We arrived on time but our transfer wasn't so a bit of a panicky start to our South Africa adventure. However we were soon ensconced in a hotel for some more sleep and a shower before taking a trip to Soweto,the black township just outside Jo'burgh.
Our first stop was the FNB football stadium used in the World Cup . As soccer was a black sport unlike cricket and rugby the stadium was built near the people who would use it. Although there are nearly 4 million people living in Soweto (similar numbers to NZ) it isn't visible from Jo'burgh due to the old mining waste heaps that look like miniature table top mountains so the people were well and truly hidden from view. The first houses we saw were the rich and upper class black houses which would not not look out of place in many European towns,then we saw the hostels built for single men who were working in industry. These have no water,electricity or sanitation officially still but they are slowly being upgraded and newer serviced properties are buing built alongside. Most housing is in fact middle class whereby the original renters have been given the property and these are all showing signs of being updated and improved. Of course there are the shanty towns still and we walked inside one(klyptown) one of the four original small townships of Soweto. We crossed the train tracks,passed the running sewers and visited the small school and youth project that was recognised by CNN as being in the top ten in the world. We were also shown the 2 roomed home where our guide lives with 12 others.
It was now time to visit the street with 2 Nobel laureates' houses in it,nelson Mandela and Desmond tutu. At the top of the street is the site where The Soweto riots started in 1976 and the street corner is dedicated to the young lad,hector pieterson who was the first of 2000 to be killed and opposite is a museum named in his memory and charts the origins of the black demands of equality.