Mrs.+Packard

= A Day In Africa =

I have just visited Africa. I had the chance to visit the[| Alexandra Ghetto]. It was not a good place to live. There is a lot of crime there. [|Sheebans] are located on almost every corner. The Peri-Urban police are looking for anyone that is breaking the law. The Peri-Urban police also do what they call a "clean-up." This happens during Operation Clean Up Month. When they "clean up" a town they look for people who don't have their passbooks in order, gangsters, black families living illegally in the town, shebeen owners, and the people who are looked at as "undesirable" under the [|Influx Control Law.] This is a picture of what the village looked like.

http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2008/08/01/1217568388_0095/499w.jpg

I stayed with a family whose passbook was not in order. There was a rumor going around the town that there might be a raid the night after I left. The mother of the house I was at was very afraid of this happening. She told me that if this happened, she would hide in the very back of the closet so that the Peri-Urban police would not find her. She was afraid that the police would take her away. I tried to hide in this closet and could only fit half my body in it! The mother also told me that they do not have a lot of money. One of the reason's why is because of the [|poll tax]. They make little money and have to give a big part of it to the police. There have been many riots because of this tax.



http://electronicintifada.net/artman2/uploads/1/passbooks483.jpg

Overall, Southern Africa was not a very fun place to visit. There are nice parts of Africa, but the Alexandria ghetto was not one of them. This place has poverty and the people who live here are very scared of the Peri-Urban police. It was neat to see the different culture but I would not visit it again.