Bike Tour Through Soweto

We started out bike tour at a youth hostel and went through a few different neighborhoods. On a bike the area was a lot hillier than it seemed like from the bus. We passed Nelson Mandela's and Desmond Tutu's houses as well as the square where the 1976 youth uprising happened. The uprising was students protesting against a change in the language of instruction in schools. The government had decided that everyone should be taught in Afrikans which not everyone spoke.

Dawn was so brave! She tried cow head and a traditional beer served out of a calabash. The beer comes in a paper carton, like a cardboard milk carton, that says don't drink and walk in the road you could be killed - it's own version of don't drink and drive. Lots of kids waved at us as we passed. Some gave us the thumbs up so when we gave the thumbs up back they touched their thumbs against ours. A Soweto greeting. The poverty is very sad. Within Soweto there is an upper, middle, and lower class but even the upper class isn't close to our standard of living. We passed the public bathrooms and a water pump. Most places don't have running water sanitation or electricity. If your house is cement instead of steel or tin walls you are doing well.

We had good tour guides who shared African songs and dances with us as well as the role music played in the history of Soweto. The guides also demonstrated the clicking language. The people that we passed were all very welcoming and friendly, waving and saying how are you as we biked past. Interacting with the people was our favorite part of the day. What a different experience from the stock exchange from the day before!

Johannesburg Stock Exchange

We had a very informative visit today at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.  Some interesting things I picked up from the visit were:

• The JSE has an index which provides investors with company rankings based on social issues.
• The JSE is ranked as the highest regulated stock exchange in the world.
• An advantage of being in an emerging market is that they can wait to see what does and does not work in other markets.  Ranking for financial soundness was 8 or 9.
• Prior to the world financial crisis, South Africa was starting to see growth but that growth has stopped since the financial crisis.  However, the world financial crisis has made South African Bonds more attractive.
• The droughts in Texas and Mexico has helped the agriculture industry in South Africa as the farmers here were able to step in and provide the products normally provided by Mexico and Texas.
• South Africa is at a disadvantage to attract foreign direct investment compared to more developed countries as they do not have the financial resources to entice companies to make such investments in their country.

Umoja

Umoja: the spirit of togetherness
music and dance of South Africa through the ages.
http://www.africaumoja.com/

Dona: "fantastic"
Dawn: "amazing"

Soccer City

We visited Soccer City, the stadium where the 2010 world soccer cup was held. It is huge! It holds 90,000 people! It is built to look like a pumpkin, inside and out, to represent a traditional South African beverage - drinking beer out of a pumpkin. We entered the stadium through the media tunnel. Someone had rented out the entire stadium to shoot promotional videos so we had to steer clear of a large portion on the stadium. Our guide told us that someone had recently rented the stadium for a wedding. They must have been big soccer fans. The ceremony was in a VIP box, they are very particular about letting people walk on the pitch. The pitch is raised three steps from the ground. I hope the ball boys don't trip! The grey lines in the seats seem random at first but they point in the direction of other stadiums that were involved in the tournament- other South African stadiums and to Germany where the previous world cup was held.

National Youth Development Agency NYDA

This morning we visited the NYDA. We learned about what the agency does and a number of interesting facts about SA. SA is a country of contrast. We are staying in Sandton, a very nice place but there is another city very close called Alexandria which is one of the worst slums. This is interesting to us because the roads we have been taking out of town have been through very nice areas and it isn't until we get outside the city when we start seeing the shanty towns.

The agency was formed from two existing agencies on June 16, 2009 in remembrance of the June 16, 1976 youth uprising. Youth is defined as ages 14-35. The age goes so high because the agency wants to help those who didn't have opportunity prior to 1994 during apartheid. The agency provides business mentors, job training, micro loans for entrepreneurs and much more. One of the challenges they is they face is youth heads of households due to disease and other social factors. Check out their Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Youth-Development-Agency/177619079111

We also stopped by a market and loaded up on souvenirs. We thought we did a great job haggling until we got to the bus where there were a few more experienced hagglers that really got deals.

We are back at the hotel now but are leaving in a few minutes to a theatrical African show.


This is a picture of us on the way to the NYDA. We have been spending a lot of time at the front of the bus. You can see more from that seat! The other picture is of Prof Bunker telling jokes to entertain students on the long bus rides.

Pilansberg pics

Pilansburg Game Reserve
 
Elephants, Zebras, Giraffes, Rhinos, Hippos, Warthogs, Impala, Springboks, Ostrich, Jackal, Oh My!!!
These are some of the animals we saw today and more.  We were lucky enough to witness an elephant family reunion.  Per our Tour guide, elephants usual roam in smaller packs, but occasionally the Matriarch will gather the family together and that was what we witnessed today.