Week One Ends

Today marks one full week since leaving the States. I feel like I am getting comfortable here and starting to understand the mentality of the local people. During this first week, when I asked people what they thought I should do while in Jo'Burg I was told instead what to be careful of. I was warned over and over again to be careful at night, be sure not to show off electronics or money in public, make sure I lock everything up tight, etc. These were things I was going to be doing anyway, I'm not a nitwit but still people felt an urge to tell me, sometimes more than once. When people gave their opinions of the city it was always negative, and I was starting to get kind of bummed about being stuck here for seven weeks.

The one person whose attitude has been an exception is Patrick, the owner of our commune (have I mentioned that it is more of a co-op than a commune?). Patrick grew up here in South Africa. He has a very positive attitude and seems to truly love people. Patrick has been an extremely gracious host. In the past two days he has managed to sway my impression of Jo'Burg from being completely depressed and dangerous.

Two nights ago we drove the empty streets... Let me stress, these streets were empty, I mean desolate. There were no thugs hanging out on the corners, no drug attics huddled in doorways, no homeless people huddled around trash can fires, this place was empty. Johannesburg is dangerous. It's a large metropolis whose police staff is understaffed. Johannesburg has the highest number of reported rapes in the world. But it's clear the trouble wasn't happening downtown.

The following night Patrick took us Soweto (SOuth WEster TOwnship). Patrick grew up here. Johannesburg is surrounded by townships, Soweto is the biggest. In fact, Soweto is the largest township in the southern hemisphere. It's the very definition of sprawl. Miles and miles of similar houses all similarly spaced. It reminded me of parts of southern California.

Image From: http://www.tktours.co.za/soweto.jpg (We were there in the dark, I wanted to include an image to give an idea of what Soweto is like)

The streets of Soweto are alive with activity. Every street we turned down had a groups of people walking or hanging out, Kids playing. Every now and then you'd see a house where the front room had been converted into a shop. You could imagine living a really happy life there regardless of the monotony of the township.

I understand that peoples fears aren't unfounded. As the statistics demonstrate it is dangerous to be out on the street alone at night. I also understand that attitude often makes all the difference in your experience.