Back in the early 2000s, during our first trips, you’d genuinely and systematically find a Black neighborhood and a white neighborhood everywhere.
The Black neighborhood was extremely deprived—a township, poor, with one water point for x number of houses, often no electricity, no public lighting, let alone sewers or anything else.
The "houses" were makeshift, cobbled together—having walls seemed like a luxury.
The in-flight ad on SAA (South African Airways) touted "progress" as a "house" made of bricks, with one window, one door, one room... a tin roof. No mention of running water, heating, or toilets...
Something like this but smaller:
So, townships back then were similar to today’s shacks (shacks are the slums within townships).
The first mission at the time was water, electricity, and public lighting... so we started seeing poles! Yep, electric poles and streetlights!
Second step... either new housing was built—like "subdivisions," starting from scratch in a way.
Or the old areas were upgraded.
With the next goal... toilets. Outside at first.
Now, the goal is indoor toilets... we’re not there yet. (On the theme of "having toilets in the house is fancy—it really makes you somebody!")
Little by little, you see much "fancier" neighborhoods popping up... with real houses, even stylish touches like columns.
It’s often in rural areas where things lag the most.
What gives me hope is that in just fifteen years, we’ve seen firsthand how things have improved...
There’s still work to do, but...
And another tortoise—one more!
