Protea Hotel Kopanong Benoni

... Zak, we headed into Soweto, the most famous township in the world. Zak had been born in Soweto, but moved as a child when the township's violence was at its peak. As a teenager he returned, studied at the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg, and now runs his own business, proudly showing tourists around his community. I must admit that the stories and stereotypes of Soweto made me quite nervous about taking this trip, and I had almost expected to feel some of the ...

Woke at sunrise to the dawn chorus and wasnt even remotely irritated. Today Myself and pre requisite hastily made friends ( love backpacking disposable friends!) went to aparthied museum. I can say without any hesitation that it is the best museum I have ever been to in the world, ever! ( obviously!) I bored my fellow travellers to despair with my mini lectures on all the exhibitions- I actually lost them after twenty minutes- I think it might have ...

... and the southern coast. Upon arrival, we were taken on a tour of Gold Reef City, a place that Lonely Planet Travel described as "cannot make up its mind whether it's a Disney clone or a serious historical reconstruction of old Johannesburg." The most interesting part of Gold Reef City is going down a shaft to see the old gold mine. It was dark and a little slippery (it is no longer in operation, more of a "museum"). We would have gotten lost if we hadn't had a guide ...

... now known here as the FourThirtyEight Game. So that's it for Africa. It's been an amazing two months with some marvellous experiences and good people. As Bono isn't afraid to tell us, there is an awful lot to be done to improve the lot of the African people (as opposed to the criminals in power). I've just read a fantastic book called The Shackled Continent by Robert Guest which tries to explain ...

... often using tin structures. In the evening, the dirt driveways will sport quite nice vehicles. About halfway through our tour, we stopped at a shebeen (bar) in a middle class neighbourhood. This was the cleanest and nicest establishment (including the bathrooms) we'd seen along our travels outside of Cape Town. We made sure to compliment the ladies to which they apologized for not being in their uniforms. They weren't expecting us and were in their "cleaning" clothes (looked ...

... to one of the houses (usually Starlight, Celine's house) to read to the kids. I also endure having my hair plaited by 5 girls at the same time. So it's a nice mix of stuff. Heidi is planning a trip to Mozambique and Zimbabwe with Lorraine, the house mom of Sunrise. The staff are: Lorraine is the Sunrise (teenage girls) house mom, and Mom Fikile is the child-care worker. There is another woman, but she's having a baby. In Sugarbush (little mites house) Mom Tiny and ...

... lift, aiming to get to the centre for 8am. Walking anywhere on my foot is a real drain on my energy at the moment, so we work in the library in the morning, and only work the crèche 11 to 1.30. The library gets so hot and close, and then we go out into the midday sun and get half blinded. Then the crèche, where we take our little groups. They are learning the rules a little. Salim (aka Spawn of Satan) is still out-of-control. The other day he got hold of a steak knife - someone ...

... and the fact that he and Busi wind each other up doesn't help. They chatter constantly in Zulu. Busi is also lazy (a distressing trait that seems to be mainly restricted to the girls.) However, unlike Zanele, she has low self-confidence and (I think) misses home badly. All in all, not a bad first solo day. If only they still weren't having problems with my name... As expected, we both slept well. Highlight: Doing something vaguely more interesting and useful than the library.

... movement), we hobbled out onto the pavement like a troupe of hunchbacks. Suzanne seems to be the 'receptionist' in the main office, helping Glenda. Crazy, friendly Glenda. Then there is Terri, a lovely woman, if slightly intimidating in her rushing-around-doing-everything manner. The social workers are Adele and Vandana, both of Indian backgrounds, and Sam and Annie, both African. Val and Lew do the finances. Heidi helps Vandana and does the ...

... Steve and Cameron go to their project tomorrow, and Tom and Graham are making their way to Umtata on Friday, so they can spend some time in Jo'burg. The Umtata project, Phakamisiswe, sounds really good - way out in the sticks, with a long drop and no hot water; they are two of only three white people there. They were dropped off at Gold Reef City (a theme park), but Cameron was a little worse for wear after last night and decided (read: was told) to stay at the ...