector Pieterson Museum. There were lots of tourists there, some from around the world, others from around the continent and many from other provinces in South Africa, which I thought was awesome. It was a reasonable R30 to enter the Museum, good, but picture-taking was not allowed, bad. I felt a combination of anger and sadness as I walked through. It's this feeling I always get when confronted with the history of oppression black people have endured. I hate it. I took my time, watching all the footage, looking at pictures, reading everything from witness accounts to general background information. It was fascinating, so many new details that I was not previously aware of. One of my favourite exhibits was the one of Steve Biko which included footage of him speaking and if you are a stan, like me, you know footage of him speaking is quite rare. The museum is curated very well. I felt happy and proud that history has been documented and put together for everyone to see, in this way. 

After the Museum we walked down towards Vilakazi Street which is where Nelson Mandela's old house is located. He lived in the house from 1946-1962 and returned to it briefly after being released from prison. It has now been turned into a museum. If you remember, after his death, news crews showed Vilakazi Street full of people paying tribute, singing and dancing in the streets to celebrate his life; although there were not as many people, there was quite a healthy crowd in the area on the day we were there. 

Art work on the house next door to Mandela House

A mural that people were signing.

Outside Mandela House.

The area near Mandela House includes some restaurants and shops. Sakhumzi is one of the more popular ones. Tourists and locals alike can enjoy some great food, drink, dance and take in the Soweto vibe.

We opted to go elsewhere for food because I had to try my first kota. After years of hearing so much about them, it was time for me to taste. We went to another part of Orlando to Mark's Bunny Chow, which is run out of someone's home. There is a window in the wall where you place your order, there is a menu just outside the window. Extending out from the wall where window is, is a black net which creates an enclosure. There is a bench "inside" for customers to sit and wait. It's not much but it works. My cousin commented that business must be going well because the woman now had an electronic cash register that printed receipts. She had been writing them by hand and using a calculator before. 

So what is a kota? It is a quarter loaf of bread filled with a number of things, there is a menu so you can choose the different combos. I had mine with chips (fries), russian sausage, cheese, vienna sausage, some kind of sauce, egg. It was a lot. I think I liked it but that might have been because I was about to collapse from hunger. I might try it again one day to really see. 

Next, we drove down the road towards Orlando Towers. These towers were part of Orlando Power Station which used generated electricity, from coal, for parts of Johannesburg. The towers were part of the cooling system. Now that the Power Station is closed, the towers have these cool murals and serve as a place to bungee jump. At the bottom of the towers is the popular shisa nyama, Chaf Pozi. We enjoyed the music, watched people bungee jump for a bit and then went on our merry way. 

Soweto is HUGE. There is still so much of it that I need to explore so I will definitely be going back but this was an awesome start!