A glimpse of South Africa

By Becca Letkeman

"See Soweto and you see all of South Africa," a lady tells me as we stand beside a fruit stand on one of the city's busy streets. If the city was a choir it's sopranoes would be blaring Kombi (VW vans) horns, it's altos the mellow hum of constant chatter between neighbours and friends, tenors the cheerful bits of pulsing pop music, and bases the lulling chug of PUTCO buses.

Soweto is bustling.
Soweto is vibrant.
Soweto is full of life.

I cannot completely describe what it is like to be here, nor capture the warmth and openness of the people who live here. We walk down the street and people smile, wave, or stop to talk, which prompts us to attempt 'Sawabona' (a Zulu greeting). They laugh heartily, surprised and amused by our attempts at Zulu. Then they reply, 'Unjani?' (How are you?) 'Ngiyaphila,' (I am fine). The conversation stops here because we do not know much of the language beyond the greetings!

I have been struck by the welcome people give us. On Monday we went to SKY (Soweto Kliptown Youth), a youth center which teaches gumboot dancing, a form of South African dancing orginating in the mines. Before we watched the children dance they mentions several times, 'You are at home here. This is home.' We'd never been there before!

From this gesture and others I've gathered that those from Soweto know a lot about care.

It seems Sowetans know a lot about GOD.

And after catching such wide glimpses of GOD in Soweto, if it indeed speaks for the whole of South Africa, discovering the rest of the country will hopefully be a rich and challenging journey.