If I lived in Soweto...

If I lived in Soweto…
I often think of what it would be like if I lived in one of the corrugated tin shacks in Soweto. How would I manage the daily tasks that have to be done?

For example, I would want to wash the dishes and so I would walk the quarter of a mile to the water tap and fill my pail. Walking back home would not be an easy task. I would then heat the water on my small cook stove. After the dishes were washed I would look around my room to see what else I could wash while I had this dishwater.

How would I dispose of the water? Down the center of the narrow road in front of my shack runs a trickling stream. It looks as though others have poured their dirty water there but to do so just adds to the messiness of the whole place. The other alternative is to walk the quarter of a mile to the toilet and pour it there.

How would I keep my children safe? There are men and boys sitting in their doorways everywhere because the rate of unemployment is extremely high. Idle hands make a great deal of mischief. Many of the women go into the city to work as maids. Would I dare to let my children go outdoors to play? Only if I were able to watch them every minute. If only I could send my children to a good Christian school I would know that they were safe and were learning during those hours.

I realize that the people of Soweto face many problems that I haven’t even begun to think of. But the people of Soweto are always on my mind…and especially the elderly woman whose name I can never remember.