Submitted by Julia Goins on the 2018 winter session program in South Africa sponsored by the Department of Human Development and Family Studies…
My time in South Africa so far has been amazing. One of my favorite days has been our day in Soweto, a township in Johannesburg that was created during the apartheid for black people to keep them away from white people. This township consisted of rich African culture and amazing history scattered throughout it. From amazing street performers to local vendors selling beautiful handcrafted goods, I was able to embrace and appreciate their culture. I loved feeling completely emerged in this new culture and it was truly an incredible experience.
Apart from walking the streets of Soweto, we were able to do a bus tour of the entire township. Trash lined the streets of some areas that consisted of small shacks that had flat roofs with bricks and other heavy objects on top of them to keep them in place. There was a communal water pipe, shared toilets and electricity was very limited in this area. Seeing these living conditions put my privilege into perspective. I knew that poverty was an issue in South Africa, but seeing it in person was a completely different experience than seeing it on TV or online. I grappled with a feeling of being unsettled that some people were forced to walk miles and miles to attend school or that some could only afford one meal a day. Seeing the level of poverty in this area gave me an insight into how challenging some of their day-to-day lives could be and made me more appreciative about what I have at home.
