Durban, Hill crest

Im here at last.
The house i am staying in is wild at heart. infact watch wild at heart and thats me, but ill be working with people. watch this space ill check in soon

I have arrived

I landed in Johannesburg on Wednesday afternoon where i was met by Tumelo a friend of my family. Tumelo explained the break down of the South African Cities as we travelled. Mainly white people live on the outskirts of an industrial area, then you have a large town followed by a few miles of land. As you get further out of town more shops begin to appear but in the form of makeshift markets or run down buildings which have shops inside. Behind the market is a large community of people living in shacks made from scrap metal and wood. Further on there are large hostel like buildings where people live with no running water or electricity, in the apartheid years these would have been used for the Black men to live in, they would be transported to the mines to work when needed and then transported back. Then we entered Tokoza, Tokoza is the town ship which i stayed in for my three days in Johannesburg. When I arrived at Tobea and Solys house (Tumelos mum and dad) Tumelos sister Silwane invited me to walk around the Town ship. The first English language I heard when i left the gates of their home was a young guy in a group playing football on the road, he shouted "THERES A WHITE BOY IN TOWN", every body stopped to look, it soon became apparent that I was the only white person for many many miles. Silwane and I walked around the town ship, the only way i can describe what was going on, in comparison to the uk, is development in its early stages. Homes made with breeze block and then cemented to have a smooth finish, keeping the rain out, a terrible problem with rats, although the orphanage i visited was very well developed and the children safe and happy. Tokoza really helped me understand the struggle Black South Africans have had over the years, but one thing I did notice is that people are happy and content with their home. Who wouldn't be when you play your music as loud as possible at 12 at night and the neighbours do not complain, in fact they come to join the dancing and smiling, the chilldren constanly play and have a good education. I have come to realise it is not about building toilets so toddlers do not have to go to the toilet in buckets, or building a house with air conditioning, these are luxuries, it is about ensuring that every person has the essentials in life, food, water, fire and most of all friendship, if we have all these then we are going to survive.