Soweto

We visited Soweto this last week. Not enough time there at all, and we were without John too, so I’m happy to have an excuse to go back. Perhaps without the little ones next time. It is a bit of a serious experience to go to Soweto. To see the townships (shanty towns), the poverty and the ghosts of apartheid; that’s pretty heavy for little kids. I’m happy they were with us at the Hector Pieterson memorial though. This memorial is a museum which explains the events which led to the June 16,1976 shooting of innocent school kids who were marching in protest to a mandate made by the school board that they learn their jr. high subjects in Afrikaans. These protests were a very small part of the huge struggle for equal rights that had been going on within South Africa with very little of these struggles appaerant in the world community. With the shooting of these innocent students came the literal smuggling of photographs out of the country which illustrated the struggle. Within weeks of these shootings the international community was in an uproar over apartheid, and the sanctions against South Africa which so influenced the abolishment of apartheid began…

I have heard of Soweto many times, especially during my teenage years. As a community it embodied the oppression of the black population in South Africa. I understood that, and it was an emotional experience to see a little of the view from that side of the struggle for equal rights. When we go back I'd like to write more. For now suffice it to say I'm most thankful for those who fought the hard fight, who didn't give up and who had hope for a brighter future for their country, for their children and for their people.