So Emily, Mando and I went on a tour of Johannesburg and Soweto today, and then finished off the day with a trip to the Apartheid museum. The tour of Johannesburg was neat and I was glad to see it because I would never go there on my own as it is dangerous...you get robbed blind there. You go in with car and money and come out without car, valuables and shoes. No joke. We went through some of the poor areas that gives the city its bad name...very cool, you literally saw the 'dark ally's (all from the van). The people were all very friendly and smiling and saying hello to our driver. This part of the city was dirty with trash in the streets. There were a bunch of street vendors selling everything under the sun from fruits to shirts, they were all quite ragged but for the most part they were these people's entire income. Our tour guide informed us that some of them use the merchandise as a cover to really sell drugs. Crime ius driven in Johannesburg by the drug trade.

After Jo'burg we went to Soweto. The history of this area is immense. It is known throughout the world for the revolt of the students during the apartheid who protested about their school system which the government had changed. Their peaceful march ended in violence with the police opening fire on the children killing many. We went to a museum dedicated to these children, one in particular is quite famous and the museum is named after him.

After this we went on a tour of the squatter area. We got out and walked throught this part. Strangely enough the squatter area is one of the safest areas as everyone is close knitt and looks out for one another...kind of like you wouldn't hurt your friend and they are so close knitt that this is just the reality. A lady took us into her hut and showed us how she lives and answered our questions. The area was so poor and the children so cute. A little shy girl (about 4 or 5) had followed us around for awhile and evenutally came up to me and said "Iwant some sweets" and I didnt have any to give her! I'll be sure to have some for next time. There was no electricty and no plumbing, just a porter potty scattered throughout, each shared by about 50 ppl. There were also faucets scattered throughout (im assuming, though we just saw the one). The residents bring their buckets to it and hull the buckets back to their huts (women carry them on their heads) for cooking, cleaning, personal wash, laundry, everything. No electricity. No plumbing. When its hot outside the huts are very hot, when its cold they are cold and when it rains they leak. It was quite strange to show up in this area and hop off the bus with cameras etc kind of embarrassing. But the tour guide told us that the residents are used to it and the publicity has helped them. Not only by bringing attention to the area, but also by bringing business. For example, I bought a statue off of a guy outside of the squatter area, he gives a portion of his profits to the residents. there are volunteers that see to all of this and explain the way of life for these people to the tourists. Also, one women allows visitors to go into her home (a small hut) and give us the opportunity to ask questions etc. At the end of itpeople hand over their pocklet change. So the tourists get educated on the siutation of squatter areas the locals benefit from the publicity and the cash me bring in. And the children love the attention!!!

We also went to Nelson Mendela's first house. Soweto is divided into 3 classes, upper, middle and lower. Lower is the squatter area, middle class is houses that are the size a canadian garage and upper class (lawyers, doctors and mofia) are houses the size off a normal middle class house in canada. Nelson Mendelas first house (before he went to prison for 28 yrs) was a middle class house. I'll upload pics soon. It was a long day so I probably wont do it tonight. I'll at more about this trip later too, I just wanted to give a breif update.

On another note, looks like I will be the only volunteer for my last 2 weeks here. Mando found out yesterday that his apartment building burnt down over the weekend, killing 4, 2 of whom were 23. Everything he owned is gone. So after our tour today we dropped him at the airport to fly home. Very sad but he was taking it well. Emily is leaving early to spend time in cape town. My roommate left this morning (her 6 weeks were done) for kenya and the other volunteer Melissa finishes her 6 weeks on friday. This weekend is our long weekend, we have friday and monday off. And starting tuesday it will just be me and Phalalo (the volunteer coordinator). Kinda sucks that it'll just be me, but I'm still gald to be here. If I could afford it I would just go to backpack early, but I cant afford it especially with hoping to go to kenya next month. I was going to go to kruger on the long weekend, and I still may but im not sure. I may take the greyhound bus up to it and do the game drives and stay at a hostel outside of the park for the night(s). Lodging in kruger is quite expensive so i wouldnt do that. If Mando were still coming I would because we could split the costs .If I dont go to kruger I may just go to a closer Big 5 reserve for a day or 2, or perhaps go to swaziland for the weekend. Or maybe i'll just hang around here with a book!