The Townships

Day III

Under the Apartheid government, Black and "Coloured" South Africans were driven out of their living spaces and forced moved to under-developed areas called townships (see about Group Areas Act). Yesterday, our group got the tour of these; it served as a intense & direct contrast to the Cape Town we saw the day before. To say what we were exposed to was devastating would be a vast understatement.


This is Mama Ivy, who lives in a township. She guided us on this eye-opening tour.



Miles of the this area is made up of sheet metal shanties.






This little girl had very obviously never seen a camera before.



She lives with her family in a place like this



We visited a great work center that helps unemployed people in townships learn to bead, make pottery, and play music. The goal is for the person to come away with adequate skills for them to get jobs or sell their crafts themselves.



Here is a neighborhood barber shop. And cell phone repair.



The group went to Ndaba's Herbal Chemistry.



Here he is!



As you can see, there is outrageous stuff hanging by wires in his dark lair.



Towards the end of the tour, we went to a creche, and I got a small glimpse into what I would be doing at my "placement" or volunteer workplace. Here are some younger kids napping!



More on my placement + pictures tomorrow. Stay tuned.


END OF LINE