Diepkloof, Soweto, on a Sunday
I'm really distracted right now, planning a mini out-of-town getaway this afternoon and a move to a new house (and a new neighborhood!) this weekend. My blog will soon be filled with news of [...]
Wandering Lenasia with the Purple Pimpernel
Last Wednesday I headed down the M1 highway with my pink-haired friend Gail Wilson and my purple-clad friend Faarooq Gardee-Minty Mangera, a.k.a. the Purple Pimpernel. Our destination was Lenasia, a historically Indian township 30 [...]
A Visit to the Thokoza Memorial
Last weekend I attended my second #SpazaShopTour of Katlehong and Thokoza (see my post about the first tour), and visited the Thokoza Memorial for the first time. The Thokoza Memorial, opened in 1999, honors [...]
Spaza Shop Magic in Katlehong
On Saturday I participated in the first-ever #SpazaShopTour, starting and ending at African Accent Spaza Shop in Katlehong. Walking through Katlehong. The weather was miraculously perfect for a six-kilometer walk. We wound through Katlehong [...]
Announcing the Katlehong and Thokoza Spaza Shop Tour
Many of you may remember my post about the African Accent Spaza Shop in Katlehong, which I visited for the first time in June. My first time at the African Accent Spaza Shop. (Photo: [...]
Touring Soweto with a South African Blonde
Last week I did an all-day tour of Soweto with Eenblond Tours. "Eenblond" means "a blonde" in Afrikaans, which makes sense because that's exactly what Gilda Swanepoel is. Gilda inside one of the Soweto [...]
Cycling Tour Through Diepsloot
Diepsloot is one of those places, like a lot of other Joburg places, where people are afraid to go. A Diepsloot street. Diepsloot, which means "deep ditch" in Afrikaans, is a huge informal settlement [...]
Discovering South African Food in Alexandra Township
If you browse through the food-related posts on this blog, you'll notice that most of them are written about food from places other than South Africa: French, American, Mexican, Indian, German, Chinese. But what [...]
Katlehong Stories: Storytelling in a Johannesburg Township
Pulane Malatja sits straight-backed, ankles crossed, wearing a short black dress and a red plaid head wrap. A gauzy scarf covers her knees and a notepad sits in her lap. Pulane apologizes as she puts [...]
A Walk Through Alexandra Township
A couple of weeks ago I took a walk through Alexandra Township, aka Alex, as part of an event sponsored by an Alex-based tourism company called The Hub Presents and a travel networking organization [...]
Township Sunday. On a Bike.
Michelle and I arrived at the Marlboro Gautrain Station, on the edge of Alexandra Township, at 10:30 Sunday morning. Jeffrey, our guide, was waiting for us on the curb. “Who wants to get the [...]
The Power of the Picture
My first memory is of standing in the yard when I was about three years old, having my picture taken by my father. I spent hours in Dad’s basement darkroom, watching images come to [...]