Larga Township

The Preport briefings for the members of the shipboard community were very clear that townships were dangerous places -- no one should just wander in.  At the same time, I had agreed to be the trip liaison for a visit to Larga township.  I volunteered on the basis of Nick and my visit to the township outside of Pretoria that was the location of the Bokomoso Youth Development program.  We visited as guests of the program, and had the opportunity to stroll the neighborhood one of the days that we were there.

On the bus, I presented a brief history of the townships.  In 1950, apartheid was firmly established with rules  forbidding interracial marriage, not allowing blacks in the urban areas without a pass, requiring that young people be educated by members of their racial group, and requiring the racial groups to all live separately.  Whites had been evicting blacks for some time before this act was passed, but these efforts were accelerated from 1950 forward.

Larga township began in the 1920's and grew significantly after 1950.  It is the township closest to Capetown.  After the Sharpsville massacre  where many protesters were killed, demonstrations in Larga also drew police attention;  a few were killed, and many were injured.  Later, people from Larga marched to Capetown in protest.

Our visit was guided by a young man who was a born and bred member of the Larga community.  We felt comfortable as visitors with him as our host.  First stop was a community center with arts programs and a few things for sale.  Our group was about 20, and we stuck together as we walked along the road from there.

It was Saturday, and a few things were being barbecued (braii in Afrikans) along the roadways.  Then we came to a woman heating an iron in the fire and blackening the skin of a sheep's head.  Apparently this was the middle step between cutting off the wool and boiling for a couple hours.  After cooking, the head was split in half and the brains discarded.  Why?  We were told that sheep were slow creatures, and you would become slow if you ate the brains.

At one stop we asked questions about medical care.  There is an expansive system of free clinics in the township, but they run on a first come, first served basis, and you can wait a very long time.  Some people will pay for private doctors.  Babies are born in hospitals/clinics, and people did look healthy.

At another question stop we asked about schools.  There are free public schools in the township, with 50 to 55 students in a class (at all ages).  There really has been a lost generation of education, and there are not a lot of well educated teachers even today.  Our guide's mother made sure that he went to the best of the public schools, even though this was not the school that his friends were going to.  Part of this schools strength was that kids learned good English.

Larga is originally a township of Xhoss-speaking people.  Overall, these are the best educated of the African groups -- Mandella and Tutu come from that group.  Our guide's first language was Xhosa -- a click language.  From there he suggested, it is pretty easy to learn 3 other related African languages, and learning another of the African languages gets you pretty close to the 3 languages in that language group.  Then English, and then Afrikaans -- a creole from Dutch.  So he more or less speaks 9 languages.

At the township near Pretoria, the leader of the youth program also spoke 9 languages -- his father had told him that knowing one another's languages was going to be very important to keep black from fighting black.