SOWETO

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Time for a proper tour of Johannesburg! Today I found myself heading on an organized tour heading to the Apartheid Museum, Soweto, Nelson Mandela’s house as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s house, and a few other museums and points of interest. So I really like going to museums. I believe it is a good representation of what the people have decided is important in a certain area, culture, or field. For those of you who don’t know, apartheid is basically legal racism. Similar to the discriminatory rules used in the 60s in the US, but a lot tougher with a lot more severe consequences. Very rough stuff. So this museum was said to take 3 hours to get through. I usually burn through em pretty quickly so I was disgruntled when that was how long the guide said we had there…Buuuuuuuut holy guacamole…I was the last one out. They were all waiting for me. Learning how very seriously messed up the apartheid era wrenched me in a way I welled up a few times feeling for all the people that had to go through that. Man I really hated Australia for the blatant racism that went on and still goes on but this apartheid shit goes way beyond that. I really had a hard time the rest of the day thinking about the stupid white people. They ruin everything….Soweto stands for the South West Township. It was set up as sort of a government project/ghetto area to keep the “blacks” and “coloureds” in a separate area to be shipped in out by train for the work day. Without proper plumbing and other facilities Soweto quickly deteriorated into the roughest neighborhood in all of South Africa. Now a days there is a high, middle, and low class dispersed amongst the area holding 12 million people. It’s a big deal and there is a lot of poverty going on. I didn’t take too many pics of this area but the memories are fresh. Long day of touring im spent and I need to plan a trip to Kruger National Park. Cheers for now!

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