THE GENTRY JOINT II: SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA

On Thursday, December 8th, the day we flew back home, we squeezed in one final tour—that of Soweto. It is a township south of Jo'burg, and is now officially a part of the city.

Soweto came to the world's attention on June 16, 1976 with the Soweto Uprising, when mass protests erupted over the government's policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than English. Police opened fire in Orlando West on 10,000 students marching from Naledi High School to Orlando Stadium, The rioting continued and 23 people, including two white people, died on the first day in Soweto. The first to be killed was Hector Pieterson, who was 12 years old, when the police began to open fire on the students. Another among the killed was Dr. Melville Edelstein, who had devoted his life to social welfare among blacks. He was stoned to death by the mob and left with a sign around his neck proclaiming "Beware Afrikaaners". The impact of the Soweto protests reverberated through the country and across the world. In their aftermath, economic and cultural sanctions were introduced from abroad. Political activists left the country to train for guerrilla resistance. Soweto and other townships became the stage for violent state repression. Since 1991 this date and the schoolchildren have been commemorated by the International Day of the African Child.

We took a private guided tour of Soweto in order to learn more about the historical significance of this township.

Soweto is an economically diverse area. First, we were shown some of the wealthy homes.

Then, we saw some of small "matchbox houses" built by the government in the 1940s for low income families. They do not have indoor plumbing but each house has its own outhouse in the back yard.

The woman here lives in a hostel, a large row of buildings originally designed to shelter male migrant workers from the rural areas and neighboring countries. Today, entire families live in each one of the small rooms and they share community outhouses and communal water faucets. We saw this woman doing the dishes by her community's shared faucet.

These women are doing laundry at a shared water faucet.

This is a view of the row of hostels. There are about 5,000 families living in a small area of hostels.

A makeshift housing unit in Soweto.

The Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital is famous because it is the second largest in the world. It spans several city blocks.

These are modern "matchbox houses" built by the government just a few years ago.

Walter Sislu Square.

Walter Sisulu was a delegate at the 1955 Congress of the People, a major figure in the anti-apartheid struggle, deputy president of the ANC, underground activist and Rivonia treason trialist.

Released from prison in 1989, he died in 2003, the year the R160-million Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication project was initiated. Its design was awarded to architects and urban designers StudioMAS.

Freedom Square where the Freedom Charter was signed on 26 June 1955. Over 3 000 representatives of resistance organizations made their way through police cordons to gather in this dusty square in Kliptown, Soweto.

One of the many squatters villages in Soweto where the poorest of poor live in makeshift tin houses and share outhouses and water faucets.

Here, pigs are raised and run freely around the village.

The Regina Mundi Catholic Church, which played a major role in the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

This is an example of an "elephant house" built by the government. These units house four families and the cement roof looks much like the back of an elephant.

Another elephant house. The units on the right and left expanded in order to gain a bit more living space.

This square marks the place where Hector Pieterson and others were killed in the Soweto Uprisings. Police opened fire on students protesting Apartheid and the new government policy that their education would now take place in Afrikaans language.

This is the home of Winnie Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela and politician. She currently serves on the ANC's National Executive Committee.

Winnie's garage.

The wall of Winnie's Soweto home.

This is the home of Desmond Tutu, retired Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It stands on Vilakazi Street, which is also the street of Nelsen Mandela's home. Both are Peace Prize winners.

Tutu's garage.

The Mandela Family Restaurant, now run by Winnie.

The Mandela House. It is a simple three-bedroomed home, which is now a museum showing what it looked like in 1946, when Nelson Mandela first moved in with his family.