So Monday and Tuesday were my first two days at work. I’m writing this blog post Wednesday because it’s a national holiday June 16th to commemorate the student uprising in Soweto, but more on that later in the post.
My first day at work unfortunately nothing really was accomplished because my boss Mahandra is sick with the Chicken Pox (ow!) and all but one of his field operatives were taking the day off…So it was just me, Batu, and the office assistant Sandra. This was not all bad though as I didn’t make a bad first impression by forgetting to set the beeper on my watch…so my alarm sounded silently–flashing at me while I slept soundly away. I feel justified in explaining that away as Jet lag, it had been non stop go go go since I landed Friday, still adjusting to the 7hrs time difference. So coming in a little later than I wanted did no damage.
My second day at work was really my first as all the other field agents or BDC’s (Business Development Coordinators) were in the office, Ntokozo and Gumani. I had my first two interviews as Ntokozo took me with him into Soweto. We first stopped at a diner and lounge in Diepskloof called Sochila. Interviewed the woman who owned the place. Interesting responses to my questions, it seems FIFA wanted R50,000 from her in order to be an official licensed restaurant and would benefit her by…. She didn’t know how it would help, she said FIFA/MATCH were never clear, so she declined. She feels that the World Cup will not benefit her business. Yet she said she had been seeing more foreign tourists than normal come to her restaurant…didn’t know what to make of that.
We then headed over to the Hector Peterson Museum in Orlando West and looked around. Hector Peterson is famous because of his martyr status and the iconic photo taken after he was shot and killed during the youth uprising in Soweto. I also interviewed one of the street vendors across from the museum. Still working on my technique to get more detailed answers and have the interviewees speak more freely.
Then, after the short stop at the museum, and a drive along the road in Orlando West where the police opened fire on the student protesters, we had to make a quick stop at Ntokozo’s Uncle’s house. Well it just so happens that his uncle lives 2 doors down and across the street from Nelson Mandela’s childhood home. He personally knows the man! Crazy, anyway you can find the album of all of today’s photos here and the some video from around Soweto here and here.
I have to say, South Africa has by far the most stark contrasts of any country I’ve ever visited. Where I’m staying, if you subtract the electric fencing and gate, you could be in any nice old part of any city in the USA and the Maponya Mall in Soweto would not be out of place in Austin. However, fewer than 10 minutes down the road is a shanty town of immense proportion with houses constructed from whatever the local population can get their hands on. Including, according to Ntokozo, various World Cup related signs for stadiums etc.. that FIFA must continually replace.
That’s all for now, hope to update again soon. Photos should be posted by tomorrow.