Into Africa

We left MSP at 3 pm Sunday, March 22 for Atlanta.  Overnight 15 1/2 hour flight to Johannesburg, or "Jo'Burg" as the locals say, arriving 5:30 pm South African time.  Very long lines at immigration, with checking for ebola very prominent.

Airport pick up by courtesy van from our guesthouse and a good night's sleep and excellent breakfast got us in shape for a full day tour of Jo Burg.
Our very informative guide, Sibusiso Melaza of Ntandokazi Tours, spent eight hours with us showing us the major sights of the city and townships, and, most importantly,  sharing his personal insights into the struggles against apartheid and the current problems facing South Africans.

Our guide, Sibusiso with Nick

We started the tour at the downtown business district, then made our way past the historic gold mining area and the National Stadium, site of the 2010 Soccer World Cup events.

The National Soccer Stadium

We then visited the Apartheid Museum.  The museum documents this dark period of South African history with extensive exhibits incorporating sight, sound and objects.  It was a very informative and a very moving experience.

A Casspir, an armored vehicle used against anti-apartheid demonstators

 We spent much of the afternoon in Soweto (the Southwest Township), which was created by a forced relocation of Jo Burg blacks from areas the government wanted to be white inhabited. Soweto still has a number of very poor areas, with shacks constructed of wood or corrogated metal and lacking basic facilities, but it also has more middle class residences and even an upscale area called "Beverly Hills".

One of the strangest sights in Soweto was an activity area housed in and around two brightly-painted towers of a decommissioned power plant.

The activities available included go karts, paint ball, rock climbing on the face of one of the towers, bungee jumping from the top of the other, and free falling (no harness) into a net in the middle of the tower.  No one was doing any of these "sports" when we visited.

The net in the tower.  It's spread out if anyone's nuts enough to jump.

Soweto was the center of much of the anti-apartheid struggle.  We visited a number of sites of historical significance, including the Hector Pieterson memorial and museum.  In 1976 the government passed an edict requiring all instruction be in Afrikaans.  Almost none of the students in Soweto spoke Afrikaans, nor did most of their teachers.  The students from the middle and high schools had assembled to march from their respective schools to the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, where they were to hold a protest meeting.  A 12 year-old student, Hector Pieterson, was shot and killed by government forces during the march.  This was a key event in bringing world attention and condemnation to the apartheid policies.

School Kids Visiting the Hector Pieterson Museum

Vilakasi Steet in Soweto is only street on which two Nobel Peace Prize winners had homes.  Nelson Mandela lived in a very modest abode on the street with his (first) wife Evelyn and then with his second spouse, Winnie.  Bullet holes remain in the walls of the house from a police attack against Winnie during the time of Nelson's imprisonment.  Nelson Mandela briefly lived in this house after his release from prison, but then moved to a home in "Beverly Hills".  The house is now a museum.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived a block away on the same street. Family members still live there, and he stays there when in Jo Burg.

Nick at the Mandela House

p

Archbishop Tutu's Home