July in South Africa: Our Homestay in Soweto

Following the museum, we hit the road for Soweto to meet our host families. A group of families at the local Anglican Church had agreed to host the 19 of us for Sunday and Monday. They’ve done this each year since the program started.

The church whose members hosted us

I have to admit, initially, I was a little nervous. We had seen some homes in the township when we went to Langa. I was nervous about the condition I would be staying in—it was really because I didn’t know what to expect. It was silly, though. By the time we set foot in the church, all my nerves went away. We caught the tail end of their Sunday service and were welcomed with open arms. In fact, the priest told us to come up to the front and greet everyone. They welcomed us, sang some songs, danced a bit, (tried to teach us the moves unsuccessfully hahaha) and sent us to a meeting room to get our rooming assignments and meet our families. It seemed like everyone there was genuinely excited to have us visiting.

It was really nice to sit and chat with some of the mothers while we waited. I talked with a retired biology teacher. When they called names out, though, she was not my host mom. We both were a little sad! She looked at me saying she guessed she wasn’t that lucky but that maybe it was God’s plan. We would go on to teach others. She was sweet. As it turned out, the families that agreed to host 5 of us were not there. Who knows why. But without batting an eyelash, the remaining families (including the priest himself) stepped up and took us in. I was happy to be placed with two other girls from the program, Gaby and Johanna, and our “Mama” “Nkele Bhengu”, which means “tears of joy," otherwise known as Joyce, but we just called her mama. We met her 16 year old daughter, Lerato (which means “loved”) and she helped us with our things. What are the odds that as a tenth grade teacher I got placed with a tenth grader? Love it. Lerato looked older than 16, and was by far more mature than the 16 year olds I see on a daily basis. (While she's a good responsible young woman, she isn't really allowed out at night. Her mother looks after her and I guess can be very strict, but she wants what's best for her and Lerato seemed to understand that.)

We stopped back at the house to drop our stuff- you walked in to a dining area with a buffet like table and then continued on through the kitchen. There were two bedrooms in the house too. There wasn't a bathroom indoors, only an outhouse. It was a wooden building out back with just a toilet. (In the morning, we would later find out that there was a tap out back for a hose hook up where the family brushed their teeth. They heated water up in basins to wash- no running shower.) While they were limited in some senses, they had a car, electricity, cell phones, and television. We watched a wee bit of Big Brother- which is big here and on 24/7 on two different channels.

Our Professor said that some of the hosts backed out at the last minute because they felt like they may not be able to provide for us during our stay. Even so, our host mom's first comment upon pulling into the driveway was that she didn't have a proper "bathroom" and hoped that we wouldn't mind. She was relieved to hear that we didn't care and thanked us for our understanding. We reminded her how grateful we were that she was even opening up her home to us in the first place. Seeing and embracing how people live in another part of the world was the whole point of the program. I'm often reminded of something I heard when I was on a trip with EF. "If you wanted everything to stay the same, why travel?"

All homes in S.A. have a gate of some sort for security.

Our home for the night- with our little sister up front right

Our mama lived just with her daughter, as she’d recently separated from her husband. She was living in the house that she grew up in, having moved back when they got separated. Shortly thereafter, her mom passed away.

We took a walk around the neighborhood. Crazy to see how much history there is in that one neighborhood alone. In just a few minutes, Joyce had pointed out many of her friends’ homes, as well as her sister’s, and Nelson Mandela’s former home too. No big deal. A stone’s throw away was Desmond Tutu’s home. That street, Vilikazi Street is the only street in the world to have two Nobel Prize winners on it. We took a tour of Mandela’s house. His ex-wife, Winnie, lives in the neighborhood too, along with former ANC leader Walter SIsilu. Sigh. As a history teacher, I was in heaven!

It was interesting to see how big a role tourism plays even in Soweto. Lining two major streets were vendors selling all kinds of handmade crafts. Modern restaurants lined Vilikazi Street with performers in traditional clothes dancing for people as they passed. (Not too different from NYC's street performers.)

Throughout the neighborhood, kids greeted us and neighbors buzzed around. We met some of Joyce’s friends and even her sister, who runs a small business out of her home. Going from home to home you could see how many of these families have risen into the middle class in Soweto. (Driving into Soweto there were still quite a bit of informal housing structures and shacks where people lived with no running water, no heat, and no electricity.) Even in the immediate community with permanent structures, there was a considerable difference that could be seen from home to home. From the outside, they looked similar, but inside some of the homes of Joyce's friends had full living rooms, modern kitchens, and even mounted flat panel tv's. At each house we were welcomed with open arms, told to sit down and stay- but lunch was ready and waiting, so we quickly headed back home.

Informal Settlements/Shacks

View from our home in Soweto

On the streets of Soweto

Umpili, our little buddy

Store our mom's sister ran

Mandela's house is now a museum you can visit...

His family owns a restaurant across the street from his home.

Desmond Tutu lived on the same block as Mandela--he celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary in this house!

Afterwards, we headed back to a nice lunch that our mama had made for us! She cooked chicken, lamb, rice, carrots, and potatoes. While I didn't eat the meat, I did put the sauce on the rice and it was amazing. She said she loves to cook, but her daughter hasn't learned yet. It was great to eat a home cooked meal!

She insisted we have a drink with lunch- so while we envisioned going on a walk to get some beers, the walk was actually right next door. It was a normal house, but when you went in, there was a courtyard area that looked like a bar. We bought beer there and brought it back to eat with lunch, stopping in a room in the courtyard where neighbors gathered around sharing drinks and cigarettes. They didn't want us to leave, but we had to.

After lunch we met up with our mom’s friend and explored Soweto by car. They ended up taking us to a place called Sedibang- where we ate, drank, and danced the night away. Sadly, because our “little sister” was only 16, she couldn’t come! You have to be 18 to get in. This place was also really nice and fun. Surprisingly, we’ve heard an awful lot of American music since we’ve been here. Our little sister said she liked Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj etc. I think she’d fit right in with a lot of my students.

While out, we went back to pickup our mom’s nephew and his friend. Additionally, our two friends, Marc and Dan, who were staying with another family came to meet us with their host brother and his girlfriend. By the time we got back, everyone was dancing- including the people we didn’t know who were sitting right next to us. That’s one of the things that’s been very different here. All the women nearby us- probably in their 20’s and 30’s too, were super friendly and began to dance with us. In NYC, other women aren’t the nicest when you go out, but these women were fun, vibrant, and welcoming. They taught us some of the dance moves of South Africa and insisted we all get hugs before we left. The whole time we were in Soweto the community was amazingly welcoming!

This was the idea of "ubuntu" (you are your community) at work. People took us in as one of their own from the moment they met us. In chatting with my host mom's nephew, I found out that he finished university largely thanks to her paying off the rest of his schooling. Without her, he said, he wouldn't be where he was today. I'm sure she didn't even think twice.

The bar we went to that afternoon/evening

By ten (at which point we’d been out for hours,) we made it home, greeted Lerato again (who mentioned she was so bored while we were gone) and exchanged gifts as a thank you for hosting us. I got them a little piece for their mantle of the NYC skyline. I also brought a statue of liberty foam head-thing. Amazing. After a few drinks it was hilarious.

Our host sister, Lerato, loved the gift. She doesn't have facebook, but if she did, this would be her profile pic for sure.

The "Big Apple" with the skyline was the other gift I brought. Perfect to display in their dining area. Gaby brought some pins from NYU for them to remember us by.

We tucked in for the night and awoke to a full breakfast that had been cooked for us. Before meeting up with the group, our mom wanted to take us to see the woman who was supposed to be my mom for the weekend. We had tried to meet her yesterday, but she wasn't home. We knocked on the door and she opened it welcoming us all in. Again, she wanted us to come in and get settled, but we had to head to church quickly. She was sad she missed us, saying that it was this weekend she unveiled her husband's tombstone. She had family staying with her and was busy all week with the arrangements. (This seems to be a very important part of the African culture, as I heard it mentioned twice in one weekend.) Myra, the original host for me, was quickly mentioning weekends for me to come back, encouraging me to come in early August, but sadly, I told her, I'd be home by then.

As we drove to the church to meet our group, we were sad to say goodbye! The warmth that the community showed us, whether we had met people for 5 seconds or 5 hours was incredible. I will miss it! To end the experience, the priest greeted us and said a prayer for our safe travels during our time here.

Afterwards, we headed to a community NGO project and to the Hector Pieterson Museum. More about that coming!