Comments on: Christmas in the Slums of Gugulethu: Part 2

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 05:34:00 +0000

The slums are not ignored. I was personally involved in founding Montessori Pre Schools in some of the worst slum areas of Soweto and running courses, free, for teachers from remote rural areas.

Perhaps one day you should compare our slums to the slums in India. Inside those little shacks in Guguletu you will fine pristine accommodation. Swept floors, immacualte beds with hand embroidered linen, walls papered with the labels from canned foods, shelves lined with paper doilies, alluminium cooking pots scoured until they gleam.

All I asked for from you, was balanced reporting on our beautiful country.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:33:00 +0000

Lorraine
It would seem that you are more concerned with the perception of Gugulethu rather than the reality. Instead of trying try to keep it from being seen by people outside of south africa you should focus your energy on fixing the problem – one that was undoubtably created or worsened by the policies and practices of the South African government. You are clearly embarrassed by any association with this slum. So rather than divert our attention away from it – why don’t you try and fix it. And while an article written entirely about Harlem would certainly not represent all of the US or even all of NYC – it would be an interesting article about a thriving community of which I would not be ashamed. America’s dirty laundry is laid bare for the entire world to see. Our disappearing middle class, the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, the number of families that now live below the poverty line, annual handgun deaths etc. But trying to bury those stories does nothing to solve those problems. I’m not trying to pick on you – but your defensive posture doesnt inspire much hope that South Africans of some means are really concerned with fixing the slum tragedies – but rather more concerned with ignoring them.

By: Stiv

Stiv — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 09:19:00 +0000

Lorraine-

We have slums in America, too. This writing is not meant to suggest that South Africa is a slum as a whole. I’ve spent time all over and will be writing about other parts too. But what is noticeable is that for every town I’ve driven to between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth their exists a slum outside each city of comparable size. For instance, the population of Cape Town is 3.5 million and 2 million people live in the slums. The township of Gugulethu has a 220 bed hospital serving 1.5 million people.

By: Lorraine Jenks

Lorraine Jenks — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Please tell me you will also visit our regular suburbs and places like Kalk Bay in Cape Town. V&A Waterfront and Aquarium are not indicative of our country. Please don’t leave an impression that South Africa is a slum. Laura sounds wonderful, but you are getting one person’s opinion. There are some outstanding hospitals, for example, and anyone can walk into them. Please, guys, if I visited America I wouldn’t want my readers to think it was all like Harlem or Watts.