Photography Life

We had a really cultural day today. A few days ago we paid a lot of money for a personal driver to take us into SOWETO, the notorious South Western townships of Johannesburg. Today, we got a ‘tour’ of a genuine slum shantytown for free.

A street scene in Smash Block

We are staying with a children charity in the Limpopo Province in the North of South Africa in our search for more soccer photos. The world Cup is coming and everyone is well aware of that.

Ladies cook up a storm

Our host, a modern day Mother Theresa, welcomed us in accompanying her to the year-end function of at the township clinic’s support group. They are a group of residents from the local community that support elderly and sick people in their homes, people who are too sick or frail to make it to the clinic itself.

Picture in you minds-eye your local year-end function. Some have formal dinner, a few drinks at the pub, or just a get together of work mates. But I bet you envisage at least four walls and air-conditioning!

The scene was set in the shade of a big old tree next to the clinic. The clinic consisted of 3 transportable offices, these had power and plumbing, but the rest of the houses in this 30 000 strong community did not. A few donkeys walked past in the distance, one chased the other with a loud hee-haw, nobody seemed to care.

Ladies show off the food

It was hot, there were flies and only limited shade. The proceeding started almost like a church service. Everyone got up and sang gospel songs in Xhosa, clapping and swaying. Because the community was of mix backgrounds, there were two speakers. One spoke in Sotho and the other translated directly after into Xhosa. It looked a little like a stand-up routine, as every so often there would be a word that could not be directly translated, then the speakers and audience alike would burst out in laughter.

Lunch, Chicken stew with rice, coleslaw beetroot and gravy

After a few speeches and a whole lot more singing, it was time for lunch. The cooks had been slaving away since six in the morning, cooking in huge cast iron pots over an open fire. They had to start early because they only had 3 pots and lots of different dishes to cook. Any navy cook would have been proud. With the large amount they cooked and the military precision to which they served up food for 50 people. Lunch was chicken stew, rice, coleslaw, grated beetroot and a beautiful gravy that tied it all together. It was rustic, but very, very nice.

We had to pick up one of the community members from his home, a fair drive into this makeshift city. The local iron ore mines act as a magnet for people seeking to make their fortune. Many come here from neighbouring countries and squat here as a temporary residents. Waiting to find work. Because the community is so mixed, our host told us, there is no sense of community and crime is rife.

A man carts water on a donkey cart

As you drive among the shacks, mostly made from tin and corrugated iron, it is hard to believe that roughly 30 000 people live here, mostly on a temporary basis. Many houses share the same ‘long-drop’ toilet and there are four points in the area where one can collect water. At the water point you will be charged a nominal fee to fill up your containers, but you have to cart them home yourself. Also the local entrepreneur’s have started a water running service. They load water containers onto the back of donkey carts and shuttle backwards and forwards between water points and houses, for a fee of course.

a store in the cbd area

A good town also has a business district, you can buy chickens, mobile phone credit, get a hair cut from one of the many salons or get meat from the butchery in the main street, albeit with donkeys, dogs and cats wandering the streets right next to the shops.

All up, in SOWETO we had to pay for an experience that was still very limited and we did feel like tourists. Here, the people were friendly and forthcoming. They fed us lunch, the same as what they had, they sang African Gospel and we had a township experience that money can’t buy.

It was great.

Ooh and almost forgot to mention, we were there on the wrong day for soccer, but on the two soccer fields in this area known as Smash Block, there are 3 soccer teams. Amazing.