JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA—Friday, March 28, 2014

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Southern Sun Garden Court Tambo Hotel, Friday, March 28^th

We were up early to have breakfast at 7:00 in order to be ready to get on the bus for an 8:30 departure.

Our first stop was at the Apartheid Museum that opened in 2001. As you entered, your ticket randomly assigned you as a White or a Colored person. You then entered the museum in those separately marked entrances and wandered through reading narratives about conditions you faced as a white person, or as a colored person, if you were, Colored. I understand the point they were trying to make, but I felt I wasn’t getting the other ½ of the story, no matter which side I was assigned.

It is a difficult museum to navigate, especially for people with limited mobility. You never were sure you were going the right way nor seeing everything to see in a particular area. Added to the fact that everything was hard: the concrete and brick building, the “black and white” of it, and the subject matter. There is very little color in anything, since so much of the displays were made up of photographs displayed against the inside walls of rock or concrete.

Since it is a modern museum building, effort was made to be “green” by planting grass on the rooftops and using solar energy. I did find interesting some historical snapshots of different people that were early settlers or pioneers from various emigrant groups–for example the Welsh, Italians, Greeks and others brought in to work the mines. The walkway into the museum had life-size photo cutouts of a descendant of the person they told a story about and had a few artifacts of theirs on exhibit in a “little shoebox size” display across the back wall Because we came down an out-of-the-way elevator, Valerie didn't know you weren't supposed to take pictures inside this museum, so the photos of these pioneers are contraband..

I could only take so much of the sobering facts laid out in movies, pictures, displays and exhibits about this time in South Africa when the color of your skin dictated how you were treated, where you could live, the jobs you could hold, and all manner of behavior toward you. The people of South Africa were given ID/passes that told them what “color” they were assigned to, whether it was based on fact or not. (There were gradations of “color” assigned, for example, people from India were also “colored,” but not as low in status as someone from a Native Tribe.)

A person’s “color” could be decided and changed from one year to the next if a census worker (always white) noted you to be a different ethnic group and therefore “color.” It was a depressing place and after a bit, we found a café and had some drinks while the group continued to wander. Hordes of uniform wearing school kids arrived just as we were getting on our bus, as it was the last day of school for many before Spring break, and they had a field trip to the museum.

Valerie took pictures out the bus window of things that caught her eye like the stack of boxcars from the “inland” port, the huge bus station, homeless people sleeping on the ground, migrant worker barracks, slums/ghettos/substandard housing areas, the “Calabash” Soccer stadium, and the piles and piles of gold tailings around town that our guide said they are now reworking since newer methods of extracting gold make it worth their time and costs.

We drove into the Soweto Township and onto Vilakazi Street, the main artery of Soweto where both Mandela and Tutu had their homes. Our next stop, was a buffet lunch at the Sakhumzi restaurant that had been frequented by both Mandela and Tutu. Male dancers performed while we ate.

After lunch, we walked up the street to the home of Nelson Mandela and his wife, Minnie. This home has been turned into a museum and we were given a tour of it by a young lady and then given time to look around at the displays and read the placards. Valerie "stepped off" the measurements and determined the house was about 1100 square feet, not significantly different from the size of the house we grew up in.

The bullet holes in the walls that were from when the police kept Winnie under house-arrest and terrorized her and the children constantly, were pointed out. Mandela’s bedroom was set up as he would have had it. Sugar Ray Leonard’s World Title Belt was displayed in a bookcase along with other gifts given to Mandela. There was a peaceful patio and garden in the back of the house that held memorials important to the family. Valerie took a picture of a restaurant called the Mandela Family Restaurant that was across the street from the home, but no one mentioned it nor did we read anything about it.

I walked back to the parked bus and sat in the air conditioned cool comfort and had a nice chat with the bus driver of Indian heritage about his life when he was young. Valerie and the group walked another 6 blocks or so to another museum. This was the Hector Pieperson Memorial Museum that serves to remind us of the tragic shooting of him and the other 400+, mostly students, shot by the police on June 16, 1976. Their crime was peaceful protesting and they had gathered in the streets that are in a direct sight line of the police station across on a hill. Check the date!! 1976!!! Not that long ago. (Another museum where photos inside weren't allowed.)

Our next, and last stop, was at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto that can hold 2000-5000 congregates. Since political meetings in public places were banned, the church became the main place where the people of Soweto could meet and discuss various issues. Even funerals, often ended up as political meetings. This church earned the reputation of being one of the main centers of anti-apartheid activism. (The church is still used as a gathering place as there was a town meeting being held while we were touring).

During the Soweto uprising of June 16, 1976, when students were being shot by the police, many demonstrators sought sanctuary in the Church. The police entered the church, firing bullets as they came. Thankfully, no one was killed, although many were injured and the church itself, as well as its furniture, decorations, and symbols (for example the marble altar and the statue of Christ), were damaged. Bullet holes in the windows and ceiling have been left in place as a reminder of that terrible time.

Lovely stain glass window murals have been installed that depicts scenes from the apartheid struggle. We also saw the painting entitled "The Madonna and Child of Soweto," or "The Black Madonna" that has many symbols of oppression painted in it. There was also an historic photo essay displayed in the upper gallery of the church that Valerie and others visited.

A tiring and sort of depressing day. Nothing on this tour was in contrast to the apartheid theme. I do NOT mean to downplay the facts nor its historical significance in South Africa, I just think, for ME, 8 hours of “man’s inhumanity to man” was too much. I would have liked some sort of balance—this is a huge city—are there not parks, gardens, Victorian or other style homes we could have driven by or toured?? We really saw very little of Johannesburg besides what is described here.

A “farewell to South Africa” dinner was given in the Hotel dining room at 6:30. Before eating, everyone was asked about their take on the trip. Valerie mentioned some of the people in the group that added particular enjoyment to the experience. I noted, that although I hadn’t made a tally of the new birds we saw, I thought the figure would be between 75 and 100. We both said, in the response to the question, “Would we come to South Africa again?” that yes, we would, but not right away, as there were too many other places in the world we haven’t visited.

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