Km 26 (or ~mile 15), photo courtesy of Dr Andres Gomila.
In my previous blog, written from Swaziland (http://www.pediatrician-in-swaziland.blogspot.com/), I listed a couple dozen local destinations that were worth checking out. Here is the first in a series of destinations that can be reached from Botswana.
Soweto (Johannesburg, South Africa's SOuthWEst TOwnship) is actually equidistant from the border of Swaziland and Botswana, about a five hour drive from Gaborone. Last weekend, with a group of friends, I ran the Soweto marathon. For those who have not run 26mi and three hundred and something yards, I can now tell you that it hurts.
I wrote my name on my shirt so that the people of Soweto might cheer me on...and they did. Though pronounciation varied from "Ree-on" to "Ree-yon" to "Rye-ann" "Hy-ahan" to "mlungu" (the last one simply means "white person"), 30 seconds did not pass without my hearing my name. I received no less than five hundred such cheers, maybe more.
Soweto is an historic place. It is home to an estimated 65% of Joburg's residents. Over past decades, Soweto's citizens were pulled there by the need for cheap gold mine labor and pushed by forced removals from legally-designated white areas.
Civil rights were fought for an won here. The June 16, 1976 Soweto Uprising led to the deaths of 566 people and, in their aftermath, economic and cultural sanctions were imposed on the nation (and its the apartheid government) from abroad, while Soweto and other townships became the stage for violent state repression. Since 1991 this date and the schoolchildren that were killed have been commemorated by the International Day of the African Child.
It is humbing to run a marathon, for at some point strength whithers, pain dominates your consciousness, and your legs, well, they just stop working. More humbling still is that, when it comes down to it, I know little of strengh and pain compared to those who call Soweto home. Nonetheless, they watched me slowly pass and shouted "Goooo Ree-yawn!" "Good work Mlungu." "Do not give up!" "Go! You are almost there!"
On one particularly difficult hill late in the race (around mile 22), an older gentleman came from behind me (for I was being passed by many at that stage) and took my hand. He clasped it with alternating, interlocking fingers. "We are going to do this together." he said. "We are going to run up this hill."
And we did.
--
[I have several other images from Soweto that I will share once I find my camera, which is arond here some place. Stay tuned.]
It is humbing to run a marathon, for at some point strength whithers, pain dominates your consciousness, and your legs, well, they just stop working. More humbling still is that, when it comes down to it, I know little of strengh and pain compared to those who call Soweto home. Nonetheless, they watched me slowly pass and shouted "Goooo Ree-yawn!" "Good work Mlungu." "Do not give up!" "Go! You are almost there!"
On one particularly difficult hill late in the race (around mile 22), an older gentleman came from behind me (for I was being passed by many at that stage) and took my hand. He clasped it with alternating, interlocking fingers. "We are going to do this together." he said. "We are going to run up this hill."
And we did.
--
[I have several other images from Soweto that I will share once I find my camera, which is arond here some place. Stay tuned.]
1 comment:
Hey-
Congrats on running Soweto. I'm a resident spending a year at Baragwanath, here in soweto. Could have given you a tour of Paeds here. Anyway, drop me an email if you're ever in the area again. Cheers, Brian.
javamania75@hotmail.com
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